Crisis averted — at least for now. The Knicks are finally back in the win column.
How long they stay there will determine whether or not the core of this roster remains intact beyond the Feb. 5 NBA Trade Deadline.
Make no mistake: The Knicks are still on the clock, and their historic Wednesday night victory over the Brooklyn Nets bought them some time. Time to prove to the front office responsible for assembling this cast that it can make good on owner James Dolan’s championship declaration.
Dolan believes his team can make it to — and win — the NBA Finals this season, and if they played the 12-win Nets every night, their stats and record just might back up his confidence.
The Nets are one of the worst teams in all of basketball, young and inexperienced, living and dying by the poor shot selection of its two-best players, Michael Porter Jr. and Cam Thomas. And the Knicks, coming off of a disappointing loss to the Dallas Mavericks’ C-Team plus a player’s only meeting in the aftermath of that disappointing loss, had everything at stake at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
So, like old times, they took the little brother to the woodshed.
The Knicks built a lead that swelled greater than 40 points by the second half. Their 54-point margin of victory was the largest in franchise history. The 66 points they allowed was a season-low for all 30 NBA teams. The Knicks shut down Porter Jr. and Thomas, holding both to a combined 17 points on the night.
The Knicks held the Nets to 20 first-quarter points and 18 points apiece in both the second and third quarters. The Nets didn’t score their 60th point until there were five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Great.
That clears things up.
Either the Knicks can play defense and have chosen not to all along, or they can only guard teams whose offense consistently bails them out with ill-advised threes.
Doing this to the second-youngest team in the league is, appropriately, child’s play. The Knicks need to prove they can play at this level consistently. One game against a lottery-bound team incentivized to lose is hardly convincing enough to say these Knicks have turned a new leaf.
After all, the Knicks beat two lottery-bound teams — the New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers — before each of their four-game losing streaks. The Knicks have a far steeper challenge looming in the reinvented Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.
That, however, is a problem for tomorrow. Today, the Knicks can exhale a sigh of relief.
In banding together to beat the Nets on Wednesday — yes, the lowly Brooklyn Nets — the Knicks saved their season from an all-out collapse.
They still have tons of work to do. The hole the Knicks have dug themselves is massive.
The Knicks should have a better record than the Boston Celtics, who traded away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis after Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in the second round of the playoffs last season. They should also have a better record than the Detroit Pistons, who they eliminated in the first round of the East playoffs last year.
Instead, the Knicks made a mad dash to the NBA Cup, won the whole thing, then fell off of a cliff. They are now scratching and clawing for their lives with every game they play ahead of the early February trade deadline.
Next time, it won’t be Porter Jr. and Thomas. It’ll be Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Joel Embiid and a 76ers team that’s already beaten the Knicks this season. And after Philly? The games only get tougher through February and into March. The Knicks needed to pad their record with wins against the poor opponents they conceded games to during this stretch.
That opportunity is now out the window. Now, the Knicks have to fight.
Their season will depend on it.
