CashMoney wrote:5-2 would be good. 6-1 would be great. 4-3 not so much. Important stretch starting tonight.

Off to a 1-0 start. This post below is a post I created earlier today heading into our Orlando matchup. Looks like I posted within the wrong thread, wanted to put it here; where it was meant to be posted to begin with.

NYKMentality wrote:We're on the verge of playing 7 games during only an 11 day span. It's so important to our Knicks postseason chances and/or potential postseason seeding that we catch fire during our next 7 games. The race is way too close as of right now. If we were to go 7-0 or even 6-1? We really have a chance of creating some distance in regards to opposing teams such as Chicago (1.0), Brooklyn (1.5), Indy (2.5), Atlanta (3.0) and Milwaukee (3.5). Then theirs Boston who's currently 7.0 games of our Knicks. Without Rondo too. We can't forget to mention Miami when talking postseason race(s) either, because they're only 1.5 games ahead of our Knicks for first place of the entire Eastern Conference.

During the next 11 days from January 30th to February 10th:

MIA: 7 games - @ Brooklyn, @ Indy, @ Toronto, vs. Charlotte, vs. Houston, vs. Clippers & vs. Lakers.
NYK: 7 games - vs. Orlando, vs. Milwaukee, vs. Sacramento, vs. Detroit, @ Washington, @ Minnesota & vs. Clippers.
CHI: 6 games - @ Milwaukee, @ Brooklyn, @ Atlanta, @ Pacers, @ Denver & @ Utah.
BKN: 6 games - vs. Miami, vs. Chicago, vs. Lakers, @ Detroit, @ Washington & vs. San Antonio.
INDY: 6 games- vs. Detroit, vs. Miami, vs. Chicago, vs. Atlanta, @ Philly & vs. Toronto.
ATL: 5 games - vs. Toronto, vs. Chicago, @ Indy, vs. Memphis & vs. New Orleans.
MIL: 6 games - vs. Chicago, @ New York, vs. Chicago, @ Denver, @ Jazz & vs. Pistons.

Only time will tell, so there's no use of arguing over what the Knicks will go during our next 7 games/11 days. But one thing is for sure, if the Knicks were to god forbid go 7-0, or even 6-1? We could then be in strong position heading into our final 33 ball games. These next 7 games are very important in regards to moving forward. Our Knicks have, by far, the easiest games/opponent(s) of any teams listed above. We must respond with winning basketball. Win after win is a must during our 7 games in only 11 days/nights.

Now that we (finally) have our core nucleus in Raymond Felton, Jason Kidd (probable vs. ORL) , Iman Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, J.R Smith, Amar'e Stoudemire, Steve Novak and even Pablo Prigioni/Chris Copeland all healthy at the same time? I like our chances during each and every game. Against any opponent too. If Kidd plays tonight, this will become our first night in which we've featured all of Felton, Shumpert, Melo, Stoudemire, Chandler, J.R, Kidd, Novak, Pablo and/or Copeland during the same game.

It may take some time, and we're still without the likes of veteran big's such as Kurt Thomas, Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby; but I really like our chances. We're deeper than we've ever been all of 2012-2013 heading into Orlando. If only Ronnie Brewer could begin to provide us with some of that Chicago Bull defense on the perimeter.

Jason Kidd didn't play, but I'm anticipating his return.

Looks like Miami murdered Brooklyn. Up 22+ during the 4th quarter. Now 24. Chicago took care of the Bucks. Philly beat Washington. Indy took care of Detroit. ATL beat Toronto by 1 point and even Boston beat Sacramento. The top 9 seeds of the Eastern Conference all played tonight. Only Brooklyn lost. Pretty bad night for the Brooklyn Nets...

All Eastern Conference teams have an off night tomorrow but we'll be back at it on Friday with the Miami @ Indy. NYK vs. Mil. Chicago @ Brooklyn. 76ers vs. Kings and Boston vs. Orlando. Out of the top 9 seeds/teams of the East, only ATL won't be playing come Friday Night.

1-0. Let's make it 2-0 come Friday vs the Bucks.

Cartman718 wrote:This should be at least a 6 game winning streak if not 7. Anything less and we are playing down to the competition.

Absolutely

Swishfm3 wrote:Minnesota game worries me...IMO, that team is underachieving.

Washington have been playing better since Wall's return but Knicks should be able to handle them

Clippers game will be a nice test. Can't wait for that one

In regards to this stretch of 7 games during only 12 nights we're currently 3 up and 3 down. We're the deepest/strongest we've been all season ala only two veteran BIG's away from being 100% complete (Rasheed/Camby). Due to being this deep, I see teams such as Detroit (18-29), Minnesota (18-26) and Washington (11-35) all having no chance what so ever against our Knicks.

