New York Knicks: Post Season or Problems
By A. Mazzolini
Today the National Basketball Association gets back to playing real games after the league’s festivities that people call the
. For the
, who will get back on the hardwoods tomorrow night against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the friendly confine of MSG, this means one more day of trying to gel together a lot of players that for now have not. This team has as much talent on their roster as they have questions to answer, from who is going to be the floor general during the game, who will have the ball in crunch time, can so many players all live under one scheme and be as effective as possible. And those are just a few of the question marks that come to mind when you look at head coach Mike D’Antoni’s squad.
My first concern when it comes to the Knickerbockers is how well Jeremy Lin fares in the second half of the season. After watching how poorly he played against the Miami Heat it’s only logical to wonder if the second year guard can handle the pressure, especially when the fan base is now not just looking for the squad to make it into the playoffs, but to make a deep run in the post season. While I hate using catch phrases, Lin is truly a “victim of his own success”, but could also be put into the “having put the cart before the horse” category, as “Linsanity” spread like wild fire and the most of the analysts and experts, as well as fans and bloggers, like myself, drank the kool-aid about him very quickly. Now, all have calmed down a bit about the fanfare, but the NY coaching staff has to deal with it and see how to move forward for the rest of the season.
But the other question, maybe more important for the Knicks, is how well are their two stars doing. Carmelo Anthony, who seems to have been slow to come back, but looked fine this weekend, will have to lead by example, but not by just shooting. That is something that is not natural to the former Syrcause stand out, and will this make his less of a talent on the court and bring out hard feeling in the locker rooms? On the other hand, Amar’e Stoudemire seems to have clicked with Lin, but also seems to have lost a step on the hardwoods. These two things from the pair of super stars that don the uniform can not make you feel too happy about the short, or long, term future for this franchise.
"“Amare is not nearly as explosive as he was two or three years ago,” Barkley said. “… Those injuries do take their toll.”"
The great thing about sports, from recreational to professional, or anywhere in between, it’s that the games are the true reality television shows. Of course being staged in New York city the reality show is like walking a tight rope without a safety net. For the Knicks that is the case right now, as they have their fans on a high and both the head coach and his players can ill afford to crumble and miss the post season.