The Knicks only shot 38.8% from the floor last night but they played pretty well on defense and that made up for the bad shooting in Miami.  Carmelo Anthony led the way for the Knicks last night with 29 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot.  Amare Stoudemire (16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 blocked shot) and Chauncey Billups (16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals) also had very solid games for the Knicks last night.  Bill Walker pitched in with 10 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in 25 minutes off the bench.  The Knicks are now 30-27 on the year.

The Knicks were outrebounded 62-42 in this game by the Cavaliers which was the biggest reason for the loss.  Amare Stoudemire led the way for the Knicks in this game with 31 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 5 blocked shots.  Carmelo Anthony (27 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists) and Chauncey Billups (26 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists) also had big games for the Knicks.  Landry Fields pitched in with 11 points.  The Knicks are now 29-27 on the year.

The new look Knicks shot 50% from the floor last night as they outran the Bucks last night.  Carmelo Anthony led the way for the Knicks last night in his debut with the team as he finished up with 27 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals.  Toney Douglas had a outstanding game off the bench last night with 23 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals on 10 of 12 shooting from the floor.  Chauncey Billups only shot 4 of 12 from the floor but he still finished up with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals in his debut with the Knicks.  Amare Stoudemire pitched in with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal last night.  The Knicks are now 29-26 on the year.

The Knicks have acquired 24-year old shooting guard Corey Brewer from the Timberwolves for 21-year old power forward Anthony Randolph and 28-year old center Eddy Curry.  Shooting guard Corey Brewer played in 56 games (22 starts) for the T-Wolves this year and he was averaging 24.3 minutes, 8.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  He has now played in 232 games (147 starts) in his first four years in the NBA and he is averaging 25.7 minutes, 9.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game.  Brewer will back up Landry Fields the rest of this season.

Anthony Randolph was supposed to be the key to the David Lee trade with the Warriors over the summer but it just never clicked for him in N.Y.  He played in 17 games (0 starts) for the Knicks this season and he averaged 7.5 minutes, 2.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  Randolph only shot 31.1% from the floor this year as he has a complete bust for the Knicks.  Eddy Curry did not play in any games for the Knicks this season and he has only played in 10 games over the last three years for the Knicks.

UPDATE:  (3/1/2011) – The Knicks have bought out Corey Brewer, making him a free agent.  I think this was a big mistake by the Knicks as Brewer is likely to wind up with a playoff team.

The New York Knicks have acquired Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman from the Nuggets for Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks first round pick in 2014, the Warriors second round picks in 2012 & 2013 and $3 million bucks.  26-year old Carmelo Anthony returns to N.Y. after playing his college ball at Syracuse.  He played in 50 games (all starts) for the Nuggets this season and he averaged 35.5 minutes, 25.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.  He has now played in 564 games (all starts) in his first 8 years in the NBA and he is averaging 36.4 minutes, 24.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  Anthony gives the Knicks a second bonafide star to team with Amare Stoudemire in N.Y. city.  34-year old point guard Chauncey Billups will take over for the departed Raymond Felton in the starting lineup.  Billups played in 51 games (all starts) for the Nuggets this season and he averaged 32.3 minutes, 16.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  He has now played in 961 games (867 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 32.3 minutes, 15.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  Billups is a shoot first point guard so the Knicks offense might change a little bit, but he is a clutch shooter as he has hit 44.1% from three point range so far this year.  27-year old power forward Shelden Williams played in 42 games (32 starts) for the Nuggets this season and he averaged 17.0 minutes, 4.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  Williams has now played in 286 games (63 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 14.4 minutes, 4.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  Williams will give the Knicks some muscle and rebounding off the bench the rest of this year.  35-year old Anthony Carter played in 14 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets this season and he averaged 10.9 minutes, 1.9 points, 0.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.  He has now played in 580 games (181 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 20.1 minutes, 5.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  Carter will back up Billups just like he was doing in Denver.  26-year old Renaldo Balkman returns to N.Y. where he played his first two seasons.  Balkman played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Nuggets so far this year and he is averaging 8.8 minutes, 2.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  Balkman has now played in 204 games (12 starts) in his first five years in the NBA and he is averaging 14.4 minutes, 4.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. 

