Linsanity! – the Melodrama
Are you ready for the possible return of Carmelo Anthony Friday night? What will become of the Knicks seven-game win streak once Melo is back? You could not write a better regular season script for the team who plays on the NBA’s biggest stage.
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Hey, Knick fans! Are you ready for this? Are you ready for the possible return of Carmelo Anthony Friday night? What will become of the Knicks seven-game win streak once Melo is back? You could not write a better regular season script for the team who plays on the NBA’s biggest stage.
For the record, I root for the Denver Nugget and while I am not a fan of Carmelo Anthony and his style of basketball, I am thankful for Carmelo. He was a very big reason (but not the only reason) the Nuggets finally pulled themselves out of the NBA cellar and made seven straight playoff appearances. He helped make basketball in the Rockies relevant again and for that, I will always be thankful for Melo.
But, Melo craved the Big Apple and the spotlight that goes with it and I cheered when the Nuggets pillaged the Knicks in the blockbuster mid-season trade last year. Carmelo is about to find out just how bright that spotlight can be, because, maybe for the first time, fans aren’t squarely in his corner. How can Melo succeed when he returns? If they Knicks keep winning, it will be all about Jeremy Lin and his meteoric rise to stardom. If they lose, it will be Melo’s fault. He’s in a no-win situation.
New York and their beloved Knicks are enjoying the emergence of Jeremy Lin as a legitimate NBA player. He has the type of personality an entire team can rally around. Linsanity, in two short weeks, has exploded and the Knicks are on a roll without Melo.
As someone who lives in Denver and writes about Denver sports, I have seen firsthand how one person can electrify a team, a city and a country. Jeremy Lin is an NBA sensation just as the Bronco’s Tim Tebow was for the entire NFL season. Lin seems smart, likeable and driven by the success of the team. He has put the Knicks on his shoulders and, thanks to the seven game win streak, pulled them back to .500 at 15-15. Now the Knicks are about to get, arguably, their most skilled player back.
Aside from Melo, Amare Stoudemire will flourish with Lin. Stoudemire enjoyed plenty of success playing alongside Steve Nash in Phoenix running the pick and roll offense that Mike D’Antoni loves so much. He has also proved that he doesn’t need the ball in his hands at all times to be effective. Steve Nash and D’Antoni’s offense were partly responsible for Stoudemire being able to get the type of free agent money he got to go to New York. Stoudemire will run the court and should pile up big numbers playing with a true point guard who likes to push the pace, share the ball and is adept at running the pick and roll.
And what about Melo? Melo is where an offense goes to die. New York has had about a year of what we had in Denver for seven plus seasons. Once the ball gets into his hands, and he is going to make sure it gets into his hands, the offense stops. The other players stop moving because, most likely, they are not going to get the ball back and you get to watch a back-down fade away jumper as the shot clock expires. This type of offense got the Knicks off to a blistering 8-15 start and booed off their home court on several occasions.
How can Lin and Melo survive on the same court? The answer is that they should succeed wildly. They should dominate. Can you image a team with Amare and Melo filling the wings as Lin pushes the ball up court? There should be plenty of assists, points and touches to go around. But it won’t happen, because Melo won’t run; at least not all the time. Running exposes his weak defense because with all his minutes, he becomes too fatigued to dig in on the defensive end of the court.
So, Knick fans ultimately will be forced to go back to Melo-ball. And that is how Linsanity will fade away because, try as the kid might, the spotlight of Madison Square Garden is not big enough for three Knicks to shine. Melo and Amare have had a hard enough time over the last year sharing that spotlight. Right now they are all saying the right thing, but egos have a strange way of flushing out the truth.
Last year the Knicks went 14-14 following the trade for Melo and this year they were 10-15 with him. Now they are 5-0 with him out of the lineup. How will Knicks fans react when he returns? Will they be excited because he will flourish with a point guard or are they dreading his return because of his me-first attitude and his need to have his touches? Well New York, you wanted Melo and you got him. Now we are going to see what is most important to Knicks fans – wins or Melo. What if the winning stops once Carmelo returns? There are some tough choices that could face D’Antoni and the Knicks’ front office. Is it possible Melo could have his minutes cut for the sake of a playoff run?
Personally, I can’t wait to see what happens next. I am getting my popcorn ready because I haven’t been this excited about upcoming regular season games for a long time.
Jeff Lehman is a blog contributor for Gold Star Games, a leading tailgate gear supplier specializing in NFL, NCAA and MLB related apparel and much more
