This offseason, it seemed as though all anyone in New York wanted to discuss was the departure of Jeremy Lin. Lin staying in New York appeared to be a mortal lock at one point, but when the Rockets extended the guard a heavily-backloaded three-year, $25MM deal, Glen Grunwald decided to go elsewhere. Lin's shadow would continue to loom over the team after the season got underway, but he's hardly a part of the fan discourse now.
Tonight at MSG, the Knicks are cruising to victory over the Lakers, en route to a 17-5 record and extending their home tally to 9-0. It was easy for some to dismiss the Knicks' hot start by pointing to a meager sample size a few weeks ago, but that's a tough case to make at the quarter-mark of the season. The Knicks are firing on all cylinders, and they've toppled quality teams like the Heat (twice), Spurs, and Nets.
How are they getting it done? As John Hollinger noted in one of his last pieces for ESPN.com, they're bombing away from three-point range at a clip that would have made a few ABA teams blush. Free agent pickups like Jason Kidd, Pablo Prigioni, and Rasheed Wallace are paying off in spades even while Steve Novak seems to have come back down to earth this season. It also helps that they're getting stellar performances from Carmelo Anthony at the power forward position – play that Knicks fans say warrants MVP consideration.
But the question is, can the Knicks keep this up?