Knaysayers need not apply

It'll be interesting to hear what the negative, downbeat attitude, whiners have to say about this one.

So beating the T-Wolves won't turn a lot of heads this year, but beating arguably one of the four best teams in the West should.

What a difference a year makes? Knicks, down by 15 points in the first half, and ten in the second half, didn’t collapse and beat the Denver Nuggets in a high scoring affair.

Not much defense as the half ended with New York trailing 66-60. The Knicks also seemed to have a ton of turnovers, have you noticed the increase in traveling violations throughout the league? But Marbury, in particular, seems to be picking up his game as he was driving, taking it to the rim, and making smart passes.

In the third quarter, the bench combo of Nate, Lee, and Balkman sparked a comeback to tie the score at 82 with around 4 minutes to play. This was highlighted with a Balkman block of Mello at one end, and taking a feed from Robinson at the other end for a crowd pleasing dunk. But the Knicks would score no more in the quarter as Denver went on a 10-0 run to go up 92-82 at the start of the fourth.

With a lineup of Steph, Jamal, Lee, Balkman, and Curry the Knicks came out strong in the final quarter and scored seven unanswered points in about 90 seconds. And as Clyde would say, the Knicks “Out hustled and Out Muscled” the Nuggets the rest of the way. Zach Randolph pulled down a missed free throw by Curry in the final seconds to help seal the win.

A.I. was almost unstoppable for Denver (32 points), does he ever get tired? Mello chipped in 24. Camby who picked up two fouls in the first, had 9 points and 13 rebounds.

Lots of good work all around for the Knicks: Zach (22pts- 17rebs), Curry (24-8), Lee (9-7), Steph (21pts-9 assists) Jamal (25pts- 5rebs- 8 assists), But Balkman provided such a spark to this team, he proved to be an energizer off the bench with 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

This was a great win for team that a year ago would have collapsed in the fourth and lost by 15. Hopefully it’s a sign of good things to come.