The Knicks were once again competitive, but ultimately not good enough, to pull out a win over LeBron James and the Lakers on Tuesday night, bringing their record even closer to the .500 mark.
The team’s 27-25 record is a strong reflection of where they stand in the NBA, a mediocre team that can play with the best on some nights, and can fall to sub-.500 teams in others. New York will likely compete for a play-in spot or perhaps the sixth seed this season, but not much will be expected.
For Brandon Tierney, that reality is another reminder that a long-awaited title is still painfully far away.
“The Knicks are the furthest team from a championship among all New York teams,” BT said during Wednesday’s show. “Admittedly putting hockey to the side, but I don’t see it. That’s not to say that they’re not watchable, or that there’s no talent, or that this is the same dysfunctional unit that was so evident for years at The Garden. That’s not the case. I give the Knicks credit for cleaning things up. It was ugly.
“We’re not there, but we’re also nowhere near where we ultimately want to get, and that’s a championship.”
Indeed, New York has come a long way since the times of Phil Jackson, David Fizdale, even Larry Brown. But as the organization has stabilized and continue to look toward the future, there is still a lot of work to do in order to be considered a real contender, and BT says that objective is more elusive to the Knicks to any other Big Apple team.
Is he right? The Giants are on the rise after a quick turnaround under Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll, while the Jets are seemingly a competent quarterback away from competing. On the diamond, the Yankees and Mets will be among the few teams considered to be World Series candidates in 2023, and back on the hardwood, the Nets boast one of the best offenses in the league when Kevin Durant is on the floor, and will certainly be considered a title candidate if the team is healthy. Even when considering the local hockey teams, the Rangers just came two wins shy of a Stanley Cup berth a season ago, while the Devils’ young core has come around and sit second in the Metro. Meanwhile, the Islanders, who have come painfully short of a Stanley Cup appearance in recent seasons, just swung a trade for a 30-goal scorer.
Then there are the Knicks, who have put together a solid team, but one that still seems oh-so far away from ending their painfully long championship drought.
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