The lesson to learn from Monday night’s game (Jan. 2) is that if you live by the three-pointer, you also die by the three-pointer. The New York Knicks attempted 35 three-pointers against the Toronto Raptors, making just 10 of them to finish 28.6 percent from beyond the arc. Overall, the team went just 28-for-78 from the field (35.9 percent) in a game that simply got away from them at the end.

This 90-85 loss to the Raptors is extremely frustrating; especially with how good the Knicks looked against the Sacramento Kings back on Saturday (Dec. 31). The team had to play without All-Star power forward Amare Stoudemire again, and at first it didn’t seem like it would hurt the team. The Knicks took a nice 23-22 lead at the end of the first quarter and it looked like a great game was brewing. The second quarter got out of control though, as Toronto out-scored the Knicks 29-11 in those 12 minutes alone.

Heading into halftime with a 17-point deficit to a team that won 22 games last year is not what Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni wanted to see, and at least the team put in more effort in the second half. The Knicks fought back to within one point with just 35 second left but couldn’t stop the Raptors when it mattered most. In the early Atlantic division standings, New York now falls behind Toronto by means of the head-to-head tie-breaker. This is definitely not where the team wanted to sit after five games in a shortened season.

Carmelo Anthony finished the game 13-for-31 from the field, often taking shots he wasn’t comfortable with just to get the offense going. Far too many times there were other players passing up shot opportunities and it seemed like Bill Walker was afraid to even take shots on Monday night (Jan. 2). I don’t blame Anthony at all for attempting 31 shots, but I would have liked him to make a couple more. He did finish with 35 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists though, so fantasy basketball owners that have him had to come away happy from this game.

Next up for the 2-3 Knicks are the Charlotte Bobcats, who come to town on Wednesday (Jan. 4) for a 7:30 p.m. ET game.

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

The New York Knicks really took it to the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night (Dec. 31), and in the process proved that the team has weapons other than Amare Stoudemire. Forced to play without the power forward, the Knicks still cruised to a nice 114-92 victory.

Every starter for the Knicks scored in double-figures against the Kings, including rookie Josh Harrelson going for 14 points and 12 rebounds in his first career start. The Knicks have a real asset in Harrelson, and it is clear that he could add a lot to the team this year. This is what I was talking about when I wrote about how the Knicks could benefit from having Stoudemire sit out a game.

Carmelo Anthony led the team in scoring with 23 points, but he struggled from the field (6-for-15). Anthony made up for it by going 11-for-13 from the free throw line, grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. Down low, Tyson Chandler was an absolute beat, going 6-for-8 from the center position and hitting all 10 of his free throws. For a guy that took only 6 shots total in the first three games, this was a huge outing. Chandler’s 22 points were more than any Kings player had.

Helping with the additional scoring was Landry Fields with 21, Toney Douglas with 17 and Bill Walker with 11 points off the bench. The Knicks made 88.9 percent of their free throws, going 24-for-27 from the line to really put this game out of reach. It also didn’t hurt that the defense held the Kings to just 34.9 percent shooting from the field and just 27.3 percent from three-point range.

After losing two games on the West Coast to the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, this was a great way to bounce back. The Knicks improved to 2-2 on the season and kept pace with the 2-2 Philadelphia 76ers in a tie for first place in the Atlantic division. For a team still trying to find itself, Knicks fans have to come away from this win with a big smile. The team got forced to find offensive weapons other than Stoudemire and passed that test will flying colors. If the team can keep this up when he returns, it could become tough for any of the Eastern Conference teams to stop them.

The next game for New York is on Monday, Jan. 2 against the Toronto Raptors in the first of several games at Madison Square Garden.

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

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The New York Knicks have a tough game against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night (Dec. 31). Currently the Knicks are on a two-game losing streak and may have to play without power forward Amare Stoudemire. I wrote about how the Stoudemire injury could become a good thing for the Knicks if it is just a short-term thing, but it’s definitely tough to play without one of the two best players on the roster.

It’s very unclear what coach Mike D’Antoni will do if he doesn’t have Stoudemire in the starting lineup, but it could mean a chance for Bill Walker to step in at power forward. He is certainly a bit undersized at 6-6 and 235 pounds, but we aren’t talking about a team with a lot of depth. The other option is to give rookie Josh Harrellson that chance to get some big minutes for the night. I like the latter option because Harrellson has really good energy on the floor.

