NBA:  THE KNICKS PHENOM, IS IT JEREMY LIN, CARMELO ANTHONY, OR BOTH?  --- DENVER NUGGETS  // WORLD TENNIS: DAVIS CUP.

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            “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” HAS RETURNED TO POSTING ITS COLUMNS TUESDAY AND FRIDAY EVERY WEEK. Editor/Publisher, Marvin Leibstone.

                                                    

NBA:   The scenario: a losing streak, not of the promise that existed on December 25, 2011, which was opening day of the current NBA season when newcomer to the New York Knicks, Carmelo Anthony, scored enough points for the Knicks to beat the Boston Celtics, 106-104. On that day, super shooter Anthony could hear fans chanting, “Melo, Melo” as they had at Denver---he knew that they were thinking he’d be the Phenom bringing the Knicks to a playoff showing. Responding to date, Anthony has been above the margin during most games played yet producing less than when “back west.” The Knicks are still under .500, at 13-15, in third place of the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division, six games behind first place Philadelphia, which isn’t Anthony’s direct fault, it’s that had he met probably overstated expectations the Knicks would be leading the EC.

Then to the hardwood comes Knicks guard, Jeremy Lin. “Stepping up” says it mildly. Lin, recently nominated NBA Eastern Player of the Week, became Anthony-at-Denver "cloned," scoring 109 points over four games, helping to end New York’s six game losing streak with four consecutive wins. During those games, Lin averaged 27 points and eight assists, a remarkable turn the 38 points that he accrued versus the Los Angeles Lakers, a game that the Knicks won, 92-85.

But this isn’t a “Hey, Carmelo, Move Over” scenario, for Anthony leapfrogged over Lin by becoming a leading player of a 113-106 win against the Orlando Magic, scoring 39 points, his best since leaving Denver and a game that put the Knicks where they have wanted to be since beating the Celtics on XMAS Day, anywhere on the way to a playoff billet, even if the leading edge belongs to other teams. Too, Anthony is the only Knicks player to be among the top 10 NBA scorers so far this season, averaging 22.3  points per game, which has included 165 field goals and 134 free throws (as of Sunday).

NUGGETS:   No NBA team wins games forever, and when after a better than modest streak of wins a team loses several, well, the slipping and sliding isn’t going to go on forever, either. Maybe this comment is too soon and too dramatic a way to say that the Denver Nuggets are back after several losses, beating Indiana over the weekend. Now at 16-12, the Nuggets are holding second place in the Northwest Division of the NBA’s Western Conference, behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and two games ahead of the Utah Jazz, and though five games behind the Thunder the Nuggets are tied for fourth place in the WC alongside the L.A. Lakers and Houston.

Tomorrow night, the Nuggets will be challenged at home by the 12-15 Phoenix Suns. But there will be greater challenges---the Nuggets will be facing the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, a 17-11 team that beat the Nuggets last week, and they will play the 21-6 Thunder on Sunday, then the 17-8 Clippers on the following Wednesday, next day the 19-9 San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder is leading the WC, the Spurs are second in the WC and leading the WC’s Southwest Division, the Clippers are in third place of the WC, leading the conference’s Pacific Division.

So, again it’s an uphill struggle for the Nuggets, but then none of the teams doing exceptionally well this season can win forever any more than the Nuggets can lose forever.

A disappointment is that no Nuggets player is among today’s top 10 within each of the four major performance categories (scoring, field goal percentage, assists and rebounds), while players from more than 15 other NBA teams have made one or more of the lists. Even so, the team that has the most players showing up on these lists, the Minnesota Timberwolves (13-15), is currently in last place of the WC’s Northwest Division, which may be saying something about star power being of less value than the teamwork exhibited almost constantly by the Nuggets.

WORLD TENNIS:  Round One of the annual Davis Cup competition in world tennis ended over the weekend, Spain beating Kazakhstan, 5-0, Austria whipping Russia, 3-2, France taking Canada down, 4-1, the U.S. beating Switzerland, 5-0, the Czech Republic knocking out Italy, 4-1, Serbia overtaking Sweden, 4-1, Croatia winning against Japan, 3-2, and Argentina walloping Germany, 4-1.

Davis Cup Quarterfinals will occur April 6-8, as follows: Spain against Austria, USA versus France, Czech Republic against Serbia, Croatia vs. Argentina. Semi-finals will be in September, the Finals in November.

Note that Spain left it’s Round One opponent scoreless, while Austria won by a single number, which could indicate Spain’s better chances for a win during the quarterfinals, that is, when we assume that all opponents in Round One were far from weak and behind the competency curve. France and the U.S. won by wide margins during Round One, therefore which will prevail over the other may be anyone’s guess---it’s the same regarding the upcoming Czech/Serbia match, while Argentina could be the wiser bet over Germany.

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