It's going to be a busy weekend for the Knicks.
They've got the Hornets on Friday night as they attempt to ride the Linsanity to an eighth straight win and push their record back over .500. It will not be a nationally televised affair, but Sunday afternoon's date with the Mavericks certainly will be.
The latter game is notable for more than just a visit from the defending champions, though. There's Tyson Chandler's reunion with his former teammates. And there's the expected return of Carmelo Anthony to the lineup, a story that has changed from a tale of terror to one of optimism over the last few days as everyone decided to realize that the Melo we saw pre-Lin was a Melo forced into a role that never fit.
J.R. Smith should also be in the house on Sunday as his deal with the team is done. Sadly, Smith's arrival spells the end of Renaldo Balkman's second run with the Knicks and that is going to make pregame introductions a lot less interesting without Balkman playing the hype-man role as the starters get introduced.
It also would seem to be a signal that no one should expect Baron Davis to be wearing a uniform anytime soon. Jeremy Lin has meant we're no longer waiting for Davis to play the savior, but it would be swell if he could give the Knicks a less zombified backup option than Mike Bibby.
The Mavericks game also represents a rare hurdle in what's been a forgiving stretch of schedule for the Knicks. They've been home for six of the last 10 games and most have been against teams battling each other for spots in the lottery and that trend will continue through the All-Star break.
The Nets and Hawks will come to town next week and then a trip to Miami ends the truncated first half before everyone turns their attention to an All-Star Weekend that has quickly become overstuffed with Lin appearances.
Beating Dallas would give the Knicks a real shot at an 11-game winning streak heading into Thursday against the Heat, something that feels far more plausible than it probably should given where the team was when the month started.
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Plausibility was thrown out the window quite a while ago, of course, and the addition of Smith suddenly has the Knicks looking like a real roster with a lot of options for doing battle in the weeks to come.
They can pour on threes with Smith and Steve Novak, go defensive with Iman Shumpert and Jared Jeffries, split the difference with Landry Fields, go big with Chandler or play small with Anthony and Amar'e at the four and five.
We're not forgetting about Lin in those lineups, we're just assuming that you've already placed him alongside all of the other combinations because he has become the core of a team that didn't know he existed on Groundhog Day.
All in all, the Knicks find themselves in a pretty good place as they start figuring out how to match up with the tougher teams in the league.
It's still a good idea to close out the first half with a bang, though, and the Knicks can make a big move toward that goal with a winning weekend at the Garden.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
