The New York Knicks have enjoyed a strong season to date, currently sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference as the season approaches its final stretch. Both Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns were rewarded for their efforts this year with selections to the All-Star game, which was played on Sunday evening in San Francisco.
The best team in the Eastern Conference so far this year has been the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are currently several games above the second-place Boston Celtics in the standings. Recently, ESPN NBA analyst Brian Windhorst revealed why he believes Cavs fans shouldn’t be worried about any potential threat from the Knicks.
“I’m not staying up nights worrying about the Knicks,” said Windhorst, via ESPN Cleveland on X. “In all honesty, I don’t think that they’re equipped right now to win the 12 game playoff games to win the East. Their team screams to me, great regular season team.”
Windhorst then explained some of his rationale for the bold claim.
“Thibodeau plays the guys crazy minutes, which will catch up with them, no doubt about it. He knows that. They just don’t have a very deep team,” said Windhorst.
Are the Knicks a threat in the East?
The New York Knicks entered this season with expectations that they would be challenging the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference thrown after several big offseason moves, including trading for both Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges.
Up to this point, the Knicks have largely made good on that potential, boasting one of the league’s best offenses even as their defense has been perhaps a notch below what was expected.
On paper, the Knicks would figure to have a more playoff-suitable roster than the Cavs, as teams led by two small guards (Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland in this instance) don’t generally fare well in the postseason.
Still, there could be validity to Windhorst’s point about head coach Tom Thibodeau and whether or not he is running his stars into the ground from a usage perspective before the playoffs even get here.
The Knicks’ season is set to resume on Thursday against the Chicago Bulls.
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