Embarrassment

Before last night, the last time the Knicks lost by more than 35 points was Dec 5, 2019... The next day, head coach David Fizdale was fired.

Final Score: Knicks 105 - Cavs 142
Record: 37-19

The Cavs, Celtics and Thunder (the only three teams with 40+ wins in 2024-25) are the clear-cut cream of the crop in the NBA this season.

The Knicks have played those three clubs six times and lost each contest. The majority of those defeats have been blowouts. New York has been outscored by 128 points (758-630).

Worse yet, they have been flat-out embarrassed by each of those teams in the most recent matchups. Over the past five weeks, the Knicks have lost to OKC, Boston and Cleveland by a combined score of 399-310.

That's an almost unimaginable 29.7 average margin of defeat in arguably New York's three most consequential games thus far this season.

We'll dig into the gory details from Friday's crash out in Cleveland in a moment, but the main takeaway this morning is the Knicks have to face some hard truths.

For an organization that entered this season with championship aspirations, they are a long way from being considered as such. Capturing the Larry O'Brien trophy may require beating all three of those elite clubs in a best-of-7 series. Right now, winning a single quarter, let alone one game against OKC, CLE or BOS, seems implausible.

The primary problem for New York has been its sieve-like defense.