Seriously.
Can you believe that exactly one month ago the Knicks, after losing 6 consecutive games, were a fetid 18-24? Seemingly no hope and no playoffs in sight. Yes, a coaching change provided an initial spark but then to make matters even worse the Knicks lost Amar'e and Lin to injury.
Well, the one thing about hitting rock bottom is that there is no where to go but up.
In the last month, with the season in the balance, the Knicks are 13-4 (9-0 at home) and now stand at 31-28. They currently have the 7th seed in the eastern conference playoff race, and are only 3 games back of Orlando with 7 games to play. Oh and by the way, the Magic will be with out a guy named Dwight Howard for the rest of the season.
Dare I say the New York Knicks are resilient team???
They came back from 10 down in the 4th quarter last Sunday to beat the Bulls in overtime.
They then came back again in the 4th a few days later to beat the Bucks on the road, on the second night of a back to back game.
And then of course, there was last night's game against the Wizards. A typical Knicks team would have had a let down after a key victory. But not these guys! They destroyed the Wizards by 38 points and held Washington to just 65 points! Wow.
How are they even doing this?
Well, for starters Carmelo Anthony is playing like a super star (which he is). He has taken a lot of the blame for the Knicks struggles this year, but there is no doubt that he is leading this team to the promised land when it counts the most - right now.
Additionally, Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert are playing at extremely high levels - particularly on the defensive end. Then you have role players that are playing within themselves and making significant contributions - Steve Novak, J.R. Smith.
And of course, as this all reaches a confluence other guys start to step up.
Take Baron Davis. Yesterday was his 33rd birthday. B Diddy celebrated by having his best game as a Knick - scoring 18 points on 7-9 shooting (4-5 from three). And keep mind, Baron isn't even fully heathy. Self admittedly, he still has some issues with his back:
Happy Birthday Baron!!!
I guess the Knicks take this Back to the Wall thing both figuratively and literally.
Okay, that was a low blow, but I had to have a little fun.
And that's how good the Knicks are playing now - you can have fun with them. Perviously, this play would have been embarrassing - but now, who cares? It's almost embarrassing to the Wizards - after all they got smoked by almost 40.
Of course, a dose of reality comes tomorrow.
The Knicks play the Heat. Might as well face reality now because if things keep going the way they have been - this could be a preview of a first round playoff matchup.
But Fret not Knicks fans! The Knicks (13-4) have actually been a better team than Miami (5-6) over the last month. And remember the last time the Knicks came off a lockout, with a lot of new faces, and had a crazy regular season, and had to go on a ridiculous winning streak just to make the playoffs??? That's right, they beat the number 1 seeded Heat in the first round and became the only number 8 seed in NBA history to make it to the Finals.
Any chance of a repeat?
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