The New York Knicks may be falling apart as a championship threat at the worst possible time.
Entering this season, the New York Knicks had a ton of hope as they entered the year as one of the few teams that theoretically had the talent to compete in the Eastern Conference with the likes of the Boston Celtics. Even though the Knicks have been pretty consistent for the majority of this season and they will almost certainly enter the playoffs as the third seed in the East, there are still many concerns surrounding this team heading into the final stretch of the season.
The Knicks are 0-7 on the season against the Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Cleveland Cavaliers combined and to make matters worse, Jalen Brunson, who has already missed roughly the last two weeks of the season, is slated to be out until late March or early April. If I had to guess, I'd suspect that the Knicks are more likely to be cautious with a potential Brunson return than they are to be aggressive.
With the No. 3 seed all but locked up, there's no sense for the Knicks to rush Brunson back into the lineup. The Knicks haven't played their best basketball of late either. New York is 6-6 in their last 12 games and is just 19-14 over the last 33 games of the season. At this point, with all the information we have about the Knicks, the argument could be made that this team is beginning to fall apart at the worst possible time.
The New York Knicks must right the ship
There is a ton of mounting evidence that would suggest the Knicks are not in a great spot heading into the postseason. Even if Brunson is able to return sooner rather than later, there are still plenty of questions surrounding this team heading into the playoffs. With the way the playoff picture currently stands, the Knicks would be facing off against the Detroit Pistons in the first round. That could prove to be one of the most intriguing first-round matchups considering it would feature one of the coldest teams vs. one of the hottest teams.
Even with New York's struggles during the second half of the season, I'm still not at the point where I believe this team is going to lose in the first round but nothing is completely off the table at the moment. The more we learn about the Knicks, the more it does appear as if this team is set up for huge failure in the postseason.