Knicks Downplay Schedule Issues Amidst Mediocre March

The New York Knicks have dealt with their own brand of March Madness.

Mar 19, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; New York Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns (32) reacts during the second half against the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images / Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

March Madness started all kinds of March madness on the New York Knicks' schedule.

The Knicks are, at the very least, racking up frequent flier miles in the stretch run of the NBA season: they have yet to play consecutive games at Madison Square Garden this month (thanks in part to the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament's annual descent upon MSG) and will play their seventh road game in their sixth different city on Thursday night in Charlotte (7 p.m. ET, MSG).

"We’ve had a tough schedule the last couple weeks," Josh Hart acknowledged on Wednesday night, per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. "Going on the road a week and a half, come back [home], [play a] national TV game, and then go right into a back-to-back. So it’s tough to a degree.”

Mar 19, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Harrison Barnes (40) drives to the basket against New York Knicks forward Josh Hart (3) during the first half at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images / Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Hart's comments came shortly after the Knicks endured one of their most inexcusable losses of the season, dropping a 120-105 decision to a San Antonio Spurs group missing franchise face Victor Wembanyama and deadline acquisition De'Aaron Fox. Though still comfortably situation in third on the Eastern playoff bracket, New York (43-25) has dropped five of eight and is 3-4 since captain Jalen Brunson went down with an ankle injury.

March's ledger hasn't been kind: the Knicks already endured a lengthy West Coast tour that featured two overtime games. They briefly got to stop at home on Monday, where they handled business against the reeling Miami Heat, but now get a miles-racking back-to-back in San Antonio and Charlotte.

The Knicks stressed that they don't want their travel woes to define this stretch, which has them closing in on their third consecutive playoff spot. The magic number to clinch an automatic top six spot entering Thursday's game is 4.

"I don’t want to start that [narrative],” Towns said, per Winfield. “We’re a hell of a ball club, and we know what we can do, and we’ve shown the world what we can do."

“[We’re] a little bit drained mentally, but we’ve got to make sure we regroup," Hart added in the same report. "We’ve got another tough one tomorrow with a team that plays extremely fast, and we’re on a back-to-back, and we’re losing now, so we’ve got certain things schedule-wise against us, but we’ve got to make sure we pick it up.”

Mar 19, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; New York Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns (32) posts up on San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan (10) during the first half at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images / Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Things do ease up the on the Knicks as the penultimate month of the regular season winds down: starting with Saturday's game against the Washington Wizards, the Knicks will play four of their final five March games under MSG's iconic roof and only one (the outlier road game in Milwaukee next Friday night) comes against a team currently situated in the top six of its respective conference.

Disappointing as the result was, the Knicks also reached a welcome landmark on Wednesday in San Antonio: not only was that their final interconference road game of the regular season but only two more games (including Washington's visit on Saturday) will tip-off past 7:30 p.m. ET.

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