SPANISH HARLEM – Tuesday night was not what many New York Knicks fans expected. With the hype surrounding this team all offseason and with fans super-excited to see this group play meaningful games, this loss may feel worse than it actually was. Fear not fans, I will give you the reasons to maintain hope.
The Boston Celtics were amazing from three-point range and shot almost 50% on those shots. No team can win when the other team shoots that way and though it would make you believe that the Knicks left them open for threes, there were a bunch of contested shots that were made to add to the misery that was. I won’t sit here and say it was fun watch from a Knicks fans perspective, but I also won’t berate them for losing the way they did against a great team.
As bad as it may feel now, it’s one game against a team that won the NBA championship last season. I understand that fans want to compare them to see how close they are to each other’s talent but it’s too soon to know what the Knicks will look like in one month, let alone the end of the season. The Celtics have returned almost every player that matters from that championship group and know how to play with each other. The Knicks on the other have added Mikail Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns to the starting lineup. It is going to take time for this group to mesh and the more they play together, the better chemistry they will build with one another.
Keep in mind, there will be ups and downs to start the year, as they have a pretty tough schedule to start the season and while fans will go ballistic if they continue to lose, understand that this is not the finished product. They will get better with time, and I fully expect them to best team in the East outside of the Celtics when all is said and done.
That’s it for now, please come back tomorrow for Action Jackson Sternberg.
