Just about everyone agrees the Boston Celtics are the best team in the Eastern Conference, but a big question is if there is another team in the East that could stop them from reaching the NBA Finals.
That team could be the New York Knicks, who have risen from the ashes and established themselves as a strong and talented team.
A couple of trades this season have bolstered them offensively, and they have built an identity as a team that will play street-tough defense and hammer opponents on the boards.
Pierre Andresen said per “The Rally” that the Knicks can “defend anybody” and that their defense can take them far.
“The Knicks can defend anybody.”@PeeWeeDaPlug on how far New York’s defense can take them.@RIP_JEP | @Stadium | #TheRally pic.twitter.com/HwfK2XTkf2
— The Rally (@TheRally) March 13, 2024
For many years, New York was a basketball laughingstock, as they made the playoffs just four times and won one playoff series between the 2001-02 and 2019-20 seasons.
But bringing in star power forward Julius Randle in 2019 was the first step toward turning things around, and they made the playoffs in his second season in town.
Last year, the Knicks finished fifth in the Eastern Conference and won only their second playoff series in over two decades, and now they’re poised to perhaps do even better this spring.
Prior to the trade deadline, they acquired 3-and-D wing OG Anunoby, who gave the team a true on-the-ball defender, as well as Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic, two dead-eye 3-point shooters.
Their defense is so suffocating that they have held their opponents to under 80 points in each of their last three games, something that hasn’t been done since 2015.
That defense should give opponents lots of problems come playoff time.
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