The New York Knicks enter the new year red hot

For much of November, star acquisition Mikal Bridges was trending towards bust territory.

Managing a paltry 14 points per game on 29% shooting from three-point range, Bridges could not find his way into the New York Knicks offense. Worse yet, his defensive acumen on the wing was less than desirable. Barely hovering over .500 by the end of the season’s first full month, New York was desperately clinging to the four seed in the Eastern Conference.

Through New Year’s Day, the Knicks proceeded to go on a tear, winning 13 of their next 15 games, losing only to Detroit and Atlanta in that stretch. Though the loss to the Hawks denied their place at the NBA Emirates Cup, the Knicks have not lost a game since, tallying nine consecutive wins, including Bridges’s coming out party on Christmas Day (he led all scorers with 41 points, shooting .680 from the floor, making six of nine threes) and a double OT thriller against Washington that saw Jalen Brunson muster his highest point total on the season (55).

On a regular basis the Knicks’ third scoring option has become a tit-for-tat balancing act between Bridges and OG Anunoby, the latter haranguing star Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen to one of his worst offensive outputs of the season in a 119-103 home win on Jan. 1. Essentially, OG and Bridges have clicked on both sides of the floor as the season approaches its midway point.

In their past ten games, of which they won nine, the Knicks are second in defensive efficiency, drawing within one game of the Boston Celtics for the conference’s second seed.

Clearly the winners of their trade with Minnesota, the Knicks have seen Karl-Anthony Towns acclimate seamlessly into their roster. Towns accepted Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors for December on the strength of 23.2 points and 14.6 rebounds per game on 39% shooting from deep, providing an interior presence and sustaining a rebounding effort (13.7 per game) that would be the highest of his career.

Without question, KAT has grown into one of the best big men in the game, showing no signs of folding to the pressures of playing in New York. Now, with Precious Achiuwa healthy and contributing, the Knicks await the return of Mitchell Robinson, who ought to be ready—so we hope—for New York’s rematch against Boston at the Garden on Feb. 8.

From now until Jan. 12, the Knicks will square off against the Oklahoma City Thunder, tops in the West, twice, including Friday night on the road and again at home on the 12th, seeing Isaiah Hartenstein for the very first time since his departure, an important cog for the 2023-2024 Knicks who chased a huge contract New York simply could not match.

Despite the sheer dominance of the Knicks’ starting five (arguably the best in the league by the numbers), the Knicks, who boast Deuce McBride and the feisty Cam Payne off the bench to go with Achiuwa, remain rather thin in the frontcourt. This is a weak point the Thunder would easily exploit with a healthy Chet Holmgren, still out with a hip injury, and Hartenstein, the latter, a monster with OKC thus far (he is averaging 12.6 points and 12.2 rebounds per game to go along with nearly four assists a contest across 18 games).

Aside from the matchup against the Thunder and a road tilt against Chicago on the second of a back-to-back slate, the Knicks will benefit from some home cooking with five straight at the Garden, where they will be tested again against OKC and the surging Milwaukee Bucks at the latter end of the homestand.

Regardless of how that home stretch plays out, the New York Knicks have proven they were a team worth waiting on.