Knicks Balancing NBA Cup Progress With Current Business

Tom Thibodeau channeled his inner Bill Belichick after the New York Knicks secured the East Group A win in NBA Cup pool play on Tuesday night.

“Just worried about Charlotte,” the Knicks head coach repeated three times, per Steve Popper of Newsday.

On the surface, the Knicks don’t have much to worry about when it comes to the Charlotte Hornets, who visit Madison Square Garden on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG): Charlotte has lost in six in a row and is set to be missing marquee attraction LaMelo Ball again.

Amidst their potential in-season glory, however, the Knicks (13-8) know how quickly the good times can end. They, after all, are less than a week removed from surviving a narrow 99-98 decision in Charlotte, the penultimate part of their group play puzzle.

The Hornets’ visit is one of three winnable games standing between the Knicks and their Cup quarterfinal against Atlanta, which will be staged at MSG on Wednesday. A four-game homestand ends when Detroit visits on Saturday and the Knicks will head north to Toronto on Monday.

New York still has plenty to play for beyond the NBA’s manufactured championship feeling: after a tepid start, the Knicks are playing like the team advertised at the beginning of the year, posting an 8-2 record after dropping six of their debut 11.

In that latter span, the Knicks have played up or down to their competition on several occasions: they led by as much as 37 in the group-clinching win over the surging Orlando Magic on Tuesday and also have a 27-point win in Denver under their belts. But they needed miracles from Jalen Brunson aand Mikal Bridges to prevail against the Brooklyn Nets at the start of the trek and they also fell to the lowly Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.

The Christmas season figures to be a gift for the Knicks as a whole: of the their remaining December duels, only two opponents (Atlanta, Orlando) carry an automatic playoff spot. It’ll mean nothing in the long run if they fail to take advantage of it.

“We’re building I think every game. We’re getting better,” Karl-Anthony Towns remarked on Tuesday, per Popper. “We’re getting more cohesive. I think what’s very good about today is we talk so much about our offense, I thought our defense was matching our offense. And that’s what was needed for us to be the team that we see ourselves being at the end.”

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