The Knicks will reconvene this week with a legitimate probability to secure a correct playoff berth — realistically as high because the No. 5 spot within the Eastern Conference — over their final 22 games, starting Friday night in Washington.
Tom Thibodeau’s team hit the All-Star break last week with a 33-27 record, including three straight wins after the front office fortified the roster with the acquisition of dependable two-way wing Josh Hart on the trade deadline.
The Knicks sit in sixth place within the East, a half-game above the Heat to avoid the play-in tournament and encouragingly just two games behind the No. 5 Nets, who jettisoned the All-Star tandem of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant on the deadline.
Additionally they have gone 8-6 within the absence of defensive anchor Mitchell Robinson; he is predicted to return from January thumb surgery soon after the schedule resumes.
Securing the fifth seed might arrange a juicy first-round playoff matchup with the Cavaliers and their imported All-Star Donovan Mitchell, who the Knicks didn’t obtain last summer.
Most beneficial player
Julius Randle received a deserved All-Star nod, his second in three seasons, but $104 million signee Jalen Brunson has been the MVP for the Knicks in almost every definition of the term.
The previous Villanova star not only has helped unlock Randle after the facility forward endured a trying, step-back season one 12 months ago. Brunson also has posted insane numbers over his past 22 games, averaging 29.7 points while shooting 51.5 percent overall and 46.6 percent from 3-point range since returning Jan. 2 from a three-game absence because of a hip injury.
Least helpful player
Based solely on contributions in relation to salary, veteran shooting guard Evan Fournier most closely fits this category.
Fournier, who set a team record with 241 made 3-pointers last season in the primary of a four-year, $73 million contract, was removed by Thibodeau from the first rotation in late November. He has made 10 appearances off the bench as an injury fill-in over the past three months, including a 17-point performance over 24 minutes in a key win this month over the 76ers.
The 30-year-old Frenchman is owed $18.9 million next 12 months with a to-be-declined $19 million club option, meaning he ought to be easier to trade within the offseason as a possible expiring contract.
Biggest surprise
Quentin Grimes has emerged as a dependable two-way starter ahead of Fournier and a Rising Stars participant in his second NBA season, but many expected the 2021 late first-round pick to seize an even bigger role, especially after a breakout performance in summer league and the his exclusion by the front office in trade talks for Donovan Mitchell in the summertime.
The far greater surprise has been the advancement of Immanuel Quickley as a viable sixth man, especially his improvement on the defensive end of the court. He boasts the second-best defensive rating among the many team’s regulars (behind Miles McBride) and the third-best net rating (behind Robinson and McBride). Thibodeau also has often praised Quickley for his vocal leadership at that end of the court.
Biggest disappointment
The Knicks sent a first-round pick to Atlanta (with Kevin Knox) in a trade for Cam Reddish in January of last season in what turned out to be an ill-conceived gamble on the talented wing.
Reddish actually appeared in 20 games, including eight starts, early this season while Grimes was sidelined. But he was completely buried in Thibodeau’s doghouse — with no appearances after Dec. 3 — until he was shipped with one other first-round pick to Portland in exchange for Hart on Feb. 8.
While Hart has been a perfect slot in three straight Knicks victories, Reddish also has been contributing for the Blazers with a scoring average of 11.3 points in three starts.
Best moment
The win that prompted Randle to pronounce that these Knicks “can beat anybody and lose to anybody” was their signature moment of the 12 months, outlasting the team with the perfect record within the league, the Celtics, in extra time on Jan. 26 in Boston after flushing a 13-point lead within the fourth quarter.
Randle finished with 37 points while Brunson scored 29 and in addition notched the game-sealing blocked shot in OT.
Worst moment
The flip side to that euphoric victory was a crazy and historic extra time loss in Dallas within the Knicks’ first game after Christmas, by which they squandered a nine-point lead with 33.9 seconds left in regulation against the Mavericks.
Mavs superstar Luka Doncic posted a ridiculous 60-point triple-double, with 21 rebounds and 10 assists for the primary 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double in NBA history.
“That’s a game we gotta win. There ain’t an excessive amount of else about that. We gotta win that,” Quickley said that night. “I’m sure in the event you have a look at the probability of us winning the sport with 20 seconds left, I’m pretty sure it’s like 99-point-something. We just made too many mistakes they usually capitalized on it.”
The percentages actually were even longer than Quickley’s estimation. NBA teams had posted zero wins in 13,884 games over the past 20 years when trailing by at the very least nine points with not more than 35 seconds remaining.
Biggest head-scratcher
RJ Barrett still is the clear third wheel within the Knicks’ offensive hierarchy behind Randle and Brunson. He’s averaging 19.7 points per game — a shade below his career-best 20.0 scoring average last 12 months.
However the coaching staff still is waiting for higher consistency from the fourth-year small forward, especially after inking him to a four-year extension price $107 million in August.
Barrett continues to indicate an adeptness to get to the rim, but he’s shooting just .323 from 3-point range, his worst long-distance numbers since his rookie campaign (.320).
Upcoming decision
The addition of Hart — Brunson’s former Villanova championship teammate — already has cost McBride a rotation spot. He’s also been playing nearly all of minutes down the stretch ahead of Grimes in his first three games for the reason that trade.
It’s legitimate to ponder whether Thibodeau eventually might infuse Hart into the starting lineup, ahead of Grimes, or dare we are saying it, a slumping Barrett.
Robinson’s pending return also will force Thibodeau to make your mind up whether Slam Dunk participant Jericho Sims has earned some continued minutes as an occasional alternative to Isaiah Hartenstein and even Obi Toppin on the second unit, based on matchups.
