As a fan, specifically a Knicks fan, the 2011-12 NBA season has been one of the craziest I can remember. It’s been a roller coaster that, not only, spikes and plunges, but that at times felt like it was veering off the tracks, and at other times almost captured the Platonic ideal of what a rollercoaster should be.
Let’s recall that in early December it seemed that this season wasn’t even going to happen. I was busy lamenting the cruel irony that the Knicks most promising season in years was going to be snuffed out. But it’s darkest before the dawn, and the players and owners reached a 11th hour deal and suddenly the NBA was back. The Knicks made a surprising move, signing Tyson Chandler and amnestying Chaunchey Billups. The move gave the Knicks a defensive presence in the middle, but left them without an experienced Point Guard.
Friend of the blog Jake Langbecker was nice enough to take me to the Knicks opener on Christmas Day. The Knicks beat the Celtics, with an exciting 4th Quarter comeback led by Carmelo Anthony. The Garden was going bananas that day. I’m told it felt like a playoff game, though I have no personal experience to validate that.
The Knicks couldn’t follow up on the promise of opening a day and limped out to a sluggish beginning. Their lack of a true point guard, and a team wide shooting slump, made them excruciating to watch. Every Knicks possession followed the same pattern, a bunch of standing around followed by a jumper clanging off the back iron. The Knicks were miserable, and the season seemed like a lost cause.
Pushed to the brink, coach Mike D’antoni was forced to adjust his lineup. With Toney Douglas in shambles, D’antoni was forced to experiment with the undrafted Jeremy Lin. In a game against the Nets, Lin exploded for 20+ points and provided the Knicks with a quarterback for their offense. Lin became Linsanity, he was a juggernaut, a shooting star on an improbable course. He became, perhaps, the most famous basketball player in the world, he dominated ESPN and the various spheres of social media, notably this very blog. For a fan whose rooting career has been one disappointment after another, Lin’s success was like hitting the lottery. Finally, I was being repaid for my years of loyal fandom for subpar teams. Lin led the Knicks on a 7 game winning streak, bringing them back to .500 and giving fans in New York a reason to believe. It wasn’t just Lin, they’d begun to receive contributions from role players like Jared Jeffries and Steve Novak, but it seemed like Lin was the catalyst. Lin was even able to end the squabbling between MSG and TimeWarner, they came to a deal at the height of Linsanity.
The Knicks came back from the all-star break with a dominant win over the Cavs, but then the wheels fell off. Throughout Linsanity there was consternation over how Carmelo would fit into the revised Knicks offense. The answer seemed to be: not well. The Knicks dropped 6 in a row, basically setting them back to the point they’d been before Linsanity. On the day of the trade deadline coach Mike D’antoni resigned, amidst rumors that he sought to trade Carmelo.
D’antoni was deposed, and Mike Woodson, the teams defacto “defensive coordinator” was installed in his place. It amounted to a sort of coup d’etat by Carmelo, but it seemed the whole team was rejuvenated. Now the Knicks won 5 in a row. Their defense, long ignored under D’antoni, was fueling their offense, and the Knicks put up 4 straight blowouts.
The Knicks streak ended, but their good play continued. They ripped off a 3 game winning streak, but they were without Amar’e Stoudamire and Jeremy Lin. Stoudamire was done until the playoffs, but Lin was supposedly day-to-day. Without Lin, Anthony seemed rejuvenated, his scoring touch restored.
Then on April Fools Eve, the fates played a cruel prank. Lin wasn’t day-to-day, but out for 6 weeks with a torn meniscus. The Knicks were written off as finished by many, and the season seemed to take another sharp turn.
Allow me to provide some, perhaps misguided, optimism. There have been signs of life in recent games and maybe the Lin injury won’t prove fatal. After the ecstasy of Linsanity, he has slightly regressed into an above average point guard. He’s good, but he hasn’t been that transcendent force. Lin was a reasonably weak defender, and his injury may cause the Knicks to double down on their defensive formula.
Another reason for optimism is Carmelo Anthony’s revival. I’ve gotten the impression that Anthony is moody. His attitude reflects on his play in dramatic ways, and his return to unquestioned superstar has been good for his ego, and subsequently his play. Let’s remember that the team Anthony has now is basically the team that Lin carried to 7 straight wins, plus Baron Davis and JR Smith. Smith provides streaky scoring, and a surprising amount of defense. Davis is an established NBA Point Guard with a track record of success, though his health is a concern. Iman Shumpert has been a defensive force all year, but in recent games he's picked up his scoring. The Knicks are still a talented team, and I think they can win in the playoffs with defense and a superstar performance from Anthony.
I’m also happy about the return of Toney Douglas. The 3rd year guard has regressed this year. His shooting touch has been robbed by an offseason shoulder surgery, and he hasn’t been right the whole year. Douglas needed this surgery because of his brave, and foolish, habit of trying to run through every screen that’s set on him. That said, he’s a good defender and last year he tied a Knicks record with 9 three pointers. That night, in his hideous orange shoes, he looked like the future. Perhaps he can regain that form. Douglas has taken his fall from the rotation gracefully. He seems to be a team leader, and he sits closes to the coaches on the bench. Douglas will need to provide about 15 minutes of quality Point Guard play a night for the Knicks to have success, but that doesn’t seem outlandish.
As I’ve said before, I’m a sports optimist by necessity. What’s the point of watching sports if you do so out of spite. I’m not sure the Knicks will even make the playoffs, but I hope they will and I’d rather watch Knick games then almost anything else. I’m going to watch, and root, and hope, because that’s what sports is about. Jeremy Lin came out of nowhere to put the Knicks on the map, maybe the Knicks can follow that roadmap and carve out some success sans Lin.
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