Just Shut Up and Win

The Knicks have gone from a team that had all of the NBA talking for all the right reasons just two weeks ago.  They now are being talked about for all the wrong reasons.  New York is on a six game losing streak, Carmelo Anthony won't keep his mouth shut, and Mike D'Antoni has lost control of his team.  The Knicks chemistry is at an all time low as fingers are being pointed in all different directions.

Coach Mike D'Antoni has lost complete control of his team.  Carmelo Anthony has commented putting blame on the coach, while D'Antoni has done the same on Anthony.  Clearly, the relationship between the coach and his players is horrific right now.  The Knicks are not worried about winning and are more worried on blaming each other acting like children.  It's about time for them to just shut up and win ball games.  The Knicks are on the verge of missing the playoffs as they have fallen into a tie for the eighth seed in the east with the Bucks.  The Cavaliers are sitting right behind the Knicks just one game back.  If the Knicks cannot get a win in the next couple of games, D'Antoni's time in New York may be up before his contract expires at the end of the season. 

The Knicks clearly have the talent and a deep bench to get to the playoffs and do the damage.  This team needs to get their act together off the court and play the kind of basketball we saw in the month of February.  The team has struggled mightily since the return of Anthony following his injury.  Anthony cleared up the rumors of him wanting to be traded by saying he wants to remain a Knick.  Most Knicks fans at this point would have no problem trading Anthony, but there is nowhere he could go right now.  The Knicks gave up a ton to get him and he is not going anywhere. (at least not this season)  

The Knicks need to stop the talking and get back to their winning ways before it gets out of hand more than it has already.  The Knicks will face the Blazers at the Garden tonight and are in need of a huge win.  It's time that the Knicks win games, play team basketball, and stop pointing fingers at each other.  The Knicks have 24 games remaining, with 14 of those being against teams over .500.  

Baron Davis Thriving in New Role

For his entire career, Baron Davis has been more of a scorer and a bit of a selfish player.  He is used to taking a good amount of shots per game and throwing up threes from different area codes.  As a Knick, Davis has a new role, and so far since returning from injury, he has thrived at it.  Davis is now looked at as the guy to come in and distribute the rock when Jeremy Lin gets rest.  He knows that the Knicks have so many threats and he has been finding them all.  Davis does not come in and play with an ordinary group of bench players.  The Knicks have one of the best benches in the league.

Davis has guys like Steve Novak, J.R. Smith, and Iman Shumpert he can get the ball to off the bench who are all guys who can knock down shots.  As seen last night, Novak was draining threes from all over the place.  Novak made clutch three after clutch three in the fourth quarter helping put the game away in a 120-103 win against the Cavaliers.  Shumpert and Smith are guys who can also finish big close to the hoop.  They were the recipients of a couple of dazzling alley oops courtesy of Davis as well as Lin.

 The key to the Knicks success off the bench all starts with number 85.  Davis has changed his game up in a way that has made the Knicks extremely successful.  He knows he does not need to put up many shots for them to be successful.  He just needs to continue to be a catalyst and find the open guys because someone is going to knock down the shot or get a tremendous pass inside for an easy finish.  Davis was even finding Jared Jeffries for easy finishes last night.  Jeffries is more known for his defensive abilities.  Davis found him a couple of times last night for easy finishes making it look easy.  Lots of credit has got to go to Baron for the Knicks superb bench play over the month of February.