Another test. Another loss. Another reminder of where the Knicks stand against the NBA’s elite.
New York’s season-worst 142-105 defeat at the hands of the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers was more than just a bad night. It was the latest data point in a troubling pattern — the Knicks still don’t have a win against a true championship contender this season.
The numbers are damning.
The Knicks are 0-6 against title favorites this season. They are now 0-2 vs. the Cavaliers (46-10), 0-2 vs. the reigning champion Boston Celtics (40-16) and 0-2 vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder (45-10).
The games haven’t been close, either: New York owns an average margin of defeat of 25 points to Boston, 21.5 to Cleveland, and 17.5 to OKC.
The Knicks are 11-7 against other winning teams and 26-5 against losing teams.
The record paints a clear picture: The Knicks are good, maybe even great — but against teams with legitimate championship aspirations, they haven’t even been competitive.
Which is a problem, because the Knicks went all-in on a title push this offseason. They mortgaged the future to land Mikal Bridges, sending five first-round picks across the bridge to Brooklyn. Plus they shipped out Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota in the Karl-Anthony Towns deal, a move designed to raise the team’s ceiling.
The early returns were promising — the Knicks won 36 of their first 54 games, a feat accomplished just four times since the Pat Riley era.
But a third consecutive second-round exit will be considered a failure at Madison Square Garden, and the road to the Eastern Conference Finals will run through either Boston or Cleveland. The Knicks aren’t on the same level as either.
But there’s a catch. The Knicks haven’t been whole all season.
Mitchell Robinson, their lone true rim protector, has yet to play after undergoing a second surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left ankle.
Without him, Towns has been the last line of defense, a role far different from the one he thrived in next to Rudy Gobert in Minnesota. The Knicks’ paint defense is bottom-10, lacking the interior presence needed to slow down elite teams. And the rotation has been shorter and more taxed, leading to more defensive lapses and increased wear on key players.
Robinson’s return — expected in the coming weeks — should make a difference. He makes the Knicks bigger, longer, tougher. He frees up perimeter defenders to be more aggressive. He strengthens the glass and adds much-needed depth to a team that has been running on fumes.
But even with Robinson, there are no guarantees. There aren’t even guarantees a player who suffered two stress fractures to his left ankle in one season can stay on the floor for duration of the home stretch.
Plus other teams have quality depth beyond their best eight players on the roster. The Cavaliers got 70 points from the bench on Friday, and the Celtics beat the Knicks by 27 on Feb. 8 without both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
Injuries are a part of the game. Results are all that matter.
The Knicks delivered in spite of the injuries last season, securing the East’s No. 2 seed and 50 wins despite missing Randle, Anunoby and Robinson long stretches.
This year? With depleted draft capital and the league’s fourth-highest payroll, the stakes are higher than ever.
And after another lopsided loss to an elite opponent, the question is no longer just about injuries.
It’s about whether this version of the Knicks — even at full strength — can ever be good enough to truly compete for a title.
Robinson’s return plus a clean bill of health elsewhere on the roster will give the front office a clear picture, but a sixth reality check via TKO against a championship contender lets the Knicks know exactly where they are: good, maybe even really good, but not good enough to be the last team standing.
