After a minuscule sample of nine games, the Knicks were the toast of basketball at 8-1. Cue the postseason award speeches: MVP, Coach of the Year, Executive of the Year, Player Most Likely to Open a Lucrative Bagel Shop.
Then reality — and some annoying ding-and-dent injuries — arrived. Yes, they still are 9-4 and tied for first place in the Atlantic Division as they invade Central-leading Milwaukee (7-5) tonight, when they again will be without Jason Kidd. But the luster of 9-4 looks rustier than it should.
The Knicks are coming off a 96-89 overtime defeat Monday in Brooklyn, a game treated in New York not as a life-or-death event but something far more important. The Knicks played without Kidd, who sat with lower back spasms, which also prevented him from flying with the team yesterday.
“He’s a big part of what we do,” coach Mike Woodson said. “He’s one of those veteran guys that can settle things down and help run the team when things are not going very smoothly.”
Kidd has been playing the two-guard alongside point guard Raymond Felton, who had a game Monday that Custer wouldn’t have wished on the Sioux. Felton was 3-of-19 from the floor — including 1-of-10 in the fourth quarter and overtime — as opposing point guard Deron Williams made the court his personal playground for most of the 53 minutes.
“Just a bad night,” Woodson said yesterday during a radio interview on ESPN. “When you go back and review the tape, those 19 shots, 12, 13 of those shots were really good shots that he’s been making all season. You have nights like that as a player. If he was on his game, maybe we win the game going away. I don’t know, but the bottom line was we missed Jason too because he’s Raymond’s backup and we can slide him to the point guard.”
Kidd officially was listed by the Knicks as day-to-day. While Kidd stayed behind, Ronnie Brewer (dislocated left ring finger), who started in Kidd’s backcourt role against the Nets, traveled with the team and is expected to play tonight. Brewer exited the Brooklyn game late in the fourth quarter.
“Ronnie will play,” Woodson said. “Ronnie will just tape it. He didn’t break anything, just dislocated it.”
Sort of like how everything has been dislocated for the Knicks lately. They have lost three of four games, two of them close defeats, the other the unsightly bashing in Houston, where they surrendered a gag-inducing 131 points. When Kidd sat against Brooklyn, the Knicks tried going with a big starting lineup. They still lost.
“Of course we missed J-Kidd, but we had a chance to win,” said Carmelo Anthony, who misfired with 4.9 seconds left in regulation with the score tied.
In the three recent defeats, the Knicks surrendered an average of 113.7 points. They have given up 90 in their other 10 games. Offense hasn’t been the problem. Defense has been the issue. And health.
Rasheed Wallace, an important piece of a bench that has been shortened due to the injuries to Amar’e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert, has battled a foot problem that cost him one game. And conditioning has been an issue with Marcus Camby. Now Kidd, a guy whose basketball IQ is off the charts, is down.
“Some of the close games, Jason has been the common factor in terms of offensively getting us in things, defensively being the stabilizer based on who he’s guarding and getting the other four guys in position,” Woodson said. “Jason does a lot of things that go unnoticed. He’s not a stat guy. … He just does things to help you win basketball games.”