Gio officially worried that Knicks won't get it together in time to compete with top teams

The Knicks came up empty in a show-me weekend against the Cavaliers and the Celtics, the top two teams in the Eastern Conference that New York had not been able to solve heading into Friday night.

The team didn't look any closer to contending with the best of the best, as their defense was shredded in a blowout loss to the Cavs on Friday, and a spirited second-half comeback effort was quickly stomped out by Boston at TD Garden on Sunday. The Knicks are still winless against the Celtics, Cavaliers, and Thunder, widely regarded as the top three contenders for a title this season, and Gio is officially starting to worry.

"The three best teams in the league, they can't beat, and it's not particularly close," Gio said.

"Now I'm stating to get worried. I don't know if they are good enough defensively, or capable enough defensively to handle those teams. It just feels like they are miles away."

Gio had maintained his belief that the Knicks can still figure things out, get healthy, and be ready to make a run in the playoffs, but it's becoming more and more difficult to see that happening as they continue to look miles behind the league's best.

"I'm not giving up on them. I'm so excited that there is a team that's a lock for the playoffs and there'll be a battle in the playoffs," Gio said. "I don't want to lose sight of the fact that we didn't see this type of basketball for like two decades, but we want to get to the next step, but I'm not sure they could do it this year."

Boomer isn't sure that the Knicks have what it takes this season to contend for a title, even if they are fully healthy by the end of the regular season.

"We said on Friday that the Cavalier game and the Celtic game will tell us where the Knicks are right now, and obviously they're not 100 percent," Boomer said. "But still, even with Mitchell Robinson coming back, I don't know how much of a difference that will make."