The Knicks had to respond and even though it is the last day of February, New York learned a lot about where they stand today because of last night.
I think all of America realized at the same time over the course of the last couple of days how important Chauncey Billups is to the Knicks in the 'Melo transaction, he's a bonafide big time player who does his most damage in situations like last night when you most need it.Billups had his lowest scoring game as a Knick but it was arguably his best showing since the sudden change to the Big Apple, he hit a huge go-ahead three pointer with just over a minute to play in the game to put the Knicks up for good and he had a clutch steal with under a minute to play to give the Knicks a couple more at the free throw line courtesy of Shawne Williams.
It wasn't pretty for most of the night, but the one thing I saw that impressed me from the Knicks was the constant fight the team had when they were down 15 and when it was down in the second half to keep coming back and I think that's represntative of the majority of the roster now. We're talking about guys that weren't playing at all and were fighting to stay employed and now they're getting a real chance to be apart of the rotation and we're seeing that same fight on the floor.
The one aspect of the Knicks that's been interesting to watch is Amare's transition in all of this, he's gone from being THE guy to the number two scoring option on the team, there's no question about it.
Amare's opportunities aren't coming as much with 'Melo on the floor even though you would assume it would be the other way around. The Cavs game was a typical Amare game, pre-Melo, he had 31 points and 10 rebounds, but they lost.
How will Amare and Carmelo gel over time? Can they work together sure, but will Amare enjoy getting less opportunities as a result in the long run if that's the way the offense shakes out? I'm not so sure about that.
Photo Courtesy News One
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