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The arrival of LeBron James
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LeBron James comes to Madison Square Garden tonight
What else is there to say about tonight’s game that hasn’t already been covered in today’s newspapers and blogs?
LeBron is coming--his only Madison Square Garden visit of the season--and it will be seen by a national audience on ESPN and a sell-out crowd here in New York.
For the Knicks, the usual questions linger before tipoff tonight: Will there be any effort on defense and will they hit their jump-shots? Hard to say on account of the team’s showing on Wednesday night where the players looked depleted and worn-down during their loss to the Pacers.
However, tonight’s most pertinent topic doesn’t even involve the home team. Everyone is discussing the Knicks’ fans and their response to LeBron James when he steps on the floor. For those desperate for a competitive team, cheering will be expected. They want the best basketball player in the world next season. This cheering will be a drastic change from the usual crowd noise you come to expect at the Garden. When the opposing team runs out of the tunnel, they usually enter to a string of obscenities and taunting (although with the recent performances of the Knicks, the taunting has been pretty bad on both sides).
All professional athletes living in New York know that when you don’t perform in this city, you are going to hear an earful of condemnation. Like any other place that holds sports at such a high esteem, this is expected. Booing comes with the territory. While this usually represents a sign of frustration and anger from fans, the absolute last thing you expect them to do is start cheering for the away team. As Ben Kopelman said in his post yesterday on The Knicks Blog, “Doesn’t a player [i.e. LeBron James] want to play for a team that has die-hard fans? The type that ruthlessly boo every opposing player that steps foot on their home floor? Doesn’t every home crowd secretly hope to be feared by the visiting fans and players? The best player in the world should be public enemy #1!”
In recent years, there has been plenty of booing showered down on the Knicks organization, but watching Knicks’ fans actually cheering an opposing player? Definitely a change in pace, no matter who that player happens to be. You wonder how this might affect the psyche of current Knicks’ players, many of which are in contract years themselves.
We can speculate all we want about the potential post season arrival of LeBron via free agency. We won’t know for sure what will happen until next summer. However, tonight’s game in New York has generated more media exposure for the Knicks then they have received all year. For a team that has yet to find any momentum this season, this could be the wake-up call they need. But, for a 1-4 team that lacks intensity and passion, this could be one of the few times they get national attention all year.
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