If you’re feeling a little whiplash trying to figure out who the Knicks really are this season, you’re not alone. One night, they look like a team ready to make good on lofty expectations and punch their ticket to the NBA Finals. The next, they’re getting blown out by a rebuilding Pistons squad and leaving fans wondering if they’ll even survive the first round of the playoffs.
That inconsistency was on full display again Tuesday night in a wild 137-134 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers - the team with the worst record in the Eastern Conference. And this came just days after the Knicks had taken down the Celtics in Boston, a win that felt like a statement.
Instead, the Knicks followed it up with a head-scratcher. The finish?
Chaotic. Ugly.
Classic Knicks chaos.
With just 0.2 seconds left in regulation, Karl-Anthony Towns was fouled on a putback attempt off a desperation three from Landry Shamet. Towns calmly sank both free throws to force overtime, giving the Garden crowd a glimmer of hope. But that hope didn’t last long.
Indiana opened the extra period with a 9-0 run that silenced the building. The Knicks rallied - Jalen Brunson poured in 40 points and hit a clutch three with 5.6 seconds left to cut the deficit to one - but they couldn’t close the gap.
“We tried to tighten up the game as we went along,” head coach Mike Brown said afterward. “We had plenty of opportunity to get it done. But when you give a team life from the beginning like we did, it’s going to be hard.”
That’s been the story of the Knicks’ season: flashes of brilliance followed by stretches of baffling play. Is this the same squad that dismantled Boston on the road? Or the one that’s now lost twice - badly - to the Pistons and dropped a head-scratcher to the Pacers?
There’s a critical stretch coming that could bring some clarity. After Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia, the Knicks head into an eight-day All-Star break. That rest couldn’t come at a better time, especially with OG Anunoby dealing with a painful toenail avulsion and the rest of the roster nursing bumps and bruises.
But coming out of the break, things get real - fast.
Eight of their first ten games post-break are against playoff-caliber teams. That run starts with home games against Detroit and Houston, but then it’s a gauntlet: road games in Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee, followed by a tough four-game slate that includes Toronto, Oklahoma City, Denver, and the Lakers.
It’s a stretch that could define the Knicks’ season - and their identity.
Mike Brown isn’t one to make bold predictions, but he’s confident that the adversity his team has already faced will serve them well down the line.
“Obviously we went through some adversity,” Brown said before Tuesday’s game. “We went 2-9 or something like that.
You hate to lose games - I’m not signing up to lose games - but we have to struggle. I’m a believer that we have to struggle a couple of times this year.
Whatever that means.”
Brown’s message is clear: the struggle isn’t just part of the journey, it’s necessary. It’s how a team builds the kind of resilience that’s required in the postseason.
“Playoff runs - there is nothing more stressful on an NBA level,” Brown said. “Seven-game series, win four of them.
That really tests your resolve. Because, man, a lot of things can happen.”
It’s a message that resonates, especially for a team that’s already shown how unpredictable the regular season can be. Just last year, the Knicks were swept in the regular season by Boston, losing all four games by an average of 14 points. But when it mattered most, they flipped the script and beat the Celtics in six games to reach the conference finals.
So yes, the Pistons could complete a season sweep when they face the Knicks again after the break - a scenario that would’ve sounded unthinkable at the start of the season. But history has a funny way of reminding us that regular-season results don’t always tell the full story.
What matters now is how the Knicks respond. Can they take the sting of losses like Tuesday’s and turn it into fuel? Can they come out of the break sharper, healthier, and more connected?
Brown believes they can. And if he’s right, this rollercoaster ride of a season might still be heading somewhere special.