Summing Up February 15-25 for the Knicks

I was vacationing in Miami all last week, but I wasn't living under a rock. A lot of stuff happened with the Knicks while I was in Florida, and I'm gonna write about all of it.

Feb. 15: Knicks beat the Kings 100-85.
-I didn't pay a lot of attention to this game because I assumed the Knicks would win it, and they did. Their win streak improved to 7 and Jeremy Lin (of course) had a good game. Lin had a double-double (10 points and a career-high 13 assists). Landry Fields also had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Steve Novak scored 14 off the bench.

Feb. 17: Knicks lose to the Hornets 89-85.
-This was the first speed bump in Linsanity. The Hornets snapped the Knicks' winning streak at 7 games. Instead of getting mad, I looked at the positives. They just went on a seven-game winning streak. Also, Amar'e Stoudemire had a great game (26 points, 12 rebounds). The Hornets played a good game and got somewhat lucky in crunch-time. When Marco Belinelli banked in a three in the 4th quarter, I knew things weren't going well for the Knicks.

Feb. 18: Knicks sign J.R. Smith, waive Renaldo Balkman.
-I loved the Knicks signing Smith. I think he's gonna be a great player for the team and help out with his scoring. However, I was upset about the Knicks releasing Renaldo Balkman to do it. He was the 4th-highest paid player on the team and was due to make over a million dollars next season. They should have traded Bill Walker or Jerome Jordan (or both) to a team for a second-round draft pick or cash. Now that the Knicks waived Balkman, they have to pay him all of what he was scheduled to make and it hurts their cap space. Plus, I liked Balkman. I don't think Knicks fans ever gave him enough credit. Here is his Twitter post after being waived by the Knicks:Feb. 19: Knicks beat Mavs 104-97 in J.R. Smith's debut.
-Lin was the obvious star in this comeback win for the team (28 points, career-high 14 assists, career-high 5 steals). J.R. Smith was the team's second-leading scorer in the game and finished with 15 points in his debut with the team. This was a great game for the team. They beat the defending champions.

Feb. 20: Knicks lose to Nets 100-92.
-Deron Williams got revenge on Jeremy Lin by outscoring him and leading the Nets to victory. I wasn't mad about this loss because it was the second game of a back-to-back. Also, Baron Davis made his belated debut for the team and Carmelo Anthony made his return after a groin injury. Davis didn't play too many minutes, but I liked what I saw from him. I think he'll be a great back-up to Lin. Melo didn't play overly well, but he was returning from an injury.

Feb. 22: Knicks beat Hawks 99-82.
-Like their win against the Mavs a few days before, this was a great win for the Knicks. Against the Hawks, a team who they could face in the playoffs, the Knicks beat them and everybody seemed to have a good game. These two plays sum up how well the Knicks played:





Feb. 23: Knicks lose to Heat 102-82.
-This was a disappointing loss for the team. Lin played his worst game as a starter, Baron Davis went 0-7 from the field, and only two Knicks shot better than 50% from the field (Novak & Jeffries). Melo led the team in scoring, but they still lost. Here's an interesting statistic: When Jeremy Lin leads the team in scoring, the Knicks are 6-1. When Carmelo Anthony leads the team in scoring, the Knicks are 5-8. Lin should be controlling the ball, not Melo.

Feb. 24: Jeremy Lin scores 2 points in Rising Stars game.
-I didn't watch much of it. I didn't even see Lin when he was in the game. Honestly, who cares about the Rising Stars game anyway?

Feb. 25: Iman Shumpert drops out of dunk contest, Jeremy Evans wins it.
-Even though I'm a Knicks fan, I'm glad that Shumpert didn't participate in it because if he did, he would have won it too easily. Jeremy Lin was gonna assist him and he was from the biggest-market team out of all of the contestants. Remember last year when everyone knew Blake Griffin was gonna win the dunk contest? That's what would have happened with Shumpert. Without him, the dunk contest was more fair and even than most years. Evans won with only 29% of the fan votes.

Melo will start in the NBA All-Star game tonight. Knicks fans should tune in for that.

The Knicks play the Cavaliers next. They've had some trouble against them recently, but I expect them to come out with a win. When the Knicks develop more team chemistry, they're gonna be scary good. Mark my words.

Have any thoughts on the Knicks? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think.