But lost in all of these stories is the biggest one of all: Tyson Chandler. Chandler has quietly become the heart and soul of the Knicks.

Entering this season, the Knicks desperately needed to improve their defense and rebounding. That prompted Knicks owner James Dolan to

Tyson Chandler has added leadership, toughness and character to the New York Knicks. Picture Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

The defense has also seen a huge improvement with Chandler at center. Last season, the Knicks were the third worst defensive team in the league. Now they are an above average defense, giving up just 94 points a game.

Chandler has also provided offense for the Knicks this year. He is third in the team in scoring with 12 points per game. He leads the league among qualified players with a lofty 69.7% field goal percentage. That bests Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard by 13 percentage points.

But the real value of Chandler cannot be captured by statistics. He has added tremendous character, leadership and toughness to the team. Chandler prides himself on defense and rebounding. He plays extremely hard every minute he is on the court, and he has yet to miss a game this season. Chandler has led by example, and he demands the same from his teammates. Despite their struggles this season, you can see that the team is responding to him.

Chandler is having the best season of his career. What a concept for a newly acquired Knicks player? You do not often find 7’1” centers who play the game the way Chandler does. His size, strength, athleticism, leadership and great attitude make him truly unique in the NBA. The Knicks finally have a center, and he will anchor the team for years to come.

While the headlines continue to go to the scorers, Chandler quietly does the dirty work. The next time you are watching a Knicks game, key in on Chandler. Appreciate all that he does for the Knicks. Because without Chandler, the Knicks would be far, far worse.

Edwin Torres was born in New York City. He has been a Knicks fan since the early 1980s. He has visited Madison Square Garden on many occasions to watch the Knicks and his favorite player, Patrick Ewing. For more articles, follow him on Twitter @FlipPoker.

Sources:
NBA – Statistics – Yahoo! Sports

LeBron laughs sinisterly at the media reading far, far too much into everything he says. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Remember when journalists used to report the news rather than try to generate it?  Us bloggers, we write our thoughts and opinions, we openly bring our personal biases to our posts.  Bill Simons, the Sports Guy, is an unrepentant Celtics fan, and that’s part of the fun of reading his stuff.  However, when we read main page ESPN columnists who interview players, or reporters for the NY Post and Daily News, shouldn’t they stick to just the facts, ma’am?  Shouldn’t rumor-mongering be left to bloggers and fans, not legitimate news sources?

Apparently not.

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"Dude, you said the Knicks sucked!" "Yeah, well you said TMac was done!"

The Oklahoma Thunder have made one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NBA history.  After winning only 21 games last year (or in a glass half-empty view, losing 61 games), they now are 5th in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.  They are in the middle of the longest current winning streak in the league (nine games), and they have third-year phenom, Kevin Durant, a legit MVP candidate.  It could be argued that Durant is second in the MVP race to only LeBron.  Plus, he’s in the middle of a streak of having scored 25+ points in 27 straight games.  At first that last statement didn’t seem that impressive to me, ‘cuz after all like LeBron and Carmelo are averaging nearly 30 a game, while others like Kobe and Allen Iverson have averaged that much (or more) for a whole season too.  However, in the last 35 years there is only one person who has ever accomplished that feat: Michael Jordan.  Yup, no other active player has done it.  Not LeBron, Kobe, Wade, Shaq, AI or even the Knicks’ newbie, TMac (a man who’s lead the league in scoring a couple of times).

All of which goes to say that after the way the Knicks have been playing, it was pretty darn remarkable we almost won this game, let alone played well.  The big story, as everyone’s already heard, is Tracy McGrady’s big game.  That he’s back.  Not to be glass-half-empty again (what am I, thirsty or something?), but I’m skeptical that he can bring that kind of production regularly.  What I do think that he can help keep bringing back is the energy in the Garden.  The crowd was more alive than they are on Free Taco Night.  Okay, there’s no Free Taco Night (the correct question here is: why the hell not?), but Madison Square was rocking Saturday night.  For once, people came to see the Knicks, not the other team, or just to be “seen.”

McGrady's most athletic play of the night: When a Thunder-ite goes to block his shot on the right, mid-air Tmac does a loopedy-loop and scoops it in lefty

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