New York Knicks: 10 Reasons "Nightmare Week" Didn't Derail N.Y.'s Playoff Chance
New York recently underwent a three-game losing streak where they lost to the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Two of those three games were against title contenders, and one was a game that they should have won.
People have started to question the likeliness of New York making the playoffs, especially with surprises in the East like the Indiana Pacers.
New York can easily make the playoffs and have shown that they can bounce back from losing streaks, when they came back from one a couple of weeks ago to go on an eight-game win streak, only to be ended by the "Nightmare Week" losing streak.
They Still Have Amar'e
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In seasons where Amar'e has played more than 55 games, his teams have been to the playoffs every season.
Amar'e is an intimidating presence in the paint, and his athleticism and sweet stroke help him score in almost every way imaginable.
He can shoot the jumper, take you in the post, finish the pick-and-roll and take his guy one-on-one.
He showed this intimidation factor in the recent eight-game win streak, and hasn't scored less than 20 in almost a month now.
His teams have always taken a ride with him all the way to the postseason, and he is looking to continue that trend in New York.
They Are Young and Have Fresh Legs
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The oldest player on the New York Knicks roster as of now is Roger Mason Jr., who is only 30 years old. This speaks loudly for the amount of youth New York has. Stoudemire still has two years to hit the 30 mark, so they have a lot of time.
They also have rookie upstart Landry Fields, who is contributing A LOT for someone picked with the 39th pick. He is averaging over seven rebounds per game as a shooting guard, and that is more than some starting centers average in this league (Andrea Bargnani and Brook Lopez should be taking note).
Raymond Felton
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Felton is almost a carbon copy of Amar'e Stoudemire's former MVP teammate Steve Nash, just without the ability to take a game over whenever he wants. Felton will leave that to Amar'e.
Felton possesses extreme speed and is able to blow by many players in a flash.
He has improved his jumper immensely since entering the league, which makes him a threat from outside, as well as on the inside when he drives.
He also does what every point guard who plays with Amare should be able to do: run the pick-and-roll. Being able to run this play has boosted Felton's stats, raising his numbers to almost 19 points per game and nine assists per game.
He was kind of contained in Larry Brown's half-court system, and given the opportunity to run the floor now, he is doing wonders with the ball.
Bad Contracts That May End Up in Good Trades
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Eddy Curry has THE worst contract in the entire NBA. Most people with bad contracts are at least on the floor contributing in some way.
Curry has been glued to the bench for almost two years, but he has a large expiring contract, which may be good trade bait.
Many team's would jump at the flexibility Curry's expiring contract would give them, and New York is probably already getting offers for him.
He may be a major piece in a trade I will look into later in this slide show.
Mike and His Offense
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Mike D'Antoni may be one of the best offensive coaches of all time.
His teams are always ranked up there with the best offenses, no matter how bad the players may be.
With a good roster this year, the run-n-gun system is making a comeback.
All the players on the roster have games built for the system, and as a result, they are all flourishing under Mike's teachings.
He promotes offense over defense, and they are winning games as of now because of it.
Come playoff time, more of an emphasis must be put on defense, but it is still the regular season and offense wins regular season games.
Fields Keeps Improving
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Landry Fields is one of the biggest surprises in the NBA. Like it was said before, he rebounds at a rate better than most centers.
Also, he provides some defense to a team that doesn't like to play it a lot.
Fields also has a good offensive game. He has a consistent jumper up to the three-point line. He can also drive, and finish shots after offensive rebounds.
His rebounding also makes up for Amar'e Stoudemire's less-than-stellar rebounding, which has actually improved this year.
In a fast-paced offense like New York's, Fields has a good chance to improve his offensive game with all the shots he gets.
Three-Point Shooting
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New York is built to shoot.
Galinari can hit threes almost at will, Mason is a good shooter off the bench and Chandler can make it rain from outside.
On top of all that, Raymond Felton improved his shot, and Amar'e has actually made some threes this season (let's not forget the one that would have won them the Boston game).
They can hurt you from outside, and it has shown, as most of their offense is either from the outside, or from Amar'e.
Inside-Out Scoring
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The Knicks roster is built to be versatile.
They can beat you off the drive, they can feed it to Amare down low and they can rain threes all game long.
Once Amar'e gets the ball down low, it's usually over, but he also has many options on the wing, including Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Landry Fields and Raymond Felton.
The bench has some options on the wing as well, and Anthony Randolph can prove to be an inside threat, once he gets some playing time.
The Eastern Conference
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The East is a very top heavy conference, which can aid New York to reach the playoffs. The East lacks a lot of depth, meaning the fifth through eighth seeds are usually up for grabs.
The Bulls used this to their advantage two seasons in a row, and were able to sneak into the playoffs.
New York should easily be able to grab any one of the spots mentioned, especially since it is a really talented team.
Like I said before, the offense is the key to winning season games, which should net the Knicks a playoff spot.
Carmelo Anthony
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We have all heard the rumors. Carmelo may be a Knick by the end of the season.
This would give the Knicks the best inside-out combo in the league, and would assure a playoff spot no matter what,
All the stops are being pulled to make this trade work, even though Knicks may have to give up Danilo and/or Anthony Randolph.
This trade can also even shoot the Knicks up into the top four, but until then, it's all speculation.
