Legacies are made and destroyed in the playoffs. Oddly enough, we tend to collectively rewrite them, falling prey to recency bias. Peyton Manning couldn’t win the big one until he won the big one but now he can’t win the big one again.

Go figure.

The one guy that has consistently seen his credentials questioned is Carmelo Anthony.

In the interest of full disclosure, it’s doubtful that anyone has wavered more on his talents and exploits than yours truly. Once upon a time, the word overrated was used in conjunction with Melo.

And then at the start of the 2012-13 campaign, I wrote a piece titled Knicks Fans Getting the Carmelo Anthony They’ve Always Deserved.

So what gives? The answer gives a fairly accurate depiction of Anthony’s career arc.

Superstars are expected to carry their teams during playoff runs and give them a chance against elite competition. The term invokes the names of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Derrick Rose to name a few.

Anthony is often placed in the conversation, although one could argue that he consistently inserts himself into the discussion and then sees himself out of it.

The regular season is his baby. During the 82-game grind, Melo performs admirably under the bright lights and treats fans to exceptional performances. Whether this was as a member of the Denver Nuggets or as a current employee of the New York Knicks, Melo has long been a stud.

However, once the postseason rolls around, his play typically fizzles out fairly quickly. His teams rarely last long in the playoffs.

In eight of his nine NBA seasons, Anthony’s teams have been eliminated in the first round. Granted, not all of the blame can be shifted on his shoulders. The man had teammates for crying out loud.

But the one thing that all can point in his direction is obvious: his own performance.

Throughout the entirety of his career, save for a few exceptions here and there, he’s been underwhelming in the playoffs. Have a quick look at the comparison between his regular season numbers and postseason:

His scoring takes a slight increase in the playoffs, and the same applies to his rebounding figures, but those actually come as a result of the increased minutes played in the postseason.

It’s a bit more prudent in this instance to verify his numbers in both scenarios projected over 36 minutes per game to get a much more accurate look at his production:

His playoff performance when compared head-to-head with the regular season shows a decline in points, assists and marksmanship from the field.

Against tougher postseason competition, Melo has had issues converting from the field and it’s reduced his overall effectiveness as a player.

Fair or not, his inability to rise to the occasion for the most part during the playoffs coupled with his teams’ early exits lead to many vacillating on the merits of his inclusion into the group of elite players in league.

Games 4 and 5 of the 2013 opening round of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics have reminded fans of this dynamic. With an opportunity to close out a proud Celtics team, the Anthony of old has reemerged.

He’s been settling for a multitude of mid-range jumpers and clanking them with frequent regularity. He got himself to the free throw line and still scored 29 points on average in both contests, but only converted 18-of-59 field goal attempts (30.5 percent).

Fast-forward to the present, and all of this can be forgotten.

In June 2012, LeBron James faced a similar dilemma. Although his team was facing a 3-2 series deficit, the reigning league MVP had to go to Boston for a Game 6 that may have defined his career in defeat. Instead, he submitted arguably the greatest playoff performance of his career in victory and used the win to propel the Miami Heat to a title.

The circumstances aren’t as dire for Anthony given that the New York Knicks actually have 3-2 lead in their series against the Boston Celtics. Nonetheless, Game 6 in Boston could be construed as a legacy-defining game.

It’s not quite do or die, but Melo’s best will certainly be expected. Anything less could result in a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden with the world awaiting for an unprecedented NBA playoff collapse.

Anthony can’t erase his past playoff failures with a victory tonight, but it will certainly help soften up the blow when history looks back on his career. The Knicks and their fans need their leading scorer to be at the top of his game going forward.

Otherwise, he might be tagged with some of the most unflattering labels in sports and those tend to stick. It’s the difference between making the Hall of Fame and talking about possibly joining the fraternity.

Tonight won’t necessarily alter Anthony’s legacy one way or another, but it’s certainly part of the story. And so far, his story just isn’t all that good.

Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].

Follow @ShyneIV

Jay-Z doesn’t come to our building, but should I throw the Roc up?

