On Sunday morning, Marshall Plumlee was at his home in White Plains, New York when he got the phone call. With Joakim Noah sidelined due to an illness, the Knicks needed Plumlee to be available for their next home game against the Atlanta Hawks, instead of having him play for their D-League team, the Westchester Knicks. By the way, that next home game is at noon. Like, in a couple of hours.
After taking a train from White Plains to Grand Central Station, Plumlee got into a cab in order to make it to work at Madison Square Garden on time. With time running out, the 24-year-old rookie paid his cab driver to run the red light. When asked how much that set him back, Plumlee told Newsday's Al Iannazzone, "Apparently 60 bucks."
When traffic threw a wrench into his plans, Plumlee decided to hop out and sprint the few remaining blocks. “Yes, literally running down the streets," Plumlee recalls. "I don’t know [how many blocks]. I made the cab driver stop. I don’t want to make up a big thing, you guys think I’m superman. At some point, I had to make him stop.”
Marshall ended up arriving in the first quarter. “You get the news, I sprint over here as fast as I can," Marshall said. "I paid a cab driver to run a red light. And I’m just sprinting through the city. I got here, they said, ‘Hey, do you need a warm-up?’ I said, ‘No, I’m already warm. I ran here.'"
Plumlee played five minutes and grabbed one rebound in his NBA debut. With Noah listed as doubtful for Tuesday night's game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Plumlee should have plenty of time to get to The Garden if he's needed.
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