'Games Keep Coming!' New York Knicks Embrace Daunting Early Schedule, Road Trip

The New York Knicks won't be home until Thanksgiving but they're grateful for a chance to show what they've learned as they continue to work their way back from a slow start.

The New York Knicks' pre-Thanksgiving travel could rival that of Steve Martin and John Candy over the course of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." Unlike Martin and Candy's cursed travelers, however, it feels like they're going the right way.

New York (5-4) has won three in a row following a tepid 2-4 start, having swept a trio at home before embarking on a five-game road trip that runs through the day before Thanksgiving. The trek begins on Monday night with a divisional tilt against the Boston Celtics (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/NBA TV) and will also work through Atlanta, Washington, Charlotte, and Minnesota.

The Knicks had one of the NBA's top road records last season and their output of 24 victories was their best since the 1996-97 campaign. New York is 2-2 away from Madison Square Garden thus far and they won't be back on Manhattan hardwood until Black Friday. 

Head coach Tom Thibodeau embraced the early grind after the Knicks' Sunday victory over the Charlotte Hornets, which put them over .500 for the first time this season.

Jalen Brunson (11) and the Knicks face a five-game road trip beginning with Monday's visit to Boston / Wendell Cruz, USA TODAY SPORTS

“The games keep coming. So you can’t exhale. You can’t relax,” Thibodeau said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “You can’t let your guard down. We’re being tested in a really good way. I like that our schedule is tough and has been tough. It tells us exactly where we are, tells us exactly what we have to work on. If we’re doing the right things, the results will end up being good.”

The Association's schedulemakers were a bit cruel to the Knicks in the early going: eight of their first 11 games come against fellow competitors from last year's playoffs and Monday's trip to Beantown will be the closer of what has already been their third back-to-back this season. A fourth awaits this weekend when they play Washington on Friday before a rematch with the Hornets. 

This five-game trip is also tied for the Knicks' longest trip of the season: they'll ring in Christmas weekend with four games out west and a visit to Brooklyn. 

For a team that has higher aspirations after winning 47 games and a playoff series for the first time in a decade, the Knicks are well aware of the early implications that linger as a holiday landmark looms. Primary point guard Jalen Brunson, for example, said that the trip will "show us where we are as a team.”

“Be better,” Brunson said of the plans for the trip in Bondy's report. “Everywhere, just play well, plain and simple.”