Cavs Snap Knicks Four Game Winning Streak

Carmelo Anthony guards LeBron James (Kathy Willens – AP Photo)

After defeating a depleted Miami Heat team on the road Tuesday night, the New York Knicks returned home to Madison Square Garden Wednesday night and snapped their 4-game winning streak with a bad loss against LeBron James and the Cavs. This was the second game of a back to back for the Knicks.

The Knicks have not preformed well so far this season on the second night of back to backs. New York is now 0-4 this season in those games.

This was the first time LeBron has played the Knicks since Knicks’ President Phil Jackson made the “posse” comment towards LeBron. That may have given James and the Cavs a little more motivation to beat the Knicks. The Cavs showed no mercy and embarrassed them in front of the New York crowd.

The Knicks are now 12-10. It is easy to blame fatigue for this loss, but the Knicks just looked outclassed against the Cavs. Derrick Rose was out because of back spasms that he suffered against the Heat that caused him to leave the game during the 3^rd quarter. This was the first game Rose has missed this season. Brandon Jennings started in his place.

Rose had an MRI and showed that there was no structural damage, so that is good news for the Knicks. He is listed as day-to-day and is going travel with the team to Sacramento for their next game on Friday against the Kings.

The Cavs are now 15-5 and are a shoe in to be the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The question is where will the rest of the teams end up at the end of the season. The Toronto Raptors look like they could be strong contenders to be the No. 2 seed, but the rest of the conference looks like it’s going to be a crap shoot.

The Knicks are now 9-4 at home this season. The Cavs are an elite team, but getting absolutely trounced at home is not a good look. Even with Rose sitting out. They couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end. It also doesn’t help that the Cavs are a very good defensive team, but this just was not the Knicks’ night.

The Knicks now go on a west coast, 5-game road trip. They should come away with at least three wins on this trip. If they go 3-2, considering their struggles on the road, it would be a successful west coast swing.

The two games I can see them possibly losing are against the Lakers and Warriors. The Lakers are a young and exciting team that seems to play together with their new head coach Luke Walton. But with that being said, the Lakers are a team that the Knicks should beat. The Warriors on the other hand is a whole different story. If they can have a competitive game against the Warriors, that would be a huge positive for New York. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be another blowout.

The Knicks just have to stay the course. Their main priority should be to stay healthy and make the playoffs. If healthy, I do believe that they are a playoff team. They have too much talent not to. Having a healthy Rose, Porzingis, and Carmelo Anthony should be able to at least carry them to a playoff berth.

New York fans want to see the Knicks play meaningful basketball again. It’s also important to get Kristaps Porzingis experience playing playoff basketball. It’s just a completely different animal compared to the regular season.

The Knicks seem to have clicked and have looked like a good team these past couple of weeks, with the exception of the Cavs game. Consistency is key to be considered a good team in this league. We’ve seen what the Knicks can be capable of, lets see if they can bounce back after this tough loss.