Quite a week for the New York Knicks, who got things going smoothly with a 21-point win against the hated Miami Heat... only to dump back-to-back outings against the tanking Spurs and Hornets last Wednesday and Thursday. Sheesh...
The Knicks kinda fixed their wrongs on Saturday by beating the Wizards—not before suffering a hellacious scare—in a get-right game before taking on another wounded squad in Dallas on Tuesday, a game that wasn’t really factored into most folks calculations for this week’s update.
Here’s a roundup of all the power rankings posted at different outlets through Tuesday’s matchups, capturing the national perception of the Knicks among the basketball elite.
Note: I have included a +/- next to each rank, with a minus sign (-) meaning dropping down and a plus sign (+) meaning climbing up X spots compared to last week’s position on that outlet.
NBA — No. 10 — New York Knicks (-2)
John Schuhmann of NBA.com has lost his trust in the Knicks judging by their placement this week, seven days after he already dropped them one spot, making it three slots down in a span of 14 days.
Schuhmann didn’t took Miami’s win into consideration, however, making it a 1-2 win in his calculations with back-to-back losses facing the Spurs and the Hornets against just one win against the can’t-be-worse Wizards.
“The Knicks had won 13 straight games against teams that are currently at or below .500 before their back-to-back in San Antonio and Charlotte last week. They lost both games, allowing 123 points per 100 possessions, with the Spurs and Hornets shooting 31-for-67 (46%) from 3-point range. The Knicks now rank 28th in opponent 3-point percentage, though the percentage of their opponents’ attempts that have been wide open (48%) remains below the league average (51%).
“The Knicks’ offense also wasn’t very good in the back-to-back, scoring just 39 points on 49 first-quarter possessions over the two games. They lost 11 of their 15 first quarters since the All-Star break before getting off to a much better start against the Wizards on Saturday. With the win over Washington, the Knicks are 26-4 (fourth best) when they’ve led after 12 minutes.
“Miles McBride was also out on Saturday as Cameron Payne got his second start of the season and scored 10 of the Knicks’ 31 points in the first quarter. Payne is averaging just 14.6 minutes this season (his lowest mark since his rookie year), but the team has outscored their opponents by 8.4 points per 100 possessions (the best on-court mark among Knicks who’ve played more than 200 total minutes) with him on the floor.” — John Schuhmann
The two teams jumping the Knicks on NBA’s ranks were the Clippers (from No. 12 to No. 9) and the Rockets (from 10th to 8th). As an interesting nugget, Schuhmann moved OKC back to the top of the leaderboard with the Thunder overtaking the Cavs as the best team in the league.
The Athletic — No. 8 — New York Knicks (—)
Law Murray of The Athletic decided to leave the Knicks in the same spot he placed them in last week, but even then, he found a way to make that decision look ridiculous.
Murray placed the Pacers one place above New York, moving them up from No. 11 to No. 7 just like that, perhaps because in his eyes, winning four consecutive games against three bad teams and just one getting-better squad is what rocks these days.
Anyway, this week’s topic was how rotations have changed from Week 1 through this week, which, in the case of the Knicks, is a bit more than what you’d have thought, even if only when it comes to ancillary pieces.
“New players added after Week 1: SF Landry Shamet, SG Delon Wright, PF PJ Tucker, PF Anton Watson (two-way), SF MarJon Beauchamp (two-way)
“Departed players from Week 1: C Jericho Sims, PF Jacob Toppin (two-way).
"Shamet would have been on the team to begin the season, but he injured his shoulder at the end of the preseason and was waived until he recovered two months later. Both Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa were injured to begin the season, which put Sims in position to be in the rotation; Sims was later traded for Wright.
“New York is now trying to navigate Jalen Brunson’s injury, which has thrust Miles McBride into the starting lineup. Tucker (and Tucker’s sneakers) also is here now.” — Law Murray
The Nuggets moved outside of the top-6 and down to No. 9, and outside of that, nothing remarkable happened with the expectation of these ranks also placed the Thunder above the Cavs as folks are starting to realize Cleveland’s chances will evaporate once the playoffs arrive in the schedule.
ESPN — No. 6 — New York Knicks (+1)
The ESPN panel moved the Knicks up a spot a week after leaving them where they placed them at the start of March.
There’s no particular topic covered in this week’s edition of the power rankings of the sports giant, which decided instead to touch on the full picture of what’s going on with each franchise across the Association.
“After logging the league’s second-worst defense during February, New York has gotten its act together in March, surrendering just 109.1 points per 100 possessions — second best in the league over that span.
“Sure, the Knicks have faced lightweight competition lately, but that has given them a chance to work through important areas with Jalen Brunson (ankle) out and Mitchell Robinson working himself back into form.” — Chris Herring
With the Knicks moving up, the Grizzlies dropped from the top six and fell all the way down to No. 8, with the Los Angeles Lakers also trumping them, moving from the ninth to the seventh spot in the power rankings.
What are your thoughts on the ranks above? Where do you have the Knicks ranked after they split their first six games of the season? Drop your hot takes in the comments section below!