The New York Knicks have had their best season in more than a decade and are division champions and 50-game winners for the first time in years and that is exactly why they have the chance to defeat the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals to advance to the NBA title round against whoever comes out of the West.
The Knicks won the Atlantic Division title for the first time in 19 seasons after doing it in 1994 and this year they notched over 50 victories for the first time since the 1999-000 season. After starting off hot, the Kicks cooled down, but they have been playing fantastic over the second half of the year, winning 12 games in a row at one point and getting to 53-28 with one game remaining on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks.
Carmelo Anthony has played MVP-caliber basketball in the absence of Amare Stoudemire and the team is ranked 11th in the NBA in scoring while playing fast paced and solid defense. The Knicks have taken baby steps each season with Anthony, making the playoffs and then winning a game last year before finally winning the division title this season.
The biggest challenges for the Knicks in the postseason will be to put their hard years behind them and the Miami Heat as a team. The Knicks have done well despite injuries and one they will need back to beat the Heat is Tyson Chandler. According to ESPN.com, Chandler is expected to be back in the fold for the postseason, which would be a huge boost for a Knicks team that lacks size down low.
Chandler has missed 14 of 18 games as the season winds down due to a back issue and Kenyon Martin has also been dealing with injuries towards the end of the year and he may be back as well by the time the postseason rolls along. The Knicks are locked into the number two seed as the playoffs start on Saturday and the team has three wins in four games against the Celtics this season, including the past three after losing the first one.
The Celtics are 41-39 this season while the Knicks have 53 wins and with Boston ranking 10th in points allowed, there is a chance the Knicks will be able to score in bunches, especially since Boston is without Rajon Rondo. Boston is 18th in scoring and will need to do much better than that to overtake the Knicks.
New York will still need to win another series to get to the Heat in the conference finals, but based on the way they have played this year that seems like a very good possibility. The team will have to continue connecting on its three-pointers and the defense on LeBron James will have to be stellar. The Heat rank fifth in both scoring and points allowed, meaning that the Knicks will have to be at their best during the series.
If Anthony can get going, he is nearly unstoppable and since the Knicks are hopeful of getting Chandler back, that could be the advantage they need as the Heat are ranked 30th in rebounding. The Knicks surely will have their work cut out for them, but for the first time in years they are a title contender and have a chance to beat the Heat in six or seven games.