Guest Post: Revival of the Knicks

Wait, there's still a basketball team in New York? It's no "Second Coming Sale", but what's been going on with the New York Knicks has been very much of a revival of a team that has been dead for quite a while now. The Knicks are a legit playoff team, they have one of the best rookies in the NBA, and led by Amare Stoudmire--who just recorded his 5th straight 30-point game in a win over Minnesota (maybe the Judaism is helping?)--the MSG basketball team has shot up the standings to the point they are one game behind Miami. As ESPN's Chris Sheridan wrote in a chat this past week, the Knicks schedule will determine if they're for real, but they've been fun to watch and "you couldn't use "fun to watch" and "Knicks" in the same sentence for the past 10 years." But once again I will turn the analysis over to Alex O, our resident Knicks expert, to give us some more details on the high-flying Knickerbockers.
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Amare has led the Knicks back into respectability (NYT)

“Is me being a Knicks fan my punishment for being a Yankees fan?”

This was a tagline to a comment yesterday on the Knicks blog “Posting and Toasting” by Benny Blanco from the Brix

Many Knicks/Yankees fans may ask themselves the same thing. We can’t have it all. Steelers/Pirates fans have a similar dichotomy as did Sawx/Celts fans for many years. This may be changing as the Knicks have won 10 of 11 games for the first time since the 2000-2001 season. Starting five then was : Camby, LJ, Spree, Houston, and Mark Jackson.

Reality check….. as Mitch Lawrence points out in the Daily News how the Knicks have been feasting on a “cupcake schedule”. Of the 10 wins only 2 were against winning teams, Golden State, and New Orleans who started hot but has been terrible of late. Next they play Toronto, and the Wizards followed by Nugs, Celts, Miami (2x), Okie City, Bulls, and Magic. As my 8th grade Science teacher Mr. Bowles would say “this will provide a good litmus test”.

It is a good time to evaluate the team since we are ¼ of the way through this long season. The Knicks schedule has been the easiest in the league if you look at opposing teams win %, but they have played a lot of games on the road, and have had 7 back-to-back games. Their success on the road and in back to backs has been a key to their 13-9 record, good enough for sixth position in the East.

Felton has been playing out of his tree with far better numbers then his career averages. The key in his play is that he has pushed the pace so the Knicks finally look like a D’Antoni (Mr. Pringles) team. The improvement in running the pick and roll with Stoudemire is a huge reason to the offense having it’s tremendous success. The Knicks shooters including Felton have improved their accuracy from 3 land of late which is crucial. Early on, the scouting reports were to clog the lane and swarm Amare, now Felton, Gallo, Will Chandler, Fields and a resurgent Shawne Williams have been making the opposition pay.

Assuming there are no huge disparities in turnovers and rebounding, many times NBA games are decided by which team can make the most wide open 3’s. Shawne (silent E) Williams has worked into the rotation the last 3 games and is an insane 10 of 12 from beyond the arc . Most of this damage has been inflicted in the 4th quarter using an almost set shot style from the corner that has been described as “corner pooping”. I had to mention it since I have 3 kids at home, and the 2 year old loves to say poop as often as possible…… and thinks it’s hilarious of course.

Amare has delivered, and is a legit superstar. Landry Fields has been incredible, especially rebounding---- he is the top rebounding guard in the league last I checked (7.5 per game). His hoops IQ is off the charts and it is interesting to hear the history of the assistant coaches daily telling Mr. Pringles how good Fields was during summer league. Sometimes it makes you wonder how a guy like this slips to the second round after leading the Pac 10 in scoring and rebounding last year. Fields was named rookie of the month in November from the East.

Will Chandler has been the third best player for the Knicks so far even though I think he shoots too many threes. Gallinari has had his moments and will hopefully be more consistent as the season continues. The health of Turiaf’s knee may be a big factor in the Knicks success since his D (blocks) and energy are a huge plus when he is on the court. Mozgov has not delivered, and I think patience and time are needed with the Rooskie.

All in all a good first quarter to the season and these Knicks have certainly entertained. I truly believe that Stoudemire was a tremendous acquisition and hope he stays healthy. Apparently he is the first guy to practice and the last to leave which is a great example to set for a team that is one of the youngest in the NBA. Raptors come to MSG tonight. If sports gambling were legal outside of Vegas I would take the over (220).


Below is a great print available over at the freedarko blog (there are some other cool ones, worth checking out):