The good news isn't we played well, came close and escpaed with a mroal victory.... The good news is we played poorly (for the most part) and still were within 3 points with under 2 to play, on the road in MIA.
Look, it's obvious: Knicks are not as good as BOS-MIA. We're 0-4. Although we were close in 3 of those 4 losses. In the other loss, we were close at the half.
We're getting there.
However, we're also fortunate to be 2-0 vs CHI. We played them once w/out Boozer and then another time w/out Noah. AND, we needed to play very hard and very good to win close games. In other words, CHI at full strength is better.
ATL blew us out. And you know we're all worried about ORL.
There you go. The top 4 teams in the East are better. Probably the same can be said for the top 4-5 teams out West.
But these Knicks can beat any other team in the NBA on any floor, any night. Of course, we could also lose to anyone.
But being able to say you feel good about your chances against 2/3 of the league is a nice start. This is really Year #1 or the "new era."
Do we sneak in and snag a 4-6 seed in the playoffs? Win a 1st round series against ORL, ATL or CHI? Do we then get to a 6th game in the 2nd round?
Let's be honest. With this team, that's our ceiling.
On most nights, as long as 2 of the big-4 (Amar'e, Felton, Chandler, Gallo) play well and score 20+ points.... we can win against most teams. Against the top-5 teams in each Conf.... We need ALL FOUR to play well.... scoring 20+ each.... Hit around 13 threes and knock down 85% of our free throws.... that's our only hope.
One last thing: Given how tough MIA is on defense. I was happy that we only turned the ball over 9 times.
On the bright side, NYK teams of the last 5 years would have turned that 20 point deficit into a 45 point deficit by the early 3rd.
We're young, hungry and only going to get better.