Courtesy AP imagesThat's a sentence Knicks fans have been waiting to hear for years. The last time the team made the playoffs was back in the 2003-2004 season in which they got swept out of the first round by the New Jersey Nets 4-0.
The team is totally different roster wise with only two players such as Tony Douglass and Jared Jefferies, who in Jefferies case was re-acquired a month ago, left over from a couple of years ago.
It has been an impressive turn around for a team that was well over the salary cap and went through six coaches in the past 10 seasons. That is until Mike D'Antoni became head coach and Donnie Walsh took over as GM/President of Basketball Operations for the team at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season. Walsh also held the same position with the Indiana Pacers for so many years and said time and time again turning this franchise around would be a difficult task but one he was up for.
Tough choices were made when the Knicks sent a package of fan favorites Danillo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and other players to the Denver Nuggets for all-star forward Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Shelden Williams during this past trade deadline. Signing Amare Stoudamire to a 5-year 100 million dollar contract, which raised eyebrows becuase Stoudamire was a player who has had a history of surgically repaired knees and questions about whether he could lead a team playing all these years besides Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash.
Despite a couple of losing streaks during the season, with a recent one which saw the team fall in eight straight games, they have since righted the ship with a nine game winning streak.
As a sixth seed heading into the playoffs they will face the defending Eastern Conference Champions Boston Celtics, who are the three seed. Even though the odds makers have the Knicks as underdogs in this series the team is heading in the right direction for the future.
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