Knicks' Plumlee paid cabbie $60 to run red light on way to NBA debut
Marshall Plumlee woke up Sunday morning not knowing he would be making his NBA regular-season debut a few hours later. Assigned to the New York Knicks' D-League squad in Westchester County, he got the call from the big club with Joakim Noah out sick against the Atlanta Hawks.
"Just imagine being woken up, saying like, 'Hey, we need you to guard Dwight Howard,'" Plumlee said after the Knicks' 104-94 win, according to Newsday's Al Iannazzone.
Plumlee hopped on a Metro-North express train in suburban White Plains and when he arrived at Grand Central station, he jumped in a taxi for the final nine blocks to Madison Square Garden.
"I paid (the) cab driver to run a red light," Plumlee said.
When asked by reporters how much that cost, he responded, "Apparently 60 bucks."
Thwarted still by Manhattan traffic, Plumlee then said he got out of the cab and ran the rest of the way to the arena.
"And I'm just sprinting through the city. I got here, they said, 'Hey, do you need a warmup?' I said, 'No, I'm already warm. I ran here.'"
Plumlee only played five minutes, grabbing one rebound and not scoring. In making his regular-season debut, he joined brothers Miles and Mason in playing in the NBA.
"It was crazy," he said. "I feel like I could write a book about it."