The Knicks spent the weekend proving that the only predictable thing about their game is its unpredictability. Well, that's not quite true, it's overly predictable that Jared Jeffries will be a turd on the floor of life but otherwise inconsistency is killing the 'Bockers.
Jamal Crawford has the game of his life against Miami on Friday and then spends three-quarters yesterday trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. They hold Miami to 43.1% shooting during that rout but allow the Bucks to feast to the tune of 50.6% without Michael Redd in the linuep. They win one or two in a row and then drop a pair that they should win without having a streak of three in a row one way or the other all season. Yesterday's loss was a typical one, down all game they put together a rally behind Crawford (17 in the fourth) that proved futile when Mo Williams capped a terrific game with an off-balance jumper to give the Bucks a 107-105 win. Isiah Thomas threw a righteous fit after the game about their inability to make more than 14-of-24 free throws, I wish he would have extended it to cover the continued inability of Channing Frye to play like a grown man. When David Lee has his umpteenth double-double and Frye manages four points in 15 minutes I'm at a total loss to figure out what goes on in Thomas's head.
The unpredictability of the team continues off the court. Who would ever predict that the son of a NBA player would spend the last year "living in a urine-soaked apartment with more than 30 cats?" Not me but that's just what the six-year old offspring of Knicks reserve Kelvin Cato's been doing. Cato is seeking custody of the boy and his mother was just sentenced to five years of probation and community service for her neglect.
The police officer who investigated the apartment on a tip last June wrote in his report that the smell of cat urine burned his eyes and throat.
"It was unsafe for the children to spend another minute inside of the residence," the officer wrote. "The odor was so overwhelming that I almost vomited."
Court records say the boy's mattress was stained with cat urine and he was covered in flea bites. Gaines told authorities she took in a few homeless cats, the cats rapidly reproduced, and things got out of hand.
I'm glad that the authorities stepped in and that the young man is no longer living in such horrid conditions but I can't say this made me respect Kelvin Cato all that much. What kind of father, making millions of dollars a year since the boy was born in 2000, allows his son to live like that? Sure, the mother had custody but obviously Cato wasn't spending a hot second with the kid if he's covered in flea bites and stinking of urine and it goes unnoticed. "He just doesn't want his little boy to be stuck in this mess," said Gary Bullock, Cato's attorney. He shouldn't have abandoned him there, then.
(AP Photo/Morry Gash)
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