Is there reason to worry about Knicks against the NBA's top teams?

The Knicks head into All-Star Weekend with a record of 36-18, sitting comfortably in the Eastern Conference's third seed coming off nine wins in their last 11 games. Those results should be something to celebrate, being a historic start to the season, but some fans feel this team isn’t reaching its potential.

After a 131-104 blowout loss to the Boston Celtics last Saturday in a repeat of their opening night matchup, New York fell to 1-5 against the top two seeds in both conferences. To those convinced this season is championship-or-bust, this is a sign of things pointing to the latter, enough so to elicit some very emotional responses -- even for the internet.

While a ring is the ultimate goal for any franchise, especially so for the starved Knicks, 29 of 30 teams will fall short every year, and no amount of regular season dominance assures you a chance of being the one that doesn’t.

On the flip side, the league has more parity and unpredictability than ever, so putting together a competitive team that can make deep runs in hopes of one breakthrough has been a viable approach.

That’s what New York did in trading for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns this summer, opening up a multi-year window for a 50-win team to make their magical run. But patience isn’t fans’ strong suit, and the idea of uncorking the team’s asset pile to still be a tier below a true title contender doesn’t sit well.

So, should they be worried this Knicks team hasn’t beaten the clear contenders of the league?

The short answer is no. For starters, there’s been little to no research on the correlation between beating top-seeded regular season teams and winning a championship.

New York actually passes the sniff test well on indicators that have been tested. They beat other playoff teams by huge margins and boast a top-five net rating in the league.

Even in their losses to the NBA’s elite, there have been positive flashes. They were competitive into the third quarter of their last Boston matchup and led both Oklahoma City and Cleveland in the fourth quarters of two of those losses.

It’s not as if the Knicks have been in an entirely different league than these teams. If anything, this conversation should be around the historical dominance and matchup dynamics of the Celtics, Thunder, and Cavaliers, because just being a top two seed doesn’t mean much in the contention picture.

The last Finals meeting of top two seeds was in 2018-19. Dallas made the Finals last season as a fifth seed after going 2-5 against the top two seeds in their conference, and they ended up beating one in a series.

If the Knicks beat up on these top teams this season, that wouldn’t suggest they’d be ready to top them in a series, either. Just look at how they did in the regular season compared to the playoffs against Miami in 2013, Atlanta in 2021, and Miami again in 2023.

For how obsessive some fans have been about a handful of losses, their focus has been on the result rather than the process, while the latter gives us much more insight into what might happen in a playoff matchup.

Do four losses against Boston really matter if the team learns from the schemes and adjustments in those games to win an eventual series?

For example, after the Celtics torched the Knicks by attacking Jalen Brunson in pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll on opening night, New York decided to try and let him switch these actions in their second meeting. Boston’s offense stiffened up for stretches and failed to punish Brunson one-on-one like they were when he tried to hedge or bring help.

That change didn’t win them the game, but it’s something they will pocket and analyze for future matchups. They’ve now seen two games of Boston guarding Towns with a wing -- solving that for four games in May is much more valuable than in February.

Planning, executing, and adapting is ultimately what playoff success comes down to, not what happened during the regular season. If a handful of losses is enough to convince folks this Knicks team won’t be able to do so at a high level this postseason, they should be watching something other than sports.

The right (or wrong) injury or hot streak can swing the postseason fate of any team, so luckily the Knicks built themselves to be in the picture for the coming years. They only need things to come together once to make history.

If that isn’t enough for some, if it’s win or blow it up, that’s a defensible position to hold. However, winning isn’t decided in the dead of winter, but the bright lights of spring -- and the Knicks are working their way towards being ready once that time comes.