The New York Knicks are on notice once again. With the winning nine of their last 10 games, a lot of which in blowout fashion, they suddenly look like true title contenders once again.
Knicks come in at No. 4 in last power rankings
The NBA’s latest power rankings would seem to agree. After having them at eighth last week, they jumped them all the way up to fourth in this week’s edition, with only the Pistons, Spurs, and Thunder ranked ahead of them.
“More important than one ugly offensive performance may be that the Knicks have had the league’s top-ranked defense by a wide margin (100.8 points allowed per 100 possessions) over their last 10 games. Their win on Sunday was the Celtics‘ worst offensive game of the season (89 points on 94 possessions), though that was mostly about Boston shooting 7-for-41 (17%) from 3-point range. With most of the improvement over these 10 games being about how poorly (28.2%) the opponents have shot from beyond the arc, it may not be sustainable,” NBA.com’s John Schuhmann wrote.
The Knicks have vastly improved in a variety of areas over the course of the past few weeks. Along with owning the best defensive rating in the last 10 games, they had won eight straight games prior to losing to the Pistons. On the season, they also own the third-best offensive rating.
The Knicks have turned their season around
Before the winning streak, they looked to be in total free fall, as they had lost nine of 11 games shortly after winning the NBA Cup championship. After a blowout loss at home to a depleted Mavericks team, the Knicks have seemingly turned a new corner and are in the midst of a remarkable mid-season turnaround.
Their blowout win over the Celtics in response to that Pistons loss was big for them, showing that they are able to bounce back quickly. Health is the one thing that’s getting in the way, as they will be without Miles McBride until at least the playoffs, and OG Anunoby has missed the last two games with a toe injury.
The Knicks have two games remaining until the All-Star break, with a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday. They got the Indiana Pacers at home on Tuesday followed by the Philadelphia 76ers on the road on Wednesday.
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