Knicks give a glimpse of their potential in the preseason opener
The Knicks began their four-game preseason schedule on Monday night at Madison Square Garden versus the Boston Celtics, who are entering the regular season as one of the preeminent favorites to win the NBA title. The 114-107 victory will soon be forgotten as the October 25 regular season opener for the Knicks against the Celtics draws near. But it did serve as a glimpse at what the Knicks can become.
“I liked the start of the game, I thought the starters got off to a good start,” said head coach Tom Thibodeau, who is starting his fourth season guiding the Knicks.
“Choppy, but it gives us a good baseline, it will give us film where we can really dig into the things we need to work. Some good things, some things not as good as we would like, but overall, pretty solid.”
The Knicks finished fifth in the Eastern Conference last season and made it to conference semifinals, in which they fell 4-2 to the Miami Heat. The goal is to ascend and make measurable progress. The obvious means to achieve that objective is for the core of young veterans to raise their level of performance.
Mitchell Robinson and RJ Barrett are in their fifth seasons. Immanuel Quickley, the NBA’s runner up for Sixth Man of the Year a season ago, is in his fourth year and eligible for an extension on his rookie scale deal. He and the Knicks have until October 24, the day before the start of the regular season to agree on an extension or the 24-year-old combo guard will become a restricted free-agent next summer. Quentin Grimes is at the beginning of his third season.
If those five, four of them starters, make leaps and improve in key areas—for example Robinson becoming more of a scoring threat foul line down besides catching lobs—the Knicks could once again be in the mix near the top of the East. Julius Randle, All-NBA twice in four seasons as a Knick, and Jalen Brunson, who emerged as one of the best point guards in the league last season in his debut campaign with the franchise, can be penciled in to provide proficient and efficient production.
The Knicks will play their second preseason game on Saturday at the Garden facing the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Brooklyn Nets lost 109-106 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday in Las Vegas and are scheduled to meet Maccabi Ra’anana of Israel tonight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
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