New York Knicks a 'Miracle' Team, Even Without Lin?
The New York Knicks may not be able to bring 23-year-old point guard Jeremy Lin's Christian faith onto the basketball court just yet, but many fans still believe that the team is accomplishing miraculous feats.
The Knicks were victorious against the Chicago Bulls, the top seed in the Eastern Conference on Sunday, despite the fact that the New York team was missing two of its top scorers. Still, starting small forward Carmelo Anthony managed to score a season-high 43 points in an overtime 100-99 victory.
Spectators who watched the game tweeted their reaction to what they perceived as a miracle. The Bill Walton Trip, a satirical Twitter account inspired by a former NBA player turned sportscaster, tweeted about the seemingly miraculous game.
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"An Easter Miracle, Carmelo Anthony digs down deep, puts the Knicks on his back and resurrects them with a huge three pointer," The Bill Walton Trip tweeted.
Another fan thought that the entire game was miraculous, after former NBA MVP and Chicago Bulls starting point guard Derrick Rose missed two late-game free throws for only the second time in the entire season. However, the team has accomplished other feats during the course of the 2011-2012 that have been deemed miraculous.
After a difficult start to a season with former head coach Mike D'Antoni, the Knicks seemed to be in desperate need of a point guard which appeared in the form of an Asian-American Lin one month later. In January, sportscaster and former NBA player Charles Barkley pointed out the issues that the team had in the point guard position.
"I don't think a point guard by committee can run his system," Barkley said in an interview with ESPN radio. "They're not very good. Well, let's see: they don't play defense, they don't rebound the ball and they don't have a point guard. Other than that, everything's lovely with them."
One month later, "Linsanity," a word formed from the combination of the Knicks point guard's last name and the word insanity, took over the point guard position and propelled the team to a winning streak. Lin called the phenomenon a miracle.
"I can't really explain it. I can only say it's a miracle because really no one saw it coming," Lin told sportscaster Ahmad Rashad. "I can't take credit for anything really, it's all out of my control. How did I end up in New York?"
Lin had been waived by two teams and sent to the NBA D-League before getting an opportunity to start for the Knicks. However, a losing streak and unexpected resignation from former head coach Mike D'Antoni created another miraculous moment for the team. After the team lost six in a row under D'Antoni, interim head coach Mike Woodson helped propel the team to a 11-3 record under his leadership.
Fans began to dub the phenomenon "Woodsanity" while publications like the New York Post began calling the coach "Miracle Mike." Despite the winning record sparked by their new coach, the Knicks encountered more trouble during the shortened season when Lin announced that he would undergo knee surgery and high-scoring forward Amare Stoudemire announced that a back injury would force him to sit on the bench indefinitely.
Still, the Knicks managed to advance from the number eight seed to the number seven seed since the two high-scorers were benched due to injury. Now, fans are awaiting a miraculous playoffs run from the team that has been producing against many odds this season.
"No joke it would be a miracle if the Knicks actually get past the first round (in the playoffs)," a fan tweeted.
The Knicks will have a re-match against the Bulls on Tuesday.
