Knicks All-Star Awesome Foursome

The New York Knicks have high hopes for the up-coming All Star weekend, with four participants competing in their respective categories.

The Knicks have two players competing in the All Star game, with Carmelo Anthony voted in to the starting line up as well as Tyson Chandler being chosen (by the coaches) to come in off the bench for the East. Anthony received 1,460,950 votes placing him as the second highest vote getter in the East, behind Lebron James (1,583,646). It is Tyson Chandlers first appearance in the All Star game and Anthony’s seventh.

James White has been chosen to compete in the 2013 NBA All Star Slam Dunk contest. He will be competing against Eric Bledsoe, Kenneth Faried, Jeremy Evans, Gerald Green and Terrence Ross. The Knicks have high hopes for James White and his dunking ability.

“I dont practice dunks, I just go out there and make it happen” – James White on wheather he will practice before the contest.

Steve Novak has been chosen to compete in the 2012 NBA All Star three point contest. He will be competing against Paul George, Kyrie Irving, Ryan Anderson, Matt Bonner and Steph Curry. The field looks strong, however the Knicks are confident in there 44.4 percent three point shooting sf/pf as Novak currently holds the third highest three point percentage in the NBA.

“He should be right at home with those racks and the ball in his hands” – Coach Woodsons reactions when asked about Novaks release possibly changing.

To summarise, it is an exciting All Star weekend for Knicks players and fans alike and the Knicks are hoping that there ‘awesome foursome’ brings back some hardware.

Brent Kitchin

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Knicks v Celtics – The Melo Of Old?

In the Knicks loss to the Celtics Carmelo Anthony was coming off of an impressive week, averaging over 36 ppg and having a season average of 29.3ppg, making him the second leading scorer in the league.

With Melo getting in to early foul trouble (receiving his second at the seven minute mark of the first quarter) it was obvious that it was going to be a rough night. But it was how he handled this that was most disappointing.

Carmelo was going at it with known trash talking legend Kevin Garnett throughout the entire second half, and both of them received a technical foul for their constant badgering back and forth. As well as this Carmelo picked up both his fourth and fifth foul by playing overly aggressive defense down low on Pierce and KG, in fact it was as though he went looking for the foul! Which is not what you want from your leading scorer.

As the Knicks were down in the fourth, Carmelo continued to battle with KG as well as repeatedly handling the ball down the court and ‘jacking’ up contested threes.

Carmelo finished with 20 points on 6 of 26 shooting from the field and 4 of 12 from the three point line.

It has also been recently reported from various sources that Carmelo got in to some type of altercation outside of the Celtics locker rooms, but the specifics are yet to be announced. Sources are saying that Carmelo was waiting outside the Celtics locker room and got in to a verbal altercation.

For Knicks fans, the ‘Melo of old’ is something they never want to see again.

On a positive note JR Smith was again reliable leading the Knicks in scoring with 24 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steels.

Brent Kitchin

Top 10 in the race to the MVP – the fans have spoken

To Celebrate the new year NBA.com have released the current player rankings as voted by the fans in the race for the 2013 regular season MVP award.

1. Lebron James 26.6ppg, 6.9apg, 8.5rpg (Miami 22-9)
2. Kevin Durant 28.3ppg, 4.1apg,  7.8rpg (OKC 25-7)
3. Chris Paul 17ppg, 9.3apg, 2.6spg (Clippers 27-8)
4. Carmelo Anthony 29.3ppg, 6.3rpg, 2.2apg (Knicks 23-10)
5. Kobe Bryant 30.5ppg, 5.2rpg, 4.7apg (Lakers 15-17)
6. Stephen Curry 20.1ppg, 6.5apg, 1.6spg (Warriors 22-11)
7. Tim Duncan 17.7, 9.6rpg, 2.5bpg (Spurs 27-9)
8. Zach Randolph 16.7ppg, 12.3rpg (Grizzlies 20-10)
9. James Harden 26.4ppg, 4.2rpg, 5.3apg (Rockets 20-14)
10. Josh Smith 16.8ppg, 8.2rpg, 3.6apg, 2.3bpg (Hawks 20-12)

So what do you think, have the fans got it right?

Personally I would like to see Josh Smith higher, taking in to consideration the previously mentioned statistics for him plus his 1.5 steels per game, plus the fact that the third seeded Hawks are now without there all star shooting guard, Joe Johnson. I would also like to see Chris Paul lower, to me Carmelo Anthony has been much more important to his teams success.

I would also like to see David Lee in the top ten! particularly in place of either Tim Duncan or Zach Randolph. Lee is averaging 19.9ppg, 10.9 rpg and 3.7 apg which are impressive numbers for the Warriors big man, plus the fact that the Bogut’less Warriors are sitting fifth in the Western conference should be enough to make him a legitimate top ten consideration?

Brent Kitchin

Knicks sweep the Spurs for the first time in 10 years

With a 100 – 83 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, the New York Knicks capped off a clean sweep of the Spurs, their first in 10 years.

In the only previous game played between the Knicks and Spurs this season, the Knicks were victorious in San Antonio 104-100. Carmelo only recorded nine points, as it was clear the Spurs were not going to give him anything, double and triple teaming him at every possession. This was a trend that continued going in to their most recent meeting, as Carmelo scored twenty three points (five below his 29.2 average for the season). Luckily for the Knicks both Raymond Felton (25 points) and JR Smith (17 points) stood up and bought home the W for the Knicks.

In their most recent meet, a newly reinvigorated Knicks roster took the court to do battle with the ever-ready and experienced San Antonio Spurs. The Knicks starting line up was introduced, and both Marcus Camby and Tyson Chandler (20 rebounds between them) took the court , and with two former defensive players’ of the year it was clear that the Knicks defense was going to be ramped up.

The Knicks only allowed 12 points in the paint, which is an impressive feat against a top five (currently 4th) scoring team when it comes to points in the paint. The Knicks defense held the Spurs to a sub-par 36.4% shooting from the field, and again JR Smith (20 points) was impressive off the bench, as well as Steve Novak providing a spark (15 points), with five of seven from the three point arc. Pablo Prigioni also chipped in, playing 27 minutes and dropping nine dimes with zero turn overs in twenty seven minutes of playing time, giving Jason Kidd some much needed rest and perhaps making up for the loss of Knicks guard Raymond Felton.

Brent Kitchin