SPANISH HARLEM – After an amazing playoff run to a championship, the New York Knicks bring back the same roster minus Mitchell Robinson. The question is can they go back-to-back, which something we haven’t seen done since the 2018 Golden State Warriros. My gut tells me no, but they are certainly capable as any champion before them. Let’s take a look what needs to go right for them to repeat.
Injuries
This is something that is important because they were relatively healthy though the out and into the playoffs. We found out after that Jalen Brunson had an injured left wrist, but it wasn’t something that kept him out of games. Health is not something you can depend on and with the short offseason, it would be wise of Mike Brown to make sure that that the starting 5 is well rested for them to have a chance.
The Offense
As we saw in the postseason, using Karl-Anthony Towns as the hub really unlocked the best version of their offense. If they continue to build on that, you can see a team that is possibly better than they were a season ago. The burden now doesn’t fall on Jalen Brunson to run the offense because KAT showed he can be great playmaker in his own right. Over a full season it will be interesting to see what this offense can truly be capable of.
The Final Verdict
It takes a bit of luck to win a championship, we all saw with the Anunoby tip-in in game 4.Can they capture lighting in a bottle again? That remains to be seen but they know what it takes to win and while it’s hard to believe that than they can go back-to-back, they should be the favorites to get out of the Eastern Conference again and then anything goes.
