To borrow a phrase from Jets coach Rex Ryan, this is the time of year when the Knicks are supposed to be “the biggest show in town.”
The football Giants and now the Jets have concluded their NFL seasons, while pitchers and catchers don’t report for spring training for another couple of weeks.
The sports landscape is as clear as it’s going to be for the Knicks to make an imprint as to whether they deserve further attention once the Yankees begin defense of their World Series championship and the Mets attempt to end their dysfunction.
Perhaps it was bad timing that the best run the Knicks have enjoyed in a while was overshadowed by the Jets’ improbable entry into the postseason and subsequent run to the AFC Championship game. A winning December and a 3-0 start to 2010 had the Knicks and many Garden fans hoping the team had become special again. But with so much attention on the surprising Jets, it was hardly back-page news.
But that stretch of solid play was followed by what coach Mike D’Antoni called “a lull” — six losses in eight games that had some mumbling “Same Ol’ Knicks.”
Their 50-point loss Sunday to the Mavericks, an eyesore of record proportions, made last night’s 132-105 wipeout of the horrible Timberwolves as much of a must win as any you’ll find in January. It begins a six-game stretch that could determine whether D’Antoni’s talk of making the playoffs has merit or is just wishful thinking. Another game at Minnesota, two against the disarmed Wizards and games against Toronto and Milwaukee offer a chance to prove these truly aren’t the “Same Ol’ Knicks.”
Last night’s game was a good beginning. The Timberwolves (9-37) hardly put up a fight as the Knicks (18-26) led 15-0 and a season-high 40-16 after one quarter. Only in the NBA can a team look as lethargic as the Knicks did Sunday and start the next game looking like Michael Jordan’s Bulls. Of course, the Timberwolves had a lot to do with that.
“Minnesota didn’t come out like they have in other games,” D’Antoni said. “That happens, too. But we’ll take it and go to the next game.”
The Knicks entered last night’s Garden affair trailing the eighth-place Bulls by four games in the loss column, prompting D’Antoni to underscore his urgency for a consistent pattern of play by saying, “These are our playoffs right now.”
While the Knicks haven’t been relevant in a while, they have enjoyed some promising moments this year. The crowd was electric for Friday’s game against the Lakers before leaving disappointed by a 115-105 loss to the defending champs. At least the game was competitive. Then came the 128-78 meltdown against Dallas, the worst home defeat in Garden history. Same Ol’ Knicks.
“We just didn’t play well against Dallas,” D’Antoni said. “Every once in a while those crop up, and it’s not good. But they responded in a good manner. Now we’ve just got to keep on going from here.”
The Knicks, who displayed plenty of energy last night, can take a cue from the Jets, who looked dead and buried at 4-6 and somehow found themselves in the playoffs. Just when it looked like they were the “Same Ol’ Jets,” they proved they weren’t.
While the Knicks won’t reach any championship games like the Jets, they can at least make the second half of their season interesting. But that doesn’t happen unless they start winning consistently.
“It’s up to us to keep this going for another 35 to 40 games,” D’Antoni said. “Every once in a while there will be an egg laid, but it can’t be very often.” If nothing else, five more games against weak opposition over the next two baseball-free weeks give the Knicks a chance to act like “the biggest show in town,” even if they’re not.