NEW YORK — David Lee admitted to some understandable fatigue after the Knicks lost Friday night, 112-104, to Toronto at MSG.
After all, his 92-year-old grandfather, prominent St. Louis businessman E. Desmond Lee, passed away at 92 on Tuesday. Lee has been in Philly, St. Louis and New York since Wednesday.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that E. Desmond Lee gave away more than $70 million over the years to beneficiaries such as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he endowed 19 professorships.
“He was one of a kind,” Fred Bronstein, president of the orchestra, told the Dispatch Tuesday.
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Lee and his teammates will play a night game in Detroit Saturday before returning to MSG for a Martin Luther King Day tilt with those same Pistons Monday afternoon.
“I was pretty fatigued going into tonight [Friday] just after all the traveling and stuff,” said Lee, who still managed 25 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists while guarding superstar Chris Bosh on the defensive end. “I’m sure it’s going to be another rough one tomorrow [Saturday] fatigue-wise but I just tried to give it everything I had for our team tonight.
“Mentally it was great to go home and go through that whole process. It was a very positive funeral, more of a celebration than it was mourning. It was wonderful and it just was a long trip going there and back.”
FRANK NOT INTERESTED IN COLLEGE
Former Nets coach Lawrence Frank sat courtside at MSG Wednesday night when St. John’s earned its first Big East win, 52-50, over Lance Stephenson and Cincinnati.
With several New York-area college jobs expected to open up during the offseason — I count as many as half a dozen depending on what happens – Frank’s name has surfaced as a potential candidate.
When I asked him if he’d be interested in coaching college, particularly in the Big East, Frank said, “No.”
He said if he got back into coaching it would be at the NBA level.
TODAY’S LINKS
**Good piece by Kevin Armstrong on Tyreke Evans 2 years after he was involved in drive-by shooting http://tiny.cc/qINgK
**Nice work by Chris Sheridan here. Gilbert Arenas to Knicks? Walsh says wait and see – http://tinyurl.com/yfrm9xc
(Photo courtesy NBA.com)
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After hitting the game-winning shot against the Sixers Wednesday night in Philly, Lee flew to St. Louis Thursday for the funeral. Then it was back to New York for Friday’s game.
