This year was suppose to be a year where the New York Knicks were going to be in the hunt for a Championship. When Tyson Chandler joined the Knicks and declare that he came to the team to "Defend and Rebound" many thought that the New York Knicks had fixed their weakness. Many a fan (Myself included), and "Experts" thought that the Knick would struggle early while they get comfortable with their new teammates, but would eventually be one of the top three teams in the East with an outside chance at winning a Championship.
This is not the struggling I signed up for though. The New York Knicks have been geting embarrassed winning only two games in their last thirteen, against mostly sub .500 competition. I think that the injury to back up PF/C Josh Harrelson is a major factor to the teams struggle of late. Granted he is just a Rookie from the second round no less, but he is their big Man off of the bench. Josh Harrelson scores, spreads the floor with his long rage shooting, rebounds and most importantly if your a Knicks fan, the kid defends. With Josh out of the line up theonly big Man the Knicks have coming off of the bench is Jared Jeffries, who i am a fan of due to his effort and defense capabilities, but that one player isnt exactly depth.
Point Guard play has also been an issue. Toney Douglas has been in a slump of late and that is just me being nice. He is more of a scoring two guard that can play man defense anyway. The Rookie Iman Shumpert is going to be a terrific play for the Knicks. He plays EXCELLENT man defense and is very athletic. He is still a young player and isnt consistant enough yet to be counted on night in and night out. He is also still learning the position. Point Guard in the NBA is very different from College and if your on a Mike D'Antoni team the Point Guard is the most important player ad most difficult position to play. Shumpert like Douglas may be more suitable as a Two-Guard. The Knicks are missing a veteran starting PG and it shows......BADLY. Many think that when/if Baron Davis joins the lineup the Knicks will be a completely different team.
Well they are a completely different team right now. They have mostly fixed their defense, but noone was expecting for them to look this bad on the offensive side of the ball. With Amare's struggling and Carmelo's injuries the Knicks have had noone to truly carry the load. Each star player had their moments to shine, but neither have truly been the dominant player that they are capable of being. The refs seem to be taking Bribes as well, butthose things only stick out when your losing. Landry Fields is playing better of late, but he is suppose to. The Knicks and their players have been letting thier fans down and those fans have been letting the Knicks know about it.
When you watch a Knicks game you hear a lot of boos these days. you also have heard some cheering and believe it or not, but you would've heard A LOT of chants for a player named Jeremey Lin. Lin is an undrafted Asian American out of Harvard that played for the Warriors last year and was trying to make the Rockets team this year. The Knicks picked him up just so they would have a roster spot filled in case of injuries to their PG position. For some reason Knicks fans (Again myself included) have been waiting for Lin to get on the court. We have had a funny feeling that this kid that many thinks needs to stick with the D-League, is a player and can help this team.
Last night against the Nets you heard the boos I was talking about as the Knicks created a 12 point hole for themselves to dig their way out of. At the end of the night you heard something different. Jeremey Lin entered the game and played like a PG. Derron Williams had 10 points in the first quarter before Lin came into the game. He stayed on 10 for a very long time. Jeremey Lin penetrated to the rack, threw alley-oop passes, he protect the defensive borads, but did i mention that he threw alley-oop passes? Lins pass to Tyson Chandler was the play of the night.
Jeremey Lin is a true PG. He plays to set up his teammates and put them in the best position to score. That is what the Knicks have been missing and when the Madison Square Crowd was chanting JEREMEY, JEREMEY, it was pretty clear that we may have found it. Lin finished the game with 25 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. He had the crowd jumping, he was screaming to the rapters after and 1s, he was the decidng factor in a rare win for the New York Knicks and yeah, he had Carmelo Anthony bowing to HIM on the side line.
We havent been given mush to cheer for this year as Knicks fans, but last night we were proven right. A player that we the fans have been calling for and alking about showed up. Will he ever have a game like last nights again??? That is for the future, but for right now...... it feels good to FEEL GOOD111
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