Knicks can make quite a statement Saturday against Celtics
The Knicks' Jalen Brunson drives past the Toronto Raptors' Jonathan Mogbo during the second half of an NBA game in Toronto on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Nathan Denette
This is it, Knicks fans. This is the roster your franchise plans to go to war with. This is the roster that the Knicks think can beat Boston, beat Cleveland and contend for a championship.
Coach Tom Thibodeau made that clear after practice Friday. When asked if the team’s decision not to add a backup center before Thursday’s trade deadline said anything about how they feel about Mitchell Robinson, Thibodeau couldn’t help but crack a smile.
“You guys read the tea leaves,” he said. “We like our team a lot.”
Robinson, who is recovering from ankle surgery in May, has not played a game this season. Though no date has been given for his return, he appears to be getting close. On Friday, Thibodeau said Robinson participated in “a good chunk” of practice. He added that he also has liked what he’s seen from Ariel Hukporti and Precious Achiuwa at center.
“I like our group a lot,” Thibodeau said. “They’ve worked extremely hard throughout the year from the start to where we are today. We still have a lot of work to do, but we think we can get better.”
Just how much the Knicks have improved since the start of the season will be on display Saturday night when they play the Celtics for the first time since Boston destroyed them, 132-109, in the season opener.
The Knicks — who are 1 1⁄2 games behind the second-place Celtics in the Eastern Conference — are expected to be without Robinson and OG Anunoby, who has a sprained right foot, was limited in practice on Friday and has not been cleared for contact. Still, the nationally televised game at Madison Square Garden will give the Knicks an opportunity to show how far they have come since the start of the season and why they believe they can be contenders.
“It’s another stepping stone for us to see where we are,” Jalen Brunson said Friday when asked how important Saturday’s rematch is. “Each game is a test for us to see where we can improve and can get better and what we are going to do going forward. When a team wins the way they did, everyone is chasing them. So there’s a lot of respect for Boston around the league.”
The Knicks team that was annihilated by the Celtics on Oct. 22 had two new starters, having traded for Mikal Bridges in the offseason and Karl-Anthony Towns early in training camp. Brunson was the only starter who had been on the team on opening day the year before, and it was clear from the tipoff that this was a team that was just getting to know one another.
The Knicks have won seven of their last eight games and have gone 29-11 since getting off to a 5-6 start. The Celtics, once 26-9, have gone 10-7 since then.
The defending champions have not been as overpowering this season as everyone expected. While the Cavaliers have been in first place in the conference since charging out of the gate with 15 straight wins, the Celtics’ grasp on second place has been tenuous at best. Most recently, they lost on Thursday to an undermanned Mavericks team that was missing both Luka Doncic, whom they had sent to the Lakers, and new addition Anthony Davis, who isn’t expected to make his Dallas debut until this weekend.
Towns said a lot has changed since the two teams met in the season opener.
“I mean, we’re a different team, just understanding each other, continuity, understanding where our strengths are,” Towns said. “And we’re just a different mindset as a team as well. We have a familiarity with each other. There’s been time with each other now to kind of cultivate a culture.”
That culture has a chance Saturday to rewrite the narrative, show a national television audience that they have come a long, long way — both offensively and defensively — since they collapsed under a barrage of 29 three-pointers at the start of the season.
The Knicks have struggled against the top teams in the NBA this season. They are 1-4 against the four teams that currently have better records than they do, with their sole victory coming against Memphis in January.
A Knicks win Saturday would cut the Celtics’ lead to a half-game and give a sure sign heading into the All-Star break that this is a team that means business.
HOW TO WATCH THE GAMES
- Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils games can be streamed through the Gotham Sports App.
- For households in Altice’s geographical footprint, MSG also can be accessed via Verizon Fios, DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and fuboTV.
- More details here.
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.
