These Knicks go from scintillating to aggravating and back again
NY Post
The Knicks can be scintillating. They can be fascinating. They can look like the most advanced form of basketball geometry some nights, when the passing is on point, and when the defense produces fast break opportunities. They can be electric. They can be a delight to watch. They can make you dream big, crazy dreams.
The Knicks can be agitating. They can be aggravating. They can sometimes get bogged down on both ends, the ball too often staying in one place, and there are nights when it seems they do little other than allow wide-open 3s. They can be dull. They can be a chore to watch. They can make you wonder if they can even get out of the first round.
The Knicks, in short, are impossible to pigeonhole.
And that makes them an anomaly in a sporting time when we legislate all seasons on a game-by-game basis. Time was, only football received this treatment, and that was natural since it has the fewest games and the shortest season. A two-game losing streak in football in a 12- or 16- or 17-game season is a potential calamity.
In a different time, in a season to come, we may be inclined to wax poetic about the way this one played out. In a different time, in a season to come, the Nets will be seeking to stack wins and not losses, will be fighting for playoff seeding and not for a few extra ping-pong balls in the draft lottery this spring.
The NBA has an All-Star Game problem. Despite Adam Silver’s efforts to inject juice into the February showcase — including a format alteration to the 2025 game that is too confusing to attempt to understand before it’s inevitably changed again — there’s little interest in watching teams eschew defense for a series of layup line highlights. That also means the most entertaining part of the NBA All-Star Game is just like the Pro Bowl — debating over who should get a spot.