Associating the New York Knicks with competence is another twist in an NBA season full of them, but they’ve crossed respectability and are on the precipice of something greater.
It’s not the classic tale of the sum being greater than its parts. They play hard consistently, are coached well by Tom Thibodeau and some of their wild cards are panning out.
Playing hard alone won’t get a team right behind the East favorites — Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Milwaukee — but in this truncated season where teams are clearly pacing themselves to get through the 72 as healthy as possible, it’s carried the Knicks a long way — to an eight-game winning streak.