Man, stumbled upon a debate online about Carmelo Anthony’s best years and it got me thinking about that wild 2012-2013 Knicks team. You know, the one after Linsanity? Decided I needed to refresh my memory and actually dig through the numbers, not just go by vibes. So I fired up the laptop, ready to dive deep.
Kicking Things Off: Setting the Stage
First up, I remembered the big changes. Jeremy Lin was gone to Houston, man. Felt weird. But hey, they brought in Raymond Felton again, plus some seasoned guys – Jason Kidd (ancient!), Marcus Camby, Kurt Thomas, and Rasheed Wallace? Like a veterans’ home gym session, seriously. Pablo Prigioni too, the crafty Argentinian dude everyone learned to love. Team felt cobbled together kinda funny at first glance. And Mike Woodson was running the show, coach.
Okay, I hit the stats sites. Needed cold, hard facts. Started filtering down to the 2012-2013 regular season. Had to remind myself this wasn’t just about Melo’s points, gotta look at the whole crew.
The Core Stuff That Jumped Out
Scrolling through the numbers, a few things really blew my mind all over again:
- Meloooo: Dude averaged 28.7 points that season! Won the scoring title, pure bucket. That April he was insane, just carrying the team on his back nightly. Remember those crazy step-back Js? Yeah.
- Start Hot, Stay Hot: Looked up the record by month. They started like 18-5! Legit great basketball early on. Remember that streak? Felt electric in the city.
- Threes! Threes! Threes!: Scrolled down to team stats. Holy moly, they set the NBA record for most three-pointers made in a season back then! Hit like 891 of ’em. Felton, Kidd, Prigs, JR Smith, Steve Novak… everyone was chucking (and mostly hitting). The Garden just erupted when they went off.
- Tyson Chandler: The Anchor: Checked his stats – 10.4 rebounds and over a block a game. DPOY the year before. He was the glue, the screener, the defender. Absolutely vital.
- JR Smith: Sixth Man Madness: His stats showed 18.1 points per game off the bench! Won Sixth Man award. When he was hot? Unstoppable. Crazy shot selection? Oh yeah. But that season… mostly fire.
- Division Winners: Finished 54-28. Won the Atlantic Division by a mile. That felt huge! Knicks on top? Yeah! First time in forever.
- Seed Number Two: Ended up the 2nd seed in the East! Right behind the Heatles. Who saw THAT coming? Nobody.
The Feel-Good Part (and the Crash)
Thinking back, that team had so much swagger early on. Felton feeding Melo, Kidd hitting timely threes (even at 40!), Tyson dunking on dudes, JR heating up off the bench. Melo was in a zone. Felt like they could hang with anyone.
But then… gotta face the truth. I pulled up the playoff results against the Pacers. Man, it went bad fast. Down 3-1 in the series? Yikes. Melo was trying to force everything, the Pacers’ D was suffocating them, especially Tyson. Injuries were biting too, especially later in the series. They just looked… tired. Ran out of gas. That loss in Game 6 at home to lose the series? Brutal. Felt like the air got sucked right out of the Garden.
Wrapping My Head Around It
So, how good were they? Finished the digging. Yeah, the regular season was legit awesome. 54 wins. Division champs. 2nd seed. Record three-pointers. Scoring champ Melo. Sixth Man JR. The vibes were immaculate for months.
But the playoff flameout against Indy? That’s the bitter pill. Injuries and that Pacers defense exposed everything. Didn’t have enough gas or answers when it mattered most. Felt like a team built for fireworks rather than the grind. Still, man, that regular season ride? Unforgettable. They played fast, hit a ton of threes, and Melo was peak Melo. Just wish the ending wasn’t such a gut punch.
