One of the best ways for an aspiring contending team to gauge their chances of winning it all is to see how they stack up against other legitimate title-contending outfits. But the New York Knicks may want to avert their gaze from their record against the two top teams in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. On Sunday night, the Knicks were on the receiving end of another blowout, this time losing 118-105 to the Celtics two days after being demolished by the Cavs, 142-105.
With those two recent defeats, the Knicks have now gone 0-5 against the Celtics and Cavs this season with an average margin of defeat of 21.2 points. Their only close game against either of those teams was a 110-104 defeat to Cleveland back in October.
Simply put, this is very worrying for the Knicks, as overcoming the East playoff gauntlet will most likely require them to get past either the Celtics or the Cavs. Nonetheless, Karl-Anthony Towns is still preaching patience, saying that they are still learning about themselves and how to compete against the best, imploring critics to reserve their judgment for when the playoffs come along.
“Where I said from the beginning of the season: We’re a work in progress. We’re going to be a work in progress all year until the day we step into the postseason,” Towns said, via ESPN. “Every team in the NBA will tell you the same thing. We’re all a work in progress until the postseason, when you put all the chips and cards and see what the season taught you.”
Perhaps Towns is right in that the Knicks will prove everyone wrong when the playoffs come around. Regular-season results aren’t necessarily a reliable indicator of how a potential playoff series will turn out. But New York has to figure it out, especially with there being fewer than two months before the postseason starts.
Cavs, Celtics expose the Knicks’ shoddy defense
When the Knicks traded for Karl-Anthony Towns, it signaled their intention to go more all-in on their offense at the cost of some defense. Now, they did bring in Mikal Bridges to pair up with OG Anunoby on the wing, but they lost a ton of defense when Isaiah Hartenstein decided to leave for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Against the Cavs, the Knicks allowed so much dribble penetration, forcing long rotations and allowing plenty of wide-open three-point looks as a result. And then versus the Celtics, their execution on both ends of the court left a lot to be desired. The Knicks cannot play lethargically against these two teams, although come playoff time, they should be more locked-in — with Towns raring to be proven right.
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