Eleven video games above .500 is a powerful mark, however when the bar is about at a championship, even minor imperfections can really feel like evident failures.
The Knicks have let just a few too many winnable video games slip away, together with Friday’s 116-99 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
That sport marked their sixth lack of the final 9 outings and the fourth loss in six house video games at Madison Sq. Backyard to begin the New 12 months — a disappointing stretch given a good slate of 14 house video games in a 16-game span.
“Obviously [we’re] not taking advantage [of the home stand]. Lost to some really good teams and it’s something that we just need to get back on track,” crew captain Jalen Brunson stated after observe on the Tarrytown coaching facility Sunday afternoon. “It’s going to be a roller coaster but it’s all about how we manage it and how we look forward. Yeah, we’ve already messed up. We already lost games at home. But we can’t just dwell on it and be like, ‘Alright, it sucks.’ No, what are we going to do to change it?”
Regardless of this, as of Sunday afternoon, New York (27-16) remained firmly within the Japanese Convention’s No. 3 seed, sitting 2.5 video games behind the Boston Celtics (29-13), 2.5 forward of the Milwaukee Bucks (23-17) and 9 video games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (34-7), who’re working away with the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder (35-6) as the one groups nonetheless boasting a single-digit loss column.
It’s clear the Knicks are a superb crew — an excellent crew. However the divide between “very good” and “elite” is stark.
Proper now, the Knicks hover on the sting of that distinction. As elite groups do, the Knicks have overwhelmed up on the groups destined for the NBA Draft Lottery, however they’ve struggled in opposition to their championship-contending friends, boasting a 1-5 file in opposition to groups not named the Bucks ranked within the top-four in both convention.
“I think for the most part we’ve done a good job of talking to each other every day, saying that we want to get better every single day,” Brunson stated. “Regardless of what our goals are down the road, we’ve got to take it one day at a time. So, yes, after our wins, we’re happy about our wins, and after our losses, we need to get better. But most important, after our wins, we can still get better. It’s a process of not being satisfied.”
Brunson credit head coach Tom Thibodeau for instilling that mentality.
“We take the identity of our coach, and he’s never satisfied when it comes to us,” he added. “Yes, he’s going to congratulate us and make sure we know what’s important, but just making sure moving forward not getting sidetracked by anything.”
That relentless focus is critical, particularly for a crew that has struggled defensively — an space lengthy related to Thibodeau’s teaching identification.
Since their nine-game successful streak ended with a 117-107 loss to the Thunder on Jan. 3, the Knicks have posted the NBA’s third-worst defensive score. They’re bottom-10 in each internet score and opponent three-pointers made and are dead-last in opponent three-point proportion.
Offensively, they rank in a digital tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the league’s worst bench scoring.
Gradual begins have additionally plagued the Knicks. Of their 16 losses, they’ve trailed after the primary quarter 13 instances, tied as soon as, and received the opening body solely twice. That development continued in opposition to Minnesota, the place New York fell behind 28-21 within the first quarter and by no means recovered. The Knicks have trailed within the opening interval in 4 of their six losses in 2025.
“We started off slow, the rebounding put us in a hole. So obviously we’ve got to do better there,” Thibodeau stated after Sunday’s observe. “And that’s probably the biggest thing — containment of the ball, challenging shots, and the rebounding.”
Bench scoring, whereas regarding nonetheless, isn’t the first concern. The Knicks imagine a wholesome Karl-Anthony Cities — who has missed the final two video games resulting from a thumb damage — can restore their offense to elite standing.
Defensively, the problems stay evident. Thibodeau believes so long as the crew improves each day, issues will finally fall into place.
“Over the course of the season, some days you’re going to fall short, but other days, you’re going to play well, and to understand what goes into winning each and every day, and for us to focus on that daily improvement so you don’t get lost,” Thibodeau stated on Sunday. ” And I’m an enormous believer in that you would at all times do issues higher. So there’s sure belongings you’re doing effectively. [That] doesn’t essentially imply you’ll proceed to do them effectively until you place the work into it. The identical issues that you need to shore up, you need to focus in on and be sure you’re correcting them and fixing them.”
The Knicks aspire to be a crew robust on each side of the ball. With Cities out, they continue to be poor defensively however the offense has sputtered. He’ll return to play by way of his thumb damage, however the lopsided discrepancy from one finish of the ball to the opposite is a actuality mirroring New York’s file.
Eleven video games above .500 might look spectacular on paper, but it surely doesn’t totally seize the place this crew stands on its journey towards title rivalry.
“For the most part, I want to see us stick together,” Brunson stated. “All the X’s and O’s are great, but the tighter we are as a group, the better we’re gonna be.”
