Orlando, Boston, Detroit, Charlotte, Washington, Milwaukee... these are the teams we're really competing against in terms of reaching the playoffs, and it looks now like none of these teams is beyond our ability to beat, especially when they are playing us in the Garden.

Both teams actually have playoff pretensions at this point in the season, but for the Knicks, I actually see this game as approaching the "must win" category.

We're playing at home following an off day after a relatively easy victory, while Orlando lost a tough game last night in their arena...a game vs the Hawks where they came back strong in the 3rd period but still managed to lose.

If the Knicks want to be looked at as more than just a team playing above its head early in the season, which everyone expects to fall back down to earth at some point, this is the type of opponent we have to beat. The East is better this season, but so are the Knicks, and with Anthony and Aflalo approaching the point of complete recovery from their respective injuries, this game takes on some significant meaning, IMO.

Beating Orlando tonight should put teams in the EC on notice that the Knicks are in the mix, and not a team you're guaranteed to beat just by showing up to the arena.

Will be interesting for me to see how the crowd at the Garden reacts to this game. No...it is not a playoff game, but it for this Knicks team this game is a big one.

I get your reasoning, but I've seen too many lose-a-bad-one-but-win-a-good-one-to-balance-it-out and vice versa to go that route.

They could lose by 20 tonight and win by 1 Wed and no one will care about Monday.

Hopefully Melo and AA can keep up the scoring load, and KP shows us something better than his first game against the Magic. We'll see if DWill is affected by getting his jewelry stash robbed by some whores, and if the rest of the bench can continue their improved play.

bigbasketballs wrote:

nixluva wrote:Magic are a good team. The Knicks are starting to put things together so I hope they come out strong and confident. Earlier in the season teams caught a break since the Knicks were struggling. This should be a much better representation of where the team is at.

If the Knicks win they'll be .5 behind a good team.

Will that make them a good team?? :-)

Yeah I think the Knicks have a chance to advance to another level with some consistent performances that lead to wins. I think they were struggling earlier but have seemed to start to gel. Still it's a bit of a struggle to reach the point where you are consistent in your performance every night. The Knicks aren't there yet but they are IMO approaching that level. Getting above .500 and staying there, in this tough Eastern Conference most certainly should indicate that you have a good team.

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Malcolm wrote:

bigbasketballs wrote:Eh, no must-wins in December.

I understand that.

But we can, I believe, start to think about what is reasonable to expect.

For example, I discount the win against Chicago quite a bit -- Fisher seemed to do so as well. What that means is that in the circumstances it was reasonable to expect the Knicks to win. A loss in that game would have been pitiful.

What should we expect against Orlando tonight (?) A home game against a team playing back-to-back (?)

Again, I think a win is to be expected . . .

Yes, I think it is reasonable to expect the Knicks to win this game.

But if they lose I don't think you'll find much predictive about it.

Unless the Sixers, Lakers,GS or Spurs are playing I wouldn't be that surprised by any win/loss in today's NBA.

Malcolm wrote:

bigbasketballs wrote:Eh, no must-wins in December.

I understand that.

But we can, I believe, start to think about what is reasonable to expect.

For example, I discount the win against Chicago quite a bit -- Fisher seemed to do so as well. What that means is that in the circumstances it was reasonable to expect the Knicks to win. A loss in that game would have been pitiful.

What should we expect against Orlando tonight (?) A home game against a team playing back-to-back (?)

Again, I think a win is to be expected.

Winning games you are expected to win is a definite stage of development . . .

I think this is fair. If the Knicks are thinking about making the playoffs, this is the sort of game they have to win.

knickscity wrote:Sometimes you have to take advantage of your advantage. A loss tonite wouldnt be good considering the Knicks are rested and at home.

crzymdups wrote:craaaaaaaaaaap. KOQ out.

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bigbasketballs wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

Malcolm wrote:

bigbasketballs wrote:Eh, no must-wins in December.

I understand that.

But we can, I believe, start to think about what is reasonable to expect.

For example, I discount the win against Chicago quite a bit -- Fisher seemed to do so as well. What that means is that in the circumstances it was reasonable to expect the Knicks to win. A loss in that game would have been pitiful.

What should we expect against Orlando tonight (?) A home game against a team playing back-to-back (?)

Again, I think a win is to be expected.

Winning games you are expected to win is a definite stage of development . . .

I think this is fair. If the Knicks are thinking about making the playoffs, this is the sort of game they have to win.

So if they don't win their 29th game, they should reasonably stop thinking about making the playoffs?

Obviously I didn't say that. I said this is the sort of game they have to win if they want to make the playoffs. Orlando is the 9th seed, but has played slightly better than the Knicks so far this year and beaten them once. They need to win games like this on their schedule if they want to make the playoffs. Obviously that's not a cut and dry statement and they can lose this game and still make the playoffs - though against an opponent who will likely be near them in the standings, winning the season series is pretty important and they're already down 0-1 to Orlando.