The Knicks...

Tonight we will find out who runs New York... The Knicks or the Nets.  Both teams have some new acquisitions, and have had about 20 or so games to get used to the new line-ups.  The Nets now sporting point guard superstar Deron Williams, and the Knicks have scoring machine Carmelo Anthony to help out with Amare Stoudemire, not to mention old faithful, Chauncey Billups.  The Knicks definitly have the better roster, however they have been struggling as of late, and their win against the Magic doesn't quite make them whole again.  So what is the reason for their recent slump?

  Lack of Defense.  Well this is a part of the plan.  Head Coach Mike D'Antoni doesn't preach defense.  In fact I don't even think he ever has worried about defense. Ever.  His system has always been a strong offensive, fast paced, push system.  And this is fitting of his lineup.  Melo has been accused of not playing on defense before.  So the "lack of defense" is actually part of the game plan.  We can't pin it on that.

New System, just need to get the kinks out.  Well, they have had about 20 games to play together now.  Of course, we can look to the Heat as the extreme example of new superstars coming together in a new system.  We've all seen and relished at their struggles that seem to never go away, despite glimpses of greatness they did just lose to the Cavilers.  But Stoudemire, Billups and Anthony seemed to roll well together at first, and have just recently been slummping, losing 9 of their last 11.  They are also 2-8 against losing teams since the Melo/Billups acquisition. This potentially raises a question.  Do they honestly think they are that good.  Against the Magic, Melo said it was a "must win game", and he was brilliant.  Now that the "Not Quite as Big Three" are settled in with each other, have they become complacent? reliant on each other to do the work?

I think the real problem is that there is no offensive system in place.  Before the arrival of Melo/Billups, the Knicks were running a fast paced offense using the pick and roll with Stoudemire.  However now when the ball is in Melo's hands, he seems to go back to the Nuggets system with Billups, which was slower and had Melo as the center.  This clash will need an off-season to fix.  But as for now, the Knicks can force their way to win, despite their uncoordinated efforts offensively.  This won't take them far this post-season, but it will take them in a better direction.  With potential to find some good role-players this off-season, and maybe even another superstar (CP3), the Knicks will come back a much better, cohesive team next year.  As for tonight, Melo, Stoudemire and Billups CAN, (emphasis on the CAN) muscle out the win against D-Will, oh yeah, and the rest of the Nets.