{"id":694896,"date":"2026-04-02T23:58:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/694896\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T23:58:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:58:42","slug":"up-and-down-knicks-look-to-get-well-vs-bulls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/694896\/","title":{"rendered":"Up-and-down Knicks look to get well vs. Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks<\/a> have five games in 10 days to figure it out.<\/p>\n

It starts on Friday, when New York hosts the Chicago Bulls<\/a>, who seemingly have already packed up for the summer.<\/p>\n

Coach Mike Brown and his Knicks need to prove something over the next week and a half.<\/p>\n

Are they the team that has twice posted winning streaks of seven games or more since mid-January? Or, are they the squad that has lost five straight matchups against winning teams by eight points or more?<\/p>\n

“We’re not going in the right direction,” guard Josh Hart said recently. “We’re not trending upwards. So we got to figure it out.”<\/p>\n

New York (49-28) did take care of business on Wednesday, salvaging a 1-3 road trip with a 130-119 victory at Memphis without leading scorer Jalen Brunson (ankle).<\/p>\n

OG Anunoby had 25 points and 13 rebounds, and Karl-Anthony Towns posted his fourth career triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.<\/p>\n

Mikal Bridges added 24 points as New York outrebounded the short-handed Grizzlies, 49-20, and scored 79 points in the first half, their highest amount this season.<\/p>\n

Brown applauded his team’s mentality, saying, “It’s good to have that mindset.”<\/p>\n

However, Wednesday’s triumph didn’t prove anything. The Knicks have won 10 straight against teams with losing records.<\/p>\n

For a squad that reached the Eastern Conference finals last season and had goals of going even further this year, this recent run of poor performances against winning teams — which includes double-digit blowouts at Charlotte, Oklahoma City and Houston over the past week — is not inspiring.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Friday’s matchup against the Bulls (29-47) won’t allay those concerns, as Chicago has dropped off the map the past 10 weeks.<\/p>\n

Under coach Billy Donovan, a team that stood 23-22 on Jan. 24 has gone 6-25 in the 31 games since. Chicago has dropped six straight on the road and seven of eight overall, including a 145-126 decision to the 18-win Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Midseason acquisition Guerschon Yabusele led the way with 20 points and six rebounds while Matas Buzelis added 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists.<\/p>\n

“We know we are not going to be in the playoffs or play-in, so like I tell them every day, continue to play hard, finish hard the season, and I try to help as much as I can to show a good example,” Yabusele said.<\/p>\n

Chicago is playing out the string, not knowing who will be here next year. That includes Donovan, the two-time NCAA championship-winning coach with Florida, whose name has been bandied about for the vacant North Carolina position.<\/p>\n

“My main focus is on these guys and this new team,” Donovan said last week. “I understand that there’s stuff out there, and I understand that there is going to be certain speculation. But, I have to concentrate on this group, and really, my focus is on what we’re doing here in Chicago.”<\/p>\n

The Bulls are 11-26 on the road, while New York, which has won four straight and six of seven at Madison Square Garden, is 27-9 at home.<\/p>\n

–Field Level Media<\/p>\n

\n Copyright 2026 STATS LLC and Field Level Media. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Field Level Media is strictly prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks have five games in 10 days to figure it out. It starts on Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,6,191],"class_list":{"0":"post-694896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-chicagobulls","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-new-york-knicks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116337829876158755","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}