Jalen Brunson himself has described the first half of the New York Knicks' first season under Mike Brown as a "rollercoaster." The high highs, and low lows, of their year thus far have been on full display from their NBA Cup run to recent struggles against tanking groups, leaving fans with plenty of worries with the playoffs less than a month away.
While those fans might be justified in their concerns, NBA analyst Zach Lowe thinks they're missing the forest for the trees. At his recent live show in New York City, Lowe acknowledged the group's polarizing nature but wondered why fans were so worried given both the data and the state of the rest of the Eastern Conference.
Zach Lowe thinks the Knicks might be getting underrated
"The New York Knickerbockers are third in offense, sixth in defense. They are 19-7 in their last 26 games, since the Dallas loss. ... There are only three teams in the top-six in both offense and defense. The Boston Celtics, ... the San Antonio Spurs, ... and the New York Knicks. Even the Thunder are technically first in defense and seventh in offense, so they don't even qualify. And yet, Howard Beck, there is much angst – despite all those nice things I just said – about the Knicks," Lowe said to his guests on stage in Brooklyn.
The recent injuries to Nikola Vucevic and Cade Cunningham leave both the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons vulnerable, even if for unfortunate reasons. The Cleveland Cavaliers are still working out the kinks of their midseason James Harden trade, with the 11-time All-Star telling reporters that his new group still needs to work on being "professional" with their approach on a nightly basis.
That particular issue sounds quite similar to one the Knicks have had in recent games, whether against a depleted Warriors squad or the tanking Utah Jazz.
The Knicks aren't the only team going through it right now
Other teams in the conference experiencing struggles with the playoffs approaching doesn't fully exonerate the Knicks for poor showings or for lacking focus and physicality, as their head coach criticized them for after their narrow defeat of the Golden State Warriors.
But it does provide necessary context to New York's midseason woes: they're not the only team going through them. And they're certainly not the only contender in their conference hoping that nobody else is noticing any of their flatter performances.
The Knicks have just as much time as everyone else to get ready for the postseason, but they might face the highest expectations of any team that isn't the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder. They have their health underneath them and seem to be getting used to Mike Brown's system. Can they outperform last year's ECF berth?
It's not about whether or not they seem like a Finals team on the surface. They just have to beat the rest of the East.