Game Details

• Tip Off: 5:00 p.m. (PT)
• Television: ESPN, CSN-BA

New York Knicks Team Profile

• Offensive Efficiency: 108.3 (3^rd in NBA)
• Defensive Efficiency: 103.3 (15^th in NBA)

Leaders

• Points: Carmelo Anthony, 28.4 PPG
• Rebounds: Tyson Chandler, 11.1 RPG
• Assists: Raymond Felton, 6.0 APG
• Steals: Jason Kidd, 1.7 SPG
• Blocks: Tyson Chandler, 1.2 BPG
• Field Goal Percentage: Tyson Chandler, 66.1% FG
• 3-Point Field Goal Percentage: Steve Novak, 44.7% 3PT FG

Scope the Opposition: Knickerblogger.

Preview: After getting involved in a scuffle that resulted in posturing more than actual displays of toughness and unity, the Golden State Warriors (33-24) were defeated last night by an Indiana Pacers (36-21) team that now occupies the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Pacers recent five-game winning streak helped them steal the spot from the New York Knicks (33-20).

Indeed, the Knicks just recently rebounded from a four-game losing streak with a home victory against the Philadelphia 76ers (22-33) and will be looking to win back-to-back games when they host the Dubs tonight at Madison Square Garden.

The Knickerbockers have one of the best offenses in the league and Mike Woodson deserves a huge amount of credit for it.

Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, Amar’e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert were all at one point in their respective careers considered to be ball stoppers. They would endlessly pound the rock and monopolize the offense for the one moment where they felt comfortable with settling for whatever shot they could manufacture against the set defense.

Ah but the times they be changing.

Melo embraced the power forward position and consequently altered his game a little to better fit with his teammates.

The end result has been that his teammates have adopted a similar mindset and followed in his footsteps. The ball no longer stays with one lone player.

Instead New York shares the wealth and the players move beautifully without the ball. They run hand offs, pick-and-pops, pick-and-rolls and post ups to take advantage of opposing defenses that collapse into the paint to protect the rim.

The end result is that Knicks players typically end up with an abundance of open jumpers, particularly from 3-point range where they convert 37.4 percent of their tries (sixth best in the Association).

In addition, if the offense boggles down and they get into a tight spot with the shot clock ticking down, they still have Carmelo Anthony to bail them out in these situations. Per Synergy Sports, the Syracuse product is converting 39.4 percent of his field goal attempts out of isolation scenarios.

The efficiency isn’t incredibly high — and it’s not awful either considering the circumstance — but the value of a shot creator in low percentage situations is extremely high, given that it can occasionally bail out a team. Have a look at some of the top scorers in the league and their field goal percentage in isos (data compiled from Synergy Sports):

The Knicks’ offense is a difficult one to defend and the Warriors will have to dig in deep to make things difficult for Mike Woodson’s bunch.

On the other side of the ball though, New York is quite average as evidenced by their 15^th ranked defensive efficiency.

Tyson Chandler is excellent in pick-and-roll defense and does a good job of anchoring the paint for the Knicks by consistently rotating to challenge players at the rim without fouling.

But if there’s an area where the Blue and Orange are vulnerable it’s in dribble penetration.

Iman Shumpert and Jason Kidd are disruptive on-ball defenders because they do a good job of cutting off angles and also using their hands to poke the ball away. In addition, they are strong perimeter defenders that are difficult to drive by and post up.

Who does that leave?

Well just about everybody else. But one of the biggest culprits is unquestionably Ray Felton.

The Knicks’ point guard just cannot keep players in front of him and routinely gets beaten with quick moves and gets caught staring at players after they breeze past him. NBA.com’s advanced stats tool tells us that NY defends at a top 10 level when Felton is off the floor but that defense nosedives down to bottom third league levels when he is on the hardwood.

Jim Cavan of Knickerblogger, the Knicks’ ESPN TrueHoop Affiliate blog, had these thoughts to share on the key matchup of tonight’s game (not so coincidentally, it involved New York’s starting point guard):

Steph Curry and Raymond Felton. Felton has had a propensity for getting lit up by opposing point guards, and with his Achilles sore and status uncertain, this is a script that seems ripe for a rerun. Woodson has shown a reluctance to pit Iman Shumpert on the opposition’s floor general — something he made a regular routine last season — and with Klay Thompson out on the wing, it might not be the best use of Shump’s efforts anyway. Whether and how effectively the Knicks switch up top will be telling; if Curry can turn that corner and force help, he’s got more than a few perimeter options from which to choose. If I’m the Knicks, I’m running nothing but P&R practice drills ahead of Wednesday’s tilt.

