George Willis

George Willis

NBA

With strikes against them, Knicks spare time for bowling

The basketball court hasn’t always been the kindest place for the Knicks these days, so a trip to a Bowlmor Lanes might be the tonic needed to relax a team that has been gripped by frustration for most of this season.

Maybe that’s why there were plenty of smiles Monday night when the Knicks held Knicks Bowl 15 at Chelsea Piers to raise funds for the Garden of Dreams Foundation. Anything to take their minds off watching Kevin Durant score 41 points in a 112-100 loss Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City.

“It’s good to relax and get away from basketball a bit,” Amar’e Stoudemire said.

It was the Knicks’ fourth loss in their last five games and dropped their record to 20-31 before a date at the Garden with Sacramento on Wednesday. Then comes the All-Star break, followed by a four-game road trip to Memphis, New Orleans, Orlando and Atlanta. Perhaps bowling provided the perfect stress release before a key game that could decide the fate of coach Mike Woodson and the future course of the Knicks.

“I wouldn’t call it a must win, but it’s a game we have to take care of,” Carmelo Anthony said.

At least the only people criticizing Anthony on the bowling lanes were his teammates, but even that was good-natured. Coming off what happened Sunday, Anthony might welcome some good-natured ribbing. In a matchup of the league’s top two scorers, Durant added to his MVP credentials by falling an assist short of a triple-double. Meanwhile, the Knicks star scored only 15 points on 5 of 19 shooting. Give Anthony grief if you like, but the stats and the outcome illustrate the reality of one team contending for a championship and another mired in inconsistency.

The Knicks aren’t going anywhere this season, no matter how much Woodson talks up trying to at least capture the eighth seed and making the playoffs, where “anything can happen.” Maybe it can in the NFL, but in the NBA, the best players and the best teams rise to the top in May and June.

Perhaps bowling was the perfect place to be on Monday. Bowling mirrors the course of the Knicks season. They looked shiny and polished before it all began, ready to start in rhythm toward a championship run. But something went wrong at the start and the release wasn’t quite right. They were 3-13 and struggling to stay out of the gutter, clipping a few pins along the way to stay relevant. They’ve been given chance after chance to right themselves, but their delivery has never been consistent. They’ve struggled to find the sweet spot. Pretty soon it’s going to be game over for the Knicks and for Woodson.

“It’s a little disappointing as far as where we are in the standings,” Anthony said.

Maybe the Knicks can find some magic. Maybe they can find the perfect form that proves everyone wrong. But don’t count on that happening.

At a time when the discussion should be about playoff positioning, it’s all about Woodson’s status and whether he’ll be the coach after the All-Star break. Woodson outwardly remains confident and focused. But if your players don’t know how long you’ll have your job, it’s hard to consistently command their respect.

“At the end of the day I think our guys are in a good place in terms of their thinking,” Woodson said. “We are playing better basketball.”

That’s a coach being positive and trying to save his job. The Knicks are 5-9 since Jan. 14. That’s not exactly “a good place.”

The four-game road trip after the All-Star break could bury any hope of making the playoffs. It could lead to Woodson being fired, Anthony deciding he wants to sign with another team and general manager Steve Mills having to rebuild from scratch. But Monday was not the time to think about all that. It was time to go bowling.