The Only Guy on the Knicks Who Worries Me.

There’s only one player who scares me in the upcoming first round series against New York. He’s a player I once cheered on, and a player who I’ve seen play like a cold hearted killer in the postseason before. He’s a player who took his teams to 7 straight conference finals from 2003 to 2009. He’s a former NBA Finals MVP, and a proven winner. He’s Mr. Big Shot, Chauncey Billups.

In the last two seasons with his current teammate Carmelo Anthony, Billups has averaged over 20 points and almost 7 assists per game. 5 points more per game and about 1.5 assists more than his career averages. Chauncey knows how to step it up when he has to, and most importantly he knows how to control the court when the game is on the line.

Normally I wouldn’t worry even a little about an aging point guard who was an afterthought in the blockbuster Carmelo trade, but he scares me for one big reason: Rondo has been an absolute disaster since the Perk trade. Rondo started off the season on an MVP pace. He set records for assists to start a season, and before his injury he was on pace to break the NBA single season assist record, but then something went wrong. I don’t know if it was the Perk trade, or just a bit of lost confidence and motivation, but Rondo has not been himself for the last month or so. The C’s owned the Knicks this year, but once again that was mostly before the Melo trade, and maybe more importantly the Perk trade.

To be fair if we are looking at Chauncey’s postseason stats we have to look at Rondo’s as well. Rondo nearly averaged a triple double in the 09 postseason, and had some historic statistical performances in last year’s playoffs. In just three postseasons Rondo has racked up 532 assists and just 157 turnovers. Rondo led all players in assists in each of the last three postseasons, something Billups hasn’t done since 2004. He’s been nowhere near that pace lately though.

The question is will Chauncey keep Rondo off balance, or will Rajon bounce back? Even if Rondo is off the mark this series the C’s can beat the Knicks, but Rondo needs to dominate Billups this series in order to get back on point for the second round matchup. That’s a matchup that will most likely be against a surging Miami Heat squad. Billups only scares me because he might not let Rondo do that.