The East Is Wide Open, the Knicks Just Need A Doctor
A look at how the rest of the season should shape up for New York, as well as some brief thoughts on seeding and postseason challenges.
Seen here, an image of the New York Knicks looking at the Cleveland Cavaliers doing what they should have been able to do: survive injuries and snatch the second seed from the Milwaukee Bucks.
Injuries and the New York Knicks. Not exactly synonymous for fans of the club in its most recent seasons, helmed by Iron Man Julius Randle and most recently another seemingly impenetrable force in Jalen Brunson.
Fate has changed for the team, though. They collectively limped into the All-Star break, having dealt with injury to:
Randle (dislocated shoulder)
Brunson (sprained ankle)
Isaiah Hartenstein (achilles injury)
Mitchell Robinson (ankle surgery)
OG Anunoby (elbow bone spur)
Donte DiVincenzo (hamstring)
Bojan Bogdanovic (calf)
Jericho Sims has also dealt with a few bugs, but he has been relegated to the bench for the most part for this season.
Next man up mentality had never been more paramount to the Knicks’ success, especially in February when they wanted to finish strong despite losing their entire starting lineup aside from Brunson to injury. Sadly, they just got overwhelmed by the number of injuries being dealt with, leading to a 2-5 record so far in February as they prep to face off with, you guessed it, several Eastern Conference rivals such as the Philadelphia 76ers (2/22), the Boston Celtics (2/25), and the Cleveland Cavaliers in early March (3/3).
By the numbers, let’s compare January and February to really get our frustration out:
Now that that’s out of the way, and we understand that New York is probably going to keep struggling without at least two of Randle, Anunoby, or Robinson returning full time to the rotation, let’s talk a little about seeding and why I actually don’t care much about who the team faces in the first round.
The Scaries (Boston, Cleveland)
Before you yell at me about how “Darius Garland is Jalen Brunson’s son” or “Mitchell Robinson owns the city of Cleveland,” or whatever, please understand that exactly what New York needed to do in terms of staying afloat in February while almost entirely injured, the Cavs actually did. They went on a monster tear in January and February, taking care of business against an, albeit, easy gauntlet of teams. It really doesn’t matter who they won again, all that does matter now, though, is that they did win, and they’re sitting pretty in second place in the conference as a result. I do think that Garland has made a significant leap as a more consistent scorer for the team, and Donovan Mitchell has really grown as a defender and could ruffle the Knicks’ feathers come playoff time. That, in addition to some of their role players like Max Strus being good for a heater every now and then and Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley finally looking like they can co-exist as a tandem on the floor, they could pose a unique threat if facing off with New York for a second straight first round.
Boston, I think, is a given as a scary team for anyone in the East, let alone for New York. They have two stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown who could really bury the Knicks, and a stretch five that always seems to kill the Knicks…I forget his name. Anyways, they will always be trouble for the Knicks due to that latter factor, but I think that with Hartenstein coming in and becoming a really dynamic force for New York’s frontcourt on both sides of the floor, he can be neutralized to a degree. Plus, I just don’t trust Boston to have a good fourth quarter for multiple games in a round against a defensively minded team like New York.
The reasonables (Milwaukee, Indiana, Orlando)
Milwaukee seems to be on a weird, publicly shame-y run right now with them vocalizing how hard it has been to adjust to a new head coach in Doc Rivers, and with Rivers openly expressing how weird it was to see them fire Adrian Griffin despite them playing pretty solid ball. But hey, their chemistry issues are simply music to my ears if I’m the Knicks looking to catch a juggernaut on paper on their heels. Giannis Antetokounmpo will always, always, always be a threat, but outside of him, I fail to see where the Bucks find that level of star-powered output.
Indiana is a fun one, because I kind of need to see the chaos that would be a top-offensive team against a, likely, full powered top defensive team. Plus, some strangely antagonistic blood already exists between these two teams this season thanks to Andrew Nembhard punching Brunson in the eye during one of their games, which only helped to make the Knicks’ comeback victory in that match all the more exciting. Tyrese Haliburton also always relishes in the chance to show off at Madison Square Garden, while former Knick Obi Toppin takes his matchup against Julius Randle during all their recent bouts very personally. Ultimately, though, New York would most certainly handle business against Indiana if only for the fact that they have more experience now in the postseason and defense wins games. But, when throwing in the fact that the Pacers have yet to face a healthy, complete Knicks team, seemingly always scheduled to play them after they’ve completed a major trade that left their bench thin, I feel very good about New York’s chances against them.
Orlando is another tricky team to figure out, because they’re really good when healthy, but can struggle to find their scoring and defense when dealing with injury to their guards like Jalen Suggs or Markelle Fultz. I don’t see why they’d enter the postseason limping, but they’re young and inexperienced when it comes to playoff intensity. I kind of hope the Knicks do not draw them in the first round, but if they did, I can see New York getting their lick back from all these regular season losses to a team that always seems to catch them when they’re pretty much all hurt.
The ones you want (Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta)
The latter two of this list, Chicago and Atlanta, have shown nothing outside of some individually awesome performances (shoutout Coby White, Jalen Johnson, and Trae Young) to convince me that they could make any noise in the playoffs. If the Knicks were to somehow face off with either, I would cry tears of joy and relief.
I hope to not awaken the underworld forces that push the Miami Heat to the postseason every year despite some truly uninspired regular season hoop from them, but I don’t think this is the same deep team that managed to kill every Eastern Conference teams’ hopes and make it to the NBA Finals. Don’t worry, though, they’ll be back next year operating on a new type of (Dame) time.
Philadelphia has a really big question mark for me. They could really be in this tier, or the scaries tier. It just depends on whether Joel Embiid can come back and play with 100% intensity, or if they’ll be another second round exit. I do think New York’s depth blows them out the water, and their defense will smother everyone not named Tyrese Maxey.
I’m not saying that New York should be calling up the city and letting them know they’ll need the Canyon of Heroes reserved for sometime in June. I’m just saying that I do think they can make a serious run this season, as it feels the conference is either too young, too angsty, or too hurt to actually throw them off course if their injury woes actually do end by March as reported by several beat writers like Ian Begley, Stefan Bondy and Fred Katz.
Til’ then, though, I will be taking all of the upcoming, painstaking losses with a grain of salt…so long as they don’t land the Knicks in the play-in.