Are the new-look New York Knicks legitimate title contenders?
Basketball fans in the Big Apple have craved an NBA Championship for a long-long time. Not since the days of Patrick Ewing and John Starks have the Knicks and Spike Lee dreamed about winning the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Their 37 year title drought though, might just be coming to an end; there are clouds on the horizon.
With the arrival of Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups from Denver after a quarter long trade saga, the Knicks are once again hopeful of winning an NBA Title. After adorning the Knicks’ colours earlier this season Amare’ Stoudemire has already proven to be a revelation. The inclusion of Anthony and Billups in the line-up has now provided the Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni some pivotal pieces to base his offensive system around and make a deep run in the play-offs.
Mike D’Antoni and his offensively oriented run-and-gun system will fit perfectly with Carmelo. While Amare’ Stoudemire, being the best pick-and-roll big man in the league will now have an opportunity to work with Chauncey Billups to try and re-create the success he had with swingman Steve Nash in Phoenix.
D’Antoni’s modus-operandi has always been to outscore the other team rather than playing defence and containing the other teams. The three loses that the Knicks have endured in the post-Carmelo era are testament to that very fact.
Their first defeat came against the lowly-rated Cleveland Cavaliers at the Madison Square Garden on 4th March. With Billups out of the game due to an injury Stoudemire etched out a monster 41 point night while Anthony added 29. The Knicks however still lost the game to a balanced Cavs offense that saw seven of their players score in double-digits.
A week later, Mike D’Antoni’s team allowed Dallas 41 points in the second quarter and 71 point in the first half. This was the Mavericks’ highest first-half total for the season. New York was also dominated on the glass as Shawn Marion alone snared six offensive rebounds and gave the Mavericks multiple second –chance opportunities. Despite Stoudemire’s 36 point performance, Marc Cuban’s Mavericks recorded an 18 point rout.
Then, on Sunday, New York allowed the Pacers to get too close to the rim on way too many occasions and got bullied by Tyler Hansbrough in the key area. The 28-44 disparity in points-in-the-paint clearly showed the Knicks defensive lapses on that night, and allowed the Pacers to shoot 57 percent from the field.
After the game, Mike D'Antoni said. "Defensively, it looked like we wanted to try to do it, almost like when you're in quicksand, they start kicking and they go down faster. They just weren't solid with anything."
For the Knicks, one of the main reasons for these losses is the apparent lack of focus on the defensive end. New York allowed its opponents to shoot more than 50 percent in these three defeats. Indiana came into the game ranked as the third-worst shooting team in the NBA with a 43 percent average, but went on to shoot the lights out on Sunday night as they posted a field-goal percentage of 57.
A look around the league shows that some of the best teams in the league are those that stifle the opposition with their defence and let that defensive energy set up their offense. If the Knicks can man-up and improve their defence, they might just be a legitimate contender from the Eastern Conference this season.
On the offensive end, the Knicks have a lot of options. Chauncey ‘Mr. Bigshot’ Billups is an effective knock-down shooter who can make timely baskets and set his team-mates up for easy scoring opportunities too. With Amare and Carmelo on the floor he can expect to be given easy and open looks at the basket. Then, there is Carmelo who can easily give any defender in the league nightmares when it comes to marking him one-on-one. Defenders will think twice about double-teaming Carmelo, because Amare will be open to slash to the rim for an easy dunk. The Knicks can get a lot of easy baskets this way, just running isolation plays for Carmelo.
Then, there is the pick-and-roll offense that the Knicks can perfect, ala Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. If Billups and Amare can run this play to perfection, it will be virtually impossible to counter, given the quickness of Amare’.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in the article are the writer’s own personal views and has nothing to do with bettor.com’s editorial policy.
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