By Eddie Castro
As I covered a few weeks ago, the New York Knicks came into the 2024-25 season with high expectations after their impressive yet injury-plagued postseason run last year. The team started slow out the gates, but in recent weeks, they now find themselves just five games within first place of the Atlantic division and No.3 overall in the Eastern Conference.
Their recent turnaround has a lot to do with the play of their center Karl-Anthony Towns. In his first year with New York, Towns is putting up career-best numbers, especially rebounding the basketball, averaging a career-high 13.6 rebounds a game. If he continues at this pace and can finish averaging double-digit rebounds for the season, it will be the first time he has done so since the 2020-21 campaign.
His shooting has also played dividends for the team shooting it at 52.9% from the floor, 44.2% from the three-point line, and 83.7% from the free throw line. He has been a double-double machine(10 of each statistic) posting 21 double-doubles in 23 games thus far. Center players for the Knicks struggled last year which affected their ability to score the basketball. Seems like Towns has addressed that issue.
Of course, when you think about the current estate of the Knicks you can’t go without mentioning their franchise player Jalen Brunson. Brunson is without a doubt the “engine” that drives this current team as he too is on a pace for a career-high in the assist department where Towns has helped out by creating more space for others to get involved. It doesn’t hurt that your star player is also averaging 26.4 points a game to go along with 8.5 assists
since the beginning of November.
The team’s supporting cast has also been pretty solid, with contributions from Mikal Bridges, who came over via trade from the Brooklyn Nets, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart. These players collectively can catch fire and pick up the scoring ability if Knicks fans happen to witness “off days” from Towns and Brunson. I don’t think Spike Lee has seen much of that so far.
Through nearly 30 games, the team has looked quite promising. If Brunson and the company can find a way to build more chemistry from last year, there could be more sellout nights at Madison Square Garden. Their starting five are all under the age of 30 and are all under contract through at least the 2025-26 season.
The Eastern Conference has gotten better with teams like the Bucks, Cavaliers, Pacers, and Magic which are all expected to be in the mix at season’s end. The one team that is expected to run the table in the East is the defending champion Boston Celtics led by their dynamic scoring duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
The Knicks now have two solid wing defenders that are more than capable of causing havoc for the Celtics superstars in Anunoby and Bridges. The question for this current Knicks’ team is, can they find another unlocked level for this group, and if so, is it good enough to represent the East come June? That outcome also had to do with the roster being able to stay healthy. There is so much basketball left. The fireworks have just begun for the Orange and Blue.