Knicks Making a Playoff Push.

     After a strong win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night, the Knicks blew out the Orlando Magic with a score of 108-86 on Wednesday. Analysts doubted this win for the Knicks mainly because of the presence of Dwight Howard in the paint. The Knicks have a tendency to play lazy defense, which was not the case against the Magic and Bucks. Tyson Chandler was able to keep Howard to only 12 points and 5 rebounds. Chandler, who finished the game with 9 points and 9 rebounds should consider himself an accomplished player after his defensive performance. Players in the NBA who end up guarding Howard struggle to keep him out of the post and end up excessively fouling him, putting them in foul trouble for the game. Fortunately for the Knicks, Chandler did not have any of these problems, which should show fans and analysts that he deserves to be placed as one of the top five centers in the NBA. 

     Despite the success of Chandler against the Magic, Carmelo Anthony has been a crucial player for the Knicks in their past few wins. Anthony has been playing up to his superstar standards under the coaching of Mike Woodson. Anthony finished the game against the Bucks with 28 points and 12 rebounds. He also had a strong game against the Magic with 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. After watching these past two games, their is one positive change we have seen from Anthony, and that is defense. Finally, Anthony realized that consistent and effective defense is what completes a superstar. Yes, he has always been a consistent scorer, but how much does that count if he is going to ignore playing defense and stopping the opposing team from scoring? It is a good sign for the Knicks that Anthony is making an effort to play defense. It is shown that it is a part of his game which he has been working on.

     The New York Knicks hope to extend their winning streak with a win tomorrow against the Atlanta Hawks in Atlanta. What we have been seeing these past few games are good signs for the Knicks making the final playoff seed. Even with Amar'e Stoudemire, who will be out for 2 to 4 weeks because of a bulging disk in his back, and Jeremy Lin out because of injury, the Knicks have still been managing to pull out strong wins. This is because of the consistent performance from bench players like Steve Novak, J.R. Smith, and the rookie guard Iman Shumpert. Hopefully we will all be impressed with another win tomorrow night against the Hawks and a step closer to the playoffs.

 

Knicks Looking To Extend Winning Streak.

     Looks like the New York Knicks have been playing better under coaching scheme of Mike Woodson. Ever since Mike D'Antoni resigned from the head coaching position, the Knicks have won 5 games in a row. In my recent podcast post a few days ago, I discussed how Carmelo Anthony and D'Antoni's relationship was a little shaky which impacted Anthony's playing. Once D'Antoni resigned, it is almost as if the team clicked together and started playing like a playoff caliber team. Now lets go to the highlights of the Knicks most recent win against the Philadelphia 76ers.

     This game revolved around the outstanding performance of both Jeremy Lin and Amar'e Stoudemire. These two players are able to execute the pick and roll on a high level. With Lin's court vision and Stoudemire's skilled foot work and quick cuts to the basket, it is hard for defenders to stop this pick and roll offense. Lin finished the game with 18 points and 3 assists. Stoudemire led the Knicks with 21 points and 9 rebounds and shot an impressive 8 for 14 from the field. Another aspect seen in the last 5 games is the improved defensive of Anthony. Despite his 10 point performance in the win against the 76ers, he managed to impress fan with his improved swarming defense.
     Interim coach Mike Woodson seems to be handling the Knicks really well by trying to lead the team to a spot in the playoffs. Lets see if the Knicks can even out their record to 24-24 with a win against the Toronto Raptors, in Toronto. Keep checking out my blog for more recaps and thoughts on upcoming games!

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No More D'Antoni; No Problem!

It is said that Carmelo Anthony is the reason why Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni resigned. Despite the denial of this by Anthony, it does seems somewhat true. It is possible that the new system by interim coach Mike Woodson could be best for the Knicks team.

Knicks Win Two Straight After the Resignation of D'Antoni.

Fans and analysts have been saying how Carmelo Anthony is the main reason for the Knicks struggles. That claim was proven wrong after the resignation of coach Mike D'Antoni. The Knicks dismantled the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night with the score of 121-79. That blowout was followed by a 115-100 win against the Indiana Pacers last night. After watching these two games I came to an agreement with the claims that D'Antoni's offensive style of coaching did not fit with the players on the Knicks. This especially pertains to superstars like Anthony who need to have the ball for a majority of the game. The Knicks are now being coach by the assistant coach Mike Woodson. Woodson stated that his offense was going to primarily revolve around Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. Many analysts think that now, Anthony will be making most of the decisions for the team. Constant ball movement is also a major part in Woodson's offense. After Wednesday's and last night's game, it was proven that Woodson's offense was a great fit for the Knicks. Each play showed an unselfish mentality of each player as the assists piled on. Against the Blazers, the Knicks produced 35 assists total, and 17 assists against the Pacers. The improved ball movement was seen mostly from fast breaks. On a number of the fast breaks, there were at least three passes made before the ball was shot into the basket. It is highly possible that this change in coaching and offensive scheme was what the Knicks needed. After the resignation of D'Antoni, there was a drastic change in the teams style of play as well as team work and ball movement. It is also possible that interim coach Woodson's style of coaching is what the Knicks needed. It may also give Anthony the leadership that he was never given by D'Antoni. Woodson also believes in veteran players filling the starting line-up which will eventually terminate the starting role for Jeremy Lin. Hopefully this new style of play by the Knicks will keep up, allowing them to make a push for the playoffs.

Knicks Extend Losing Streak to Six.

