A week ago the Knicks had won 13 of 14 games, fans were chanting “M-V-P” whenever Amar’e Stoudemire went to the free throw line and Spike Lee had his courtside spunk back.
But the last three games have gone progressively worse. A last-second loss to the Celtics was followed by a 22-point rout by the Heat and was topped by an overtime defeat to the Cavs that snapped Cleveland’s 10-game losing streak.
Is this the same team?
Winning 13 of 14 is impressive no matter the opponent, but 11 of those victories were against teams with losing records.
If the Knicks want to be considered among the elite of the Eastern Conference, they’ll have to beat the top teams. Luckily for them, they’ll have a chance to prove themselves over the next couple weeks — starting with Wednesday’s game against the Thunder. Then they face the Bulls, Heat and Magic — three teams above New York in the conference standings.
