No Melo, No Stat, No Worries?
The Knicks have been taking the court without their two headlining stars and the results have been surprisingly productive. Stoudemire has missed four straight games following the tragic death of his brother, meanwhile Anthony has been sitting court side for the past three as he nurses a strained groin injury. Yet, in spite of their absences, the Knicks have finally begun to string a few victories together.
I’m not going to speculate whether or not New York is actually better off without their stars, but I will confidently say that the team is far better with the addition of Jeremy Lin. The Knicks have had a plethora of problems this season, but the most obvious one has been the gaping hole at the point guard position. After multiple auditions for the job, they have finally settled on the undrafted rookie out of Harvard and the results have been nothing short of “Linsanity”.
Since being handed the keys to D’Antoni’s point guard centered offense, Lin has been averaging 27 points and 8 assists per game, all of which have resulted in New York victories. In his first three starts, the young guard scored the 89 points, which was the most by any player in their first three games since 1974. This string of eye opening performances by the undrafted rookie is breathing life into a struggling New York squad and causing 29 General Managers around the league to lose sleep over their mistake.
The question now is, following this victorious stretch with the majority of the offense being run through Lin, how will the team perform once they have regained their stars? Ordinarily, when you win a game in spite of the absence of your best player, things figure to only improve that much more once they return. But in the case of the Knicks, an addition of two ball commanding offensive juggernauts may actually be reason for concern. As I’ve said before, Melo is someone who prefers to have the offense run through him, and for good reason. However, his tendency to hold on too long and disrupt the flow of the game often results in periods of stagnancy and rust for the team as a whole. The other four on the court regularly find themselves standing around and watching, which is a habit that should not be formed in the young, blossoming game of Jeremy Lin.
I’m not saying that when the two faces of the franchise return, so too will their losing ways, but it will be interesting to watch how the team responds to a pair of undeniable variables. If they can gel together, getting the most of each players game, then New York will certainly be a team to watch out for. But if they can’t, and rather then talent, mere ego prevails, then this will be a crumbling system which may be in need of a massive overhaul. Only time will tell.
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