The Knicks are one of the hottest teams in the NBA, having won seven consecutive games and 17 of their last 21. Some skeptics would quickly point to the difficulty (or lack thereof) of their schedule over that span to say they haven’t yet earned contender status, despite the wins racking up.
That critique holds some truth, as only five of those wins came against teams in the top eight seeds of their conference: three against Orlando, one against Minnesota, and one over Denver. On top of that, the Timberwolves and Nuggets are in Play-In Tournament territory and the Magic have been without their key stars for those matchups.
There’s a real question as to how this team stacks up against the very best, which is a crucial tell as to how they might perform come the playoffs.
Let’s dive in and see how the Knicks compare to the league’s elite…
Per Cleaning the Glass, the Knicks are 5-4 against teams with Top 10 net ratings – the five wins listed above and losses to Boston, Cleveland, Dallas and Houston. The good news is their offense ranks second behind 121.4 points per 100 possessions, and their defense falls just outside the Top 10. So from a high level, the numbers look solid.
It’s tough to glean too much from some of these losses given when they took place. The Celtics game was the season-opening romp the Knicks took, and the Cavaliers and Rockets games were both within the first six of the year.
It’s safe to say New York has grown into itself since then. Houston destroyed the Knicks on the glass and held their offense to below 100 points for only the second time all season behind their switching scheme — areas of concern the team has addressed to some degree.
The Knicks are 10th in defensive rebounding rate against the top teams in the league, though they have struggled against some of the best offensive rebounding teams, regardless of their overall talent. They’re doing well enough in the possession game, boasting the eighth-lowest turnover rate against the league’s best.
New York fell behind by double digits to Dallas in the first quarter of their Thanksgiving matchup thanks to a half-hearted start and played them even the rest of the way. They haven’t quite been challenged the same since, as convincing as this massive December run has been.
As mentioned, the wins don’t tell us much, either. The Nuggets and Wolves are reeling from their own issues, and the Magic were without Paolo Banchero for all three games and Franz Wagner for two of them.
New York has other landmark wins on the season against Milwaukee and Miami, but these were also early in the year.
Luckily, fans can look forward to some high-level opponents soon. The Knicks have two games against the West’s top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder early in January, matchups with East titans Philadelphia and Milwaukee, both in better grooves and health than in prior meetings, plus the Timberwolves, Grizzlies, and Nuggets to round out the month.
These games should give us a clearer picture into how the Knicks contend against the best of the best, but perhaps more importantly, how many of their weaknesses they’ve cleaned up. The postseason is ultimately about matchups and adjustments, and talent-wise, New York stacks up against anybody on paper.
More than the wins and losses, it will be crucial to see how the Knicks respond to switch-heavy defenses that try to pigeonhole them into stagnant one-on-one offense. These teams will likely attack Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, separately and by putting them both in pick-and-rolls. And the Knicks will need them to hold their own defensively.
We’re a long way from the postseason, but the expectations surrounding this team mean this season will be defined by how they perform then, not against a half-injured Wizards squad in December.
Fans are naturally anxious about what this team might look like once the pressure and competition reach that level, and will be looking out for any indication one way or another as the Knicks get into the tougher parts of their schedule.
