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Issue link: http://dimemagazine.epubxp.com/i/109153
3 NEW YORK, NEW YORK The Knicks have come back to reality ever since their league-best three-point shooting cooled off and their turnover-forcing defense found fewer opportunities, but their 18-5 start was arguably the biggest surprise of the early season. Think about it: How did a team relying on mercurial talent J.R. Smith, a roster so old it could be entered into the fossil record and missing two of its best players do that? Well it was shooting (Jason Kidd���s shooting the ���rst two months was insane), a buy-in of Mike Woodson���s core tenet of defense and the superb play of Carmelo Anthony that did it. Anthony has led or been near the top of the per-game scoring race all season, hovering near 29.0, but his willingness to ���nd Kidd, Smith or Steve Novak for big shots early in the season made the Knicks the last team in the East to lose and nearly untouchable at Madison Square Garden well into December. For a team whose only sustained characteristic the last decade has been ineptitude, the Knicks��� consistency this season has been a giant surprise. 2 Kevin Durant���s Superlative Season DURANT: NIKE BASKETBALL Everyone knew Kevin Durant would have an excellent season and be in the MVP race. Yet Durant���s transformation into a matchup-obliterating star has been more vicious and complete than imagined -- and that is truly saying something. Durant is on pace to become only the sixth player in the 50-40-90 club reserved for the best shooters from the feld, three-point arc and free throw line over an entire season, joining Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. With the exception of Bird, though, none of those players have played the defense Durant has this season, asked routinely by coach Scott Brooks to guard anyone from a power forward to a point guard. Outside of LeBron James, his biggest competitor for MVP, no one can deliver from as many places on the court as Oklahoma City���s star, whether by his fnishing skills at the rim, his improved passing or by his zone-defeating range. At 29.6 points per game, Durant���s improvement was expected but not at this warp speed. 56