After a 3 game winning streak to start the season the Knicks left home Thursday optimistic and they returned Sunday night licking their wounds after two doses of reality. Facing two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks and the Cavaliers, revealed that they still have a long way to go despite their newly assembled team and flashy new toy Jalen Brunson.
After months of trade talks, and the Knicks president Leon Rose not bringing Donovan Mitchell home to his childhood team, it felt like Mitchell took this matchup personally, dominating the Knicks from start to finish to win the Cavaliers their fifth straight game putting up 38 points and 13 assists, shooting 8-13 from 3.
The Cavs felt unstoppable in the fourth quarter, out-scoring the Knicks 37-15 in the fourth to lead a double-digit comeback with players like Kevin Love looking like he found the fountain of youth hitting 5 fourth quarter 3 pointers and Dean Wade scoring a career-high 22 points.
Since joining Cleveland, Mitchell is having arguably the best season of his career through six games and giving NY a bitter feeling on the decision not to go all-in to land the three time all-star.
After the game Mitchell was Asked if he thinks the Knicks regretted the non-move, Mitchell said: “You gotta ask them. Like I said, I’m happy to be here. It’s over with.”
If you ask the Knicks about getting a redo in the trade, they’ll probably say the same thing, mostly because it’s not worth rehashing something that’s done and over with, and it certainly hurts after the 26-year-old superstar dominated their team and handed them their second straight loss.
Though things aren’t looking as bad as it seems for the Knicks, the team’s 3-3 start puts them right in line with their preseason expectations, a team fighting for a play-in spot.
Brunson has looked his best since putting on a Knicks jersey, averaging the second most points (18.2), assists (7.2), and steals (1.3) on the team, and it has allowed other players to benefit from his outstanding play. Peaks of the player Cam Reddish can be, new acquisition Issiah Hartenstien in the pick and roll and his 10 foot floater, Julius Randle returning to his 2020 form, and despite RJ’s slow start, we have seen how lethal he and Brunson can be as rim attackers and playmakers together.
Knicks fans realized they had something after an overtime win against Charlotte, where he went 10-15 with 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 13 assists hitting clutch shot after clutch shot down the stretch.
This season, the NBA, particularly the Eastern Conference, is loaded with talent, making the Knicks face an uphill battle.
It’s impossible to say how the team would have fared with Mitchell in Brunson’s backcourt, but many Knicks fans are satisfied with what they have.
“We have a lot of room for improvement,” Brunson said. “I think we wouldn’t want it any other way. If this was easy, everyone would do it. But I think for us, we’ve got to continue to get better. We have a lot of guys who work very hard and don’t quit. So I think for us, we’ve got to keep that mindset.”
After 6 games on the team, it looks like the organization, the fanbase, and the players have a lot of trust in brunson. It could be that they don’t want him to not be the 100 million dollar player who knocked the Donovan Mitchell led jazz out of the playoffs last year averaging 28 points in the series, but all signs point to him being the player that The Knicks expected when they paid him.
We’re only six games into an 82-game season, so there’s still time for the Knicks to go on a tear, fall into a deep funk and lose 10 straight, or stay right around .500 which is probably the right answer. There’s no telling where the Knicks will go, but one thing is certain: Brunson will do everything in his power to keep the team winning.
The New York Knicks right now seem to be a gritty team, one that fights hard in every game and will be a hard matchup for any team on any given night. At the bare minimum, the Knicks on paper should be better than five other Eastern Conference teams, so they should be able to prove whether they’re good enough to get into the playoffs or not. But there’s a long way to go… it’s only the first week of November.
