4 Reasons New York Knicks Will Make the Playoffs Under Mike Woodson

The New York Knicks are back in the Eastern Conference playoff race with a perfect 3-0 record under interim head coach Mike Woodson.

Woodson was appointed the head man after Mike D'Antoni, the Knicks coach for the past three seasons, resigned Wednesday in the middle of his fourth year with the team amongst a six-game losing streak.

There were ongoing rumors that the team was falling apart, players on the team were confused as to what their roles were and what kind of team D'Antoni envisioned (a Lin-centric team vs. a 'Melo-centric team)—and this ultimately led to D'Antoni's resignation.

Despite the change at the helm, the Knicks have ripped off three straight wins, including back-to-back wins against the playoff-bound Indiana Pacers.

Linsanity is well and alive again and has people talking about a possible Knicks playoff run this season.

Here are four reasons why the New York Knicks will make the playoffs with Mike Woodson.

Revival of Linsanity

Before Linsanity took off on February 4th, the Knicks were an 8-15 team in an Eastern Conference that was there for the taking.

With two All-Star players on their roster (Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire), this was inexcusable. Lin turned a losing team into a winning one, going 9-3 as a starter before the six-game slump (they have recently won three in a row).

Linsanity breathed a breath of fresh air into a team that needed one.

However they would lose six in a row in a stretch of games where they looked like they were lost and didn't know where to turn late in games. Granted, some of the games lost were winnable (think back to Paul Pierce's three in the Boston game), but nonetheless they went into the loss column..

Under Mike Woodson's regime, he will delegate the offense to its two highest-paid players (Melo and Amare) down the stretch, and Lin will still have a prominent role on the team.

He will need continue to play mistake-free ball (his turnovers have been low in the three-game win streak) and attack the rim while being a distributor and aggressive defender.

Even when the Knicks were losing , he was still putting up good stats; however he has shown to be the player we came to love during the Knicks' recent win three-game win streak.

Improved Defense

The Knicks lack of defensive intensity showed during its six-game losing streak. They didn't press on every possession and sometimes guys on the other team would get easy scores.

During the Knicks' three-game winning streak, they have hounded other teams on the defensive end and thus have gotten stops.

They blew out Portland Wednesday night at home by 42 points and preceeded that with two double-digit wins over Indiana. The Knicks have turned into a much better defensive team with Mike Woodson at the helm, and they will need to stay that way if they want to turn their season around and make the playoffs for a second consecutive year.

Offense Running on All Cylinders

The Knicks have probably the deepest team in the NBA. At full strength, they feature an up-and-coming star in Lin, a world champion in Chandler and two all-NBA talents in S.T.A.T. and 'Melo.

Their bench is worth being talked about as well, with guys like J.R. Smith, a resurgent Steve Novak, Mike Bibby and Iman Shumpert. They have no shortage of talent on the team.

They have had no problems scoring the ball during their recent win streak with multiple players reaching double-digit points.

It is a good sign that the team is playing together; no one guy is taking all the shots and that has translated to wins. The fact that many of the bench guys are playing in the fourth quarter speaks well to the good job the offense is doing in the other three quarters of the game.

Nothing to Lose Mentality

Mike D'Antoni was a high-profile coach because of his coaching pedigree in Phoenix, where he coached two-time MVP Steve Nash, and his well-known love affair with New York City dating back to his playing days in Italy.

He was brought in to be an offensive guru who would lead the Knicks back to prominence and new heights.

However, when 'Melo was reinserted into the lineup after his injury and D'Antoni didn't have an answer to the Knicks' woes, he decided it was better to let the players figure it out for themselves by leaving the team.

Woodson is under no pressure to win this season because he is only the interim coach. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain from this position.

Coaching under this lack of pressure will hopefully make things easier for Woodson, since it's the pressure that seemed to cause D'Antoni to walk away.

So far the future looks bright, and for Woodson's head coaching job to be intact for next season he will have to hope it stays that way.