Recap of the Knicks 111-78 win over the Bobcats

The Knicks won over the Bobcats in blowout fashion, winning 111-78. Finally, it was the re-emergance of the team that we all thought we were getting in the beginning of the year, the team that had mysteriously disappeared after the Christmas showdown against Boston.

Gone was the offense which had become so stagnant we had to check its PH level.

Gone was the lack of touches and abundance of jumpers for Amare Stoudemire.

Gone was the Knicks practically using Carmelo Anthony as a “Get out of jail free “ card. For the first time in a long time, for as long as it could be 15 games into the season, the Knicks were a free-flowing unit.

So what changed?

Perhaps it was the crushing double OT defeat at the hands of the cold-blooded exes in Danilo Gallinari, Al Harrington and ::gulp:: Timmmmayyyy Mozgov which extended the losing streak to six straight. Or maybe it was the daily occurrence of career-nights by average players.

Whatever it was, it was gone tonight. It was a peculiar game where 13 Knicks played and it’s lowest scoring output was that from a relatively healthy Carmelo Anthony who had just one point. Despite that total, he contributed in other ways with four assists and a team-high 11 defensive boards. Oh, and perhaps his biggest contribution? He only took seven shots.

So maybe that’s the recipe: Less dependence on Carmelo’s scoring ability and more emphasis on penetration and getting the team involved. STAT, who previously could have moonlighted as a Ninja Turtle the way he had been a shell of his old self, brought the bench to its feet after several dunks dubbed by Walt Clyde Frazier as “Master Blasters.” He was not a timid jumps shooter; he was ferocious. Tyson Chandler showed his size and hustle all game long, nabbing 17 boards over the likes of Byron Mullens, DeSagana Diop and Bismack Biyombo – all guys he should be getting 17 boards over yet hadn’t been. And there was another important occurrence that will probably be overlooked by many: Mike Bibby played. For a team lacking on-court leadership yet still being superfluous with combo guards impersonating point guards, Bibby represents the only healthy guy on the roster who can keep the Knicks from falling into the 1-on-1 trap they love to fall into.  He proved just that, that he could get the Knicks offense going when he and Amare led the Knicks offense in the second quarter, getting Amare the ball in the position to score rather than in the position to create. And who would think that all that needed to happen for Bibby to play was for the Knicks to lose its backup rookie power forward, Josh Harrellson for a month and a half?

Whatever it was, hopefully these are the Knicks to stay for the rest of the season. And even if its not, at least it put a temporary stop to the bleeding, essentially all we need before the Baron Davis band-aid is thrown into the mix later this week.

Knicks: What’s the Point?!

It has become more evident that the lack of a point guard is hurting these Knicks a whole lot more than anybody could have previously imagined. I could spend all my time imagining the grandeur of the Nash to Stoudemire pick-and-roll next season, but I’m not sure exactly how much more of this I could take.

This is not the Knicks of old, they’re losing in whole new ways.

The addition of Tyson Chandler truly erased the common misconception of D’Antoni-led teams devoid of defense. This team defends. Chandler flies around the court as if he was Ed Reed in the open field and he affects more shots than the statistics would indicate. Dwight Howards 8-point game shows just the effect he has on the team. But the Magic victory also shows that they are far from a finished product. The problem is that while they defend the top guys infinitely better, its the role players are killing them.This isn’t the YMCA. If you put all your efforts into shutting out the other team’s dominant player, NBA players can hit open threes. Hint: If the guy is white and standing behind the three-point arc, he’s going to kill the Knicks.

New Yorkers need to stop putting this all on D’Antoni’s shoulders. Agreed, said to possess arcane knowledge for offensive schematics, this team does look a lot like a bunch of chickens sans heads. I’ve seen 5-year old foreign children in Disneyland look less lost. But that’s exactly where the team needs a true point guard.

D’Antoni a point guard coach and this team lacks just that. Forget him for a second; what coach doesn’t need a smart point guard to be successful?

Toney Douglas is a backup. He scores in spurts, primary offensive weapon is three-pointers (well, last year he did), and plays solid defense, but doesn’t run an offense. Yep, that’s a backup.

Iman Shumpert looks as if he could be one of the best players out of the draft, but he’s no point guard. (Note to self: If the scouts call a guy a combo-guard it only means that they possess point guard handle with no point guard mindset whatsoever.) Still, it’s quite enjoyable to watch him fail so impressively.

Then there’s the beard, B-Diddy. If Baron Davis’s doesn’t hold up or worse, his back holds up but he transforms into the 3-happy cancer he has been previously then the Knicks need to make a move for somebody the likes of Nash or Andre Miller.

And only then can the Knicks really start to gel and start living out our wildest expectations.