The starting lineup for the Kings is Tyreke Evans at point guard, Marcus Thornton at shooting guard, John Salmons at small forward, Chuck Hayes at power forward and DeMarcus Cousins at center. Through three games for the Kings, Thornton leads them in scoring with 20.3 points per game, followed by Evans and Cousins with 14.3 each. Both Hayes and Cousins average more than 10 rebounds per game, so the front line of New York is going to have their hands full. Providing energy off the bench are guard Jimmer Fredette and power forward J.J. Hickson, two players that go all-out every night.

The Kings are 1-2 (just like the Knicks through the first three games and average just 92.3 points per game. They also give up 100 points per game, which should allow the Knicks plenty of opportunities to score. New York is getting out-scored this year as well though, to the tune of 98.3 to 88.7, ranking the Knicks as the sixth lowest-scoring team in the NBA. The team is also the worst rebounding team at just 31.3 per game, so going up against a team packed with good big men could pose a problem on Saturday night.

The Kings aren’t as good as the two teams that New York has lost to this week, but this is also a team that should not get underestimated. Tyson Chandler has to stay busy on the offensive glass and it’s worth noting that he has just 6 total shots through the first three games. Carmelo Anthony needs to have a big game and the guards have to start hitting shots. The open three-pointers that the Knicks miss are really starting to add up and the team has gone just 19-for-63 from long-range in the first three games.

The game plan is simple on Saturday, even if it isn’t simple to carry out. The Knicks have to work the inside-outside game, make at least 45 percent of their three-pointers and keep the Kings from getting too many fast-break points. Evans and Fredette like to run and the Knicks guards have to put a body on them.

The Knicks play the Sacramento Kings at Power Balance Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET.

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

The New York Knicks may have to play without power forward Amare Stoudemire on Saturday night (Dec. 31). Stoudemire suffered a sprained ankle in the Thursday (Dec. 29) game against the Los Angeles Lakers and is officially listed as day-to-day. It means he could still play on Saturday, but that he would have limited mobility in his left ankle.

This injury has good and bad sides for the Knicks, especially as the team tries to find an identity in the early part of the season. The bad part is that Stoudemire is one of the two main offensive weapons that the Knicks have and it is hard to find offense when he or Carmelo Anthony is on the bench. The good part is actually the same situation, because it would force the lineup to figure things out with Stoudemire on the bench. Then, when he returns from the injury, the team will know what to do when he is taking a breather during games. Someone else has to step up to take pressure off of Stoudemire and Anthony, and this is the perfect opportunity to figure out who can do it.

In the first three games of the season, Stoudemire is averaging 17.3 points and 6 rebounds per game, but he has struggled to find his shooting stroke against the last two games. Against the Golden State Warriors he had just 16 points and against the Lakers he went just 4-for-17 from the field. Now the Knicks have to go up against the fast-paced Sacramento Kings next, a team that really likes to get out and run. That would certainly test Stoudemire’s ankle and it seems like the ideal week to simply rest him on the bench.

This game against the Kings is the last one on the West Coast road trip before the Knicks head back to Madison Square Garden for a Jan. 2 battle against the Toronto Raptors. If Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni plays it smart (like he should) and just gives Stoudemire some time off, his ankle should get a lot better by next Monday. Three games into the season, it just seems like too much of a risk to put him back on the court and risk the injury getting worse. It’s not like there is a break in the schedule, so getting him healthy for the Eastern Conference games has to become a priority.

The Knicks play the Sacramento Kings at Power Balance Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET.

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.

The New York Knicks stopped by the Staples Center to take on the Los Angeles Lakers December 29 and the Lakers were not hospitable to the their East Coast visitors, beating them, 99-82. The Lakers smothered the Knicks and showed that their new coach, Mike Brown, is not about “Showtime” but he leans towards a different method of winning.

The New York Knicks Amar’e Stoudemire pumped up the fans before the 2010 season.
Photo by: Chamber of Fear WIkimedia Commons

The final score was not indicative of the pace of the game. Despite the Lakers falling just short of breaking through the century mark, defense was the key to the Lakers beating the Knicks. The Lakers pounded the Knicks into submission and sent them on their way to Sacramento with their tail between their legs.

This was the second game of a three-game West Coast swing for the Knicks, who lost to the Golden State Warriors, 92-78, in Oakland December 28. Now after going down in defeat to the Lakers, the Knicks will now travel back to Sacramento to take on the Sacramento Kings on New Year’s Eve. The NBA scheduler must have it in for the Knicks with those travel arrangements.

