• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

NEW YORK — It took the fourth game of the season but the rotten goose egg that hovered over the New York Knicks on their home floor is finally hatched.  It was the Knicks vs the Los Angeles Lakers led by none other than Kobe “Bean” Bryant.  The Knicks prevailed 99-95.  Although Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 24 points and 8 rebounds, it was the stellar play of second year man, guard Langston Galloway that stole the show.  Galloway had 14 points off the bench in what could be Kobe’s last game in Gotham.

Galloway is a young man that you have to root for.  Undrafted out of Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia after the 2013-14 where he become the second all-time leading scorer with 1991 points behind, Denver Nugget, Jameer Nelson.  Somewhat serendipitous Galloway was also born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1991.

Galloway had a fine summer league with Knicks but was cut during training camp of the ’13-14′ season.  He did his D-League stint without complaining while continuing to hone his craft.  Then as it would happen he got a 10-day shot during the ’15-16′ season and it was all she (more like ‘he’) wrote.

Galloway’s 3-pointer with two minutes to play put the Knicks up 92-90. Galloway’s hit 16 of 26 3-pointers this season (61.5 percent). That’s the best percentage in the NBA right now.  Not too bad from a guy that went undrafted.

Rookie phenom Kristaps Porzingis had another impressive outing posting another double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Porzingis earned respect of none other than Earvin “Magic” Johnson who sat courtside with the likes of Spike Lee and comedian extraordinaire Tracy Morgan. Magic tweeted: Knicks fans should applaud @PhilJackson11 for getting the steal of the draft in @kporzee!.  It’s funny, Porzingis’s Knick teammate, guard Sasha Vujacic mustered those same words, but of course coming from Magic resonates much differently.

Kobe

If this is indeed Kobe’s swan song, he finished with a mere mortal 18 points and two rebounds in 32 minutes.  Mortal when you consider in 16 career games Kobe averaged 30 points per game in New York.  Of course that includes the Roger Maris (61) he laid on the Knicks, February 2, 2009.

There were some that wished that some of Kobe’s Lakers teammates would have allowed the Kobe vs Melo show to last a bit longer before launching their own shots. There were times when Carmelo and his, “big brother”, Kobe went at it toe to toe, much to the delight of the Garden crowd who actually chanted, “MVP!”.  The referees let them play.

Jerald L. Hoover

You can follow Jerald on Twitter: @JerryHoover65

 

 

By Jerald Hoover

Editor-in-chief and Senior Writer; Professor Jerald L. Hoover is an instructor at LIU-Brooklyn where he teaches Strategic Sport Communication and Sports Management.

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