While the East is having a historic down year compared to their Western counterpart, no one believed that the Knicks would be apart of that. When you take a look at the bottom three teams in the east, the expected teams are down there. The Bucks are sitting in the basement at 5 and 17 and without Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings anymore, they can't score (89 ppg). The 76ers, who started out hot, are now cooled off and down in the basement also. Michael Carter Williams is out with a knee problem and while they score at a pretty efficient rate (101 ppg), they can't play defense to save their lives (109 ppg allowed). Then there are the New York Knicks. .
It is tough to completely scold the Knicks for how terrible they are for 2 reasons. 1: No Tyson Chandler. Without him they start Kenyon Martin at the 4 along with Bargnani at the 5 which is a mismatch waiting to happen to whoever Bargnani has to defend. And number 2 reason: Roster problems. Don't get me wrong, they have talent. They have a lot of talent. More talent that a lot of teams in this league. Here's what I mean about the roster problem: They do not have a legitimate small forward because they love Anthony so much at the 4. When they move Anthony to the 3 they do not have a legitimate 4 because Amar'e can't play with Anthony on the floor. When they keep Anthony at the 3 and keep Amar'e on the bench, they have 2 centers on the floor in Martin and Bargnani. This was supposed to help Anthony score more efficiently as Bargnani was supposed to spread the floor which hans't happened. Anthony is averaging a career high in rebounds because Bargnani might be the worst rebounding center in the league today. Those roster problems and the fact that their true center hasn't played more than a week is no excuse for how terrible the Knicks are right now. But hey, they are just 2 1/2 games out of first place in the Atlantic. .
As I sat on the couch and watched the Knicks go up by 23 on the injury plagued Bulls in the third quarter, I thought to myself, "They are going to lose this game.