New York doesn’t have the goods to be a championship team, as evidenced by their 0-7 combined record against the Celtics, Cavaliers, and Thunder.
Fifty-eight games in–and with 24 regular-season games remaining–the 38-20 Knicks are a paper tiger, and that’s not what owner James Dolan, head coach Tom Thibodeau, and president of basketball operations Leon Rose had in mind when they acquired Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges this offseason to transform the Knicks into a championship team.
Something has been off with the Knicks. The new guys haven’t clicked well with last year’s remaining Knicks starters. Bridges hasn’t been the sniper the team expected when they gave up a boatload of draft picks to the Nets for him. Towns have been reliable, but for some reason, he hasn’t meshed with Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson regarding the pick-and-roll.
Everyone in the lineup seems to want the ball, and if he doesn’t get it, he becomes useless. That’s the danger of acquiring guys who were used to having the ball and now having to sacrifice by not having it. This might explain why Bridges and Brunson have been so inconsistent this season.
Towns keep saying they are a work in progress after losses, which is unsuitable for a team heading to the playoffs. In reality, there are games where the offense does not have much flow, which can affect the defense. Worse yet is that the Knicks haven’t matched last year’s intensity. They miss Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, who always played with something to prove on the court. Interestingly enough, those two haven’t clicked with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and they are both out with injuries.
In all their losses to the Celtics, Cavaliers, and Thunder, the Knicks allowed those teams to shoot 3s at will against them, and that will be a problem come playoff time. Moreover, there’s a lack of resistance. Teams can get away with doing whatever they want. The Knicks don’t inspire fear. How else can one explain the Celtics being so comfortable playing against them?
Then, there’s the lack of a bench. The Knicks don’t have one, which explains why Thibodeau has to overwork his starters out of necessity. It was designed since the Knicks head coach prefers to work with only a few players in the rotation.
And here’s what’s most damning: There are games where guys don’t know their roles, such as who is going to have the ball and who is going to box out and get a rebound. That happens when a team is built around scorers rather than having guys who know how to sacrifice their roles. For instance, if Towns doesn’t get the ball, he becomes a nonfactor for the rest of the game. It’s why Thibodeau tends to have the offense revolve around him. The drawback of this results in Brunson being a non-factor.
Brunson should be having the ball because he is an assassin who hits shots during crunch time. The Knicks’ best shot at winning is when the Knicks’ point guard has the ball in the fourth quarter.
Randle was appreciated for his willingness not to have the ball in the fourth quarter. That allowed him to focus on playing defense, which is hard to do with Towns since he is used to being the guy with the Timberwolves. This year, Bridges’ struggles may be related to his struggles playing with Towns and Brunson. He was used to having the ball, and now that he doesn’t get it much, he struggles to get in the rhythm.
This season, Towns has been the Knicks’ best player. The rest have been inconsistent. This sums up the team’s problems—it’s the chemistry.
Remarkably, the Knicks are 38-20, but that’s not good enough in a season where the organization thought it was good enough to make the NBA Finals.
The Knicks can get hot in the playoffs, but they look like a team that could be a first-round upset victim.