This promises to be an area the Dubs try to exploit tonight whether it’s with Stephen Curry or Jarrett Jack.

Expect the Knicks to come out fast and possibly even push the pace against a Warriors team that played last night in Indiana and may have tired legs.

Warriors game note: David Lee will serve a suspension tonight for his involvement in the scuffle in Indiana last night.

Knicks game note: Rasheed Wallace is scheduled to have surgery and will essentially miss the remainder of the regular season.

Statistical support provided by NBA.com.

Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].

Follow @ShyneIV

The emergence of the New York Knicks (18-5) as a potential championship contender has not only revived the city of New York in ways many felt weren’t possible unless Eli Manning was involved but it has also now led many to ponder about Carmelo Anthony’s place amongst his peers in the game today.

Granted, the topic of discussion clearly has a prisoner of the moment feel to it, but the subject is nonetheless a propos considering that the Syracuse product is playing the best basketball of his career.

During this past summer, ESPN.com ran for the second year in a row the #NBARank project that asked bloggers and writers to rank all of the players in the NBA. Anthony clocked in at 17^th and it seemed to be relatively on point considering his play during the regular season as well as his showing in the playoffs.

A lot has changed since then.

Melo has embraced the role of power forward and consequently has seen an increase in his statistical production. His usage rate (percentage of a team’s possessions) is at a career high and leads the league, but this isn’t necessarily synonymous with a player being a ball hog.

If anything, Melo has gotten the ball closer to the hoop and has been much more decisive with it this season in terms of making a quick move to get himself into scoring position and simply accepting the added attention and making the pass that leads to an assist for another player.

Add it all together and Melo is the second leading scorer in the league with 27.9 points per game on 47.3 percent field goal shooting.

But now the juicy stuff: is Anthony the best small forward in the league at the moment?

Securing that label is undoubtedly the toughest task in the NBA given that involves eclipsing both LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

The narrative at the moment is that Carmelo’s team first approach combined with his more efficient play have made him one of the most unstoppable forces in the Association and those points are not without merit. Indeed, performing at a high level in the media capital of the world is going to get you noticed, and such is the case for Anthony, but is it fair to say that he’s surpassed his peers yet?

Not quite.

For all the talk about how better Anthony has been this year, he still trails Kevin Durant in player efficiency rating.

The Oklahoma City (19-4) superstar is not scoring as much as his counterpart, but he outpaces him in rebounding and true shooting percentage (all shooting figures combined) by virtue of converting a higher percentage of his field goal and free throw attempts. In addition, Durant is doing a better job on the boards this year and has improved as a playmaker to better complement his teammates this season as evidenced by the spike in his assist numbers.

Even more impressive, Durant has done all this by reducing his usage rate as well as his turnovers.

And just for good measure, KD has slowly started to become more of a post up option to take advantage of the defenders that are being asked to guard him but that clearly do not have the size to bother him on his shot attempts. MySynergySports tells us that 12.7 percent of the three-time scoring champ’s field goal attempts have originated directly from the low block and he’s converted 54.7 percent of those shot attempts.

Hence, Carmelo is unquestionably playing the best ball of his life, but it’s still a small notch below the level of production of the Texas product.

Can he tug on James’ cape though?

Considering that Anthony is approaching Durant’s class but isn’t his equal as a player, it would be difficult to remove LeBron from his throne without the benefit of a political coup or a defiant act of treason from the King. Seriously, that’s what it would take for Melo to appropriate himself the title of best forward in the league.

James is not only leading the league in PER — he’s leading Kevin Durant by a small margin — but he has also reduced his turnovers, improved his rebounding figures and cut down his usage rate from last season, all the while converting a career high 42.4 percent of his shots from 3-point range.

His back to the basket game has seen some refinement but it’s still a work in progress so to speak. James spends a lot of times on the block probing the defense, looking to set up teammates and after taking a few hard dribbles, he usually ends up firing a tough fade away jumper. This explains why he is only shooting 41.4 percent from the field in post up situations per Synergy.