The Knicks, playing their third game of the season with the Lakers and their first back-to back of the season, looked slow and frustrated most of the game. There were several dumb fouls on the Knicks side, including an ill-advised foul on Kobe Bryant as he threw up and hit a three-point bomb from long-range.

The Lakers are not lighting up the scoreboard as they have in year’s past. This Lakers team is going to play grind-it-out basketball every game. The days of 120 point Lakers games is over and the Mike Brown era has begun.

The Knicks have added depth in the last few days with their pick up of Jeremy Lin and through the off season with the key additions of Tyson Chandler and Baron Davis. Davis has not played due to a back injury but Chandler is in the news for his comments about Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks

Chandler has been in the news since he made it clear the Mavericks are positioning themselves for the 2012-2013 season. Chandler spoke before the Knicks embarked on their three-game trip and said the Mavericks roster strategy was a major reason for him signing with the Knicks this off season.

The win over the Knicks was a huge boost to the Lakers because they did not have Andrew Bynum under the basket for this game. The Lakers are a much better team when a healthy Bynum is wreaking havoc under and above the rim. Get ready for a patented Los Angeles Lakers hot streak early in the season.

*Todd Jacobs is a native Southern Californian and longtime Los Angeles Lakers fan since the early ’70s.

Sources:

ESPN Clubhouse: Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks stats and news.

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Feel free to leave your comments below.

The New York Knicks really fell apart in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night. After holding a 43-37 lead at halftime and then remaining in the game in the third quarter, it was like a lid got put on the basket for the Knicks in the last quarter. The Warriors simply ran away with the game and the Knicks took their first loss of the 2011-12 season.

There are plenty of places to look for blame in this game, beginning with the horrible shooting from the starters and continuing with the poor fourth quarter defense. It also didn’t help that the Golden State big men were dominating the boards and came away with a huge rebounding edge in this one. After beating up on the Boston Celtics in the first game of the year, this was a stark reality check for Knicks fans.

Carmelo Anthony went 3-for-13 from the field for just 13 points and Amare Stoudemire went just 5-for-14 from the field for 16 points. With the tandem going 8-for-27 combined, there just wasn’t room for error when it came to the defensive end. On that end of the court, the Warriors shot 45.5 percent, going 35-for-77 from the field and 6-for-16 from three-point range. The Knicks went 28-for-70 for a 40 percent clip, but also went just 4-for-21 from three-point range for a 19 percent mark.

The 92-78 final was rough to take, especially with the Knicks getting out-scored 28-14 in the final quarter. The rebounding edge was 47-31 in favor of the Warriors and 11-4 on the offensive glass alone. The Warriors also registered 12 steals on the night, with 3 coming from Kwame Brown and 2 from Brandon Rush off the bench.

At times it seemed like New York wasn’t taking the Warriors seriously in the first half and that may have been a reason why the lead disappeared so quickly after Warriors coach Marc Jackson got on his players. They tightened up on defense and completely shut down the Knicks in that fourth quarter.

There isn’t much time to dwell on this game, because the Knicks have to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night (Dec. 29). It’s a good game to rebound in after losing to the Warriors, but hopefully the Knicks aren’t too down from blowing this one. What makes it all so much worse was that the Warriors didn’t even have their best player on the court Wednesday night (Stephen Curry).

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Thanks for reading! .

When does a victory seem like a loss? It’s when you’re opening a lockout shortened season at Madison Square Garden against a team you need to overcome on your way up the NBA ladder.

Mike D’Antoni
Wikimedia Commons

Yes, that’s right, it doesn’t take long to begin scrutinizing daily the benefits and disadvantages, the ups and downs, the good and bad of New York Knick basketball. There’s no analyzing like overanalyzing. Simple analysis just doesn’t seem adequate.

Anyway, the Knicks of this year appeared very much like the Knicks of last year…occasional glimpses of an active defense but very little else, and an offense that shuts down completely when Carmelo Anthony takes a seat.

Some observations?

There were periods in this game, when the Knicks transitioned from 12 ahead to eight behind, that Celtics were running free as if they had a communicable disease. There was not a Knick to be found, sometimes not even in the TV frame. There were times when there was no point for a Knick to scurry back to the open man since that would have taken too long given the distance. Simply put, it was some of the worst defense I’d ever seen by a professional team.

