Knicks: 3 reasons to believe in New York’s promising start

2) Reasons to believe in Knicks’ start: 3-point shooting

As a team through the first 3 games, the Knicks have shot 43% from deep, but against the Cavs, they drastically improved on those numbers by hitting 14 of 25 three-balls which equates to a staggering 56% on the night. These numbers are obviously not sustainable, but considering how anything would be an improvement over last season’s production, I couldn’t be happier with the effort put forward to stretch the floor so far.

With the addition of Alec Burks and the return of Reggie Bullock, Knicks fans expected these players to make a high percentage of their threes, but we’ve also got a few very unlikely contributors who have improved their deep-range game this season.

Between Elfrid Payton, Frank Ntilikina, and the aforementioned Julius Randle, the Knicks are starting to look more and more like the reincarnation of the 2015 Splash brothers. I dragged Elfrid Payton through the mud after his performances against the Pacers and Sixers, but news broke shortly after the game that both Payton and Ntilikina stayed late at the Garden to put up shots, as they were both disappointed in how they’d been playing. Since then, Payton had the game of his life on Sunday against the Bucks and put together another great stat line on Tuesday night while shooting 3-for-3 and 2-for-4, respectively.

Frank Ntilikina saw the floor for all of 7 minutes combined between games 1 and 2 of the season. Due to some unfortunate injuries, DSJ’s inability to play the game of basketball, and a blowout performance against the Bucks, Frank has earned 35 minutes of action over the last 2 games, and boy has he capitalized on his opportunity. The Frank stans out there are most certainly grinning ear-to-ear, as he’s been able to convert five of his seven 3-point attempts in those 2 games. Nothing would make me happier than Frankie proving the doubters wrong, staying a Knick, becoming New York’s version of Marcus Smart.