As the All-Star break commences, the harsh winter that we’ve suffered thru already has many New Yorkers suffering from a severe case of the winter blues. The current slump of the Knicks may keep those blues around for a little while longer; depending on how optimistic you were about the Knicks being a perennial playoff contender coming into this season. Overcoming a 2-6 start to go 15-9 during a streak where Amare Stoudemire unleashed a barrage of 30-point games left no doubt in everyone’s mind that the Knicks were once again going to be competitive. Even in the midst of losing 11 of their last 17, our beloved Knickerbockers are the talk of the town once again, with STAT and fellow free agent addition Raymond Felton leading the charge. With victories over such notable teams like San Antonio, Miami, Oklahoma City, Chicago (twice), New Orleans, Denver , taking Boston down to the wire (when Amare’s potential game-winning 3 should’ve counted cause there was supposed to be 0.6 seconds on the clock instead of 0.4), and taking care of business against teams they’re supposed to beat, the Knicks are currently in 6th place in the Eastern Conference, with the possibility of adding Carmelo Anthony to the mix before or at the trade deadline. They’re on pace to win 40+ games for the first time in ten years. TEN YEARS!
So, being 28-26 shouldn’t necessarily be a call for a parade down the Canyon of Heroes, however, it does guarantee the Knicks going into the All-Star break with a record above .500 for the first time in 10 years. However, for a starving fan base that is desperately yearning to cheer for a competitive team (this writer included) after a decade of so many deplorable moves made by Scott Layden & Isaiah Thomas, being on the good side of .500 midway thru the season is quite an upgrade from the first Knick regime of the new millennium. All Layden and Thomas did was eat up cap space, keep away potential free agents, and turned one of the greatest stages in basketball into an Our Lady of Evanescence JV basketball game. Between injuries, out- of- their-prime superstars, bad front office decisions (firing Lenny Wilkins without giving him a chance to develop a rapport with his personnel was a telltale sign. To me, at least), and the sexual harassment suit that could’ve been settled out of court, this generation of Knicks fans have been thru enough to sympathize with lifelong fans of the Clippers and Cleveland sports. They want to see some winning! Older Knick fans want to the team to at least be in contention for a title year-in and year-out, like they were for most of the 15 years Patrick Ewing was in the middle. Casual and warm-weather fans want a reason to be at the Garden when the buzz is in the building. All in all, New Yorkers want-no, DEMAND to see the guys playing with pride for the name in front of the jersey.
Even with all of the question marks concerning Mike D’Antoni’s system (and overall coaching) being able to elevate them to the next level as an elite team, he’s been able to get productive minutes out of Wilson Chandler, Danilo Galinari (who are on pace to have career years, despite being primary trade pieces in the pursuit for Melo), energy off the bench from Ronny Turiaf (another key off-season acquisition) & Toney Douglas, Shawnee Williams becoming an unexpected marksman along with Bill Walker, Timofey Mozgov playing solid minutes when called upon, and the emergence of rookie Landry Fields, who’s the primary reason why the Carmelo talks have gained so much steam in the first place. His exceptional play doesn’t make this possible.
Amongst the faithful of Knicks Nation, there’s much division between those who are just glad New York is actually reflecting a playoff team, while the others see this as an opportunity to ascend the squad by bringing in another superstar to play alongside STAT (Y’all probably know who I’m talking about by now). They have the inside track on landing Anthony, according to sources familiar with the talks. From the looks of things, it looks like the Knicks are dragging their feet in these negotiations. Then again, with Anthony’s desire to play in New York becoming more and more obvious, Donnie Walsh is playing it cool, taking his time to make the right moves, so don’t think the Knicks aren’t still in aggressive pursuit. The urgency to acquire Melo has risen in the past couple of weeks as a result of the current slump that raises serious question marks for the Knicks. One of the biggest concerns was D’Antoni’s main rotation slowing down because of the uptempo style and logging over 35 minutes a game. He hasn’t kept the promise of using a 10-man rotation (I doubt he was going to use his bench), and that may come back to haunt him later on down the line, whether Carmelo comes to New York or not. A run at the playoffs won’t be as effective if he plays the same 8 guys. At the pace they’re going now, if they keep this up, they’ll flame out by late March-early April. Keeping the legs fresh is one of many keys for them heading into the second half of the season (which will be described more in detail in later posts).
The Philadelphia 76ers are coming on strong after a 3-13 start (24-15 since), and the Indiana Pacers look reenergized after firing Jim O’Brien (8-2 under interim coach Frank Vogel). With 2.5 games between the last 3 seeds in the East at the midpoint of season, the Knicks must pick up their level of play in order to stay steady or move up in the rankings. With the trade deadline less than 10 days away, there’s no certainty as to who’s going to be in blue and orange for the remainder of the season. Whether he comes or not, the Knicks must not be comfortable in the bosom of mediocrity. Building off the positives from the first half of the season is vital to their progression as a team & organization.
As for now, we should be proud of these Knicks. They’ve successfully shifted the focus off of what was and now has the whole city excited about the possibilities on the horizon.