And speaking of defense, Tyson Chandler, the $15 million 7″1′ center, collected three rebounds …and that’s not a misprint. At 7″1′, shouldn’t you come by a rebound or two by accident? My goodness! While his line did feature six blocks, his three rebounds were matched by an equally dismal seven points. He wasn’t exactly a deterrent for the Celtics, who managed to shake free for open shot after open shot and 104 points without their best player, Paul Pierce.

Point guard defense might be an issue this year. Rajon Rondo vaporized the Knicks with 31 points and 13 assists. Iman Shumpert looks like an active player but, of course, he’s injured now and will be out a month.

Most observers thought the Celtics were ready to be taken this year. Not so fast, they communicated very clearly in Game #1.

Glenn Vallach has been a New York Knick fan since the days of Howie Komives and Walt Bellamy, when he regularly boarded the IRT Subway at 180th Street in the Bronx for a trip to the Garden to see his heroes. Since the last championship in 1973, he has alternately yearned and suffered, hoped and lamented…and has waited long enough.

Source:

• · Yahoo Sports NBA page
• · Yahoo Sports New York Knicks Team page
• · Yahoo Sports Boston Celtics page
• · Yahoo Sports Carmelo Anthony page
• · Brian Mahoney, AP Basketball Writer, Knicks edge Celtics 106-104 on Anthony foul shots

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Thanks for reading! .

Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points in the New York Knicks season opening win, 106-104, over the Boston Celtics. The Knicks needed every one of those points to beat the Celtics, and will, I believe, need Carmelo to score like that all season.

Carmelo Anthony
Wikimedia Commons

Carmelo Anthony is Great NBA Scorer

So far in his NBA career, Carmelo Anthony is averaging 24.9 points per game. That is the 13th highest scoring average in NBA history. Twice in his career Melo averaged over 28.0 points per game for a season. In 2007 he averaged 28.9 points per game, and in 2010 he averaged 28.2 points per game.

There’s no doubt that Carmelo Anthony is a great scorer in the NBA. On December 10, 2008, playing for the Denver Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony poured in 33 points in the third quarter of a game vs the Minnesota Tmiberwolves. That is tied with George Gervin for the most points a player has ever scored in an NBA quarter.

I’ve been a Carmelo Anthony fan since he took my favorite college basketball team, the Syracuse Orange, to the NCAA Championship in 2003. I’ve followed Melo’s career since then, and have always believed he would win a scoring title in the NBA.

When Melo averaged 28.9 points per game in 2007, he finished second to Kobe Bryant in scoring, but was not really that close to Kobe’s 31.56 points per game average. Melo has also finished third in scoring a couple of times, including last season when he averaged 25.58 points per game. This season though, I think Carmelo Anthony will win his first NBA scoring title. Here’s why I think so.

Carmelo Anthony Had Teammates Who Could Score with the Denver Nuggets

During the two seasons Carmelo Anthony averaged over 28.0 points per game in Denver, the Nuggets had plenty of offense around him. The 2007 team had Allen Iverson (24.8 points per game average in 2007), who won four NBA scoring titles, on the team, as well as Earl Boykins (15.2), Andre Miller (13.0), J.R. Smith (13.0), Nene (12.2), and Marcus Camby (11.2).

The 2010 Denver Nuggets had Chauncey Billups (19.5), J.R. Smith (15.4), Nene (13.8) and Kenyon Martin (11.5) on the team scoring points. So in both the seasons that Carmelo Anthony had his highest scoring averages so far in the NBA, he had plenty of other players who scored points on the team.

New York Knicks Only Have Amare Stoudemire and Will Need Carmelo Anthony to Score a Lot of Points

The 2011-12 New York Knicks really only have one other legitimate established NBA scorer on the team in Amare Stoudemire. Newly signed center Tyson Chandler has only averaged 8.3 points per game in his NBA career. Looking over the rest of the Knicks roster, there’s really no one else on the team had can be relied upon to score points.

Toney Douglas has a career average of 9.8 points per game, while Landry Fields has averaged 9.7. Mike Bibby has a career scoring average of 15.2 points per game, but he’s averaged just 9.1 and 8.6 points per game over his last two NBA seasons. Baron Davis has scored 16.5 points per game in his career, but he’s not expected to play for the Knicks for at least a month, and Davis only averaged 13.1 points per game in 2011.

The Knicks just do not have many players who they can rely upon to score points in the 2011-12 season. The team is really going to have to lean heavily on Carmelo Anthony to score points this season, just like in the first game victory over the Boston Celtics.

