It’s been a tremendous regular season in the NBA when it comes to winning streaks.
Early in the year, it was the LA Clippers and OKC Thunder that made the double digit winning streak en vogue. Then it was the reigning NBA Champion Miami Heat that made a legitimate run at the LA Lakers’ all time 33 game win streak.
But with the NBA Playoffs only 2 weeks away, it appears as if the New York Knicks, behind a legendary scoring barrage by Carmelo Anthony, are playing the best basketball in the Association.
It’s been well documented about Carmelo’s drive to win this year’s scoring title, a crown won 3 consecutive years by Kevin Durant. And after scoring 131 points over the past three games, entering Sunday’s contest against OKC, Melo remained only 2 hundredth of a point behind Durant for this year’s scoring title.
But following New York’s 12th straight victory, a 125-120 win over OKC on Sunday, Anthony now leads Durant by just a tenth of a point 28.44 to Durant’s 28.35, after scoring 36 points to KD’s 27.
The win gave the Knicks their 50th win of the year, a watermark they have not approached since the ’99-’00 season, which coincidentally was the last time the Knickerbockers made a run to the Eastern Conference Finals, then under coach Jeff Van Gundy.
During the streak, the Knicks have played outstanding team defense, paired with deft ball movement, and a near historic scoring binge by both Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith to come within 1 game of winning their first Atlantic Division crown since the ’93-’94 season.
Russell Westbrook was sensational for the Thunder, tallying 38 points, 11 boards, and 8 assists in a losing effort, while Durant had 27 points as OKC fell a game behind San Antonio for first place in the West with five games left.
While Anthony failed to surpass Bernard King’s record of 3 straight 40+ point scoring games, he added 12 boards to his 36 points, giving him 167 points over the last 4 games, for an insane average of 41.6 ppg. JR Smith added 22 points, while Ray Felton chipped in 16 points and 8 assists, and Tyson Chandler added 15 points and 2 blocks.
NY Knicks vs OKC Thunder Highlights:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
