Regardless of when this town turns its attention away from the football field and focuses back on the Knicks, Jeff Van Gundy’s team is currently light years away from the team that scored 58 points against the Jazz in December.
The Knicks have won eight of their last nine games, including Saturday’s 91-78 bludgeoning of the Blazers at the Garden, and are looking more and more like a serious challenger to advance to – and win – this year’s Finals. This has been Van Gundy’s mission from the start, and the Knicks are looking more like a contender than they have all season.
Given the Knicks’ recent success, this afternoon’s tilt with the Spurs at the Garden bears a great deal of importance, according to Van Gundy.
“I’m curious to see if we’re maturing to the point where we can come out [against the Spurs] and be energized by that performance [against the Blazers],” Van Gundy said yesterday, “rather than having it cut into our sense of urgency.”
Being that the Knicks are hosting their 1999 Finals nemesis this afternoon, there shouldn’t be any Knicks in the locker room not juiced, period.
“I’ll always get up for that game,” Alan Houston said yesterday. “Just because of [the Finals]. You have to remember, it was the only chance, up until now, of us winning a championship, and that was against that team and it’s still a lot of the same guys.”
As for the Knicks, there are some new characters in the cast, but Houston said that once a rivalry gets started, even the fresh faces get wrapped up in the moment.
“I think they feed off of our emotions and energy,” Houston said. “Just like when Spree came, I remember in the Miami series he kinda fed off that. He was more hyped than we were.”
Van Gundy said that today’s game is a lot like the second game of a playoff series. While the Knicks won their game Saturday, the Spurs lost in Philadelphia, thereby setting up a virtual 1-0 lead for the Knicks.
“We did a good job against this team when we played down there,” Latrell Sprewell said of the Knicks’ 86-83 win in San Antonio last month. “So, we’re gonna have to play to what we did right and think about the effort that we had the last game, and I think we’ll be fine.”
The Knicks have been winning by playing big-time defense and keeping teams like the Blazers (39.7 percent) from getting good looks at the basket. In the Dec. 7 win at San Antonio the Knicks followed the same blueprint, as the Spurs shot 40.9 percent and fumbled a 14-point lead to the Knicks.
And of course, the talk turned back to football, as it was pointed out that the Knicks seem to be winning games much like the Baltimore Ravens have been doing in the NFL Playoffs.
“I think we have – not to take anything away from the Ravens – but I think we have a little more focus on offense,” Houston said. “There are times when we don’t turn the ball over, and I think we’re in between the Giants and the Ravens. Because the Giants don’t turn the ball over that much.
“Hey, you see where they are right now.”
And that’s exactly where the Knicks want to be, in basketball terms.