The New York Knicks are getting ready for one of their most anticipated seasons in recent memory and they will start the year in earnest on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks after playing most of their preseason games on the road and after the opening game at Madison Square Garden the team will play next at the United Center on Thursday against the Chicago Bulls on TNT.
The Bulls will open the season on Tuesday against the Miami Heat in a game where they will watch the championship banners get raised up and then the team heads home to host the New York Knicks and the early battle is one of the top matchups on the schedule. The Knicks have been on the road for nearly all of the preseason after all the construction at MSG and on Wednesday they will show it off to the Bucks and the world and then the team doesn't get a break before heading out to Chicago for a game that will be on in primetime at 8 pm at the United Center for a top game on the NBA docket and this all comes after the team finished off the preseason with the Charlotte Bobcats and a close loss. The Knicks are the returning division champs and with the Nets looking good, they will want to get started up right against the Bucks and the Bulls, who of course will have Derrick Rose back this season after his serious knee injury.
Rose has looked very good in the preseason and played better than many expected and the point guard himself said that he feels better than he did before the surgery, saying he was more expensive now than before the injury from back before last season in the playoffs. The Bulls are expecting big improvements with Rose back in the lineup and the Knicks know that they now will be even tougher to beat and this comes after Chicago was able to win a playoff series and a game against the Miami Heat without their star. Carmelo Anthony is coming in with championship and MVP expectations and the Knicks feel that they are ready to make a run against the Miami Heat and LeBron James.
The heat obviously are the best since they have won the east for three straight seasons and now the Knicks have to deal with Miami, the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers and all those teams will be the top ones mentioned to make it out of the east. The Knicks added Metta World Peace and Beno Udrih and the team comes back with the seventh best scoring defense in the league and that should remain where it is and the team also scored over 100 points per game and they will need to keep that up as well and Peace should help with steals and with Iman Shumpert developing, the Knicks have a solid roster of talent.
The Knicks and Bulls will be an early battle to start the season and that will be the first TNT game for the Knicks after opening the season against the Bucks and that game will be at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday and it will start up at 7:30 pm the day before the Bulls game at the United Center at 8 pm. The Knicks have a solid stretch and then games against the Spurs, Rockets and Hawks as well as the Pacers and Clippers that will be tough.
