Analyst Makes Bold Claim About Knicks Chances

The New York Knicks are settling into the season and have comfortably moved over .500 in the past few games.

After their undefeated NBA Cup run, national analysts are starting to pay attention to the Knicks, seeing them as the best team in the Eastern Conference other than the defending champion Boston Celtics.

“Boston is the champion, they’re on another level—I get all of that. But I look at everybody else and I don’t see anybody else the Knicks can’t beat,” Stephen A. Smith said on ESPN’s First Take h/t Posting and Toasting. “I see Cleveland doing their thing. They came down to earth after that 15-0 start. But New York stands up.”

Smith’s sentiments were also echoed by TNT’s Charles Barkley.

“I personally think the Knicks are gonna be the second best team in the East when all the smoke clears, and I think Orlando has a chance,” Barkley said on TNT’s Inside The NBA. “I’m not sold on the Cavaliers, I don’t care what their record is, I’m not sold on it. I think these are the second and third best teams in the east and I think the Knicks are like, ‘We want you to know we’re already better than you are.’”

The Knicks currently sit fourth in the Eastern Conference standings behind the Orlando Magic, Celtics and top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, but their play as of late has inspired analysts from all over the country.

The Knicks still have a long season ahead of them, but if they can continue to grow over the course of the next several months, they may find themselves playing deep into the playoffs and make its first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2000.

The Knicks return to the court tomorrow to face the Detroit Pistons at 7:30 p.m. ET inside Madison Square Garden.

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