Boy, it sure sounded strange to hear anyone associated with the Knicks remotely suggest the team is exceeding anyone’s expectations. But that’s the tune Allan Houston was singing as the Knicks last night prepared for what certainly had the makings of a reality check against the Lakers.
Following the All-Star break, the Knicks return to work with 34 games remaining, 21 coming on the road compared with only 13 at the Garden. That sure appears ominous, as the Knicks are 6-14 on the road and will embark on a six-game western swing soon after the break. None of this seemed to faze Houston.
“Yeah, it’s going to be tough, but before the season people were saying our whole season’s going to be tough,” Houston said. “I bet you if you’d asked a lot of people if they would have thought we’d be where we are now they wouldn’t have believed you. That’s who we are. We go against the odds and make the most out of it.”
Was this really an I-told-you-so coming from the Knicks? The same Knicks who, after winning seven of their last 10 games, still managed to compile a record no better than 21-26?
“We feel like we’re probably playing the best we’ve played all season,” Houston explained. “The minute you take a breath of relief is the minute you can slip. You have to guard against that.”
There should be no exhales or signs of relief among the Knicks, despite what they consider to be the possibility of a promising season. It is true that expectations crumbled once Antonio McDyess went down with a catastrophic knee injury, and it’s also true that few anticipated the Knicks at this juncture of the season would be ahead of last year’s pace (they were 19-28 a year ago after 47 games).
Sure, the Knicks are on the fringe of the playoff race, but the odds remain stacked against them and there are few indications they would be anything other than first-round fodder if they did squeeze into the postseason.
At least their last game before the break was set to provide a clue as to what these Knicks are all about. The Lakers came in having hit their stride, unquestionably set to rise in the Western Conference and secure their playoff positioning. The Knicks want to believe they can do the same in the Eastern Conference, but their body of work suggests otherwise.
“We have our shortcomings,” Don Chaney said. “We’re not very big, we’ve had guys injured, we’ve had adjustments to make, the biggest key is we have to play consistent. I just want to be in that cluster.
“If we can just win those games at home we’re supposed to win and beat the teams we’re supposed to beat, in general, I think we’ll have a chance. Because you’re going win some games people don’t expect you to win, hopefully [last night] was one of them.”