New York Knicks: Road Trip A Golden Opportunity To Exorcise Demons
No road trip is easy, but the New York Knicks have a chance to gain ground in the Eastern Conference with a generally favorable schedule.
The New York Knicks have the unenviable task of playing the next five games away from Madison Square Garden. That would normally be a grueling stretch of games, but this is actually the perfect opportunity for the Knicks to exorcise their demons.
Effort has been an issue for this veteran Knicks team during road games, which makes this stretch the challenge they’ve desperately needed.
New York has won back-to-back road games, but the Knicks were underwhelming in both. They came out sluggish against the Miami Heat on Tuesday, December 6 and blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead before Carmelo Anthony hit a game-winner on Wednesday, November 30.
Those performances were in line with what sixth man Brandon Jennings publicly blasted the Knicks for. Per Marc Berman of The New York Post:
“We haven’t been locking in well on the road…That’s our big problem. If we want to be the team we think we are, we’re going to have to lock in better on the road. We got to play 10 times harder.”
Jennings made those comments following the Knicks’ 119-112 loss to the Washington Wizards on November 17, yet they’re still pertinent.
New York is 12-10, making December 9 the latest it’s been two games above .500 since 2012-13—a season during which it won 54 games. It’s 9-4 at home, however, which means it’s just 3-6 away from Madison Square Garden.
That creates the inevitable potential for the Knicks to not only struggle on this road trip, but to fall below .500.
New York should be motivated to prevent that outcome.
The good news for the Knicks is that four of the next five games on the schedule shouldn’t be losses. New York has a more talented team than the Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Denver Nuggets.
The Golden State Warriors game is the obvious outlier, but the Knicks should conceivably walk away with four wins if talent is the basis for evaluation.
Effort is just as much of an issue, however, and playing without it would cost New York in all five games. There’s no opponent to overlook, just as there’s no game that’s guaranteed to add to the ideal column in the standings.
The question is: will the Knicks show up on defense?
Thus far in 2016-17, New York is allowing an average of 109.9 points on a slash line of .454/.403/.759 during road games. Those numbers drop to 105.3 points per game on a slash line of .443/.344/.778 at home.
Simply put: winning or losing this road trip will be a matter of committing to playing defense and closing out on shooters with a sense of urgency.
If the Knicks come out with passion and a purpose, they can make significant headway in the push for the postseason. Currently the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, the separation between New York and the No. 2 Toronto Raptors is just 3.0 games.
If the Knicks’ goal is to win the Atlantic Division, then this road trip could be instrumental in building the confidence and momentum to make a push to do so over the next four months.
The question is: will the Knicks show up during the next five games? Or will they continue to struggle on the road?
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