Through 14 games, the Knicks have taken care of business against the teams they are supposed to beat.
They are 5-0 when playing opponents under .500.
It is the teams that are off to strong starts that have given coach Tom Thibodeau’s teams problems.
The Knicks are 1-5 against teams above .500 and 3-6 if you extend it to foes at .500.
There are reasons to be concerned with that mark and reasons to dismiss it as a small sample size.
There is context that has to be at least factored in.
Let’s start by seeing the glass half-full in those nine contests.
Of the six losses, four were by single digits.
Losses to the Celtics, Bucks and Cavaliers were all very winnable games decided in the final minutes.
RJ Barrett didn’t play in the latter two setbacks, and he’s been arguably the best Knick this season.
Furthermore, in those nine games, seven were played on the road and two were on the back end of back-to-back sets.
Julius Randle has only recently gotten it going after offseason ankle surgery, and he struggled in the six setbacks shooting a combined 28.1 percent from the field.
The Knicks have lost shootouts and they have lost defensive slugfests.
One common denominator in the six games has been the offensive issues.
They are averaging 97.1 points and producing a woeful 100.7 offensive rating in the losses to the solid teams.
They are shooting 29.1 percent from 3-point range, 37.4 percent from the field overall and producing 18.6 assists.
All are poor numbers well below their season averages.
One bright spot has been the 110.2 defensive rating, which is only slightly worse than the Knicks’ overall mark of 109.1, ranked fifth in the NBA.
Clearly, defense has not been a problem.
It’s a matter of making shots, something Thibodeau harped on after the loss to the surprising Western Conference-leading Timberwolves on Monday night in Minnesota.
Lastly, it is so early in the season. Good teams now may not be good teams by April.
The Knicks obliterated the Clippers at the Garden.
That likely will wind up being a strong win even if that team is a mess right now having lost seven of its 12 games.
The Knicks may have just caught Los Angeles at the right time.
Thibodeau’s team beat plenty of quality opponents last year after starting poorly against them.
This group has similarly struggled against elite teams this year, but there is context to those matchups.
Sometimes, it’s not who you play, but when you play them.
This can be looked at from two directions, of course.
Good teams beat bad ones. It is how they separate themselves.
And the Kncks have yet to lose to anyone that fits into the latter category.
Obviously, they would prefer to be better than 3-6 against teams at .500 or better, and that number is sure to improve as the season progresses and the Knicks get more of these games at home and at full strength.
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