THE “KNICKS” EFFECT ON STATS
March 27, 2009 by R.C. Cola
It seems like the best cure for a player or team in a slump is a visit to Madison Square Garden.
The Los Angeles Clippers were the latest beneficiaries on Wednesday, snapping a nine-road-game losing streak in defeating the New York Knicks 140-135 in an overtime thriller. The Knicks were especially generous to rookie Clipper Mike Taylor, who poured in a career-high 35 points. The relative unknown is just the latest example of a player who inflated his stats thanks to the Knicks’ run-and-gun, hurried-pace style. Last month, Kobe Bryant set a new benchmark for scoring in the arena with 61 points. Not wanting to be left out, LeBron James followed that act with a 52-point performance, Stephen Jackson went off for 35 points a few days later, and Dwayne Wade capped off the end of February with 46. Given how badly the Knicks get hammered and how defense is really more myth than reality in the Garden, I suggest adding asterisks to any records or career scoring bests set against Coach Mike D’Antoni’s squad.
Teams and players would get a more accurate reading of their scoring ability if they implemented the D’Antoni Effect. Remove a Knicks game from a player’s scoring average, and I bet it drops a few points. It’ll hurt for those Atlantic division players that are fortunate enough to play four games with the Knicks to pad their stats. A DE line would factor in all games, while a non-DE scoring average would exclude the inflated effects of playing with the Knicks.
Sound ridiculous? Not much more than Taylor’s 35 points, which doubled his previous best performance and was completely out of whack with his season average of 4.7 points per game. But thanks to the Knicks, he can look like an All-Star. It’s not just Taylor. On Monday, Orlando Magic Courtney Lee scored 22 points, or nearly three times his season average, against the Knicks. Last week, Sacramento King Spencer Hawes scored 18 points, or nearly twice his season average. Role players become stars when they come to New York.
The same standard should apply to Knicks players. Al Harrington is posting career scoring numbers, averaging more than 20 points a game, including 38 points against the Clip Show. He’s putting up insane numbers he wouldn’t otherwise be doing on a legitimate team. Harrington’s career numbers should have a giant asterisk and DE for this season. Likewise, does anyone think Nate Robinson could average 18 points per game this season on any other team?
The DE system serves to highlight the Knicks’ woeful defense. While they’re a more entertaining team, the players are still fundamentally backwards with no signs of improvement. Bringing shoot-first guys like Larry Hughes into the fold isn’t going to help much.
Sure, most New Yorkers are waiting for the “summer of LeBron” with the hope that James will sign with the Knicks. But there’s no guarantee he will join the team, particularly if his Cleveland Cavaliers remain successful. In the meantime, D’Antoni is installing the kind of habits that will run a franchise into the ground.
If you look at the last few NBA title holders - the Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons - defense was a consistent theme. It was the kind of lock-down mentality that allowed the Celtics to dominate the more offensive-minded Lakers last year, despite Los Angeles being the near consensus pick to win it all.
D’Antoni first championed his “Seven Seconds Or Less” philosophy with the Phoenix Suns. True, the scores were artificially high there as well, but a talented roster including one of the best, most unselfish point guards in Steve Nash made the Suns a legitimate threat. Despite the team’s success, the Suns were never taken seriously in the postseason because they never paid attention to defense.
That fate could ultimately fall to the Knicks - a fun team that’s never really in contention for a championship. Is that an environment James would really sign up for?
Even if the Knicks were to revamp the roster and make wholesale player changes, there’s still one fundamental problem: D’Antoni himself.
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