Last night the inevitable happened, the New York Knicks were eliminated from playoff contention. This brought an end to their 3 consecutive playoff appearances, their longest in a decade. Though they did not give the fans much more than a single series win, it was nice to see the long beleaguered basketball team get into the fold. However, it seems the old adage is taking ring true yet again "The more things change, the more they stay the same." The team doomed to this fate from the very moment they endured a debilitating 9 game skid from early to mid-November and try as they would they never found themselves again. Several increments of 3, 4, and 5 game losing streaks would follow, all of which added up, making it that much more difficult to climb the playoff ladder. Some may ask what went wrong, but in actuality that should say is, what didn't.
The Knicks were one of the worst defensive teams in the
league, especially against teams with great guards. They also never found consistent continuity offense, often looking discombobulated and desperate. When you put those together, you certainly do not get a
playoff contender, instead what you do get is a team that has no sense of who they
are. All season long head coach Mike Woodson and
the players talked of everything but the reality that they were not good
enough to consider themselves amidst the league’s elite. Sure there were signs of good things when they defeated playoff bound teams such as the
Heat, Pacers, Warriors, and even the Spurs, but it would amount to nothing as they suffered loss after loss to teams that great teams that many felt they should handle, the far too prevalent flaws reared their ugly heads many times, more than I am sure the Knicks would like to admit. In addition, there
was also a lack of leadership and accountability from Woodson whom at many
times seemed as if he was oblivious to what was happening. His constant mismanagement of the roster and
favoritism of certain players and their style of play ran a muck this season and
did more harm than good. One of the more
troubling issues was his bedeviling allowance of isolation basketball hat did
nothing but ruin the flow of the game and make the Knicks very vulnerable on
offense. It is clear a change needs to
be made, whether or not that happens will be up to Phil Jackson and what he feels is
best.
There was on person who saw the truth about this team much
like all of the fans...Carmelo Anthony. He stated before the season began that
he would be testing free agency and also saying that he was placing winning
before anything else. Now that he will
miss the playoffs for the first time if his 11 year career one has to believe
that he will be saying goodbye to the Big Apple this summer. Perhaps this is the change that the Knicks
need. Maybe they can finally get a good look at themselves and realize that they are far
from what they want to be. Only time
will tell if it gets any better but for now New Yorkers will continue to berate
and complain about the Knickerbockers, something they've grown quite accustom
to.