That’s why I believe Carmelo Anthony is very likely to go on and win the NBA scoring title in 2011-12.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

That’s all for today.

The NBA season is about to begin and the New York Knicks are still not getting any respect around the NBA. ESPN put together a panel of “experts” that selected the Boston Celtics as the projected winners of the Atlantic division this season. Two even picked the Philadelphia 76ers to win the division ahead of both New York and Boston, raising serious questions about how ESPN can call these guys experts.

The voting on ESPN led to 17 people selecting the ancient Celtics, 11 selecting the improved Knicks and 2 selecting the 76ers. The two that picked Philadelphia are A. Kamenetzky of ESPN LA and Keith Lipscomb of ESPN Fantasy. That’s a bold choice to go with a 76ers team that doesn’t seem to have done much to improve for the 2011-12 season and especially bold to place them among the top four seeds coming out of the Eastern Conference. Those Knicks fans already frustrated with those predictions certainly don’t want to hear what John Hollinger had to say .

According to the Hollinger ratings for this year, New York will finish with a 35-31 record and the No. 7 seed in the East. That would put the Knicks behind both Philadelphia and Boston in the Atlantic division, but also behind a No. 6 seeded Indiana Pacers . Finishing behind the Pacers seems like a huge slap in the face to the Knicks , especially because the team gets a full season from Carmelo Anthony and has added Tyson Chandler for the next few years. Finishing No. 7 in the East isn’t going to cut it, especially because Hollinger predicts a first round loss to the Chicago Bulls.

It seems like some great rivalry games are going to take place in the East this year, especially with the Bulls, Celtics and Miami heat. Those are the three teams that New York has to beat in order to make it back to the NBA Finals, so it’s only fitting that the Knicks play the Celtics on the first day of the regular season. Beating the Celtics on Christmas Day could go a long ways toward helping the Knicks set the pace in the Atlantic division and try to accomplish the first division title since before Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett started wearing the Celtic green.

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

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Read More: Baron Davis (G – NYK), Steve Novak (F – SAN), New York Knicks

Earlier today, the New York Knicks officially added 32-year-old veteran guard Baron Davis, even though he could be out for as long as 8-10 weeks with a back injury. The Knicks continued to fill in the rest of their roster via free agency by adding a sharp-shooting forward: 

The New York Knicks plan to sign three-point specialist Steve Novak to a one-year deal, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Novak, a 6-foot-11 forward, does have to pass through waivers unclaimed. The Knicks would guarantee Novak a league minimum contract for the 2011-12 season.

Novak was added to the San Antonio Spurs camp roster last week after playing 23 games for them last season (and 225 overall with four different teams), but was released and placed on waivers on Monday night. Novak is a career .417 three-point shooter. 

– For more New York Knicks coverage, visit SB Nation’s Posting and Toasting.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

The New York Knicks are still discussing a contract with James Posey to bring him into the fold. This is an obvious effort to try to boost the depth that the team could have for the coming season, especially with how important it is during the rushed 66-game schedule.

According to ESPN, the Knicks were still talking to Posey on Monday night (Dec. 19), possibly trying to figure out if he will accept a contract at the veteran’s minimum for the coming season. The team still has a “room exception” at $2.5 million that could interest Posey if the team felt that he was worth it. Either way, Posey is available because the Indiana Pacers decided to use the amnesty clause on him and waived him last week. Now he is a free agent that can sign with any other team in the league.

Posey has played with the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, New Orleans Hornets and Indiana Pacers through his long career. Last year with the Pacers, he averaged 17.1 minutes over 49 games played. He had averages of 4.9 points and 3 rebounds, but gave the team an extra player towards the end of the bench. Posey is certainly a player that could help with depth in New York now, but fans shouldn’t get too excited about what he might have to offer.

A good thing that Posey brings to the table is postseason experience, as he has played in 87 playoff games over his career. That is more than most players currently on the Knicks roster, and raises the value of having the 34-year-old on the team. Whether he can actually put up significant minutes is a different discussion, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have him at the end of the bench in case an injury takes place.

It’s bigger news that the team brought in Baron Davis to serve as an addition when he gets back from his injury rehab. That’s a good veteran player to have on the team if he is willing to take on that role of supporting player to the leaders of this team. The roster is starting to look pretty good, even if some of the pieces got brought in as spare parts to the threesome of Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler.

