Knicks News: Players Can't Sleep Because of MSG Crowd

By Anthony Riccobono | March 02 2012 9:57 AM

There hasn't been this much excitement at Madison Square Garden since the late '90s when the Knicks were consistently making the playoffs.

Reuters

Steve Novak is averaging 12.7 points in his last 12 games. That's about eight more points than his career average.

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Linsanity has helped New York reach of a level of popularity it hasn't seen in over a decade and the fans are as excited as ever.

The excitement is so great that some of the Knicks players are a little overwhelmed. They are even losing sleep because of the Garden crowd.

If you've been to a game at the garden... its electric. It's hard to sleep at night to be honest. Like, we have a lot of guys who have trouble sleeping at night.

That's what Knicks forward Steve Novak told Mike Francesa on WFAN on Thursday.

Novak said he wasn't joking, and the team has actually taken measures to help the players get more sleep after games.

We actually had a meeting today before practice with a doctor to talk about ways to help you sleep at night. Honest to God. And I'm serious. It's the energy. When we leave, it's like, it's midnight, and you go home and we can't sleep, and that's from the fans and the adrenaline, and we're having trouble sleeping.

The doctor gave the players CD's to listen to in order to correct the problem.

It almost sounds funny to think that winning games is making the players lose sleep, but Novak assured Francesa that he was telling the truth.

You're going to think I'm joking, but we have relaxation CD's now that we're supposed to listen to... We like the adrenaline and the energy, so, I know it's kind of funny, but it's true.

The Knicks play threw the home crowd into a frenzy with their win on Wednesday night. New York stormed back in the second half to beat the Cavs 120-103. Novak was the catalyst, hitting five three-pointers.

After head coach Mike D'Antoni took Novak off the floor once the game was out of reach, the crowd started a We want Novak chant.

Novak has emerged along with Jeremy Lin. He spent most of his time on the bench before Lin entered the starting lineup. Now, he's become a key factor in the Knicks success. He's averaging just under 13 points per game since Lin become the Knicks top point guard.

The forward says there's nothing like playing in New York, and as long as the Knicks keep winning, he's fine with being a little tired in the morning.

I think we'll trade the sleep for now. We'll sleep later.