The Knicks are being tested. It isn’t a final exam but a strenuous prep. They are in a five-game stretch of facing some of the NBA’s best teams. On Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden and Tuesday night in Toronto, they showed a readiness that ideally will carry over into the playoffs.
But the examination is ongoing.
After dismantling the San Antonio Spurs — who came into the Garden on an 11-game winning streak — by 114-89, the Knicks imposed their will on the Raptors with a laudable 111-95 road win. Then last night, they had to deal with the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder at the Garden before heading out West to confront the Denver Nuggets tomorrow. The 2023 league champions are a formidable title contender again this season. Then the Knicks will play the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. The Lakers were 37-24 when the league’s schedule tipped off yesterday and had just two fewer losses than the Knicks, who were 40-22 and held the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference going into last night’s game at MSG.
Ultimately, the Detroit Pistons, the East’s No. 1 seed, who were tied with the Thunder for the fewest losses in the NBA as of last night (the Pistons were 45-15 and OKC 48-15), the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics (41-20) and the No. 4 seed Cleveland Cavaliers (39-24) pose the most prohibitive obstacles to the Knicks reaching the Finals.
It remains to be seen if the Knicks maintain the impressive cohesion and production on both ends of the court, especially defensively, as they did versus the Spurs and Raptors. Those games are a snapshot of what the Knicks could be, which is as capable of getting to the Finals as their three aforementioned competitors.
“I said this before, even in some of the games that we haven’t scored a lot of points, like at Chicago (105-99 win on Feb. 22 on the road) and then at Houston (108-106 win at MSG on Feb. 21) our defense has gotten better, right?” said Knicks head Mike Brown on Sunday after the victory over the Spurs.
“They did a great job, their physicality on the basketball was apparent,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson noted in complimenting the Knicks.
“They did a really good job, whether it was pushing us to operate in areas, or having really good resistance, presence, and activity on the basketball. They were very connected behind it. Well coached, well executed, well connected performance from their whole group.”