Perhaps it was his ego being bruised by the Feb. 22 trade for Mark Jackson. Perhaps it’s his bum knee feeling right again. Perhaps it’s being more comfortable coming off the bench with less expectations and pressure.
Perhaps it’s all those things. Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t care. He just wants point guard Charlie Ward’s resurgence to continue. The Knicks have their point guard back and it’s not Jackson.
“He is doing a great job,” Van Gundy said of Ward. “I think his energy level is up. It’s up because his knee feels better. He’s also starting to make more shots, which is crucial and we need his defensive energy. He really is playing well the past couple of weeks after I thought he struggled for quite some time.
“He needs a high level energy-wise because that’s what [a] hustle player needs,” Van Gundy said. “His energy is way up and he plays better when his knees feel better.”
The bad part is as Ward has surged on both ends, playing with a renewed fire, Jackson’s play has declined, especially since the West Coast trip. While Ward is playing with a cocksure attitude, Jackson seems out of sync, fast becoming a nonentity as the Knicks host the Wizards tonight. Who’da thunk it?
During a post-up in the third quarter, Jackson got doubled and tried to feed Marcus Camby cutting down the lane. But the pass was well behind Camby and the Magic stole the ball – a pivotal play during the Knicks’ third-quarter meltdown against Orlando Tuesday night.
It was a disturbing sequence. After more than five weeks with the club, Jackson, one of the great assist-men of all time, still doesn’t seem to have the timing down with some of his mates. And he’s not exactly making up for it with stalwart perimeter defense, though the Knicks knew they were taking that risk when they made the deal. Yes, the honeymoon period is starting to end.
Jackson sat out the game’s final 16 minutes Tuesday as Ward helped inspire the Knick comeback vs. Orlando. For the three of the past four games, Ward has played more minutes than Jackson.
Still, Van Gundy is not ready to mess up a good thing. If Ward’s going to get more minutes anyway and finish the majority of games, why make him a starter and ruffle Jackson’s feathers?
Van Gundy already has warned his starters – specifically Jackson, Larry Johnson and Allan Houston – that if they continue their pattern of sleepwalking at the outset of the second half, he will yank them sooner and sooner.
Against Orlando, Ward, Glen Rice and Kurt Thomas replaced Jackson, Johnson and Houston with 4:10 left in the third and Van Gundy kept that alignment the rest of the game.
“It suits our team best,” Van Gundy said of leaving matters status quo at point guard. “I think [Charlie] can play well starting or coming off the bench. His attitude allows him to play well off the bench. He has a very selfless attitude that allows him to do that.”
When the Knicks pulled the trigger for Jax at the trading deadline, the move was as much an indictment of Ward as Chris Childs, who got shipped out in the deal.
There was genuine fear within the organization that if Ward’s knee wasn’t hurting, then the surgery that cleaned out cartilage in late November had permanently robbed Ward of his explosion. Ward had showed terrific burst when he blew by Tim Hardaway repeatedly during the Miami playoff series last spring. Now it’s back in full force.
“I think Charlie’s been playing well,” Latrell Sprewell said. “I don’t know if it’s because of the trade. He’s made huge plays for us. I’ve actually seen some shake and bake from him lately, doing some spectacular moves that I haven’t really seen from Charlie. I don’t know what it is that’s happened or why he’s playing the way he’s playing, but we definitely need him to be playing that way.”
Ward’s shooting percentage is now up over 40 percent for the first time since November. In the last six games, starting with the West Coast trip, he is shooting 55.2 percent from the field (16 of 29) and draining 46.2 percent of his treys (6 of 13). When he gets the pass beyond the arc and is open, Ward shows no hesitation, looking more confident than he’s ever looked.
For his part, Ward, who would rather talk about religion than his basketball play, says his knee has “good days and bad days” and he’s said repeatedly he doesn’t care whether he starts or comes off the bench.
“To see him come in and play like that, it’s great,” Houston said. “Sometimes when you come off the bench like that you don’t know when you’ll be mentally ready. Not only is he mentally ready but he’s playing with a lot of poise and confidence. He’s like totally in control of the situation. Then he obviously makes those hustle plays and that just gives you a double dose.”
