The Knicks Fix

Rarely do we like to acknowledge the work of a rival newspaper, but because we're based on Long Island and the Newark Star-Ledger is in New Jersey, it's geographically acceptable to give a shout-out to fellow Knicks beat writer Dave Waldstein for a timely piece in today's paper. Waldo, as we call him, quoted veteran Malik Rose saying the Knicks get way too high after wins and it impairs their ability to be consistent.

"I've said it all season," Rose is quoted by Waldstein. "We'll get a win and all of the sudden we think we've arrived. We get a taste of what it could be like. But with winning streaks and good teams that put their work in daily, they get a win and nothing changes. It's still 0-0. They get another win, it's still 0-0. They go on a 20-0 run, the score is 0-0. Stay focused at the task at hand.

"It takes concentration; perseverance and concentration," Rose continued. "We've got to stay focused on the game plan, what you do offensively and defensively. It just takes great deal of concentration and focus to put together win streaks."

Amen to that. I can recall several times recently walking out of a Knicks locker room post-win and feeling like they were way too giddy for a January win. An example was Saturday in Orlando, the Knicks acted as if they just moved into first place in the Atlantic Division. They're still a long ways from a playoff berth.

Stephon Marbury even touched on it recently, when he said the win-loss-win-loss trend is "not healthy" because of the extreme highs and extreme lows the team goes through.

I'm not saying you can't enjoy wins -- it's the only way to survive an 82-game season -- but you have to question the mindset of a team that is so short-sighted. Maybe it suggests that they don't believe they will make the playoffs, so they're blowing out their emotions every good feeling they get. Maybe it's just all that pent-up frustration from last season releasing. Maybe it's the sign of a young team that doesn't quite understand winning.

Isiah Thomas even talks about the need to "put our heads down and run the race" and see where they wind up in the end. There are four games left before the all-star break and then it's a sprint to the playoffs.

If Thomas' team acquires anything by the trade deadline, perhaps Even Keel would be the best fit. Otherwise, these small victories will be all the season produces.

And we're trying to raise the bar here, right?

If we don't take action now
We settle for nothing later
Settle for nothing now
And we'll settle for nothing later
-Rage Against the Machine