The Knicks Beat The Heat, And The Bandwagon Is Filling Up Fast

Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points, Amare Stoudemire added 16 and 10 rebounds, Spike Lee was waving his arms all night long from his courtside seat, and the New York Knicks beat LeBron James and the Miami Heat Sunday night. And the hype hits overdrive... NOW.

I’d planned on watching the Oscars Sunday night and flipping back and forth to keep tabs on the Knicks and Heat, but as Anne Hathaway and James Franco stumbled their way through a forgettable night in Hollywood, New York provided the saving grace. Thank GOD.

The highlight of my Oscars experience was this, and it was on ESPN:

That block sealed the win for New York and offered the clearest reminder yet... It’s FUN watching these Knicks. They score in bunches, they have no depth, and they’re going to ride Carmelo and Amare and Chauncey Billups as far as they possibly can. They’re not a complete team (at all), but that makes it so much better. They’re total underdogs at this point.

Like, the same way everyone predicted great things for the Miami Heat with LeBron, D-Wade, and Bosh, just as many non-New Yorkers (like me) have gone out of their way to say the Knicks can’t win big with Amare and Melo. So at least for now, every Knicks win over a team like Miami feels like an upset.

For the Knicks, themselves, they still have plenty of holes, it’s only one win, and it came against a Miami team that has had trouble beating the NBA’s best teams all year long. But... did you see that?

With Carmelo on board and Amare hitting the boards, the Knicks are one of the NBA’s best teams.

Still bad enough for us to feel okay rooting for them without looking like total sellouts, but with Carmelo and Chauncey closing, they’re suddenly good enough to compete with teams like Boston, Miami, and Chicago. Get on board while you can though, because the bandwagon’s filling up fast, and if this keeps up, the “fun” Knicks are going to be scary as hell come playoff time.