With the NBA All-Star break, the focus now turns to the final third of the regular season, which begins Thursday night.
With that in mind, Bleacher Report has revealed updated win and loss projections. The New York Knicks have a particularly positive forecast, as they are one of the four teams in the Eastern Conference to finish with 50 wins, hitting the target exactly, albeit with a bit of caution thanks to the injuries that have caused them to miss the last four exhibition matches.
“It’s difficult to chart a path forward for the Knicks without knowing when their injury problems will go away,” writes Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report. “If they did, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them climb up to the No. 2 seed, given their collective talent.”
“Things could be dicey if the Knicks continue to have so many recognizable faces in street clothes, but they’ll get healthier as they go forward, and rack up a lot of wins in the process. Remember, they went 12-2 in games Anunoby played, and they won his 500 minutes by an incredible 252 points.”
Under this prediction, the Knicks (33-22) would finish 17-10 the rest of the way. That would also put them in fourth place in the East playoff bracket behind Boston, Cleveland and Milwaukee.
New York hasn’t won 50 games in a single season since 2012-13, when it won 54 en route to second place in the East.