The New York Knicks picked up their most impressive victory, to this point, of the 2023-24 NBA season on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs. They jumped out to a 13-0 lead out of the gate and the closest the Spurs got after that was an 11-point deficit.
The Knicks came away with a dominant 126-105 victory, pushing their record to 4-4 on the season. Ownership has to be happy with that start as the team has faced some obstacles in the early going of the season. Namely, their inability to score the ball efficiently.
The Knicks are near the bottom in every shooting stat in the NBA. Julius Randle got off to the worst shooting start a player with his volume has ever had, stopping the offense in its tracks more often than not. Point guard Jalen Brunson also had some shooting woes.
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With their two best players struggling to put the ball in the hole, the Knicks suffered a few brutal losses. Opening night against the Boston Celtics, an average night from one of their stars or better shooting from the foul line would have resulted in a win. Against the Milwaukee Bucks last Friday, a late fourth-quarter lead was erased by Damian Lillard.
The second night of a back-to-back set against the Cleveland Cavaliers also provided another ugly loss. Despite playing without Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, Cleveland picked up a 95-89 victory at MSG after losing by 18 at home the previous night.
Those are some of the best teams in the NBA that the Knicks have faced off against already this season. Coming out of this stretch with a 4-4 record is pretty solid, all things considered, as New York has faced by far the hardest schedule in the NBA to this point.
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Coming out of that stretch still afloat should give the team confidence as the season moves along. The Knicks know that they can hang with the best teams in the NBA on any given night, relying on their chemistry and cohesion to make up for any deficit of talent that exists.
Led by Tom Thibodeau, opponents know what they are in for when facing off against the Knicks. They aren’t a fun team to play given their level of physicality and style of play, as they will bully opponents on the court.
That is what helps keep them in games against the upper-echelon teams in the NBA and will lead to victories starting to stack up once the schedule lightens up.
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