The NBA season is full of ebbs and flows. That’s exactly what the Knicks have experienced over the past month. After a nine-game winning streak, they dropped four of five games, including a "sound the alarms" 126-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.
But life goes on in the league, and the Knicks got back in the win column with a 140-106 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.
The Knicks will reach the halfway mark of the season when they play their 41st game against the Pistons on Monday night, and New York finds itself in third place in the Eastern Conference with a 26-14 record after 40 games.
At the same point last season, New York was in sixth place with a 23-17 mark. But the pressure has ratcheted up.
The Knicks made a collection of moves with the present in mind, including trades for Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges.
Is this team a legitimate title contender?
Here's where the Knicks stand...
The good
There’s a lot that’s working for the Knicks. New York is tied for second in offensive efficiency, racking up 119.2 points per 100 possessions. The Knicks offense has looked unstoppable at times, such as the 145-point explosion against the Nuggets or the easy 133-107 win against the Timberwolves. In fact, the Knicks have already scored 130 points or more seven times this season. They crossed that threshold just three times all of last season.
The team has two bonafide scorers in Jalen Brunson and Towns. Both players are in the top 12 in scoring in the NBA. Towns has three 40-point games and Brunson scored 44 points on Sunday. He also had a 55-point masterpiece against the Wizards last month.
Where Towns’ impact has been most understated is how he’s lessened the amount of responsibility that fell on Brunson last season. Now when Brunson sits, the Knicks can trot out a credible offense without him.
In the 374 minutes Towns has been on the floor without Brunson, the Knicks are scoring 125.6 points per 100 possessions and have a plus 15.5 net rating, per PBP Stats.