New York Knicks Topple Last Seasons Win Total

The New York Knicks toppled their entire win total from 2014-15, winning their 18th game on Wednesday night. But what’s the new expectation around the team?

After winning only 17 games last season, the New York Knicks picked up win No. 18 of their 2015-16 campaign Wednesday night in a 98-90 victory over the Miami Heat. With this team already a success over last year’s run, what is the ceiling for the Knicks this season?

Last season was a nightmare for New York Knick fans.

Alexey Shved somehow became a bright spot towards the end, Carmelo Anthony played only half the season due to a knee injury, and Andrea Bargnani was something of a leader. Not surprisingly, the Bargnani era ended with the Knicks winning a franchise-worst 17 games.

Essentially, that was the entire 2014-15 campaign for the New York Knicks. It was not lit.

But Wednesday night, New York won its 18th game of the season, surpassing last year’s win total before the halfway mark of the season. Even better? The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak against Miami and was the Knicks’ third consecutive victory, with each win coming against an better-than-.500 team.

The suddenly energized Knicks have been fueled this year by a resurgent Carmelo Anthony, who dropped 25 points on a very methodical 9-for-12 shooting and continued to be an excellent passer with four assists last night, as well as rookie Kristaps Porzingis, who is an early season contender for Rookie of the Year.

This season has been absolutely, 100 percent certified lit thus far, mainly because nobody really saw this coming.

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Just a year removed from the worst season in franchise history and after an offseason that consisted of swinging and missing on big-name free agents, plus drafting a guy many simply didn’t known about in Kristaps, even the most optimistic fans saw this teams ceiling at 35ish wins and potentially fighting for a playoff spot come spring, depending on the depth of the Eastern Conference (I personally was among the extreme minority that thought they could float around .500, but I’m something of a savant so it is to be expected).

With 18 wins on Jan. 7 though, expectations are slowly beginning to change around the Knicks. There were plenty of flashes that this team could be very good early on and after beating the Hawks twice and then toppling the Heat on the road, New York seems to be realizing that potential.

But after two full months of the NBA season in the books, what exactly is that potential? We now know that Carmelo can be a legitimately complete star on both sides of the ball and that Kristaps is as good a rookie as we’ve seen in quite some time, but as a team, where can they go right now?

Outside of Melo and Porzingis, the team has been fueled by extremely consistent play from Jose Calderon, who has been playing his best basketball as a Knick this season, and Arron Afflalo, who seems to have a heat-check game once a week (dropped 38 on Sunday in a performance that had us questioning whether or not he had been touched by God).

What has really been impressive lately though is how the Knicks offense finally seems to be finding a nice groove. Coach Derek Fisher has preached all season that the wants this team to push off misses and get into the open court. Two months in and they finally seem to be getting the message.

Here we can see Langston Galloway grab a rebound and rather than either slow the entire offense down and settle for a half-court look or dish to Anthony and let him go to work, Galloway attacks off the dribble and gets to the rim for a nice finish.

Looks like that are slowly but surely becoming more and more common for the Knicks, who had eleven fast break points on Wednesday night. Considering this is a team without a great scorer off the bench but plenty athleticism in the forms of Galloway, Jerian Grant, and Derrick Williams, the Knicks willingness to get out in transition could be huge down the stretch.

It’s worth noting that the Knicks offense, while still a work in progress, overpowered the second best defense in the league in the Miami Heat last night. Obviously, Melo isn’t going to shoot 9-for-12 on a consistent basis, but it’s still a major sign of progress.

With as young a base as the Knicks have, it’s likely going to be years before we see a finished product from Phil Jackson. But for this season, it seems fair to expect the Knicks to be fighting for a playoff spot in the spring, especially if they continue to find an identity on the offensive side.

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Fun fact: The Knicks are two games out of eighth place in the East. In the West? They’d be seventh. Sigh.

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New York Knicks Topple Last Season’s Win Total

By Sean Linhares | Jan 7, 2016

The New York Knicks toppled their entire win total from 2014-15, winning their 18th game on Wednesday night. But what’s the new expectation around the team?

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