The Knicks have added another loss to their losing streak, courtesy of the Chicago Bulls. The Knicks, who have been struggling lately against mediocre and elite teams, ended the game with a score of 104-99. The game was close until the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The Knicks were on a run leaving them behind 95-90 with 2:07 left on the clock. This run came to an end when Joakim Noah tipped the ball away from Amare Stoudemire, during a jump ball, which gave Derrick Rose the opportunity for an easy layup. After this play, the Bulls were able to outplay the Knicks on offense and pull away with the win. In this game, turnovers were actually not a huge factor. The loss was mostly contributed by poor defense, which allowed Rose to finish the game with 32 points and 7 assists. Unfortunately the Knicks did not have any dynamic scoring from any of their players which made it much harder for them to keep up with the Bulls elite offense. The recent weapon for the Knicks, Jeremy Lin, has failed to provide a "jaw-dropping" performance once again. In his first few starts, Lin led his team to an impressive winning streak without Carmelo Anthony or Stoudemire. He would provide over 20 points and 10 assists a night which excited fans in New York, giving him the title "Lin-Sanity." Lately, the young point guard has been unable to live up to this title. In the past few games he has not been playing to his "star-point guard" standards. It seems as if the super star run, by Lin, has come to an end. Now many teams have learned how to defend him, resulting in his court vision and offense being negatively affected. At first, Lin saved coach Mike D'Antoni's job with the number of wins he added to the Knicks record. But now with this consistent poor performance, D'Antoni is hanging on to his coaching position by a thread.

Add Another Loss to the Knicks Losing Streak.

     The New York Knick's 3 game losing streak started with the "messy" performance against the Celtics, then carried on with a loss to the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs. Lately the Knicks have been having some defensive struggles which makes their chance of defeating elite teams, such as the Spurs, minimal. Against the Mavericks, the Knicks were unable to stop the high arched fade away jump shooting of power forward Dirk Nowitzki. He led the Mavericks to a 95-85 win with 28 points and 3 rebounds. Tonight, the Spur's veteran point guard Tony Parker had fun tearing apart the Knicks. Parker led the Spurs to a 118-105 win, leading his team with 32 points and 6 assists.

     Critics cannot blame Carmelo Anthony for the Knicks loss this time. After a disappointing 6 point performance against the Mavericks, Anthony was able to bounce back tonight with 27 points and shooting 12 for 24 from the field. Jeremy Lin also finished the game with 20 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, and only 1 turnover. All together, the Knicks only had 10 turnovers against the Spurs, which was actually not bad compared to the amount of turnovers they usually have a night. Now the main question is; what was the reason for the Knicks loss tonight? First off, they were missing one of the most important pieces to their lineup; Tyson Chandler. Chandler sat out of tonight's game with an injured hamstring and his injury is said to be day-to-day. Chandler is one of the only Knicks players who provides constant defense for the team. With him out of the lineup it makes it easier for other teams to gain penetration. The second, and biggest, reason for the Knicks loss tonight was due to the fact that they were playing one of the top defensive teams in the league. The Spurs are especially talented at transition defense and stopping opposing fast breaks. Coach D'Antoni mainly shapes his teams offense around speed and creating fast break opportunities in transition. Unfortunately for him and the Knicks, their offensive plan was shut down by a solid defensive team.

     It seems that, once the Knicks fast break opportunity is cut off by the opposing defense, they struggle to set up an offense. When they do attempt to set up an offense, the ball movement tends to be sloppy resulting in a large number of turnovers. The Knicks will travel to Milwaukee on Friday for a match-up against the Bucks. The best preparation for this game would be to practice ball movement and a set offense rather than constantly relying on fast break points. 

Excessive Turnovers May Be the Reason for the Knicks Struggles.

     The saying, "Win some, lose some," does not suffice after the New York Knicks lost in overtime to their rival, the Boston Celtics with the score being 115-111. This was a game that Knicks fans were most interested in, especially because the Knicks defeated the Celtics in the season opener after the 2010-2011 playoff sweep by the Celtics. This time, the atmosphere for the Knicks was different than the season opener as they played last nights game in Boston.

     Unfortunately, last night Jeremy Lin was not able to produce another jaw dropping performance to lead the Knicks to another win. He had 14 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and also contributed 6 of the 22 Knicks turnovers in the loss. Turnovers were one of the most crucial factors in last nights loss. Imagine at least half of those 22 turnovers were actually a productive play. That would have possibly lead the Knicks to defeating the Celtics. Taking care of the ball has been one of the biggest problems for the Knicks this season. It seems as if they are too careless with the ball throughout their offense. In basketball the key to success is defense and making the most out of each possession; two problems which the team has been experiencing this season. The Knicks have to start treating each possession as if it is the final play of the game and try to execute an effective offense.
     Carmelo Anthony tried to set a spark to his offense, but unfortunately it was not enough. He finished the game 25 points, leading his team in scoring. Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler both finished the game with double-doubles, but the defense was not enough to stop the red-hot Celtics. The Knicks struggled to stop Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo, as both players tore apart the Knick's defense at many points throughout the game. Pierce finished the game with a season high 34 points. Of course, this win was a team effort, which is shown by the spread of points of the Celtics players, but the point guard, Rondo, deserves a majority of the credit. Rondo lead his team to a win with an amazing 18 points, 20 assists, and 17 rebounds, which recorded his fifth triple-double of the season. These statistics just show how much of a well-rounded player Rondo has become. He was able to effectively contribute as a great facilitator, scorer, and defender as well.
     Hopefully this game acts as a wake up call for the Knicks to work on minimizing turnovers and running a more effective offense. They travel to Dallas on Tuesday for a match-up against Chandler's previous team, the Mavericks. This will not be an easy game for New York, but if they look back on all the msitakes they made against the Celtics, they should be able to come out with a win.