The problem is:
I want to feel like I did last May when the Knicks were on TV three or four nights a week. I miss the days when I would be ready for games by lunchtime and impatiently count down the minutes until tipoff, trying to tell Joel Embiid or Tyrese Haliburton how I really felt.
Most of the time, you'll be doing your best to help boost the Knicks on a two-and-a-half-hour tour of basketball hell. The sore throat you wake up to the next morning is a tax you were willing to pay. Last spring, the Knicks played 13 games in the playoffs and were beaten in every one.
And now you ask yourself. “Is this all there is to it?”
It can be depressing early in the season, and it can be hopeless early in the season. Part of the reason is that we're looking at a much different team now than the one that tried, and aspired, to jump on the metaphorical grenade in April and May. You found yourself checking out the Timberwolves box score, which wasn't part of your morning routine, along with Crosswords, Wordle, and Immaculate Grid.
Even though the Thunder are still without Isaiah Hartenstein (I say his name softly out of respect) with a hand injury, you'll see them start 7-0 with less than a minute to go. Maybe you'll even sigh wistfully as you watch RJ Barrett take another step forward in his sixth year in the northern sky.
And maybe that's a record. The Knicks are 3 wins and 3 losses. It feels like it's just about the same height as sea level. It's hard to get too excited. It's hard to get too angry. Hard to get…it worked.
But it will happen.
it is. Those of you who check here regularly to see my opinions on the Knicks will remember that I wrote this a few weeks ago, the day before the Knicks opened the season in Boston. If they go to the Garden and play the Bulls, know that they can do it even with a 4-6 record or worse. ”
Perhaps it's worth remembering that last year's Knicks team — the beloved team that every Knicks fan was screaming they should hang a banner for after last spring's electrifying shorthanded run — played six games. After that, they had 2 wins and 4 losses. The Knicks' best six-game start in five years under coach Tom Thibodeau was 5-1. That was three years ago, when they were 37-45 and completely out of money.
Thibodeau teams take their time and clash. The Thibodeau team will take time to find itself. They usually come into their own around the new year, but with Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns still integrating their games into the Knicks' complex structure, it's hard to see how this team looks like itself. Of course it will take some time to find it.
However, here's the problem.
They already play the offense at a very high level, and the Knicks have played under Thibodeau on that end of the floor before. They are third in the league in offensive efficiency behind Boston and Cleveland (15-1 combined), first in 3-point percentage and fifth overall. They also pass the vision test. The starters are five highly skilled players who are already working well together after just six games.
Their defense is… well, that's another story. But one of the annual traditions of Thibodeau's Knicks teams is the long process of putting Thibs' defensive vision into action. Last year's team scored 146 points against Milwaukee in Game 20 on December 5th, and gave up 140 points in Game 32 on December 30th. Since then, there have been 16 different games in which they held their opponents to 100 points or less.
“When you're not shooting well, you want to rely on your defense,” Thibodeau said after the Knicks' loss to the Rockets on Monday, reiterating a theme he's returned to many times during his time here.
It's hard to believe that won't happen. By the time the Knicks return home Friday, they will have played five of their seven games on the road. If they can beat old friend Trae Young and the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday, they'll go home at 4-3 with a lot of season left. Even if it's March-April, there's a lot of time between now and April.
And that's the hardest part. It's impossible to recreate the excitement and stakes of May in November, December and January. That's exactly what it is. As frenetic as Citi Field was in October, there will be plenty of cold nights next April and May for whoever is on the team. Mets fans will be asking themselves this question. “Couldn't we have seen this on TV?”
The Knicks are 3 wins and 3 losses. They are still learning each other. They're still thinking things through. The first 10 games are the Bears. they're fine.
