Knicks Schedule Has Done Them No Favors Against East’s Best

One of the dominant stories throughout the New York Knicks’ season has been their struggles against the NBA’s best teams. What’s especially relevant is how poor they’ve played in the six games versus the Cavaliers and Celtics, who they will likely have to get through to make the NBA Finals. New York is 0-6 in those matchups and hasn’t been close in any of the contests.

While the intense criticism of the squad is somewhat warranted, as the goal for a roster as talented as NY’s is to win a championship, context is needed surrounding the losses. Furthermore, the issues they’ve had against the best teams in the league shouldn’t douse the celebration of what’s been an excellent season. Knicks Schedule Has Done Them No Favors Against East’s Best I want to preface this by saying that there’s no excuse for how the Knicks have played against Boston and Cleveland.



After making three blockbuster trades in 2024, NY expected to be a true contender, and rightly so. No matter the circumstances, the team has looked intimidated and outmatched by their Eastern foes. They have to be better when the playoffs start, or they’ll be eliminated swiftly by Boston in the second round.

Opening Week Losses Are Meaningless However, New York has also gotten an extremely rough draw for their six losses to the East’s top two. Each game has had some sort of adversity dealt their way, with little of the same on the other side. Let’s take a look at each of the defeats.

Their first attempt at beating Boston came on Opening Night, which was a terrible spot in many ways. The Celtics were raising their league-leading 18th banner to the rafters in front of a raucous crowd. Defending champs rarely ever lose on ring night, especially one that brought back all ten of their rotation players.

Furthermore, New York was debuting their completely new lineup with Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges . The Celtics dismantled the Knicks, tying an NBA single-game record with 29 threes. Just six days later, New York played the red-hot Cavaliers.

Cleveland had won three straight to open the season and eventually their first 15 games. This is the only one of the six games where Tom Thibodeau’s group had no excuses, as they had two days off and were fully healthy. With that said, NY held a 13-point second-half lead and squandered it down the stretch.

There’s not much to take away from these first two games. Injuries, Schedule Quirks, and Bad Circumstances Their next chance came on February 8th against Boston. New York was without OG Anunoby , who is crucial to their gameplan against the wing-driven Celtics.

Boston was also dealing with injuries that night, but NY simply could not afford any of their best guys missing. Two weeks later, they got a chance to face Cleveland on a Friday night and Boston on a Sunday afternoon. It was a quick turnaround after going to overtime against the Bulls on Thursday.

The Knicks were without Josh Hart against the Cavaliers and Anunoby had just returned from injury. The team was hobbled and exhausted, and played as such, getting blown off the floor in both games. New York’s most recent chance came on Wednesday in Cleveland.

After playing extremely well in the first half, Thibodeau’s group ran out of gas on their way to another dominating loss. However, NY stood no chance in the game, as they were missing Jalen Brunson , Miles McBride , Cameron Payne , and Mitchell Robinson . The Cavaliers were fully healthy.

The Knicks were also on the second night of a back-to-back, while Cleveland had two days of rest. In fact, they should actually feel happy with their first-half effort. Again, while this is in no way justifying the six losses against the East’s best (five of them being blowouts), New York shouldn’t be counted out for a playoff run because of the results.

They’ve rarely had a fair chance against Boston or Cleveland. It looks as though NY will finally be fully healthy and rested for the playoffs , and should put their best foot forward. This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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