Knicks have had quite a month to start 2024
Jericho Sims of the Knicks puts up a shot in the first half against Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
How long has it been since the Knicks had a month like this?
Let’s see. The last time the Knicks won 14 games in a month, “Friends” had just debuted on NBC, AOL was being heralded as a high-tech superpower after launching this thing called a chat room and O.J. Simpson had three more months before he was famous for something other than football and bad acting.
With a 118-103 win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, the Knicks finished January with a 14-2 record. That’s the most wins the franchise has had in any month since the Patrick Ewing-led, Pat-Riley coached team went 14-0 in March of 1994.
Three months later, that team would come one win away from winning an NBA title when they lost to the Houston Rockets in seven games, one of which was played during Simpson’s Bronco chase.
Nearly three decades. It’s long enough that only one player with a chance of being in the Knicks rotation -- 38-year-old Taj Gibson who re-joined the team Tuesday – was alive. It’s long enough that their glass-half-full coach Tom Thibodeau – who joined the Knicks as an assistant in 1996 – can actually appreciate what kind of accomplishment it is.
“I’m pleased for our players because of the way they worked,” Thibodeau said. “There’s still a long way to go. There’s still a lot of things we have to do to get better. I think the focus has been really good. Playing for each other has been really good.
“We want to keep improving, but if you put the team first and you are willing to sacrifice for the team – which we have a number of guys doing that – good things come from that. What makes it enjoyable is the winning. There’s going to be a lot of great games and scoring and that sort of thing. The winning is what makes it enjoyable.”
The 14 wins is the second-most in Knicks history. The only team to win more was the 1968-69 team that went 15-2 in the month of December.
Over the course of January, the Knicks have gone from eighth place in the Eastern Conference to third place, ahead of the 76ers and Cavaliers.
Buoyed by the addition of OG Anunoby, who sat out Tuesday’s game again with a sore elbow, the Knicks have dominated on both sides of the ball. Heading into the contest with the Jazz, the Knicks were averaging 115.3 points in January while giving up an average of 99.9 points. During that stretch, they had held nine opponents to 100 points of fewer.
While it’s true that the Knicks have not had the most difficult of schedules – 10 of their 14 games in January have been at Madison Square Garden -- they have had some big-time wins over quality teams. Over the past month, the Knicks have posted double-digit wins over Miami, Denver and Philadelphia.
One thing that has made the month so enjoyable is that it was so unexpected. Heading into January, it was getting harder and harder to see this team getting past the Eastern Conference semifinals and the initial reaction after the Anunoby trade is that they were still one real superstar away.
And then boom, the Knicks peel of their best month in decades.The Knicks have proved during this stretch that they are the real deal, which is something that has been impossible to say for most of this century. This stretch is not the gimmicky fool’s gold of Linsanity. Nor is it a stretch that is totally built around the offensive skills of one Hall of Fame player like Carmelo Anthony.
This is a team that likes each other and finds a way to win. It’s a team that has survived the extended loss of starter Mitchell Robinson and is now is trying to find a way to play without Julius Randle. Most importantly, it’s a team that is being led by a player with a killer instinct as Jalen Brunson is proving to be the best leader the Knicks have had since Ewing.
Thibodeau is not one to make predictions, but you can tell he’s enjoying this ride.
“This is our 10th back-to-back and I think we weathered that storm pretty well," Thibodeau said. "And we’re playing pretty good, but that’s the challenge. It just keeps coming.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