The new guys didn’t come cheap.  26-year old Raymond Felton played in 54 games (all starts) for the Knicks this season and he averaged 38.4 minutes, 17.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 9.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game.  The Knicks might miss Felton a little bit going forward as he was playing better than Chauncey Billups was for the Nuggets.  22-year old small forward Danilo Gallinari played in 48 games (all starts) for the Knicks this season and he averaged 34.8 minutes, 15.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.  He played in 157 games (124 starts) in his three years with the Knicks in which he averaged 30.8 minutes, 13.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.  23-year old SG/SF Wilson Chandler was having his best season for the Knicks.  He played in 51 games (30 starts) for the Knicks this year and he was averaging 34.5 minutes, 16.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game.  He played in 233 games (180 starts) in his four years with the Knicks and he averaged 32.2 minutes, 14.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.  24-year old rookie center Timofey Mozgov almost held up this deal before the Knicks relented and included him in this deal.  Mozgov played in 34 games (14 starts) for the Knicks this year and he averaged 13.5 minutes, 4.0 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. 

The Knicks now have the star power that they have craved for a while in adding Carmelo Anthony but they paid top dollar to get him.

The New York Knicks are considering trading about half of their team to get Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and others from the Nuggets.  The Knicks are sitting at 28-26 on the year which has them in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division, 12 games behind the Celtics.  The Knicks are currently sitting in the #6 slot in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs and they are 12 games behind the Heat and Celtics.  The Sixers (2 games), Pacers (4 games) and Bobcats (5 games) are in striking range of the Knicks so they have a tough decision to make.  Roll with the guys they have or deal a lot of them to the Nuggets for Carmelo Anthony?  That is a big decision to be made.

Biggest Surprise:  When you draft someone in the 2nd round you usually just hope that he will stick as a backup down the road.  But the Knicks appear to have hit a homer with 22-year old Landry Fields.  Fields is the second best rookie in the NBA this year behind only Blake Griffin in my book,.  Fields has played in 54 games (all starts) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 32.6 minutes, 10.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  Fields has been a outstanding shooter so far this year for the Knicks as he is hitting 51.9% from the floor, 39.9% from three point range and 76% from the free throw line.  The Knicks don’t want to deal Fields to the Nuggets in the proposed Carmelo Anthony deal.

Biggest Disappointment:  Without a doubt, 21-year old Anthony Randolph has been the biggest disappointment for the Knicks this season.  He was supposed to be the key player the Knicks got back from the Warriors in the David Lee trade, but he has been a complete bust.  Randolph has played in 17 games (0 starts) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 7.5 minutes, 2.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  He is shooting a pathetic 31% from the floor, 25% from three point range and 50% from the free throw line so far this year.  He is likely to be dealt either as part of a possible Carmelo Anthony deal or in a separate deal as the Knicks want to ditch him by Thursday.

The Knicks left everything on the court tonight against the Hawks and the effort resulted in a nice home win.  Amare Stoudemire led the way for the Knicks in this game with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots.  Wilson Chandler (20 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot) and Danilo Gallinari (17 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal) also had solid games for the Knicks tonight.  Raymond Felton (13 points) and Landry Fields (11 points) also pitched in for the Knicks in this game.  The Knicks are now 28-26 on the year.

The Knicks beat up on the Nets last night without Amare Stoudemire who sat out last night’s game with a sprained toe.  Wilson Chandler (21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 5 blocked shots) and Toney Douglas (19 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal) led the way for the Knicks last night.  Landry Fields also had a solid game with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot last night.  Raymond Felton (13 points) and Bill Walker (11 points) also pitched in for the Knicks last night.  The Knicks are now 27-26 on the year.

The Knicks didn’t play any D as the Lakers shot 53.6% from the floor and it did them in.  Amare Stoudemire led the way for the Knicks in this game with 24 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocked shots.  Raymond Felton also did his part as he finished with 20 points, 1 rebound, 7 assists and 3 steals.  Danilo Gallinari (14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal) and Wilson Chandler (13 points) also pitched in for the Knicks last night.  The Knicks are now 26-26 on the year.

24-year old rookie center Timofey Mozgov is stepping up as of late.  In his last five games, Mozgov is averaging 26.8 minutes, 11.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game on 65.7% shooting from the floor.  The amazing thing about his play of late is that it comes after a ten game stretch in which he didn’t play at all!  He has now played in 31 games (11 starts) for the Knicks so far this year and he is averaging 12.7 minutes, 3.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  If Mozgov keeps playing like he is right now, the Knicks should be able to get back on the right track.