16-5

When last we checked in, the New York Knicks had just gone 2-2 and appeared headed towards another skid, similar to the one they went through in January when they went 2-9. They had gotten their ass kicked by the Detroit Pistons - the third such beatdown this season - and had phoned it in against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In between, they needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Houston Rockets at home, and barely won against a Bulls team in Chicago that had lost eight in a row. As I wrote in my last piece, they could easily have gone 0-4.

Well, as the Monkees once sang, that was then, this is now. The Knicks have won four of their last five games; and three of those wins have not been remotely close. They routed a Milwaukee Bucks team that was 8-2 in their last ten, shocked a San Antonio Spurs team that had gone 11-0 in the month of February, and handed a Denver Nuggets team yours truly picked to go to the finals their worst home loss in more than two decades. The collective margin in all three of these wins was 383-290. The lone loss was a 103-100 thriller against the OKC Thunder at the Garden that would've been a win had the Knicks made just one extra three pointer and one extra free throw.

This is not a small sample size. We're talking about a quarter of a season here. Over the last 21 games, the Knicks have gone 16-5, and they've held their opponents to under 100 points ten times. Their defensive rating of 104.4 is the best in the league, per StatMuse. To put that in perspective, the Boston Celtics are second at 107.8, followed by the Spurs at 107.9; the Knicks have beaten both teams.

Last season, New York struggled against the top teams in the NBA. They were a collective 0-10 against the Celtics, Cavs and Thunder. So far this season, they're 4-3 against those teams. With last night's win in Denver, they're 17-10 against the top six teams in each conference; they've won four games by 35 or more points (a franchise record); seven games by 30 or more points, and eleven by 25 or more. The Thunder, last season's champions, have three, eight and 13 wins respectively.

While this has been a team effort, the biggest turnaround has come from none other than Karl-Anthony Towns. The much maligned center has been reborn under Mike Brown. It has taken a while, but KAT is playing his best basketball since he was acquired by Leon Rose in the summer of 2024. His offensive production may be down five points per game from last season, but he's been a force to be reckoned with in the paint. His defensive rating over this stretch is 100.3. Last season, it was 110.3.

Another player who's enjoyed something of a metamorphosis is Jalen Brunson. The Captain and NBA clutch player of the year last season, has become a distributor of the ball recently. Over the last three games, he has 40 assists, including 15 a piece against the Nuggets and Thunder. Getting Brunson to play more off the ball has been a goal of Brown since day one. Not only does it make it harder for opponents to double team him, it gets his teammates more involved in the offense. How effective has this strategy been? New York led Denver 65-52 at the half and Brunson had only two points.

Speaking of getting other players involved, Jose Alvarado and Landry Shamet have been invaluable coming off the bench. The former is Rose's best deadline acquisition since Josh Hart and the latter was all but forgotten under Tom Thibodeau. With the depth on this roster and the emphasis on defense first, the Knicks are a legitimate threat to go deep in the playoffs. They've already proven they can hang with almost any team in the league.

Look, there's still plenty of time left in the regular season. As good as the Knicks have played during this stretch, they're still in third place in the Eastern Conference. one and a half games behind the Celtics, who now have a healthy Jayson Tatum back from an ACL injury he sustained in last year's second-round series against New York. And the Pistons - the Knicks kryptonite as I called them - are still solidly in first place. If these two teams meet in the conference finals, the winner could well be the next NBA champion.

Buckle up; shit's about to get real.