In the same breath though, James is a much better catch shoot player this year, as evidenced by his scorching 61.8 percent field goal shooting in spot up situations, as tracked by Synergy.

With that said, the most impressive and yet perturbing aspect of James’ play so far this season has been his occasional disengagement; especially when playing against inferior competition. The three-time MVP has spent a couple of quarters per game coasting and then turning it on late with the game hanging in the balance. The end result is that Miami has been in more tight contests than anticipated, but the Heat have managed to eek out wins nonetheless.

And that’s where LeBron’s brilliant gifts shine their brightest: in the clutch.

The reigning league MVP is mixing things up this year and attacking defenses at their weakest points to find the play with the highest percentage of success to take down opponents.

According to NBA.com’s advanced stats tool, Kevin Durant is tied with Stephen Curry for the league lead in total points scored in the clutch (clutch is defined as the last five minutes of the game with the scoring margin within five points) with 52, while James is relatively far away with 37 points.

This is where things get interesting.

James has been at his best in crunch time actually because he is a threat to score, but not because he is exclusively looking to do so. Have a look at the production of Anthony, Durant and James in the clutch when projected over 40 minutes:

With that data obtained from NBA.com’s advanced stats tool, it’s quite amazing to see the production of all three players in the clutch when projected over 40 minutes (I picked 40 minutes because it’s the amount of minutes superstars generally play in the postseason).

Anthony’s scoring is on par with his regular numbers, but his rebounding climbs up dramatically while his assists are non-existent. By no means does this suggest that Melo has been a chucker in the clutch — although his shooting figures might lead one to believe that — considering that he has made passes to open teammates that then shared the ball with a more open player. The one knock on Melo in the clutch — and it’s a fairly big one — so far this season ahs been his inability to connect with any consistency form the field. It’s worth noting that’s he played the least amount of clutch minutes out of the three superstars, by virtue of the Knicks taking care of business on most nights, but it’s still an area requiring improvement.

As it pertains to Durant, his rebounding figures take a huge dip, while his assists remain decent but his scoring coupled with his field goal percentage make him the NBA’s premier crunch time scorer. Heck, in the last five minutes of the game with the scoring margin within five points, Durant has an absurd 75 percent true shooting percentage. 75 percent!

Give him the ball and get out of the way folks.

James on the other hand simply morphs into a more athletic and superior version (gulp!) of the 1987 edition of Magic Johnson when crunch time surfaces. Between the scoring, rebounding and playmaking, as well as his superb individual and team defense, James is in a class all his own at the moment.

Some would argue that LeBron obtains these outlandish stat lines by virtue of dominating the ball in crunch time, but NBA.com tells us that his clutch usage rate of 29.7 is vastly inferior to both Durant (36.0) and Anthony (35.6).

Carmelo Anthony is playing some spectacular basketball this season, but he’s not quite yet on the same playing field as the Durantula and the King. That’s a knock on Melo, but rather a testament to just how great the Kevin Durant and LeBron James are.

Statistical support provided by NBA.com.

Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].

Follow @ShyneIV

With the NBA regular season scheduled to debut in less than a week, one should expect an incredible ride much like the one we enjoyed during the 2011-12 season. An argument could be made that the regular season has never been more fun considering the player movement and consequently the improved teams in the league that should forge some captivating rivalries that may be remembered for generations.

And thus, here are 60 NBA predictions for the upcoming 2012-13 regular season…

But before we get to the league, let’s first look at 20 for the Golden State Warriors.

Dubs

20. Klay Thompson’s quick release and beautiful stroke will help him win the 3-point shooting contest during All-Star weekend.

19. Andrew Bogut will appear in at least 60 games.

18. Stephen Curry is going to also participate in the 3-point shooting contest in February.

17. With Dirk Nowitzki scheduled to miss a huge chunk of the first half of the season, it will leave a forward spot up for grabs for All-Star reserves, and David Lee will get that spot.

16. Andrew Bogut will not only be a beast defensively in man-to-man defense, but when the Dubs will switch to their zone defense, Bogut will be a one-man wrecking crew by altering shots, rebounding and creating fast break opportunities.

