After defeating the Detroit Pistons in double overtime Sunday, the New York Knicks stand at 9-9 entering this week's action. So, what exactly are the New York Knicks?
They have had a six-game losing streak, a five-game winning streak and have now won six of seven. They are second in the Atlantic Division behind Boston and seventh in the Eastern Conference, meaning they would be a playoff team if the season ended today. Albeit, a lower-seeded playoff team but I doubt that matters much to Knicks' fans starving for good basketball.
The Knicks have an opportunity to get above the .500 mark with three games this week. First, they host the 6-11 New Jersey Nets Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, then they have road games Friday at New Orleans (12-4) and Saturday at Toronto (6-11).
Amare Stoudemire and Raymond Felton are increaingly emerging as leaders for the Knicks. Even though the team handed Stoudemire a $100 million contract as a free agent in the offseason, you can't believe they knew he could be a leader. After all, Phoenix was Steve Nash's team.
In Sunday's game Stoudemire had 37 points and 15 rebounds, and received tremendous praise from coach Mike D'Antoni.
"He does what a leader needs to do," D'Antoni said. "He's never down, and he never gets cross — he just keeps leading and leading. Raymond was sick today and real quiet, but Amar'e filed the void. That's what great leaders do."
Stoudemire is averaging 23.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots per game. Felton, acquired as a free agent from Charlotte, is scoring 18.1 points and dishing out 7.9 assists per game, both of which are career-bests for the sixth-year point guard.