For Knicks, Many Questions and Unclear Answers

A year ago, the New York Knicks were positioning themselves to make a run at the decorated free agent class of 2010. Names like LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Amare were all on their radar. Well, the SuperFriends decided to head to South Beach, and the Knicks ended up with Stoudemire, a very good consolation for missing out on James.

Stoudemire declared, “The Knicks are back,” and he wasn’t wrong. It was Stoudemire’s decision to take on the responsibility of re-energizing the Knicks franchise that laid the first brick, and the mid-season of acquisition Carmelo Anthony gave the Knicks a bonafide star-studded core. Some have questioned whether Stoudemire and Anthony would mesh; whether their offense-first games were ones that could be built into a winner. That’s where we are now. After being swept out of the 2011 NBA Playoffs by the vastly superior Boston Celtics, the Knicks have to build a winner around their two cornerstones.

While Anthony and Stoudemire are the faces of the franchise, there are questions abound that start even higher than them on the Knicks’ food chain. President and General Manager Donnie Walsh’s contract is up, and the architect of the Knicks’ renaissance status is at large. Some reports have surfaced that it’s up to Walsh to accept a two-year extension that the club is considering at the moment. The question here is, what is there to consider? Walsh took a dormant franchise that was in salary cap hell and in two years’ time brought them two formidable stars and cap-flexibility going forward. If there was tenure in the NBA GM world, Walsh would have earned it by now.

The fate of Head Coach Mike D’Antoni is likely liked to the future of Walsh. And while Walsh has earned every penny of his contract for the job he’s done, it’s a bit harder to judge D’Antoni. He has not had a full season with a truly competitive roster (but don’t great players make a coach’s job easier?), yet was swept out of the first round and was badly out-coached in every game by Doc Rivers. D’Antoni did not have a full deck in the first round, but his questionable coaching decisions were huge factors in Games 1 and 2, both games the Knicks very well could have won. Numbers are numbers, and you are what your record says you are. Since the Anthony trade, including the playoffs, the Knicks went 14-18.

Whether it’s Walsh pulling the strings or not, whoever makes the decision on D’Antoni needs to figure out whether his system will work in the long run with Anthony and Stoudemire. This writer, for one, thinks D’Antoni’s system has no chance of winning an NBA title, and thus a move should be made. Others fall in the category of giving him a full training camp with Anthony and Stoudemire (and perhaps Chauncey Billups – more on that in a bit) and seeing what he can do. There’s no question he could guide the Knicks to a 50-plus win season. But if their first round series with the Boston Celtics was any sign, regular season basketball and playoff basketball are two different animals.

The Knicks also have personnel decisions to make, the biggest one being the future of Billups. Billups has a team option at $14 million for next season, one which the Knicks have until Friday to pick up. Either the Knicks pick up the option and owe the 35-year-old Billups his full salary, or they buy him out and he hits free agency, where the Knicks could always try to renegotiate a deal with him. Of course, the latter choice is filled with risks. The safer play would be to bring Billups back, as his $14 million contract comes off the books after next season, when another summer of free agency madness begins. Billups’ expiring contract also makes him a tradeable asset, if potential free agents Chris Paul and Deron Williams pull an Anthony and force their way out of their respective towns.

The Knicks have other decisions to make regarding personnel, as they need to find a shooting guard with range and defensive ability, a viable backup point guard, and a legitimate center. But who will be making those calls?

Everybody knew the New York Knicks weren’t a championship contender, even after they acquired Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to go along with Amare Stoudemire.

But this wasn’t how it was supposed to end. Swept.

The Knicks were supposed to at least be able to win a few games, put up a fight in their first round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Sure, Billups got hurt late in Game 1, and Stoudemire was injured for most of the series. But the Knicks had chances. They led late in the fourth quarter in Games 1 and 2, but couldn’t get a win. Coming home to their raucous home crowd, the Knicks were supposed to make this a series. They couldn’t, as they fell to the Celtics 101-89 as their season came to a close.