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Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

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New York Knicks fans waited a long time for 2011. It had been seven years since New York last made the NBA playoffs, and though they were swept by the Boston Celtics in four games, excitement returned to Madison Square Garden this year.

It started with the signing of Amar’e Stoudemire in July of 2010. Stoudemire brought instant credibility and a whole lot of offense to a team desperately in need of both. The Knicks still didn’t play defense and they were clearly not in the same league as the upper echelon teams, but on opening night – a 98-93 win over the Raptors – it was clear that this was the beginning of a new era of Knicks basketball. New York finished the season 42-40, but not before some memorable moments took place.

Here are the New York Knicks’ top five moments of 2011:

No. 5: Spurs at Knicks, January 4, 2011 – The modern-day Knicks are not known for their defense, but on this particular night it was their opponent’s defensive shortcomings that stood out. New York outscored San Antonio 128-115, prompting Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich to bench his starters late in the fourth quarter. New York scored 72 points in the first half against a Spurs team that entered the game with a league-best 29-4 record. For the Knicks, Wilson Chandler scored a season-high 31 points and Stoudemire and Raymond Felton added 28 points apiece. Like old times, the Garden was rocking.

No. 4: Knicks at Heat, February 27, 2011 – Who says this doesn’t play any defense? It was a defensive play – maybe the most memorable play of the season for New York – that propelled the Knicks to a 91-86 victory over the Miami Heat. With seven seconds remaining, Stoudemire blocked LeBron James’ layup attempt to protect a one-point lead. Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his third game in a Knick uniform. New York fell behind by 15 in the first half and ended the game on a 13-2 run. But it was Stoudemire’s heroics that had people talking.

No. 3: Heat at Knicks, January 27, 2011 – Nothing seems to make NBA fans (except for those who root for the Heat) happier than seeing LeBron James fail. They had plenty of opportunity to celebrate on this night at the Garden. James shot 7-for-24 from the floor and finished with 24 points, a below-average performance for King James. The Knicks hadn’t beaten a LeBron James team since 2007. With TNT broadcasting from the Garden for the first time in five years, there was no better time to end that streak. The Knicks did just that with a 93-88 win after outscoring Miami 29-15 in the fourth quarter.

No. 2: Knicks Return to the Playoffs – Sweep or no sweep, what mattered was that the Knicks were back in the playoffs. Not since 2004 had they been there. For too many seasons, the Knicks were mediocre at best, with no real hope to get out from under the salary cap and begin the rebuilding process. Then came the summer of 2010 and the signing of Stoudemire, February 2011 with the trade for Carmelo Anthony, and then suddenly, the Knicks were in the playoffs where they went up against the Celtics. Boston was the better team and it showed. The Knicks lost the first two in Boston and the next two at home. They didn’t go down easy, but injuries to Stoudemire and Chauncey Billups didn’t help their chances against a team that even Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni admitted was the better squad. The franchise has now lost ten straight playoff games, but finally getting back to the playoffs seemed to matter most.

No 1: Carmelo Anthony Comes Home – The Knicks didn’t land James seven months earlier, but the team thought they got the next best thing when the Brooklyn-born Anthony joined them in a trade that sent Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler and Timofey Mozgov, along with some cash and draft picks, to the Denver Nuggets. (The Knicks also picked up Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman and Anthony Carter in the deal.) Anthony received a 3-year, $65 million extension that made New York his home for the foreseeable future. On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, he scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his Knicks debut at the Garden, hitting big shots down the stretch of a 114-108 win over the Bucks. It was Melo Mania the rest of the way.

Charles Costello is a lifelong Knicks fan who was a beat reporter assigned to cover the team during the 1997-98 season.

Sources

Spurs at Knicks: AP via Yahoo! Sports

Knicks at Heat: AP via Yahoo! Sports

Heat at Knicks: AP via Yahoo! Sports

Knicks Return to Playoffs: New York Daily News

Anthony Comes Home: New York Daily News

Video: YouTube

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Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

The New York Knicks should definitely try to pursue point guard Baron Davis if he becomes available this week. It seems clear that Davis will not stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers for much longer, potentially making him a free agent that the Knicks could sign for the veteran’s minimum.

There are two options that could land Davis in New York for the upcoming season, with the first being that the Cavaliers would use the NBA amnesty clause on him. Cleveland owes Davis just under $14 million this season and would likely have to pay him the nearly $15 million player option for next year. The team could choose to use the amnesty clause to take him off the salary cap and then pursue other free agents. The other option is that Cleveland could simply waive him and save the amnesty clause.

