Playoffs & beyond the Knick goal
It has been an exhausting and costly two weeks for the Knicks. You could practically hear the players exhale in the locker room following their victory over Cleveland Saturday night. That game ended a stretch of eight games over 11 days — a brutal span that saw three crucial players go down with injury.
Forward Amar’e Stoudemire is out for two to four weeks with a bulging disc in his back. Point guard Jeremy Lin will have arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee this week and is out six weeks. Jared Jefferies, a defensive specialist off the bench, has missed the last five games with an inflamed knee.
With interim coach Mike Woodson making adjustments on the fly, the Knicks (27-26) have been able to roll with those losses. How long he will be able to keep the Knicks’ playoff hopes alive depends upon his acumen and creativity and the health of the remaining players on the roster.
As the injuries have mounted, woods on has to get the knicks to buy into something else now — the thought that they have enough to push through in to the playoffs.
“We still control our destiny and we have to understand that,” Woodson said following the victory over cleveland.
Do they have enough energy left to breathe life into that message? Here is what they have working in their favor: They are resilient and committed to playing solid defense for four-quarters.
The Knicks are getting a reprieve this week. They have two games in the next seven days. They play at Indiana on Tuesday and at Orlando on Thursday. That will give Woodson and the Knicks an opportunity to regroup and get healthier before starting a home-and-home against the bulls at the garden on sunday.
So far woods on has worked wonders getting the knicks to play hard, particularly on defense. They are 9-2 since Woodson took over from Mike D’antoni, who abruptly resigned last month, and 21/ games up on Milwaukee for that final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They are hoping to maintain their grasp on that, and trying to win the atlantic division.
“Without a doubt. That’s our belief,” Carmelo Anthony said when asked if he thought they had enough healthy bodies and energy to win the division. “Right now that’s our confidence. That’s where west and. that’s how we approach every game.”
Woodson has had to reshape a team that has lost one of its most dominant presences down low in Stoudemire and the engine that drives the team in lin.
The Knicks are playing a much different style without Stou-demire and lin, but they have been successful.
It is a slower pace without Lin running the point. Baron Davis, who is nursing a sore hamstring and a balky back, doesn’t have Lin’s speed or flash in the lane.
“Jeremy is a lot livelier than Baron in terms of movement,” Woodson said. “Baron has been around. He’s a crafty veteran, but he’s playing banged up right now. he’s not the baron of old. jeremy brings a lot to the table. we’re going to miss what he brings.”
Anthony has responded by picking up his scoring. But he knows what’s ahead.
“Teams will try to cater their defense to get the ball out of my hands — double teams, ”he said.“we’ve been doing pretty good facing the double team, getting the ballout, guys attacking on the weak side, making open shots. that loosens the defenseup.”
Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith have helped Anthony with the scoring loadin the last two games. But they will need more. woods on said he will have to find a way to get landry fields back into the mix.
“You have to adjust as the game goes to see how the game goes, see who you’re out there with and play basketball at the end of the day,” anthony said.