Baron Davis ‘Definitely Not Happy’ With His Game


With Jeremy Lin sidelined for the rest of the season, it’s up to Baron Davis to commandeer the ship in New York. The Knicks’ point guard, though clearly frustrated with his performance of late, says he’s confident that he can turn things around. Per the NY Times: “Is Davis — at age 32, just months removed from a devastating back injury — still good enough to lead the Knicks through their most perilous stretch of the season? Yes, he said Monday, although his answer veered into self-affirmation. ‘It’s just a matter of just continuing to be patient with myself and knowing that I am an explosive scorer, and I am capable of dominating the basketball game,’ Davis said, emphasizing the ‘am’ each time, as if he were selling the point. The Knicks have no choice but to believe the mantra. Jeremy Lin, their young point guard sensation, had surgery Monday to repair a torn meniscus and is expected to be out for six weeks. The Knicks are now wholly dependent on Davis and his ability to recapture at least a shade of his former dominance at point guard. The results to date are mixed, at best. In four starts as Lin’s replacement, Davis has averaged 8.5 points, 5.5 assists and 4 turnovers, while shooting 33.3 percent from the field. His legs look heavy and his jump shot flat. He rarely gets to the basket or draws a foul.’Definitely not happy with where my game is,’ Davis said. ‘I definitely know that I can get back to my old self and doing the things that I’ve been capable of doing. I may have lost a lot of athleticism, but I can still pass the ball well and run a team, and that’s where my focus is right now.’ […] Expectations for Davis are necessarily modest. He did not make his Knicks debut until Feb. 20, after taking 10 months to recover from a herniated disk. A few weeks later, he strained his right hamstring, an injury that continues to bother him. The back issues persist, too, although they are manageable. Davis opted for rehabilitation over surgery, which means the disk is still herniated and still pressing on the nerves in his back. ‘At times, it does,’ Davis said. ‘You’ll see me on the court, like stretching and bending over and just trying to take pressure off the nerves. I still have some nerve pain and some uncomfortableness out there on the floor, but I’m able to continue to play with it.'”