The Knicks are supposed to be in the midst of an easy portion of the schedule. They had back-to-back games against the Trail Blazers and Kings, the latter of which is amongst the worst teams in the league.
And then after consecutive games against the Warriors and Suns, two good teams, they squared off against the Mavericks and Nets, two more very bad teams. But for the struggling Knicks, it hasn’t looked so easy.
In those four games against the subpar teams, the Knicks managed to go just 2-2, and add in the two games against over.500 teams in the middle, and you have yourself a measly 2-4 record.
That’s bad news considering the tough schedule that lies not too far ahead. The Knicks have a weekend matinee against a good, but not elite, 76ers team on Saturday, then get a shot at revenge against the aforementioned lowly Kings. But after that, the schedule becomes both much harder and very strenuous.
Between January 28th and March 9th, the Knicks will play 17 of their 22 games against playoff and play-in teams. And while the All-Star break takes place mid-February, New York will also have five sets of back-to-backs during that span, with a brutal one where they have to play the defending champion Thunder just a day after playing a Raptors team that enters today one loss back of the Knicks.
This stretch also includes two games against the first-seed Pistons, who punked the Knicks just a couple weeks ago, the Celtics who have surpassed the Knicks in the Eastern Conference standings, the Cavaliers, who have been playing better as of late, the Spurs, who have the second best record in the league, and the fourth-seed in the Western Conference, the Rockets.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, they’ll end the trip with a west-coast road trip against a Nuggets team that could have Nikola Jokic back, the Lakers, who despite some turmoil, remain a good team, and the Clippers, who have been amongst one of the hottest teams in the league since cutting ties with Chris Paul.
This stretch also happens to include the trade deadline, which could have a lasting impact on this franchise. They could swing big for a trade and change up their core for better or worse. Or they could go for more marginal moves that could end up paying big dividends down the road.
They also have a few easy games sprinkled in, with a game against the Wizards on February 3rd, and a game against the Pacers a week later on February 10th. And do follow up this tough stretch with games against the Jazz, Pacers (twice), Nets, Wizards, Pelicans, and Hornets within about a two-week span.
But as you can see, the Knicks better hope that last night’s demolition of the Nets is the start of a turnaround. If New York plays the way it did for the better half of the last month, dropping games to opponents it shouldn’t be losing to, and getting embarrassed by good teams, the next month and a half will be disastrous and could very well lead to the final blows of what would be an incredibly disappointing season.
If you do believe that the Knicks have turned the corner, though, the next few weeks could end up being a series of very hard contests that test and push the Knicks. And if they can get through it playing some of their best basketball and string together some good weeks, it could make believers out of a lot of fans who have recently started to lose hope. Needless to say, starting next Wednesday, maybe the toughest part of the schedule, and given the trade deadline, maybe the most important stretch of the season will begin. And it’s not unreasonable to say that, as far as regular seasons go, this will be their make-or-break stretch.
