Bulls emerge victorious at Madison Square Garden in opening game
Chicago Bulls' Pau Gasol (top) shoots over New York Knicks' Samuel Dalembert (below) during the first half of their NBA game in New York on Wednesday. The Bulls won 104-80. - AP
New York: There was so much at stake for the New York Knicks on their opening night of the NBA season against the Chicago Bulls. The last time the Knicks had hosted the Bulls in an opening fixture at the Madison Square Garden was way back in 1988 when they still outmuscled their rivals for elite status.Twenty six years down the line, with a former Bulls coach in Phil Jackson as their president, the Knicks were knocked around by the raging Bulls as Tom Thibodeau’s outfit scored a runaway 104-80 (HT: 53-43) victory on a starry, yet cold Wednesday night.
A sea of blue-shirted Knicks loyalists streamed into the arena for the home team’s first game of the 2014-15 season, as did celebrities in Taylor Swift, Heidi Klum and sporting stars in John McEnroe and Prince Kelechi Amukamara of the New York Giants. While the first three are well known globally, the fancy-named Amukamara may not strike a chord elsewhere but that he’s a big draw for the New Yorkers could be gauged by the fans’ response as his face was beamed around the Garden.
Be that as it may, neither the star ensemble nor the strong presence of their supporters who outnumbered the red-shirts of the Chicago Bulls could work its magic on the Knicks as the Bulls, led by the returning Derrick Rose and the indefatigable Pau Gasol combined immense athleticism and technical superiority over the hapless Knicks.
The Madison Square Garden is an iconic landmark and ranks as one of the best indoor sporting arenas in the world; it’s breathtakingly spectacular but it was the Bulls who rode on the motivation to annihilate the home team. At the start the Knicks took off like a stallion bolting out of the stables as Amar’e Stoudemire whipped up the passion but before long the Bulls had reined their opponents in. Much as Carmelo Anthony and Stoudemire tried, they were let down by the reserve squad while the Bulls were electrified by Taj Gibson, who scored a match-high 22 points after coming off the bench.
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