It is OK if you are confused.
It’s OK if you don’t know what to think about this Knicks team and don’t have a solid idea where they will be at the end of the season.
The Knicks haven’t done a whole lot to help you out. On some nights, they look like they could live up to their owner’s prediction and go to the NBA Finals for the first time this century. On other nights (see Friday’s 38-point loss in Detroit) you really have to wonder if the Knicks are going to crumble when they run into a young, motivated and talented team in the playoffs.
Want more conflicting data? How about Tuesday night’s 137-134 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers, the team with the worst record in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks had entered the game having won nine of their last 10 with their most recent win being over a good Boston Celtics team on the road.
This finish was both as crazy and ugly as you can get.
The Knicks looked like they might have saved themselves from an embarrassing loss in regulation when Karl-Anthony Towns was fouled with .2 seconds left while trying to put back a Landry Shamet desperation three-pointer. Towns hit both free throws to send the game into overtime tied at 124.
The Pacers (14-40) opened the extra period with a 9-0 run as the Garden fell deadly silent. The Knicks then went on a scoring spree and pulled within one when Jalen Brunson (40 points) hit a three-pointer with 5.6 seconds left. The Knicks, however, would get no closer.
Is this the same team that clobbered the Celtics just two days ago? Or is it the team that struggled in early January losing nine of 11?
There is a stretch coming up, however, that could give fans a more realistic assessment of what this team might be capable of. After Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia, the team heads into an eight-day All-Star break. Knicks fans have to hope that is long enough for OG Anunoby to heal his toenail avulsion and everyone else to rest up.
Because the first couple weeks coming out of the All-Star break are looking to be the most challenging of the season. Eight of their first 10 opponents after the break are against teams that likely will make the playoffs. The stretch kicks off with games against Detroit and Houston at MSG. The Knicks then play Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee on the road. They then follow up with four tough games at Toronto, Oklahoma City at home, at Denver and at the Lakers.
Knicks coach Mike Brown is a big believer in growth through adversity. He’s not about to make predictions about how his team will do coming out of the All-Star break, but he does believe that the rough period they went through earlier in the year is going to help them.
“Obviously we went through some adversity,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s game. “We went 2-9 or something like that. You hate to lose games and I’m not signing up to lose games, but we have to struggle. I’m a believer that we have to struggle a couple of times this year. Whatever that means. And, it’s going to test our resolve as a group. You have to be connected if you want to give yourself a chance.”
Brown, in his first year as Knicks coach, said he learned a lot about his team by watching how they dealt with things when they weren’t going well.
“There could have been a lot of finger-pointing and infighting,” Brown said “Our guys were pretty steady in trying to figure out a way to right the ship. Without finger pointing. A lot of them were even saying I have to play better. I have to do this better. It wasn’t necessarily surprising, but it was good [not] hearing anything much negative about what was going on.”
The Pistons could sweep the 3-0 season series with a win against the Knicks in the first game out of the break. It’s hard to imagine that the Knicks could play worse than they did in their first two as they followed a 31-point loss on Jan. 5 with the 38-point loss last Friday.
Of course, as Boston found out last season, what happens in the regular season doesn’t always carry over into the postseason. The Knicks, who were 0-4 against the Celtics in the regular season and lost by an average of 14 points, beat the Celtics in six games to advance to the conference finals.
Brown believes that everything the Knicks are going through will prepare them for the part of the year that really counts.
“Playoff runs, there is nothing more stressful on an NBA level,” Brown said. Seven-game series, win four of them. That really tests your resolve. Because man, a lot of things can happen. So be able to hit some adversity. Go through and stay connected and come out of it a little stronger than what you were going into it. It’s something I look forward to.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.