This season was supposed to be the New York Knicks' best chance to end their title drought, and while that can still happen, a certain someone did return to the Celtics on Friday. Jayson Tatum played two games this weekend — both wins — and he's looked better than expected after missing the last 10 months recovering from an Achilles tear.
Even before he returned, some had chosen Boston to come out of the East, and now, that take is becoming increasingly popular. As Marc Stein said on the ALL NBA Podcast on Sunday, he doesn't see how you can go with any team other than the Celtics.
"How can they not be the favorites in the East? You know I love Detroit.. but again, the Cade Cunningham-led Pistons have been in one playoff series. I'm still not a believer in Cleveland. This is supposed to be the Knicks' chance, the Knicks' opportunity, their best opportunity to win it all since the 1994 finals. Boston was already looking great, and now they've added Tatum on top of trading for Vučević."
The Celtics have been the feel-good story of the season, staking their claim as a top team in the East during what was supposed to be a gap year. They looked like contenders without Tatum, so now that he's back, their chances of hanging another banner have jumped up.
Does that mean you can just discard New York to the side? No. This may not turn out to be the Knicks' year, but declaring that prematurely isn't the best idea. Look at last year for an example why (in case you forgot).
Knicks pushed to the side as Jayson Tatum returns to Celtics
New York did its part to prove why you can't count it out when Tatum returned on Friday, as the Knicks blew out the Nuggets in Denver by 39 points.
Less than 48 hours later, though, they fell to the Lakers. They looked like they showed up to Crypto.com Arena running on empty right after running the LA Marathon in 80+ degree weather on Sunday morning. Actually, the marathoners might've played with more effort from the adrenaline alone.
We're not here to delve into yesterday's loss, but it did give the naysayers another reason to doubt New York, as its consistency has been an issue. It didn't help, of course, that Boston marched into Cleveland and took down the Cavaliers.
A lot is going right for the Celtics (minus the Vučević injury) at the right time. With a little over a month left in the regular season, momentum is on Boston's side. Meanwhile, the Knicks have struggled to hold any sort of momentum, but their remaining schedule is on their side, so they could ride a high into the postseason.
New York isn't a team that you can count out, no matter how well things look for Boston. The Knicks are an experienced playoff group that knocked off the Celtics last year, after all. They have a superstar in Jalen Brunson. Karl-Anthony Towns has flipped a switch in the past few weeks, too. They have the third-best record in the East. It's not like they're barely hanging on by a thread.
You should know by now, even as a Knicks fan, not to buy into the hype that the sky is falling in New York. You heard a similar sentiment this time last year when they struggled against top teams in the regular season. Discounting them seems to actuallly help them, so there's that.