New York knew it would be tough to make it a series once Iman Shumpert went down with a torn ACL. As it if that was not enough, Amare Stoudemire decided to go at war with a fire extinguisher and cut up his hand. Stoudemire would have to miss game three because of the injury. If those two blows were not enough, Baron Davis would then go down in game four tearing his ACL as well. The Knicks were down three point guards for game five. Jeremy Lin could not pull a Willis Reed as his knee still was not 100 percent. The Heat were just too talented for a Knicks team that was hobbled and in disarray.
The Knicks did not show much fight in game five as they could not get the game close in the second half. They trailed by double digits the entire second half and could not put any form of run on. The Heat had an answer to every move the Knicks tried to make. The Knickerbockers got the one team in the Eastern Conference that they did not want to play. They clearly would have matched up better playing the Bulls, who trail the eight seeded Sixers three games to two. Miami is by far the best team in the East right now. With Derrick Rose going down with a torn ACL, the Heat have instantly become the favorite out of the East.
Mike Woodson's squad has a very good team and one that can definitely contend once again next year. This team needs some backcourt help. Steve Nash will definitely be a guy that the Knicks will have on their radar. Jeremy Lin was huge for New York, but the league started to catch up with him a bit before he got hurt. The Knicks will most likely bring back Lin-sanity as he instantly became a fan favorite. The team still needs a lot of backcourt help as Iman Shumpert will not be back until around Christmas time and Baron Davis will miss almost all of next season. Landry Fields will also become a free agent and could have played his last game as a Knick. New York needs to bring in a guy who can score out of the backcourt helping out Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. Besides another point guard along with Lin, and a shooting guard, the Knicks need another big man to come off the bench. Jared Jeffries is not the answer. Jeffries played well off the bench this year, but New York needs another big man who is not a liability offensively.
Coach Woodson definitely deserves to return next year. Woodson had this team playing very good basketball finishing 18-6 to end the season. Unless Phil Jackson decides to come out of retirement, Mike Woodson should coach this team next season.
With a bit of backcourt help and some depth added to the bench, the Knicks could definitely come in next season after a full summer of training camp and compete with the Bulls and Heat at the top of the Eastern Conference.
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