A look back at the best of Knicks legend Steve Novak
1: Novak played during peak Melo and Linsanity
Part of what surrounds Novak with such positive memories are the teams he played for.
The Knicks have had so many disappointing teams over the past 20 years, and the fact that Novak played for two of the rarely seen enjoyable campaigns means something.
Novak was on the Linsanity team of 2011-12 and the best year of Carmelo Anthony in 2012-13, where the Knicks finished the regular season 54-28 — the best record the team has posted this century.
New York ended up losing in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals to Paul George and the Indianapolis Pacers.
Novak played in 81 games during the 2012-13 season, averaging 6.6 points, 1.9 rebounds, and nearly two threes a game while averaging 20 minutes a contest. It is not the craziest stat line, but he was a consistent part of a lovable bench squad that included Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, Pablo Prigioni, and Rasheed Wallace.
The 2012-13 season was also Anthony’s best season with the Knicks, as he averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 45% shooting from the field.
The year prior, Novak actually missed the first game of Linsanity against the New Jersey Nets, but he then played a major role in the next few games of the run.
In Jeremy Lin’s second and third games of the magical run, Novak chipped in with two 19-point, five 3-pointer performances. Remember, Novak only broke 20 points seven times in his career, so two back-to-back 19-point outputs are noticeable.
The 2011-12 season for Lin, even though it was only 35 games, also ended up being the best of his career. He finished the year averaging 14.6 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.1 rebounds, and he promptly got paid millions of dollars by the Houston Rockets.
The ending take away? Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony both had their best Knicks year with Steve Novak on the court.
