The New York Knicks have caught fire just in time. The Knicks have won 15 of their last 16 games and the NBA playoffs begin in less than week. During this streak, the Knicks have beaten teams like the Memphis Grizzles, Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks and the Indiana Pacers, all who are currently playoff teams. Not to mention that all of the Knicks center players are injured, causing them to play small against other teams.
All Star Carmelo Anthony has been unstoppable during this current win streak. Anthony has scored 30 plus points in nine of the 16 games, including two 40-point games and a 50-point show out. Anthony is attempting to stop Oklahoma City Thunder’s star Kevin Durant from obtaining his fourth scoring title in a row. Anthony is currently averaging 28.7 point per game, while Durant is not far behind with 28.1 ppg. J.R. Smith, who is pushing for his 1st sixth man of the year award, has scored at least 20 points in 10 of the 16 games.
“When he comes in the game, we just play off each other,” Anthony said of teammate Smith. “I think it ends up affecting everybody out there. I’m just trying to piggyback off of what he’s doing. He’s playing extremely well.” With this duo playing full force, the Knicks are looking pretty good going into this year’s playoffs.
When fans, players and the coaching staff were informed that Amare Stoudemire would be out for six weeks about a month ago, there were a lot of worries that the Knicks would not do very well the rest of the season. However, after winning 50 plus games, securing the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference winning 13 straight games and the hot play of Smith and Anthony, the Knicks are now looking like favorites to win the Eastern Conference Championship.
