The New York Knicks entered the 2024-25 season with high expectations. Despite their second-round exit in the playoffs in 2024, the Knicks were looking to build on their 50-32 season and contend with the likes of their division rival, Boston Celtics.
After adding Karl Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges in the offseason, the message was clear that this season was NBA Championship or bust. While their record shows their dominance, as the team is currently on pace to a 54-28 record, their struggles against the top teams is notable. The Knicks are 0-3 against the Boston Celtics and 0-2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. After losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and most recently to the Golden State Warriors, are the Knicks still considered contenders?
Struggles against top teams have exposed many of the Knicks issues, but their main issue is defense. The Knicks took a major step back defensively, going from the second overall defense last season to the 15th ranked this year. This isn’t an issue against lesser teams, but considering teams like the Cavs and Celtics are among the most efficient scoring teams with high-end talent, a lack of defensive pressure will allow teams to score on the Knicks.
To be clear, this has nothing to do with effort but everything to do with injuries. The Knicks have missed center Mitchell Robinson for most of the season, which forces Towns to be the primary rim protector, which isn’t his best skillset. The team also has to deal with the heavy minutes load from coach Tom Thibodeau. His incredibly high usage rate from players will wear them down over the course of the season and will show come playoff time. While his coaching has proven to win in the regular season, it’s starting to show cracks in players against the best teams, and it’s one of the reasons why New York is left out of title talks.
Though these issues are present, the Knicks aren’t exactly helpless. This team has swept the Denver Nuggets, who are contenders, and the Memphis Grizzlies, who are a Western Conference heavyweight. The Knicks are also 2-0 against the Milwaukee Bucks, who have both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. These wins are due to a great offensive game, where the Knicks are among the league leaders in points per game, ranking fifth with 117. With massive differences in quality of wins and losses, are the Knicks contenders?
The NBA is about matchups, and the Knicks have to live with how and who they play for better or worse. They essentially run a Jalen Brunson, three wings, and Towns at center, which allows for great scoring, but against bigger teams could be an issue, or teams that play similar basketball like Boston, who have played together for longer. The Knicks are able to spread the floor, but a team that can play efficiently from outside will punish them. Bigger teams like Cleveland are going to be a problem with this current construction, as they have to guard two bigs in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Once Mitchell Robinson is back in shape, this could change.
The Knicks are on pace to have one of their best seasons in years, but it should be understood that fans haven’t seen the team at full strength. The vision of the team hasn’t been realized, and they’ve been able to win big games in spite of that but lost some games because of it. Will the Knicks have the best record? No. Will opposing teams see the Knicks at full strength? No idea. Are they contenders? Absolutely.
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