New York got simply out-executed, outworked, and outclassed in their home games, and the wait for a playoff victory for the franchise has to wait at least another year. A home playoff win? Well, that dubious streak also continues, and it will be more than a decade when they finally do win one.

In the coming days, there will be much discussion of the future of the Knicks. They have two stars in place in Anthony and Stoudemire, and they have the next few years to find the proper pieces to put around them. But who will be making those decisions? President and General Manager Donnie Walsh’s contract needs to be extended, and with the job he did in reviving the franchise, fans can only hope that owner James Dolan makes the right call and extends him. Then, Walsh and company will have to decide on whether or not Mike D’Antoni is the right guy to lead this ship. The way the Knicks played in the first two games of the series looked good for D’Antoni’s prospects. The final two? Not so much.

There will be plenty of analysis and discussion about these issues and more in the next few weeks. But for now, what was a positive season (and it was) for the franchise ended in the worst way possible.

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Desperate for an emotional performance to avoid being swept by playoff-tested Boston, the New York Knicks instead showed up listless.

And when they finally found a spark, chipping away at a 23-point deficit in the second half, the rally was too little and came too late.

Kevin Garnett had 26 points, Rajon Rondo scored 21 with 12 assists and Boston knocked New York out of the playoffs with a 101-89 victory Sunday in Game 4 of their first-round series.

The Celtics moved on to face the winner of the Heat-76ers series in the second round, looking every bit like a team ready to make another championship run while extending the Knicks' decade-long winless streak in the playoffs.

Ray Allen added 14 points, Paul Pierce scored 13 and Boston shot nearly 50 percent from the field while holding the Knicks under 35 percent.

Much of that disparity came in the first half, when the Knicks shot under 24 percent and trailed by as many as 19 points.

Carmelo Anthony poured in 32 points to lead New York, much of it coming in an explosive first quarter when he scored 15. Amare Stoudemire, playing again despite back spasms, added 19 points and Anthony Carter scored seven of his 11 as the Knicks made a run in the fourth quarter.

Missing point guard Chauncey Billups (knee) for the third straight game, the Knicks gave a restless Madison Square Garden reason to cheer after nearly coming all the way back from a 23-point deficit in the third quarter.

They cut it to 82-72 entering the fourth, then down to six on Stoudemire's layup and Anthony's jumper. Later, Carter buried a long jumper inside the three-point arc to get the Knicks as close as four at 84-80.

But Pierce drove for a layup at the other end -- Boston's first field goal in more than seven minutes of game time -- and Rondo scored to make it an eight-point game.

Indeed, the Celtics had an answer for each New York salvo.

After Carter buried a three-pointer to get the Knicks within 88-83, Allen stepped into a wide-open three at the other end to get the points back.

Carter hit a jumper and New York was driving, looking to cut the deficit to four, when Pierce stepped in front of Shawne Williams to take a key charge. Rondo and Garnett scored to make it 95-85, and Garnett hit another jumper moments later for an 11-point lead with two minutes remaining.

The Knicks remained winless in the playoffs since 2001, when they lost a first-round series to Toronto in five games. They were also swept in their last postseason appearance against the Nets in 2004.

Anthony was 5-of-9 in the first quarter, including 1-for-3 on three-pointers, but the Knicks shot under 30 percent and trailed 29-23 heading into the second.

Hoping for an historic series comeback -- no NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win in the playoffs -- things got even worse.

Stifled by Boston's defense and showing little fight, the Knicks went 3-for-20 from the field in the second quarter and scored just five points in the first six-plus minutes.

The Celtics went ahead by as many as 19 on Jeff Green's three-point play to make it 54-35 in the final minute. They led 55-38 at halftime, shooting nearly 50 percent while holding the Knicks under 24 percent.

The Heat lead the Sixers, 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for Wednesday...Boston swept a postseason series for the first time since taking three straight from Indiana in 1992.