Those are the words of New York’s resident mogul Jay-Z and
the phrase the Knicks were saying after a colossal win over the reigning
champion, Miami Heat, last night. Carmelo Anthony and his squad passed every test with flying
colors. Matched up essentially one-on-one with LeBron James, Melo held his own
and put up 29 points on 50 percent shooting from the field in addition to eight
boards and five dimes. James outscored Melo by 3 putting up 32-5-6. Without
their defensive captain on the floor for a second straight night the Knicks
frontline came up huge. Amar’e Stoudemire had his best game of the season
putting up 14 points and 11 boards to help out Melo and Kenyon Martin. Even Raymond
Felton added 14 assist and continued his success
against the Heat.
The most impressive performance of the night belonged to
Mike Woodson. I’ve given the coach a lot of (well deserved) criticism the past
few weeks. Last night Woodson ruled with an iron fist benching team clown J.R.Smith. The benching caught everyone off guard (even J.R. himself) and was Woodson’s first real
stand against Smith. Woodson has had an equator-long leash on the reigning
Sixth Man of the Year, but it looks like Smith has finally reached the end of
the road. In addition to the Smith benching Woodson gave his young guns
those precious minutes we have all been hollering for. Toure’ Murry played well
in his ten minutes of action, picking up two nice steals and slowing down those
quick Miami guards. Tim Hardaway Jr. played 13 minutes and had the highlight of the
night, baptizing Jesus himself: Jesus Shuttlesworth that is. The rook soured
for a put-back slam that punctuated a 32-23 quarter for the Knicks.
The Knicks look to keep the momentum going Saturday in
Philadelphia against a Sixers team that’s looking forward to the lottery more
than a division crown. If Anthony and the Knicks continue to play like an actual team there is no way in hell they should lose in Philly. Anthony
has taken a full leadership role and is navigating hiss team out of the abyss
that they drove themselves into with a nonexistent end to 2013. Since coming
back from injury the Knick captain has averaged 26.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and
3.6 assists while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and a whopping 53.8
percent from downtown. With the supporting cast starting to find their roles
watch out...the Knicks may in fact be back (fingers crossed).
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