The New York Knicks have finally moved beyond the cloud that had been hanging over their organization with Carmelo Anthony and Phil Jackson and appear to be a playoff contender in the eastern conference with a team led by young superstar Kristaps Porzingis.
They seem to be bonding more and having a lot more fun on the court and it shows as they are playing above 500. basketball for the first time in a while.
That camaraderie showed last week when a day after LeBron James said that the Knicks should have taken Dennis Smith Jr. at No. 8 in the 2017 NBA Draft, in what was a veiled shot at Phil Jackson and not a shot at Knicks rookie point guard Frank Ntilkina, he and Enes Kanter got into it with James during the Cavaliers come back win in New York.
Here is what Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek told the New York Post when asked about the situation over the weekend:
“I thought it was great,’’ he said on the newest edition of “The Jeff Hornacek Experience” that debuts Friday night on MSG Networks after the Knicks face the Raptors. “When we played back in the day, there was a lot of that. So you don’t see as much now in today’s game.
“But, you know, whether the comments from LeBron were aimed at Frank or the Knicks or Phil [Jackson] or whatever it was, I was happy that Frank gave him a little shove and then when LeBron stood in front of him and Enes jumped in there. That’s kind of the chemistry that gets developed when guys are playing for each other. You saw Enes jump right in the middle of this and said, ‘Nah you’re not gonna do this to my young guy.’ So that’s a great sign to see the togetherness of our guys.”
While all of the drama was foolish and over the top on all accounts, Hornacek is right that Kanter stepping in to have his young teammate’s back does nothing but build chemistry and a sense of ‘us against the world’ mentality for the team which will help them develop quicker and win more games.
They also learned a valuable lesson of what happens when you poke the bear though, as LeBron led a 23 point second half comeback against the Knicks that night after the altercation.
