The countdown to the start of the NBA’s regular season is over and I think the Knicks season opener is going to be very exciting!  Yet before we jump ahead, let’s take a look back and recap the preseason for the Knicks. In their first preseason game, the Knicks played the Wizards and won 108-101. The player that was best on the Knicks for that game had to have been Steve Novak. He was the leading scorer with 21 points and he also made all 7 three pointers that he took (impressive!).  The next game was against the Boston Celtics, which the Knicks won in overtime 98-95. In my opinion, the main reason they won this one is because of backup forward Chris Copeland. He scored 21 points throughout the game and also got the game winning block. Carmelo also scored 23 points but that is to be expected from him at this point.

The third game, the Knicks faced the Toronto Raptors and lost 107-88. The Raptors were led by former Rockets point guard, Kyle Lowry. He had a phenomenal game with 17 points, 3 steals, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. Carmelo and Amar’e combined for 42 points but it wasn’t enough.  This game was followed by another game against the Celtics but the Knicks luck ran out this time. The Celtics claimed an 11 point victory, with the final score of 109-98. Chris Copeland had another phenomenal game for Boston, scoring 34 points. However, in my opinion, the reason why the Celtics won was due to the support of Jeff Green, who scored 25 points.

In our second to last preseason game, the Knicks fell to Philadelphia, losing 98-90. The Sixers had the best preseason record in the league going into the game. Jason Richardson scored 23 points and Thaddeus Young scored 22 points. Finally, our last preseason game was the much anticipated game against the Brooklyn Nets. It was definitely the most fun game to watch for me in the preseason. Before I say who won, let me say that Tyson Chandler got injured in the beginning of the game. Gerald Wallace was trying to cut through the screen and he hit Tyson’s knee. Fortunately, it was only a bone bruise. As you probably know by now, the Knicks won against the Nets in overtime 97-95. MarShon Brooks went up for a layup at the end and missed. The Knicks then ran out the clock.

NBA 2k13 out now! I got the game pre-ordered because my mom and dad were nice enough to get it for me. Anyway, it is a pretty sick game. Let’s get to the changes. What I figured out first was that the left trigger on defense helps you play more intense defense on the player that you are guarding. There is a way to flop like LeBron too. You hold B, release B, and then press B quickly. One last thing that they made new is the shot stick is not for shots anymore it is simply for doing spin moves. Another great thing that 2k added is that the songs were chosen by Jay-Z and now I am more familiar with the songs that play while I’m checking things out. These are some new things that 2k added.

                Now I’ll talk about the teams and graphics of NBA 2k13. The graphics are phenomenal they have every single player exactly right. It is amazing! The Brooklyn Nets’ logo is really cool and the Bobcats changed their logo as well. I got to say, it is really cool. Then, they added some new legendary teams like the 2k13 Celebrity team with players such as Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber, they have the 1992 USA Olympic Dream Team with MJ, the 2012 Olympic squad with Kobe, LeBron, and Durant. They also have “The Answer”, AI, Allen Iverson in the 2001 squad when he took the Sixers to the finals. Also, they changed the My Player setup and skill points. They now have your My Player on the home screen and if you click on him it does not bring you to start your career. They now have a new section called My Career, it is the same thing as My Player from 2k12 but it is called a different name, My Career. Another thing with my player or my career is that instead of getting Skill Points you get Virtual Currency coins. You get a certain amount each game. They also have a mode called My Team where you will be given a certain amount of players at a rookie skill level and you can play online against people with your squad versus their squad. That is another really cool feature!

                Now I will talk about All-Star Weekend. You can only get all-star weekend if you pre-ordered the game. I was fortunate to get it pre-ordered because my parents got it for me by surprise. First, there is the All-Star game. It is the same as last year with the same all-stars just in the conference that they are supposed to be in like Dwight Howard is in the West All-Stars. Second, we have the Rising Stars Challenge. They have the sophomores and rookies go head-to-head in a fearsome battle. Third, we have the Slam Dunk contest. They allow you access to the legends like MJ, Dominique, Clyde, and even Spud Webb. They also allow you to put NBA players up against the legends like you can have LeBron, Blake Griffin, MJ, and Dominique go at it. Another thing about it is that your my player is able to be in the dunk contest as well with the NBA and legends. Even if your my player cannot dunk he is able to dunk in the contest. Anyway, back to the dunk contest, the way you activate a dunk takes some getting used to. What you have to do first is choose a section like through the legs or 360s or windmills. Then, once you choose a section you have to choose what kind of way you are going to do it like for the props section you can choose the dunk up and over where you jump over a car. You have 3 dunks per player and 4 players. The highest score you can get in the dunk contest is a 100. The last part of all-star weekend is the three point contest. Your my player will be featured in this as well. There are 6 players and 2 rounds which means that the top 3 scores go to the final round. If you have NBA 2k11 this is the same thing as the blacktop three point contest except it is in the Rockets stadium. You will have lots of fun with this feature if you pre-ordered it.

If you’re an NBA player nearing retirement age, no need to worry, the Knicks have a home for you.  The Knicks now have the oldest squad in the league, with veteran players like Jason Kidd, Marcus Camby and our most recent recruit, Rasheed Wallace, listed on the roster.

The Knicks appear to be using a new strategy, if that is what you want to call it. It is about the same as calling the team’s upcoming season as “interesting”.  My guess is the Knick management decided something like this: “Let’s try to gather as many players past their prime as we can, and we’ll tell everybody that we meant to do that. We won’t admit that we didn’t make any awesome trades this summer and that we planned to get rid of Lin anyway.  We will say that we wanted these guys all along and we succeeded in getting them on our team. We’ll say we wanted to go with ‘experience’ and that youth is not all that great after all. I mean sure the other teams will have more energy, speed, endurance, and prime talent but we got experience.”