You never know
The Knicks picked up a gimme Saturday night at the Garden, bullying Detroit in an unwatchable game, 101-79. They turned over the ball eight times in the first quarter, 13 times in the first 18-plus minutes. If they were playing the Miami Heat, the game might have been lost right then. Against the Pistons, none of this mattered, because the “D” in Detroit apparently stands for D-league.
A win is a win for the Knicks and the energy was good. The “bummer,” as Mike Woodson tagged a bad loss Friday in Toronto, looks more like a baby step backwards now than a downhill slalom. But Jeremy Lin tweaked his knee and Amar’e Stoudemire’s stiff back kept him out of the fourth quarter. That latter problem, we know from last season, can sink the whole ship during the playoffs.
“It stiffened on him a little bit coming down the stretch,” Woodson said, about Stoudemire’s back. “A lot of that has to do with the fact we’ve had seven games in 11 days. It’s been a grind and it’s not going to get better. I am concerned.”
Stoudemire tried to douse all fears, without complete success. He insisted there was no pain, that he wouldn’t miss a game and that massage would do the trick.
“Nothing to get worried about,” said Stoudemire, who led the Knicks with 17 points. “There’s no reason I can’t play Monday. We keep an eye on it, make sure it’s loose. It feels much better.”
Still, the concentrated schedule and the nonstop pressure derived from a lousy start may be wear
ing on this
team, at just the wrong time. Lin said his knee hurt worse in the second half than in the first.
“The doc said it will be gone soon,” Lin said. “Just have to stay on top of it.”
Woodson insisted Lin could have returned if necessary. Mostly, Woodson didn’t sound at all like a coach whose team had just won a laugher and moved 1½ games ahead of the Bucks in the race for eighth place. The Knicks have posted pictures of the NBA championship trophy above their lockers, which might be as farfetched as the Jets talking Super Bowl in August.
“The turnovers are just ridiculous,” Woodson said. “We’re just too nonchalant. We will go back and break down this game tape and show Jeremy and Baron Davis where the mistakes were being made.”
On Monday, when Milwaukee comes to town, the Knicks really start yet another chapter in this abbreviated, meandering 66-game season. The Knicks were a terribly disappointing 8-15 on Feb. 3. Carmelo Anthony was pouting and then he was injured. Stoudemire was not much better and the team had no real playmaker.
The team’s second wind, Linsanity, was a joyful celebration, a resurrection of sorts for Mike D’antoni and the Garden. The Knicks, minus their two superstars, finally bought into the coach’s transition game at both ends of the court. The Knicks won seven straight while the new point guard, Jeremy Lin, graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in successive weeks. Magic fairy dust was in the air.
It all came apart from Feb. 23 through March 12, after Stoudemire and then Anthony returned. The team dropped six straight games and appeared in utter disarray. A tough schedule stretch didn’t help. D’antoni finally surrendered to his stars and was replaced by Woodson, which led to … yet another resurrection, with a new coach and a fresh commitment to defense.
That was all fine, but now Stoudemire is aching and the schedule grows difficult again. Next month, the Knicks play at Indiana, at Orlando, home and away against the Bulls and at Milwaukee. There are also games in April against the Heat, Celtics, Hawks and Clippers.
By then, we might be witnessing the Knicks’ sixth or seventh chapter in this season, another U-turn or two. Never has such a ho-hum record (24-25) represented such an exhilarating ride of highs and lows, of personnel fluctuations.
Coaches and point guards can change at any moment. The attitudes of superstars must be monitored and measured on a daily basis. It’s a good thing, after all, this season isn’t a full 82 games. We’re all far too dizzy already, and the Knicks are falling apart at the joints.