15. Andrew Bogut’s defensive work for the Warriors will lead to him finishing second in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

14. Golden State will win two games in the city of Los Angeles.

13. Stephen Curry will be available for north of 50 games for the Dubs.

12. Klay Thompson will emerge as the team’s second leading scorer and as well as a crunch time assassin with his lack of conscience.

11. Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, Josh Smith and Al Horford and finally David Lee and Andrew Bogut will be considered the best big men pairings in the league; yes, I left out Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan from the top 4.

10. Brandon Rush will get some consideration for sixth man of the year thanks to his 3-point shooting and defense.

9. Andris Biedrins will accumulate more DNP-CDs (did not play – coach’s decision) than any other season before.

8. Oh and Andris Biedrins will finally be traded away.

7. Andrew Bogut and Kevin Garnett will definitely get into some type of scuffle when the Dubs and Celtics square off; and I couldn’t be more excited about it.

6. Stephen Curry will have the best shooting season of his career.

5. The Warriors will have at least four nights in which they hit 130 points in regulation.

4. Harrison Barnes will evolve into a legit scoring option that gets plays called for him by season’s end.

3. The Golden State Warriors will have a top 12 defense, and consequently…

2. GSW will win north of 42 games; which means…

1. The Dubs will make the playoffs.

Around the League

40. Anthony Davis will win the Rookie of the Year award (way to go out on a limb right?)

39. Greg Monroe will finally start to get a little bit of national attention and with the Pistons playing relatively decent ball throughout the course of the season, he will earn tons of All-Star attention but ultimately fall short…

38. Andrew Bynum will be voted in as the starting big man for the Eastern Conference All-Stars but will not be able to participate due to injury, which will lead to…

37. Greg Monroe making the All-Star team as a selection by David Stern.

36. The Charlotte Bobcats will be more interesting than the Carolina Panthers. Expect a few Cam Newton sightings.

35. DeMar DeRozan will be the Toronto Raptors’ leading scorer as well as their go-to player in crunch time, which will lead to Raptors fans clamoring for the franchise to give him a max contract.

34. Bryan Colangelo will give DeRozan a contract that averages north of $9.9 million per year, and I will probably make fun of him for it.

33. The San Antonio Spurs will once again finish the regular season with the best record in the league.

32. The Phoenix Suns will have the worst record in the Pacific division.

31. Demarcus Cousins will make the All-Star team.

30. The Los Angeles Lakers will send three players to the NBA All-Star Game.

29. Steve Nash will not be one of the members of the Lakers chosen to represent the Western Conference at the midseason classic.

28. The Orlando Magic will have the worst record in the NBA.

27. The Chicago Bulls will make the postseason as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and give the Boston Celtics a scare.

26. The Miami Heat will still get booed in every opposing arena.

25. Kevin Durant will win another scoring title.

24. Steve Nash will not average double-digit assists.

23. Kobe Bryant will have his most efficient scoring season ever.

22. The Washington Wizards will pull off a big trade during the course of the season.

21. With the crowd firmly agitated, Kyrie Irving will score a career high 45 points at the Q on March 20^th, when Miami visits Cleveland.

20. Dirk Nowitzki will have his jersey retired on March 15^th in Cleveland prior to the Mavericks-Cavaliers contest (you should be able to guess why).

19. There will be a mix of cheers and boos for Kevin Durant when OKC travels to Cleveland on February 2^nd because the Thunder couldn’t keep the Heat away from the title.

18. The Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons will be fighting each other for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference, with Milwaukee barely making it in.

17. Tom Thibodeau will win the Coach of the Year award for keeping the team afloat despite the absence of Derrick Rose.

16. Lou Williams will lead the Atlanta Hawks in fourth quarter scoring.

15. The MVP voting will come down to Chris Paul, LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant.

14. Mitch Kupchak will win the Executive of the Year award (duh).

13. The Memphis Grizzlies will draw the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs and give them a tough seven-game series.

12. Chris Paul will be awarded with the league MVP award.

11. Carmelo Anthony will lead the league in fourth quarter field goal attempts.

10. The Indiana Pacers will finish with the third best record in the conference.

9. Joe Johnson will be the Brooklyn Nets’ top guy in the fourth quarter, and will make fans realize just how underappreciated he is, regardless of the size of his mammoth contract.

