The Knicks are only three games into an 82-game season, so I'm not here to say that there the NBA's best team. I am convinced that the Knicks will be in contention when the season get's to the dog days of winter.

When the Knicks quit in the third quarter of the first game of the season against the Chicago Bulls; I thought to myself here we go same no heart Knicks.

The next night the team walked into the Super Bowl atmosphere in Cleveland, and ruined what LeBron James called one of the biggest sporting spectacles in the history of sports by beating the Cavaliers 95-90.

So who are these New York Knicks? Are they the team that quit during its home opener? Or are they the team that locked down and dug in to get a big win in Cleveland?

After last night's win against the Hornets, Derek Fisher answered the question for us. This is a Knicks team that is transitioning into more than just Melo and the Tito's.

The Knicks had 23 assists on 39 makes Sunday night. Thursday night  the team had 30 assists on 37 made field goals against Cleveland.

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Fisher is turning this team into a more dynamic offense, and the use of the triangle offense is allowing players to get more efficient shots without forcing the ball.  “Yeah, we’ve tried to help our guys understand that the triangle is not this place that we exist in as soon as we touch the basketball,” Fisher said. “When we play solid defense, get rebounds and get steals, we want to run the floor and take advantage of things that we can early and then we settle into our offensive format after that.

The triangle has been extremely beneficial to Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire, who is  averaging 12.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in the first three games of the season. And he has yet to play more than 24 minutes in a game

Stoudemire had 17 points and 10 boads in 23 minutes against the Hornets.

“He has been a great teammate in terms of willing to come off the bench,” Fisher said. “It was great to reward him tonight by getting the ball to him and letting him go to work.”

Stoudemire has voiced his excitement about finally not having an off-season full of rehab, and able to just prepare for the NBA season. “Yeah, hopefully that is just the beginning,” Stoudemire said of his game. “I am looking to continue to improve as a player and help my teammates as much as I can on the basketball court and provide whatever the coaching staff needs me to do.

So what did we learn from the Knicks opening week? That this team has serious potential when the team get's injured Jose Calderone and Andrea Bargnani back into the line-up.

 

 

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