The New York Knicks haven’t gotten off to the start they would have liked.
But with consecutive wins over the rival Brooklyn Nets, the Knicks are close to passing a key test — just as another one awaits.
The Knicks will look to close out their homestand Monday night with a win against the Washington Wizards in the first battle of the season between the Eastern Conference rivals.
Both teams are completing a back-to-back set after playing at home Sunday night, when the Knicks beat the Nets 114-104 and the Wizards fell to the Detroit Pistons 124-104.
The Monday night clash will conclude a busy long weekend for New York as well as its final homestand until December. The Knicks, who squandered a 21-point third-quarter lead Friday before Jalen Brunson sank the game-winning 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left in a 124-122 victory over the Nets in an NBA Cup Group A game, are slated to begin a five-game cross-country road trip Wednesday. They’ll face three teams — the Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks — that won at least 49 games last season.
There were few dramatics Sunday in New York’s 10-point win. The Knicks went ahead for good in the first minute of the second quarter and put the game away with a 35-24 run in the third quarter, when Karl-Anthony Towns scored 14 of his game-high 26 points.
New York allowed Brooklyn to shoot 45 percent (18 of 40) in the first half but just 38.9 percent (14 of 36) in the second half. The Knicks also held a 47-35 rebounding edge.
“Playing the same team twice, it’s not easy to do,” coach Tom Thibodeau said after the Knicks improved to 7-6. “Came out, played hard on both sides of the ball. But our rebounding was good. Defense good. So just keep building, keep getting better.”
Finding areas of optimism has been challenging for the Wizards, who lost their eighth straight game Sunday. The Wizards led the Pistons 3-2 for their only lead of the game.
Washington’s average margin of defeat during the losing streak is 17.5 points. The Wizards are tied with the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors for the fewest wins in the NBA — two.
“Even though we’re losing, even though we’re not playing great basketball right now, all it takes is one win to get us out of this,” said Wizards guard Malcolm Brogdon, who scored one point over 22 minutes in his season debut Sunday after missing the first 11 games with a broken right hand. “And that’s what I’m going to preach to the guys — all it takes is one, let’s go out there and play hard every night.”