Lucky Number 13, Knicks Win The Atlantic Division For The First Time In 19 Years

13 wins in a row. First Atlantic Division title since 1993-1994. 20 threes in the game. Carmelo leading the league in scoring.

All these things are well and good. But none of it really matters. Winning the division in the NBA is a nice little notch in your belt. A 50+ win season is too. Especially considering the dark, dark years during Isiah’s Reign of Terror. You don’t wanna diminish those kind of accomplishments for a franchise that was completely decimated for so long. But you get a pat on the back and a high five and thats it. Its back to business after that. The Knicks have raised the bar ridiculously high for themselves this season. As far as I’m concerned, at this point anything less than the Eastern Conference Finals is a disaster of a season for the Knicks. And after watching them wind down the season with this winning streak, I expect them to give Miami a run for their money.

Taking the 18-5 start and combining it with this 13 game winning streak, the Knicks are now 31-5 without Amare Stoudemire. Thirty one and five. That is dominant basketball. Straight up dominant. When they have the right unit on the floor they can beat anyone. Losing Kmart to a severe ankle sprain kinda hurts that plan. He’s ironically been a pretty important piece of this team the past few weeks. They’re gonna need Tyson Chandler healthy and they’re gonna need some sort of Kmart/Rasheed Wallace X-Factor. But when they play their absolute best – something they’ve figured out how to do consistently night in and night out – they can beat anyone. I expect to whoop Boston. I expect to beat Indiana. Not sure how things will shake out with Chicago, but as much as I wouldn’t want to see them in some bizarre scenario, I think the Knicks can handle anyone. And you cross the bridge to Miami when you get there. Anything less than that and the Atlantic Division “banner” and 50 wins and Carmelo leading the league in scoring all becomes irrelevant.