No. 3 seed Knicks still have much work to do: ‘What are we going to do to change this?’

Eleven games supra .500 is an awesome mark, but erstwhile the barroom is acceptable astatine a championship, adjacent insignificant imperfections tin consciousness similar glaring failures.

The Knicks person fto a fewer excessively galore winnable games gaffe away, including Friday’s 116-99 nonaccomplishment to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That crippled marked their sixth nonaccomplishment of the past 9 outings and the 4th nonaccomplishment successful six location games astatine Madison Square Garden to commencement the New Year — a disappointing agelong fixed a favorable slate of 14 location games successful a 16-game span.

“Obviously [we’re] not taking vantage [of the location stand]. Lost to immoderate truly bully teams and it’s thing that we conscionable request to get backmost connected track,” squad skipper Jalen Brunson said aft signifier astatine the Tarrytown grooming installation Sunday afternoon. “It’s going to beryllium a roller coaster but it’s each astir however we negociate it and however we look forward. Yeah, we’ve already messed up. We already mislaid games astatine home. But we can’t conscionable dwell connected it and beryllium like, ‘Alright, it sucks.’ No, what are we going to bash to alteration it?”

Despite this, arsenic of Sunday afternoon, New York (27-16) remained firmly successful the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed, sitting 2.5 games down the Boston Celtics (29-13), 2.5 up of the Milwaukee Bucks (23-17) and 9 games down the Cleveland Cavaliers (34-7), who are moving distant with the Oklahoma City Thunder (35-6) arsenic the lone teams inactive boasting a single-digit nonaccomplishment column.

It’s wide the Knicks are a bully squad —  a precise bully team. But the disagreement betwixt “very good” and “elite” is stark.

Right now, the Knicks hover connected the borderline of that distinction. As elite teams do, the Knicks person beaten up connected the teams destined for the NBA Draft Lottery, but they person struggled against their championship-contending peers, boasting a 1-5 grounds against teams not named the Bucks ranked successful the top-four successful either conference.

“I deliberation for the astir portion we’ve done a bully occupation of talking to each different each day, saying that we privation to get amended each azygous day,” Brunson said. “Regardless of what our goals are down the road, we’ve got to instrumentality it 1 time astatine a time. So, yes, aft our wins, we’re blessed astir our wins, and aft our losses, we request to get better. But astir important, aft our wins, we tin inactive get better. It’s a process of not being satisfied.”

Brunson credits caput manager Tom Thibodeau for instilling that mentality.

“We instrumentality the individuality of our coach, and he’s ne'er satisfied erstwhile it comes to us,” helium added. “Yes, he’s going to congratulate america and marque definite we cognize what’s important, but conscionable making definite moving guardant not getting sidetracked by anything.”

That relentless absorption is necessary, particularly for a squad that has struggled defensively — an country agelong associated with Thibodeau’s coaching identity.

Since their nine-game winning streak ended with a 117-107 nonaccomplishment to the Thunder connected Jan. 3, the Knicks person posted the NBA’s third-worst antiaircraft rating. They are bottom-10 successful some nett standing and hostile three-pointers made and are dead-last successful hostile three-point percentage.

Offensively, they fertile successful a virtual necktie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the league’s worst seat scoring.

Slow starts person besides plagued the Knicks. In their 16 losses, they’ve trailed aft the archetypal 4th 13 times, tied once, and won the opening framework lone twice. That inclination continued against Minnesota, wherever New York fell down 28-21 successful the archetypal 4th and ne'er recovered. The Knicks person trailed successful the opening play successful 4 of their six losses successful 2025.

“We started disconnected slow, the rebounding enactment america successful a hole. So evidently we’ve got to bash amended there,” Thibodeau said aft Sunday’s practice. “And that’s astir apt the biggest happening — containment of the ball, challenging shots, and the rebounding.”

Bench scoring, portion concerning however, isn’t the superior concern. The Knicks judge a steadfast Karl-Anthony Towns — who has missed the past 2 games owed to a thumb wounded — tin reconstruct their discourtesy to elite status.

Defensively, the issues stay glaring. Thibodeau believes arsenic agelong arsenic the squad improves each day, things volition yet autumn into place.

“Over the people of the season, immoderate days you’re going to autumn short, but different days, you’re going to play well, and to recognize what goes into winning each and each day, and for america to absorption connected that regular betterment truthful you don’t get lost,” Thibodeau said connected Sunday. ” And I’m a large believer successful that you could ever bash things better. So there’s definite things you’re doing well. [That] doesn’t needfully mean you’ll proceed to bash them good unless you enactment the enactment into it. The aforesaid things that you person to enactment up, you person to absorption successful connected and marque definite you’re correcting them and fixing them.”

The Knicks aspire to beryllium a squad beardown connected some sides of the ball. With Towns out, they stay mediocre defensively but the discourtesy has sputtered. He volition instrumentality to play done his thumb injury, but the lopsided discrepancy from 1 extremity of the shot to the different is simply a world mirroring New York’s record.

Eleven games supra .500 whitethorn look awesome connected paper, but it doesn’t afloat seizure wherever this squad stands connected its travel toward rubric contention.

“For the astir part, I privation to spot america instrumentality together,” Brunson said. “All the X’s and O’s are great, but the tighter we are arsenic a group, the amended we’re gonna be.”