Knicks Earn Solid Regular Season Grade, Eye Playoff Improvement

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Nathaniel Holloway | Last updated Apr 15, 2025 8:00 AM ET

It was a solid season overall for the New York Knicks and they will now look to make a deep playoff run.

New York entered the season with high expectations after acquiring both Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges in the offseason to pair with their core of Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart.

They then lived up to those expectations as they finished with a 51-32 record, which secured them the third seed in the Eastern Conference behind the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.

Brunson and Towns led the way for the Knicks this season while Hart and Anunoby also played a key role.

Bridges had an average first season with the Knicks but he was able to improve towards the end of the season, which is a good sign for New York heading into the playoffs.

Of course, the Knicks may have some problems in the playoffs if their record in the regular season against the top teams continues to play out as New York finished the season winless against the top three teams in the NBA.

It will also be interesting to see how fresh the Knicks roster is after they had multiple players finish near the top of the NBA in minutes, which has been a critique of Tom Thibodeau’s coaching style the last few seasons.

With their solid season, the Knicks earn a B regular season grade mainly due to their lack of success against the top teams in the league.

There is no doubt that the Knicks have the star power to compete for a championship this season, but they have struggled against teams like the Celtics, Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

New York will also have a tough first round matchup against the Detroit Pistons who are coming off their best regular season in quite some time and also defeated the Knicks in three of their four matchups during the regular season.

The Knicks will begin their first-round matchup against the Pistons on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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