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.