Knicks to get crushed in playoffs

Carmelo Anthony scores 39 points against the New Jersey Nets, and I'm supposed to get excited like the announcers? Granted, ESPN needs its announcers to pump up whatever game the network is covering, but take a look at what happened to the Knicks tonight. They gave up 68 points in the first half to the Nets. The NYETS! The New York Knicks play no defense whatsoever. A'mare Stoudemire has been atrocious since Anthony showed up in New York. Melo is legit. There's no doubt about that, but the fact they give up 116 points to the Nets is absurd. Deron Williams isn't doing anything for the Nets, so there is no excuse as to why this happened. If the Knicks expect to compete with either the Boston Celtics or Miami Heat in the playoffs there are many things that need to change. However, I don't see how he Knicks are going to learn how to play defense in two weeks. The boys in blue and orange are staring at a first-round sweep. They'll run and gun and make things exciting, but there is too much power in those other two teams. The Celtics will force the Knicks into a grind-it-out series that the Knicks have no chance of winning. The Heat's Big 2 1/2 will just be too dominant if that's the series that ends up getting matched up. LeBron James actually plays defense, so you can expect Anthony's production to go down. If it's the Celtics you can expect Paul Pierce to be all over Anthony much like Pierce was all over Kobe Bryant in the 2008 NBA Finals. The Knicks will be fun to watch in the playoffs because of the storylines, but let's not kid ourselves: A sweep is in their "Magic Eight Ball."

A farewell to Jimmer

I'm not going to try and quote Ernest Hemingway in my blog, but the title is appropriate for what's about to happen in the life of Jimmer Fredette.

His five-month run as a celebrity came to a close Thursday night in the Sweet 16. Florida was the better team, and Jimmer took some pretty bad shots in the game.

For me it was strange. I've always been a huge NBA fan first and then a college hoops fan like fifth. But the Jimmer brought the college hoops game to the forefront in my mind. It's been weird.

Now Fredette will enter the NBA Draft and try to make it with the big boys. If Thursday's game was any indication of how he will play under pressure then I don't expect him to be very good as a pro. As Colin Cowherd said, "He's coming to an NBA bench near you."

Even though Jimmer will make more money as a lottery pick, he will be more productive as a later pick. If he really cares about basketball and not the money, then waiting for the Celtics, Lakers or Heat to draft him is what he should be hoping.

Right now the Lakers have Steve Blake coming off the bench to run the point. He gets like 8-10 minutes a game and is supposed to be knocking down 3-pointers. Blake doesn't always knock down 3-pointers. If the Lakers let Blake go then they can pick up Jimmer. He will come in and do what Blake is doing right now, but he will do it better.

If the Utah Jazz do the irresponsible thing of drafting Jimmer, then he will be thrown into the starting lineup. I don't think he will fair well.

Do the right thing, Jazz. Don't draft Jimmer. As for the Lakers: dump the dead weight of Blake. Jimmer can do his job better.