By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEWARK – In this truncated, 66-game odyssey better known as the NBA regular season, the point guard position has been full of question marks all season for the New York Knicks.
Toney Douglas was the opening-day starter on Christmas Day against the Boston Celtics as the Knicks got out of the gate sluggishly over the first month.
Linsanity began when Jeremy Lin rose to prominence on Feb. 4 until he was done for the season on March 24 with a torn left meniscus.
Baron Davis, once an elite NBA point guard, missed the first 32 games of the season with a bad back, but came back and has performed admirably most nights. But at 33 with a bad back and other assorted ailments, he really is in no shape to be out there logging heavy minutes nightly.
On Wednesday, when the Knicks beat the Nets, 104-95, in their final visit to New Jersey, Davis’s stomach virus persisted and Knicks interim head coach Mike Woodson had no choice but to turn to a familiar face.
Mike Bibby, who like Davis was once an elite point guard but is now on the downside of a very good career, got the start and it wasn’t a surprise given Woodson is the head coach.
It’s no secret that Woodson and Bibby have a good relationship and there is a certain trust level for Woodson after Bibby started 80 games for Woodson during the Hawks’ 53-win 2009-10 season.
Before the game, Bibby was the picture of calm before being thrown into the middle of a playoff chase.
“He (Woodson) puts a lot of faith in the point guard,” Bibby said before the game. “I was there (in Atlanta) with him for three years and he knows I’m pretty comfortable with the ball.”
Bibby certainly cannot get up and down or move like he did at the height of his Sacramento Kings days a decade ago, but no one is expecting him to at this point. Depending on who you ask, no one is expecting much from Bibby, period, but the fact of the matter is, he came through on Tuesday evening in a tough spot.
The raw numbers, eight points on 3-for-10 shooting, eight assists and just one turnover while playing to a plus-16 rating in a season-high 36 minutes, don’t tell the whole story.
During a 38-point first quarter in which he played the first 8:43, Bibby opened by swinging the ball to Carmelo Anthony for a wide open 3-pointer at the 10:42 mark.
Just 38 seconds later, he executed a beautiful pick-and-roll with Tyson Chandler, which ended in a dunk. Bibby distributed, penetrated when he had the lane and even pushed the pace here and there.
“I believe in Mike. Even though he’s older and he doesn’t move as swift and get up and down the floor as quickly as he used to, he knows how to still run a team,” Woodson said. “In games like this, you need a stable guy out there that can direct traffic. I thought he was solid all the way through. He made some Mike Bibby shots that I know he can make.”
What you probably don’t want Bibby doing is shooting as many times as he did, but Woodson will live with the open treys he attempted. He hit two treys in transition, one from each baseline, inside the final 3:40 of the second quarter as the Knicks scored 64 points in the first half one night after dropping 72 over the first 16 minutes against the Celtics.
Woodson confirmed after the game that as long Davis is over the stomach virus, he will be back in the starting lineup on Friday evening at Cleveland. If Davis cannot go on Friday for some reason, at least Woodson can be assured he has a steady hand that can in Bibby.
Photo: Newsday