8. The conference finalists will be the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.

7. The New York Knicks will be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and the world will once again ask themselves: is Carmelo Anthony worthy of the title superstar?

6. Brooklyn won’t be as good as many are anticipating them to be.

5. DeAndre Jordan’s post game will be nice to watch….in the first quarter. And then he will become forgotten until the first quarter of the next game or until he converts a ridiculous dunk off a perfect lob; whichever comes first.

4. The Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trail Blazers will evolve into teams that will garner #LeaguePassAlert tweets.

3. After years of not meeting in the playoffs, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant will finally square off in the NBA Finals.

2. The Los Angeles Lakers will win the NBA championship.

1. In an incredible twist of fortunes, Dwight Howard will be awarded the 2013 NBA Finals MVP trophy and thus complete the cycle of going from Dwightmare to dream season.

Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].

Follow @ShyneIV

The Dwight Howard “Indecision” saga is finally over.

The six-time All-Star is headed West to the Lakers, teaming up with Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and the artist formerly known as Ron Artest.

With four teams involved in the blockbuster trade, it is easy for the rest of the NBA to be a little bit jealous that they weren’t invited to the trade party. The Warriors especially, are used to not being participants in deals containing a superstar player but surprisingly enough, the Warriors do have a small connection that facilitated the D12 deal.

According to Marc Spears,

That second-rounder was originally sent to the Knicks in the deal that brought David Lee to Golden State which was then shipped to Denver in the trade that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York.

Yes, I’m probably grasping at straws here to get the Warriors’ name thrown into the biggest NBA story of the summer, but isn’t that better than discussing how much better the Lakers have become or even how Denver got better with the acquisition of Andre Iguodala thus making it that much harder for the Warriors to sneak into the playoffs?

Well, isn’t it?

Follow @cruzkontrol

This past season, Jeremy Lin took over New York as well as the NBA by storm and became for a lack of a better comparison, the ultimate Disney movie. He reminded people that should they stick to their dreams, there is a good chance that they will come true.

And just like that, the dream was over…

In New York.

Lin famously signed an offer sheet with the Houston Rockets that Knicks owner James Dolan did not want matched, and thus Lin is now taking his story to Houston; while many Knicks fans are still perplexed by the move. The media sensation helped revive exciting basketball in New York and also helped the team reach the postseason and thus many obviously wanted to see him come back to NY and play a full season.

But just like that, he was allowed to leave, in a move that bothered several new Yorkers. But prior to Jeremy Lin’s departure from the Big Apple, there was another player that diehard fans in NYC wanted to see remain in orange and blue: David Lee.
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Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images

Carmelo Anthony must hate living in LeBron James’ shadow.

Sounds like a hyperbolic statement and yet it is true in so many ways when we look at their respective careers and what they have meant to each other.

Carmelo was terrific high school prospect who got himself noticed and eventually landed at Syracuse university. In his freshman season, he dominated the NCAA tournament and helped Jim Boeheim earn his one and only national championship. Anthony’s scoring prowess as well as his rebounding ability made him a tough cover for just about every other player at the collegiate level.

While Carmelo was busy gathering some attention in the NCAA, a high school player in the state of Ohio was busy dominating the headlines thanks in large part to his size, strength, charisma and more so than anything; his basketball talent. LeBron James was such an impressive high school player that some of his games were actually televised before a national audience. The Akron native could do it all: score, rebound, play physical, throw it down and entertain. Even more impressive, he seemed to get it.
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Projected Starters

New York                                                                  Golden State

PG -  Toney Douglas                                              Ishmael Smith

SG -  Landry Fields                                                 Monta Ellis

SF -  Carmelo Anthony                                          Dorell Wright

PF – Amare Stoudemire                                       David Lee

C -    Tyson Chandler                                             Andris Biedrins

Scope the opposition: Get your Knicks fix at Knickerblogger.

Preview: Fresh off a victory over the Chicago Bulls, the Golden State Warriors will host the New York Knicks tonight at Oracle Arena. The Knickerbockers are coming off a106-104 opening day victory against the Boston Celtics that went down to the wire.

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