The New York Knicks' up-and-down season continues. The group ripped off a seven-game win streak against middling or tanking NBA teams looking to lose at this point in the season, and is in the middle of following it up with a three-game losing streak. All three came on the road, but it's still tough to fall to the Hornets, Thunder, and Rockets by at least 11 points each time in your last three games.
Things started looking even tougher when Josh Hart told reporters after the loss in Houston that New York is moving in the "wrong direction" as a group ahead of the NBA Playoffs. That's not a great assessment from a locker-room leader on a contender at any point of the season. But especially not with just two weeks left until the first round of the postseason begins.
Whether Hart meant to or not, he just validated every Knick fan's biggest fear about this iteration of this team with one postgame comment. What is this New York squad going to do in the playoffs? Will these struggles turn into one of their prolonged "slumps" at the worst time of year?
Knicks are running out of time to correct major flaws before playoffs
This year's playoffs begin on April 18, leaving the Knicks' roster and coaching staff just a couple of weeks to change directions. While Hart thinks that change needs to be significant, that doesn't necessarily mean that he thinks it needs to be complicated.
The veteran followed up his comments about New York heading in the wrong direction by explaining what specifically was frustrating him about their play. A big part of his problem seems to be that the Knicks know what those things are.
The Athletic's James L. Edwards III tweeted that Hart told reporters after the game he was frustrated by "some of the same stuff continuously popping up — lack of togetherness, focus, attention to detail, etc.," adding that the 30-year-old went as far as to designate the second half of their back-to-back against the Memphis Grizzlies a "must win" game.
It's fitting that the contending Knicks' Wednesday night, "must win," game against a 25-50 ball club is on April 1. Some Knick fans reading Hart's quote in the morning might have even thought it had April Fools' Day-related origins. It might be the literal opposite of what they wanted to learn about their squad with just six games left in the regular season.
That said, the Knicks' season is far from over. And last year's regular season was full of even more disappointment against the league's top teams: one of which they went on to dispatch in the second round. It's probably unwise to give up on this group this soon, but time's certainly running out.