Davis is not the healthiest of guards out there and has been going through some back problems. If he is healthy though, he could become the perfect distributor for the Knicks in the 2011-12 NBA season. He can still score a lot of points in spurts, but would best serve the Knicks as a veteran taking care of the ball and helping get Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire the best shots possible. He would also come very cheap, because the Cavaliers are on the hook for the majority of his salary no matter how it plays out.

Last season for Cleveland, Davis averaged 28.4 minutes per game, putting up 13.1 points and 6.7 assists in those games. With Davis and Mike Bibby splitting time at the position, it would also give the Knicks a lot of depth off the bench. That’s exactly what the team needs after parting with more assets in order to make the Tyson Chandler deal work out.

Even if the Knicks end up making a deal with Jamal Crawford to come in as the starting shooting guard, the team should try its best to bring in Davis as well. With the abridged season, the Knicks have to add depth to the roster, and it has to come from inexpensive contracts. Adding some savvy veterans to the mix of young players off the bench could really give the frontcourt trio of stars the best chance to make it deep into the Eastern Conference Playoffs this year.

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Chris Paul to New York

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*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Gotta run!.

The New York Knicks took a huge step towards helping Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony pursue an NBA title this year. On Saturday, the team completed a trade to acquire center Tyson Chandler from the Dallas Mavericks. The sign-and-trade deal nets Chandler a four-year $56 million contract, making him one of the highest paid centers in the league.

In exchange for Chandler, the Knicks sent center Ronny Turiaf to the Washington Wizards and guard Andy Rautins to the Mavericks. The Mavericks were doing this deal with the intent to get something out of losing Chandler, and they also gain a 2013 protected second-round pick from the Knicks .

In order to clear room on the roster, the Knicks had to pay the salary of Turiaf , making it a really enticing deal for the Wizards. The Knicks also had to use the new amnesty clause on point guard Chauncey Billups to free up the $14.2 million he is owed for this year. Now Billups will get a chance to sign with any other team in the league. Possibly with a grudge that will show itself when he plays against New York this year.

It’s too bad that the team had to part ways with Turiaf , as he was probably the hardest working player on the team last season. It was just another price to make sure they got Chandler though, which in itself raises expectations for the center this year. There are certainly many more moves needed this offseason because the Knicks are very short on roster players.

As it stands, the starting lineup for the 2011-12 season is Chandler at center, Stoudemire at power forward, Anthony at small forward, Landry Fields at shooting guard and Toney Douglas at point guard. Not exactly mind-blowing depth for the Knicks, but there were rumors that Mike Bibby was also set to join the team as another point guard. The rest of the bench consists of Renaldo Balkman and Bill Walker for now.

Getting Chandler is a big step towards fixing the defense for New York, and this is a team that definitely is ready to compete in the Eastern Conference again. The roster has got to stay healthy though, because there are no good back-ups to move into the starting lineup if any injuries befall the Knicks.

More From YCN :

A Look at Knicks Roster

Salary Cap Impact on Knicks

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Source:

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*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Comment Below!.

These days, 7-footers who are both elite defenders and offensively competent are rare in the NBA. Center Tyson Chandler’s imminent four-year, $60 million deal with the New York Knicks will provide his new team with the length and interior defensive presence it desperately needs.

The Knicks’ salary cap space, when the deal becomes official, will be taken up by the earnings of power forward Amar’e Stoudemire, small forward Carmelo Anthony and Chandler, who averaged 10.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks last season. Veteran point guard Chauncey Billups is the cap casualty in this, because New York—in order to create room for Chandler—is going to use the amnesty clause to clear his $14.2 million salary off their books.

Chandler, 29, won a championship this year by helping the Dallas Mavericks defeat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. His addition solidifies New York’s front court, leaving coach Mike D’Antoni free to address each guard position.

Toney Douglas, an offensive-minded point guard, still has to learn how to become a better distributor, and second-year shooting guard Landry Fields needs to recapture what he lost after Anthony was traded to the Knicks last February. New York has been interested in inking free agent Grant Hill to be their two guard, but Chandler’s signing may be a huge obstacle toward such happening.

Without Chandler, the Knicks would have entered the 2011-12 season with Jared Jeffries, a good defender but non factor on offense, as their starting center.

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