The Bucks' winning streak continues, with a 16-game winning streak to grab the Celtics' first place in the East. This season, there are also some teams that have achieved a 10+ winning streak, such as the Memphis Grizzlies, who have an 11-game winning streak in the middle of the season, such as the Brooklyn Nets, and when Durant and Irving have not left here, the two have also led the team to help the Nets achieve a 12-game winning streak. Today, the Bucks' winning streak has not broken, and after the Bucks, there is another team that is starting a winning streak, that is, the New York Knicks. The Knicks have now quietly snapped an eight-game winning streak, bringing their record to 38-27 and rising to No. 5 in the East, just one win away from the No. 4 Cavaliers in the East.
When it comes to this season's dark horse team, more fans are expected to focus on the Western Warzone, after all, the competition in the West is extremely fierce, and a large part of the reason is because of the dark horse team. Like the Kings, who have not made the playoffs for 16 consecutive seasons, like the Jazz and Blazers, who have just undergone a roster reshuffle, they all want to make the playoffs. On the eastern side, the dark horse was originally only the Cavaliers, but in the second half of the regular season, the Knicks, a dark horse team that was killed halfway, suddenly emerged. Continuing their current form, getting a ticket to the playoffs won't be a problem. At the beginning of the season, the Knicks were outside the top 10 in the East, and no one was optimistic that they could stand out in the Eastern Conference because the Knicks actually suffered Waterloo last season.
Last season, the Knicks had a record of only 37-45, were shut out of the playoffs, and in a big ball market, the Knicks are naturally not satisfied with their situation, and after last season's loss, management also wants to make a series of adjustments to the roster. The team's two major scoring points, Randle and Barrett, are very inefficient single-play players, the Knicks don't have a system that can connect teams, and they lack backcourt players who can be organized. Last season, Randle averaged only 20.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, shooting 41.1% from the field and 30.8% from three-point range, both down nearly 10 percentage points from the 20-21 season, and earlier Randle was the Most Improved Player award.
And last season's downturn also made Randle seem to have encountered a bottleneck and could not break through his ceiling. In fact, as the core player of a team, Randle has some gaps compared to the stars of other teams, whether it is personal ability or fame. Last summer's offseason, it was somewhat strange that the Knicks did not make the decision to rebuild the team in time, but only made a one-time signing, signing Jaylen Brunson of the former Lone Rangers for a four-year, $104 million contract. For this signing, many fans were puzzled at the time, everyone felt that it was a "garbage contract", Brunson's strength itself at that time had not yet reached the All-Star, and his physical talent was quite limited, only 1.85 meters tall, which was short among the guards.
Unexpectedly, it was this signing that gave the Knicks a new look and renewed hope of impacting the playoffs. So far this season, Brunson is averaging 23.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists while shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from three-point range. Towards the playoffs, Brunson has been playing better than ever, and since January 1 this year, Brunson has ranked second in the league in total points behind Lillard, and he has also become the Player of the Month last month. From the perspective of playing style, Brunson is sophisticated, very efficient in breakthrough, good at using physical confrontation to create kills, and also has stable projection ability. Defensively, Brunson is not at a loss, although he is short, his body is very strong, he belongs to the "small steel cannon" type, and there is no problem with single defense against the opposite ball point.
The key is that the arrival of Brunson directly activated Randle, Randle now does not have to think about how to lead the team and how to organize his teammates, he is only responsible for scoring, and Brunson is next to him to support him. This season, Randle's personal data has fully recovered, averaging 25.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, and he has been re-selected to the All-Star team, no longer the "cancer" of last season. Commenting on the team's eight-game winning streak, Knicks coach Thibodeau said: "I think it's important that we make sure everyone is focused on what has to be done. Take it one step at a time and don't think about taking any shortcuts. Be humble and stay hungry. In this league, things can change very quickly, and your situation can quickly change from good to bad or from bad to good. ”
Do you think the Knicks have any hope of highlighting the Eastern Conference this season?