New York Knicks slump persists as they fall under .500 once again – NBA update
Despite the star power infused by forward Carmelo Anthony in a block buster deal followed by a long-awaited trade, the New York Knicks winning percentage fell under .500 once again. The last time their number of defeats exceeded the number of wins was November
27 after a slow start, when the Knicks were comprehensively out played by the Atlanta Hawks at the Madison Square Garden.
After the humiliation of the defeat to the Hawks, New York retaliated and clinched eight straight victories followed by a confrontational 129-125 win over the Dallas Mavericks. The victory over the Mavericks featured six Knicks player landing in double figures
as the team was looking confident and active.
The team wavered before the All-Star Break but they managed to keep their winning percentage above the fifty percent mark. The All-Star, Carmelo Anthony, made his first appearance as a Knick in the next game after the All-Star weekend and landed a team-high
27 points to spearhead the team for the first win in the second half of the season.
This saw the Knicks establish a formidable partnership between Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony to drive their offense. It was anticipated that the two offensive powers would lead the team to the top, however it did not turn out this way. The Knicks
last defeat against the Orlando Magic resulted in their fourth straight loss and seventh in the last 10 meetings and they are below .500 once again.
Five times All-Star, Dwight Howard, utterly dominated the game-play by scoring a blistering game-high 33 points to overpower the Knicks.
Stoudemire who scored 13 points against the Magic said after the game, "I think we all are somewhat getting a fatigue factor setting in. It's been a crazy, crazy month for us so far. A lot of games in a few nights. We play great in the first half. We apply
so much energy. In the second half, we just kind of run out a little bit there."
New York Knicks are now standing at the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference with 35 victories and 36 defeats. In recent games, the Knicks failed to sustain their momentum in the defining moments of game play and allowed the opposition to take the win.
With the current situation in the East and the regular season coming to a close, New York will make it to the playoffs. However, they need to come up with a suitable option to lift the momentum as they will be facing the top teams in the upcoming games.
Anthony is determined to lead his team by example and expects his team to make a strong comeback. The superstar said after the Wednesday’s game, "This right now is a humbling experience for me, for the team, and right now we're taking some steps backwards
but there's light at the end of the tunnel, I can tell you that."
The Knicks have all the pieces in place. They just need to figure out how to work well together and they have a great chance of storming their conference.
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