The New York Knicks are formally sizzling for the New York Knicks. They’ve gained six of the previous eight, and eight of 12. New addition Josh Hart is 9-of-14 from deep in his first three video games (all wins) along with his previous Villanova teammate Jalen Brunson, and Tom Thibodeau has sufficient expertise that Derrick Rose is getting DNPs. They simply beat the Atlanta Hawks by 20, and are trending up with eyes on the Brooklyn Nets’ 5 seed.

So, I suppose the query then turns into what can we anticipate from the Knicks within the playoffs?

Does Jalen Brunson have one other stage?

Thibs has all the time been a magician with level guards, and Brunson has been a revelation in New York. We noticed glimpses within the first spherical of the playoffs a 12 months in the past when Luka Dončić was pressured to overlook time with an damage, and his effectivity didn’t drop off with the elevated position.

That is my largest concern for the postseason. We noticed what occurred to Julius Randle when defenses gave him the star therapy, and there are various Jap Convention groups with canine on the perimeter. Boston, Milwaukee, and Miami all have the sources to make Brunson’s life depressing.

On the All-Star break, the Knicks are sixth within the East — a half-game forward of the Warmth, two behind the Nets, and 5 behind the Cavaliers. Primarily, if they will keep within the 5 – 6 spot, Brunson ought to have the ability to eat towards Cleveland or Philadelphia’s backcourts, and I belief him to take action. (This state of affairs assumes that Brooklyn falls off, which you’d assume would occur, however Mikal Bridges might need one thing to say about it.)

Some other crew although? I don’t know as a result of, throughout this sizzling streak, the Knicks level guard has been taking part in rattling close to 40 minutes per sport. There’s little doubt in my thoughts that Thibs will rev Brunson as far previous the purple line as attainable. My thought is it’ll be troublesome to take care of the identical stage of effectiveness throughout 40-plus playoff minutes with the eye befitting a No. 1 possibility.

Are you able to belief Julius Randle?

While you watch Randle this 12 months, what stands out is what number of threes he’s taking. At eight per sport, he’s making an attempt two-and-a-half above his earlier profession excessive, however solely at a .338 clip, which is a few share factors under the league common.

Contemplating he’s hitting 55 p.c from two, the emphasis might be to drive him to chuck threes, and he’s going to need to buck the urge to settle.

Randle bounced again from final season’s unmitigated catastrophe, and his factors and rebounds are literally barely up over two years in the past when he was an All-Star, and the Knicks received dismissed from the playoffs by Ice Trae Younger. His efficiency in that sequence and that sequence loss, basically, haven’t aged properly, and it cemented Randle within the “I have to see it first” group of gamers.

How will Josh Hart and R.J. Barrett coexist?

The pattern dimension is small. It’s actually been simply three video games since Hart came visiting from Portland, however Barrett solely performed 24 minutes towards Brooklyn on Monday evening. That’s necessary as a result of Barrett has 4 different appearances of 24 or fewer minutes all season, and a type of video games was reduce brief attributable to damage.

It’s nice proper now as a result of Hart is taking pictures 64 p.c from three as a Knick. I don’t know what to make of it although as a result of he principally refused to take these appears in Portland. Possibly he was deliberately tanking his commerce worth to be reunited with Brunson, however Hart appears too aggressive for that to be the case.

Finally, he’ll come again all the way down to Earth. Nonetheless, if he’s nonetheless capable of house the ground in addition to Barrett, we all know who Thibodeau will put his belief in. Whereas they play the identical place, every ought to theoretically have the ability to guard twos and threes. If Barrett was one of many prime minutes earners earlier than Hart confirmed up, doesn’t that imply he’s one of many crew’s prime guys? And in case your prime gamers can match on the courtroom collectively, that ought to be the very best path to maximizing the expertise, proper?

I’m not saying Thibs ought to commit 38 to 42 minutes to Randle, Brunson, Hart, and Barrett, however the coach has a historical past of belief points which have frozen out potential contributors, (poor Obi Toppin) and Barrett is just too good to get spot minutes.

So all of this can be a good distance of claiming the Knicks can get out of the primary spherical with the suitable matchup, and something after that’s free cash.