The Knicks are currently on a four game losing streak following the tough loss to the Mavericks at the Garden February 24th. I’m using this as my reference because that following morning I wake up to an alert stating point guard Raymond Felton was arrested for gun charges. As if the season could get any worse, the last thing this team needed was this kind of negative attention. After the arrest followed the press conferences from Coach Woodson and Raymond Felton. They both pleaded that the main focus would be New York basketball and making a playoff push for the last seed in the eastern conference. Well since then, they haven’t won a game. Their latest loss to Detroit last night Woodson admitted the off court problems were indeed a distraction to the team and the play of his point guard.
Like this wasn’t obvious to begin with, the Knicks are a lost cause as of right now. The Heat, Warriors, and Bulls losses I can grasp, but losing to the Pistons is just unexplainable to me. And after watching these games, it was just so hard to write about it because it is constantly the result of the same negative characteristics the franchise seems to have embodied, losing being the main component. The Pick and Roll or PnR as most journalist would use, is the most common play ran in the NBA. And unfortunately the Knicks have not found a way to defend it. The result of this usually is either a switch that results in a mismatch, or more commonly as of late no backside help on the defensive rotation leaving open lanes to the basket. In addition to there lack of defense in a half-court setting, the Knicks also have difficulty with transition defense. It is bizarre how often the Knicks score only to give up an layup within seconds off an inbound. I remember countless times especially in the Heat game where Lebron would get the inbound pass sprint up the court and get an layup because the Knicks weren’t prepared defensively. On offense their is a lack of confidence in majority of the Knicks players. They depend heavily on Carmelo Anthony to score in isolation plays. While this style of play works in spurs, it is not efficient enough to win games. The Knicks are at their best when they are making multiple passes in an half court setting. However they just haven’t been able to do it. They are now holding the ball way too often and just been playing a lot of one on one. Whether they make the playoffs will remain to be seen but at this point you can’t fathom them making a strong playoff run if they do. I have never seen a team be so relevant last season and decay so fast the following. This is not good for the Knicks organization especially when they are trying to convince Carmelo Anthony to stay at the end of this season as he looks to enter free agency.
The Sports Guru 