Knick Knotes

The New York Knicks are climbing up the ladder from the basement into contention. Accroding to power rankings New York was ranked 25th in the leage, and due to a recent hot streak there moving up and land at 21!

The Knicks have started their gold rush into the west last night against the Golden State Warriors and play in the west coast for the next four games. The last time the Knicks played the Warriors they lost by 28 points and that was the game where we first heard of the MSG famous "Fire Isiah!" chants. This time we played in their home and only lost by 2. Is that an improvement or is a loss a loss? Considering the way the Knicks have been playing lately, that is most definatly an improvement. They won their last five out of eight games including wins against Detroit and Washington.

Whats contibuting to the Knicks sudden spurge of wins? consider the following

- Isiah Thomas was told by Jim Dolan that if team doesn't turn itself around then he is the first to leave. Isiah is now put on the spot and his team doesn't want him gone. If we look back at the comfortable positions of Isiah, we see that thats when the knicks will fall. Isiah was given an extention last season to stay with the knicks as head coach and won only 6 more games the rest of the season. This season Dolan said Isiah is here to stay, the knicks returned home with an 6 game losing steak, which eventually became 8. Isiah knows how much is at stake, now his team looks serious.

-Starless: No point guard? No problem! Stephon Marbury had surgery on his left ankle this past week. Although Marbury is the knicks face the past few seasons, it seems the knicks play better without him and gives other players like Crawford, Robinson and Jones to play to their fullest. Now lets see where the knicks will put themselves now that they are confident a cocky point guard is sitting on the bench fighting with his coach about his playing time.

-Lee factor: Isiah has finally listened to what Knicks fans have been wanting since last year. "Start David Lee!" The Knicks head coach has given Lee more starts and overall more playing time in the last couple of weeks. Eddy Curry took the hit this time, and is getting less playing time. Curry is not a factor to why we are losing, but he is a factor to why we lose the 2 or 3 point games. Curry is lazy, he isnt a good shooter on the line, cant get up for rebounds as good as lee, and all these put together is a player who hurts his team.

-Mix n Match: thomas has also been mixing up his starting rotation in the last couple of weeks. Keep it that way! Robinson is a hustler, Collins is making a name, and Jamal is just fabulous lately! If this rotation keeps getting mixed and matched so that all the players have sufficient playing time it increases teams confidence and all the more so followed by a win!

Now we come to the part where i would be asked "Hey Don, are the Knicks making the playoffs?" i would answer like this. "If they keep there game going consistantly the way they are now, being only 4.5 back the 8th seeded Pacers, then not only will they make the 8th seed, i'll go as far to say i think they can get the 6th seed!"

Coming up for the knicks, Hitting up the west side, Lakers, Jazz and Trailblazers. LETS DO THIS!!