Depending on what happens Friday, the Knicks will either finish 0-8 against the Celtics and Cavs this season or 1-7.
New York is expected to rest at least one starter against Cleveland, so maybe you don’t see Friday’s game as part of the full season record.
Reasonable people can disagree on this.
But there’s not much room to debate one aspect of the Knicks’ play against Boston and Cleveland: their wings have been underwhelming.
In 134 minutes against the Celtics this season, Mikal Bridges has attempted one free throw. According to basketball-reference.com, New York has an offensive rating of 100 and a defensive rating of 137 against Boston with Bridges on the floor.
The gap is similar for OG Anunoby (89 offensive rating; 128 defensive rating). In three games, Anunoby is shooting 29 percent from the field against Boston. He’s hitting just 13 percent of his threes.
Anunoby’s offense is better against Cleveland (50 percent from the floor, 46.7 percent on threes). Bridges’ offensive numbers are a bit better as well. He’s shooting 53 percent from the floor and 30 percent from three.
But the Knicks didn’t spend so much capital on Bridges and Anunoby for their offense.
They acquired both players to defend at a high level and supplement the offense around Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The defense hasn’t been there against the Celtics and Cavs.
Jayson Tatum is averaging 33.5 points per game in 38 minutes a night. He’s hitting 53 percent of his shots (48 percent on threes) and has a 28-to-7 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Donovan Mitchell is scoring 26 points (58 percent from the floor, 50 percent from three) in 30 minutes a game against New York. He has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and a +27 net rating.
Not good.
If you want to add Oklahoma City to the mix, the numbers don’t improve much.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 36 points on 57.5 percent shooting against New York. Neither Bridges nor Anunoby are shooting above 25 percent on threes against the Thunder.
These numbers are jarring. But they don’t account for a four-week stretch where Anunoby and Bridges helped the Knicks tread water during Jalen Brunson’s absence.
And the regular season performance against Boston/Cleveland obviously won’t matter if the Knicks upset either team in the second round of the playoffs. Bridges and/or Anunoby would presumably play a significant role in that outcome.
But if the regular-season Knicks show up against Cleveland/Boston and get embarrassed in the second round, it’s fair to assume that there will be some hard offseason conversations about the outcome and future direction of the team.
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