We've beat down Detroit twice this season. 21 point and 15 point victories. During the first game against Detroit we were without the likes of Shumpert, Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas. During our second meeting against the Pistons we were only without Raymond Felton. Now that they'll see our Knicks while featuring the likes of Felton, Shumpert and Stoudemire (all together for the first time against Detroit) I see our 5th consecutive victory come tomorrow night.

Same goes for Washington. We've played these guys once here in 2012-2013, and that game resulted in a 21 point Knick victory. They may have been without Wall, but our Knicks were without the likes of Kidd, Shumpert and Stoudemire. They've improved under Wall, but only by the record of 6-7 since his return. I see Washington as a team that stands next to no chance against our Knicks come Wednesday night. Looking for 6 consecutive.

The Timberwolves aren't a team in which worries me to the slightest. We've only played each other once this season. The Timberwolves were without Kevin Love and Malcolm Lee. Our Knicks only won by 3 points. But then again, we were also without the likes of Shumpert, Rasheed, Stoudemire and Camby. Now that we're returning the likes of Shumpert and Stoudemire this go around, I see Minnesota as a team in which has next to no chance of competing with our Knicks. Kevin Love will miss yet another game against our Knicks come Friday night. Kevin Love has been out during Minnesota's last 15 games. The Timberwolves have since gone 3-12 during Love's absence.

Now that we're featuring the likes of Felton, Kidd, Shumpert, Carmelo, Chandler, J.R, Stoudemire, Novak, Prigioni, Kurt Thomas, Brewer and even Copeland and White? I see teams such as Detroit, Washington and Minny becoming another 3 victories.

In short and/or in closing, I fully expect our Knicks to feature a record of 33-15 heading into our matchup against the Clippers along with 7 consecutive wins. I myself also can't wait for this up coming Clippers game. I'm amped just thinking of a New York Knicks vs. Los Angeles Clippers matchup. But if the Clippers aren't able to return CP3 by the time they travel to M.S.G? I could see the Knicks steamrolling now that we're stronger/deeper/healthier than we've been all season. LAC's currently struggling without CP3 only going 2-4 during their last 6 without Chris Paul.

Someone said mini is under achieving, Im not so sure about that with love out for most of the season so far, we should handle them.

The wiz ( I'll be at that game) have the worst bench in the league, we should clobber them

The clips, missing JC, Billups, and Paul, have lost 4 out of 5, and are struggling, should be a good game

dk7th wrote:this stretch is a test of coaching leadership and player leadership-- it's likely to reveal the character of the team.

The character of a team is revealed when the luggage arrives late, the flight is diverted to an airport in Maine, the refs give the Mike Woodson an undeserved ejection from a game and after we lose four in a row.

Compared to the jam packed agenda for the month of March, this so-called "stretch" is a holiday.

misterearl wrote:Really?

dk7th wrote:this stretch is a test of coaching leadership and player leadership-- it's likely to reveal the character of the team.

The character of a team is revealed when the luggage arrives late, the flight is diverted to an airport in Maine, the refs give the Mike Woodson an undeserved ejection from a game and after we lose four in a row.

Compared to the jam packed agenda for the month of March, this so-called "stretch" is a holiday.

dk7th wrote:this stretch is a test of coaching leadership and player leadership-- it's likely to reveal the character of the team.

Do you still feel this way, or, does 4-0 now go against your agenda?

Like I've stated since day one of the offseason, this Knicks team was on the verge of becoming something very special as our strongest, deepest and most talented Knicks unit we've featured since the early 90's (1993-1994 to be exact). I seen it from day one, created threads about it, talked upon it etc, etc and now we're first place of our Atlantic Division and only .5 games back of Miami for the number one seed.

We've overcame injuries, competed against the likes of the Heat and Spurs and then overcame more injuries. Have shown nothing but heart throughout the entire season. This stretch of games had nothing to do with our coaching leadership, player leadership and/or character of our team. That my friend, has been on display since day one of the regular season while our Knicks were able to put a natural disaster aside, played focused despite a hurricane attacking our area, played for NYC faithful and ended up murdering the Miami Heat.

But with all that said, it's nice to know that you're finally seeing our coaching and player leadership along with the character of our Knicks basketball team during our 4-0 run. Actually, 3-0 to be exact. It's something that most of us have seen for a while now. I personally thought we'd go 7-0/6-1 during this stretch due to our team being stronger (health wise) than we've been all season ala only without two veteran backups in Rasheed and Camby.