by The Rabbi (Video Editor of "On The Sportslines")
So, I've been keeping up with these blogs, doing them bi-weekly and I was stumped on what to do this week.
It's been too depressing to talk about hockey season (thanks Rangers), it's a teeny bit too unpredictable to talk about College Basketball (thanks every single #1 team losing every single week).
Then, I watched the Knicks this past Wendesday. As a Knick fan, this season has been a roller coaster of a ride (the last chat I had with OTSL's Jay Kaplan showed how frustrated we both were), but for JUST one night, I took all of that aside and took in what can be considered one of the best NBA games this season to watch, which was saying something in a week where there were a ton of them (anyone see the Heat-Kings Double OT thriller the night before?).
Warriors-Knicks had a lot of story lines going for it outside of former St. John's and Knicks hero Mark Jackson returning to his 2nd home at the World's Most Famous Arena. For one, the Warriors came into the game shorthanded, without the services of ANOTHER former Knick hero, David Lee, due to his part in a wild brawl (by TODAY'S NBA standards), Tuesday night against the Pacers. So, while yes, the Warriors may have been without their second best player, but this game almost made you forget all of that by the time it was over.
First of all, how about Stephen Curry? Let me tell you about the season this man has had (now I SOUND like Hubie Brown). He has (as mentioned two weeks ago) benefited greatly from no longer sharing the backcourt with Monta Ellis (more on him a bit later in this piece). Steph Curry just wanted to be the man. Steph Curry wanted to be THE Go-To player on an up and coming team. Last night might have been his coming out party. Curry became only the 14th person in MSG history to come up with a 50+ point game, dropping 54 on the Knickerbockers. NO ONE had that total in the NBA this year, not Lebron, not Durant, not the guy on the other side who leads the NBA in first quarter scoring (some guy the Garden Faithful call 'Melo). NO ONE. Four years to the month when Knicks fans witnessed a three day span where Kobe went for 61 and THEN LeBron went for 52, they got to see Steph Curry put on a show with the dimension of it coming against a much better Knicks team, even if their defense is highly questionable right now.
Stephen Curry, on a team that didn't have too many other options went 18-28 from the field including 11-13 from 3 point range. 11 FOR 13!!! That's insane! This was a game when even a fan of 1980's basketball wouldn't just say they were watching Dell Curry's son, they could say with some measure of confidence that they were watching the next great scorer in the NBA. Stephen was the definition of a One Man Gang Wednesday night and that can be evidenced by the breakdown of Golden State's points: 54 points for Steph, 51 from anyone else not named Steph. Whether Curry feels slighted for not being an All Star in 2013, or feels slighted that he was one pick away from being a Knick in 2009 (how's Jordan Hill working out? oh, right), something motivated Steph Curry to have the performance of his life.
Oh, and to get away from my ranting, copy and paste this link to see the latest on what the aforementioned Monta Ellis did for his new team, the Milwaukee Bucks:
It does make me think both Ellis and Curry are doing fine.
Moving on to Steph Curry's victims, the Knicks. When I talked about JR Smith two weeks ago as the Wild Card on this team, my pal Jay Kaplan went so far to call him John Starks-ian (though for me JR Smith has a LONG way to go to be John Starks, a LONG way), but against Golden State we saw the good JR Smith. He went 10-19 from the field (the only one who actually shot 50% from the field for the Knicks, which is almost a miracle in itself), including six Three Pointers of his own to go against Steph's 11. It may be a performance that we'll see from him more than once between now and playoff time, but it was surely the kind of game that can get him on a something of a hot streak again. As I mentioned, when JR Smith is actually on, the team feeds off his energy. Smith's go-ahead shot with under two minutes left in the fourth quarter is the type of shot the Knicks will need him to make down the stretch.
As for Carmelo Anthony, did he shoot too much en route to his 35 points? Is the former pope Catholic? Nevertheless, the Knicks will always need Carmelo to be that big scorer regardless and against Golden State, he was just that. Even when Anthony is getting other people involved, he's usually getting himself involved first and foremost. With the Amare Stoudemire still on a minute count of 30, the Knicks have needed Carmelo to be THE GUY who puts the ball into the basket, first and foremost. When point guards like Raymond Felton are on the floor, Melo is usually a pretty good option to go to. I've been in and out on if he deserves Top 5 MVP voting this year, but right now I'm in. I feel like not only has Melo been the key scoring option on this team (well, duh), but he's improved himself this year and become more than just the top points-per-game guy, but he's also become a leader on the team too.
Well, maybe co-leader. The most impressive thing outside of the 54 points that Curry put up against New York was Tyson Chandler, who took advantage of Warriors big man Lee being suspended and went all H.A.M. (I am allowed to say that, right judges?) on the boards last night and put up 13 rebounds.
Oh I'm sorry, what I meant to say was, 13 rebounds in the first quarter. Sorry about that.
You can never find a problem with what has been the biggest non-Melo acquisition for this team. Sure, Tyson's offense (yes, he has provided some!) has been somewhat here and there (16 points against the Warriors qualifies as a "here"), but something that Knicks fans see EVERY game is Chandler's defensive abilities. It was a lot more of a question a year ago when he was surprisingly crowned NBA Defensive player of the Year; despite playing half of the year on a Mike (no D) 'Antoni team, shockingly. This year though, with the presumptive Defensive Player of the Year flailing in LA (Dwight Howard), Tyson put his name in the running with his performance against Golden State. Sure, he was supposed to dominate as the only true "big" on the floor, but 28 rebounds? This is a feat that has never been achieved in the long career of Tyson Chandler and is quite an accomplishment. Cheers to you, Mr. Chandler for singlehandedly getting double digits on the offensive AND defensive boards.
This short blog post reminded me why I like being a Knick fan this year. Yes, there is the pessimism of the team being too old and yes, I always find myself asking "where are they going to screw up?" (and will continue to do so from now until the day the Knicks get eliminated from the playoffs even the most realistic Knick fan thinks that it will happen), it's games like this 109-105 win over the Warriors DESPITE the 54 from Stephen Curry that make me realize - and I hate to sound presidential here - that I AM better off with the New York Knicks than I was 4 years ago. It's not too embarrassing to be a Knick (or in this case a Warrior) fan anymore.
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