The Nets, 76ers, Kings, and Raptors are not necessarily the Mount Rushmore of contenders in the NBA today. So a four-game winning streak against them alone shouldn’t, and doesn’t, overwrite the 2-9 11
game stretch the Knicks experienced not too long ago. But, if you look at the way they have played since players spoke openly about doing some soul searching, and looking themselves in the mirror, they’ve looked much better, and the numbers give fans reason to believe that their current winning streak is more than just beating up on bad opponents. That is certainly part of it, but the 76ers, despite being just 4-6 in their last 10 games, are still 25-21, and the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, and the Raptors, before losing to the Knicks last night, were just one loss behind the Knicks, and were 29-19.
Let’s start with the offense. While a lot of the pessimism surrounding the Knicks during their rough patch was rightfully around their defense, their lack of offensive outbursts, and suboptimal execution was much more confounding given the talent on the roster. They had some of the worst shooting performances of the season, all within a short period, resorted to the Jalen Brunson-centric, isolation-heavy offense, and it led to a very predictable, tough-to-watch product that often struggled to score more than 100 points.
But over their last four games, the Knicks have looked much better as a whole. Individual players have still struggled, but we’re now seeing guys step up when they do. Karl-Anthony Towns’ struggles have been well-documented. Mikal Bridges had one of his worst offensive games as a Knicks against the 76ers, OG Anunoby coughed up seven turnovers against the Kings, and the aforementioned Brunson managed to score just 13 points against the Raptors last night. But in each game, guys stepped up, and that was made possible by the increase in ball movement, pace, fluidity, intentionality, and execution.
Against the Nets, Brunson led the way with 20 points, but he was supported by Landry Shamet and Deuce McBride, who poured in 18 points and 14 points off the bench, respectively. And in a historic 54-point blowout, we saw all five members of the starting lineup record three or more assists. Days later, against the 76ers, Brunson once again led the way with 31 points, but Anunoby was the star of the show, scoring 23 points on an efficient 10-15 shooting. Against the Kings, Bridges bounced back and backed up Brunson’s 28 points with 18 points on just 13 shots. And a day later, against the Raptors, in a game where Brunson and Towns combined for a measly 21 points, Bridges led the way with an emphatic 30 points, while Anunoby scored 26 points, Hart scored 22, and Tyler Kolek dished out 10 assists in 20 minutes off the bench.
That’s led to the Knicks being fourth in offensive rating during that span, and has solidified themselves as the third-best offense behind the Nuggets and Celtics. Sure, three of those four teams are bottom five in the defensive rating over their last four games, but one of those teams, the 76ers, is 13th in defensive rating on the season, and the Raptors enter today with the sixth-best defensive rating on the season. But after seeing this team struggle offensively against even the worst teams in the league, it’s a nice change to see them look more like their early-season selves on that end of the floor.
That being said, if you truly believed in Mike Brown and the collective talent of the team, you likely also believed that the shots would start going in again, and that one way or another, they’d find a way to become a good, if not great, offensive team again. Defensively, though, they’ve really turned some heads. Again, the level of competition hasn’t been amazing, and they did get torched by Joel Embiid, DeMar DeRozan, and Brandon Ingram to varying degrees. But as a whole, the defense looks much more active, physical, and connected than it was in a very long time.
Last Wednesday, they held Brooklyn to just 66 points. And before you convince yourself that’s because it’s the Nets, remember that the Nets scored 117 points against the Suns, 103 points against the Magic, and 96 points against the Rockets, all of whom have a higher defensive rating than the Knicks currently do. A few nights later in Philadelphia, they held Tyrese Maxey, who has historically played very well against the Knicks, to just 22 points, and held the Sixers to just 13 points in a pivotal third quarter that proved to be the difference. When they hosted Sacramento, they never gave up more than 26 points in a quarter, and held them to just 15 points in the fourth quarter, when it really mattered the most. And last night in Toronto, they managed to shut down everybody besides Ingram, holding them to just 64 points over their final three quarters without the help of two of their three best defenders, Deuce McBride and Mitchell Robinson.
Again, they haven’t gone out and slowed down the Nuggets, Celtics, Rockets, Thunder, Cavaliers, or any of the other top 10 offenses during this stretch, but it’s clear that the defense has been significantly better during this stretch. Because just a couple of weeks ago, they were getting lit up by the same Kings, the Mavericks, and Pelicans, who are all bottom five in the league in offensive rating.
This short, but meaningful stretch of wins has seen their defensive rating slowly, but surely creep back up to 14th in the league on the season, and first in the league during that span, with an absurd defensive rating of 91.7 (thank you, Brooklyn).
New York is now one of just four teams, all of which are from the Eastern Conference, to be undefeated in their past four games, and ranks first in net rating during that stretch with a +25.6. This is a small sample size that is made up of just two playoff teams, and the upcoming few weeks will be full of harder tests that will show fans who these Knicks truly are. But for the time being, it’s been a positive sign to see them not only winning, but passing some of the eye tests we saw them fail very recently.
