TRI NGLE DEFENSE
‘O’ will keep hope alive in MSG booth
AT SOME point this season if Derek Fisher’s triangle offense (via @ PhilJackson11) is not working out, will MSGulag voices be critical of it?
Are you laughing yet?
After watching Wednesday’s Knicks-Celtics preseason tilt, we figured out where this is all headed. Talk about your triangle? That’s just about all Mike Breen and Walt ( Clyde) Frazier talked about.
There was plenty of Clyde “breaking down” exactly what the triangle is, how it works, and why it’s effective. It was like the system is more important than the players running it. Considering the composition of the Knicks roster — not exactly championship-caliber — that’s the propaganda, er message, we would deliver, too.
The prospect of waiting for the triangle to ultimately lead to winning might just take the focus off any prolonged losing streak.
You didn’t have to read between the lines of Wednesday’s telecast to know the triangle is going to work. To think otherwise is foolish. Jackson is a mastermind. He’s passing his genius directly down to Fisher.
Nonetheless, the Gulag ain’t taking any chances. Breen/Frazier spreading early optimism is not enough. In order to get the job done, in order to deliver the word to Knicks fans (especially the ones yet to purchase their season tickets), you need a mega-shill — Spike Lee, a legitimate pom-pom shaking Knicks mascot.
MSG has commissioned Mister Lee to do a TV special on the triangle. It will no doubt air at least 125,000 times on MSG in an attempt to indoctrinate Knicks fans, convince them, and the rest of us riff-raff, the system is fool-proof.
It was awe-inspiring Wednesday hearing Breen and Frazier explain how Carmelo Anthony has been preparing to play in the triangle, how he has totally bought in. Better still, there was video of Melo talking about it. We even learned what players he spoke with to get more perspective on the offense.
Whom will Melo speak with if he gets frustrated playing in the triangle if he isn’t getting enough touches and not scoring in the manner he has been accustomed to? Remember, before the coming of the triangle, the Knicks offense was called The Melo.
When it comes to these current Knicks, the triangle serves two valuable purposes. One is as an offensive tool. The other is to shift the focus. Wednesday night provided evidence the Gulag, and its voices (TV/ radio), will have every opportunity to position the triangle as a work in progress.
And if things go south early for the Knicks, it will take the focus off losing. Expect to hear (and read) stuff like: “The Knicks lost tonight, but the triangle offense is improving.” Or, “don’t expect the offense to click for at least until (fill in the blank).” Get it? Waiting for the triangle to click will be well worth it.
This is just another chapter in MSG selling hope — hoping this triangle will work out before the sound of those propping it up becomes sickening.
TRI TRI AGAIN
Not all Gulag business partners will be pushing the triangle.
With ESPN 98.7’s relationship with MSG in in shambles at the end of last season, expect some of the voices heard on the Knicks’ flagship station to not roll over. Early last June, James ( Gui
tar Jimmy) Dolan’s aide-de-camp, Barry Watkins, lectured afternoon drive-time Gasbag Michael Kay, telling him the station is not “good partners.” Watkins specifically admonished Kay for conducting an interview with Garden “enemy” Marv
Albert and granting our own Frank Isola, another Garden foe, a onehour appearance on “The Michael Kay Show” with Don LaGreca.
With MSG in the last year of its ESPN deal, the ante has been upped. We are sure Dolan, Watkins, and other MSG suits were just thrilled to triangles over 98.7 moving Mike
Lupica into the 1 p.m.-3 p.m. slot, giving him an extra hour to offer his edgy insights on the Knicks, Guitar Jimmy and the Garden operation. This could get really interesting really fast.
WE WANT DON
After the Dodgers were eliminated in St. Louis Tuesday night on Fox Sports 1, the network began
airing Don Mattingly’s press conference but inexplicably bailed early to return to their babbling roundtable of baseball analysts.
This was more than disappointing. FS1 bills itself as a 24/7 sports news network. What’s newsier than Mattingly, whose team was just bounced, holding it together and answering some tough questions, live. At that point, hearing from Mattingly was more important than hearing from some former player who could only guess what the Dodgers manager was thinking.
Fortunately, MLB Network was airing the Mattingly session. That’s where we headed.
BACK OFF, GENO
The outraged Jets media and Valley of the Stupid preachers, shocked by Geno Smith’s “crime” of missing that meeting, went overboard. By linking this with other minor transgressions, they tried to characterize him as some sort of miscreant.
It’s almost as if they were trying to lump him in with NFL players who have engaged in far worse behavior. SiriusXM’s Stephen A. Smith didn’t join the media pile-on.
He pointed out Smith, like those who knocked him, is not flawless. Then he made an essential point: “People who use this as a means to character assassinate Geno Smith are wrong. And they use this as a means to bring up other incidents (on an airline, or dropping the Fbomb) he may have been involved in. Grow up! Dude ain’t getting arrested, he ain’t behind the wheel of a car inebriated.” The only real problem Geno Smith has is when he steps onto the field. Or as SAS said: “He’s playing like straight
garbage.”