Billups has valuable playoff experience

Chauncey Billups sat on a stationary bike on the edge of the Knicks' practice court last week, looking out at the players with whom he will play his 11th consecutive postseason.

There is plenty of playoff experience on the floor. Amar'e Stoudemire has been to the Western Conference finals twice, including last season with Phoenix. Carmelo Anthony has been to the conference finals once, when he was a teammate of Billups' on the Nuggets in 2009. But there is no one else on the Knicks -- in fact, there are only a select few in the league -- with a playoff pedigree like that of the 34-year-old Billups.

Sunday's game in Boston will be Billups' 140th playoff game, which is more experience than the rest of the Knicks' starting lineup combined. His streak of 11 playoffs includes six consecutive conference finals and two NBA Finals. He's averaged 17.8 points in the postseason, more than two points higher than his regular-season average (15.5). But most importantly, he has the hardware, having won both a title and the NBA Finals MVP in 2004 with the Pistons.

"Chauncey has done it," Anthony said. "He's been where we want to be. He has the experience. He's a natural leader and a guy with a winning mentality."

Challenge ahead

Billups has done it all; he's been to the NBA summit. So it's interesting to hear him say this postseason has the potential to be one of his most exciting.

"Honestly, this would be one of my tougher challenges for me personally," he said, referring to the fact he is playing with a team that has been together only since the end of February. "But I tell you what, if we're playing like we can be playing, we have a shot -- against anybody. I believe that. I believe that we can surprise a lot of people."

Billups knows what it is like to overachieve in the postseason. The talent level of the 2004 champion Pistons wasn't even close to that of the Lakers team they defeated. Yet Billups knows that talent isn't everything in the playoffs. What's just as important is how a team comes together, how it interacts in the postseason, when he says "every minute is meaningful."

And there are times when he thinks this team could be one that is coming together at exactly the right time.

"There's been a few instances where you see glimpses of greatness," he said of the Knicks. "The way we played at Miami, at Orlando, against Boston here. Little things stick out. We could be a very dangerous ballclub."

Guarding Rondo

How Billups plays and how he and Toney Douglas deal with Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo could determine the series. Billups has nothing but compliments for Rondo.

"He's a tough matchup. He's one of the better point guards in the league," Billups said. "I have a lot of respect for him. He's a special player because he can dominate the game without scoring. There's not a lot of point guards who can do that."

There also are not a lot of point guards out there like Billups, who has seen just about everything that can happen in a game.

"Billups has been in a lot of big situations," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Chauncey to me is a great leader."

Part of being a leader is trying to help those with less experience. Billups talks about rookie Landry Fields and thinks back to his first playoff experience, when he was an end-of-the-bench player for the Timberwolves in 2001.

"I remember being so nervous," Billups said with a nostalgic laugh.

That nervousness has been replaced by knowledge. Though he says there is no substitute for experience, Billups is trying to convey to the younger players what it is like to be in the playoffs.

"I do know the importance of playoff basketball, knowing what to do and when to do it," he said. "It's really about every possession. Every possession could be the one that beats you. It could be the fourth quarter, second quarter, third quarter. To win, you have to make those effort plays, the little plays."

Billups said one of the most interesting things about the playoffs is that it's not always the players you expect to shine who do.

"It's all about heightened expectations and heightened responsibility," he said. "Everything is taken from a three to a 10. Some players are huge in those situations. And then I've seen some great players who weren't so great when it came to be that time."

Billups didn't want to call out any of those who stumbled in the postseason, but he noted that Tayshaun Prince, with whom he played in Detroit, had an uncanny ability to take his game to the next level.

"He had no ego, so you would just kind of forget about him," Billups said. "But he would never miss an assignment, he was always in the right spot and he hit the big shots. He was great under pressure in the playoffs."

Winning is contagious

Roger Mason -- who played on a Spurs team that included playoff warriors Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker -- said it's a big help to be around players who have seen so many postseason situations.

"Chauncey is a guy who has won a championship and played at the highest level," Mason said. "Coming from San Antonio, I know how that can rub off on the rest of the team. The veteran leadership he brings is great."

More than anything, Billups said he feels lucky heading into the playoffs. He believes he came close to landing with the Nets instead of the Knicks at the trading deadline, which would have ended his playoff run.

Said Billups: "I'm just excited. I'm just excited to be here with the Knicks. The franchise hasn't been to the playoffs in a long time. It's a basketball town. It could get crazy. I'm excited to see what is going to happen."