The Knicks are 25-14. They’re the No. 3 seed in the East. On paper, everything looks solid.
But a granular look at their record tells a different story.
After Friday’s 25-point loss to Oklahoma City, the Knicks are 0-5 against the top two teams in each conference (OKC, BOS, CLE, HOU).
The Knicks are 4-7 against the top eight teams in the league (that includes a 3-1 record against the Magic). And they are 9-11 against teams with a .500 record or better.
The results so far leave you with an obvious question: do the Knicks have enough to compete against the top teams in the league?
“Yeah, I think we do,” Josh Hart said after Friday’s loss. “I think at the end of the day we have to go out there and execute at a high level; we have to go out there with energy, we have to go out there with no egos. We have to go out there with no individual agendas. We have to go out there and sacrifice. I think that’s the biggest thing. We’re a new group. We’re still learning, figuring it out, but we can’t expect to just have talent and go out there and win games. We’ve got to lock in and compete.”
I don’t know who Hart is referring to when he talks about individual agendas and egos. But it’s the second time he’s referenced those themes this week. Hart and his teammates believe they have the talent to compete with – and beat – the NBA’s top teams. But they’ve lost four of five after reeling off nine straight wins. Couple that with the poor record against teams at .500 or better, and you’re left with more questions than answers.
“I ain’t worried about them teams, I’m worried about us,” Karl-Anthony Towns said when asked about the club’s record against top teams. “We gotta worry about the New York Knicks. When we do what we do and we’re constantly chasing perfection, we’re chasing improvement every day, we’ll be the best version of ourselves when we need to be against those teams. Just stay focused on us, stay focused on daily improvement.”
WINGS CLIPPED
Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby combined for four points on 17 shots. They missed a combined 12 threes. They combined for three rebounds in 66 minutes. Bridges said afterward that he needs more lift on his shot. He didn’t seem concerned about his shooting. But he again said that the Knicks let poor shooting impact their effort on defense.
“The theme of some of our losses is a lack of making shots messes with us on the other end,” Bridges said. “Which, it shouldn’t be. You miss shots and you’ve gotta get it going on the other side.
“We had that throughout the season sometimes,” Bridges added. “Not scoring , it kind of messes up our energy. We can’t be that team.”
