Knicks' Opening Games Provide Golden, Dangerous Opportunity

The New York Knicks' first two games obviously aren't must-wins, but they're probably as close as can be.

Apr 11, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby (8) and Boston Celtics guard Derrick White (9) battle for a loose ball during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports / Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Christmas came early for the New York Knicks.

The release of the NBA schedule isn't so much about the "who" as it is the "when" considering that each of the 30 teams are guaranteed to run into each other at least once. Sure, it's the rare schedule that offers rare surprises ... the NBA Cup slate will determine the docket for games held Dec. 11-17 ... but the Knicks' were granted a true gift by the powers that be in the Association's datebook.

The league wasted no time getting the new-look Knicks back in action, placing them in the first game of the season against the defending champion Boston Celtics on Oct. 22. The Madison Square Garden opener is even spicier: it's said that revenge is a dish best served cold but the Eastern Conference Semifinals loss will still be fairly warm when New York faces its conquerers, the Indiana Pacers, three nights later.

But think of the greatest Christmas gifts you've received: that guitar, that snowboard, that video game system. Parents and givers far and wide offered a local message: "You better us it."

The Knicks are from too old to stray away from such advice.

Opening against the Celtics and Pacers is a high-risk, high-reward concept that's dangerous as it is potentially frutiful. If it's any help, the Knicks don't exactly have much to lose: six teams, in fact, have overcome 0-2 starts to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Drop the opening two in this modern era and you're subjected to a few more memes and soe easily-ignored debates on the "embrace debate" circuit.

But if the Knicks do drop this opening pair, they face a greater price: eviction from Imaginationland.

A good bit of this Knicks offseason, one that showed some welcome restraint when it came to dealing away immediate, nameable assets, centered around the hypothetical: the Knicks themselves did not lose those final games to the Pacers, nor did they endured the Boston beatdowns in the regular season. That was the knocked Knicks, a shallow husk of a group whose injury reports more or less resembled starting fives.

Think of the realtive peace that surrounded this Knicks offseason: heartbreak over missing out Donovan Mitchell is long forgotten, instead replaced by utter joy over the fact that the money that would've gone to the newly-reminted Cleveland Cavalier is now in the pockets of, say, Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart.

The biggest offseason move ... a rare trade with the Brooklyn Nets that landed Mikal Briges ... was primarily enacted for pure vibes, as Knicks management is fully convinced that their Wildcat litter headlined by Jalen Brunson (and his hearty sacrifice) can duplicate its national championship success from the Main Line.

Just imagine the panic and second guessing that's going to set in if they drop the first two.

Avening the spring loss to the Pacers speaks for itself. But some wins are far more valuable than others: just imagine the value of the Knicks tarnishing the Celtics' championship rings even ever so slightly. While Brunson's fallen hand more or less broke even the most ridiculously optimistic Knicks fan, that contingent still has the events of April 11 to work with.

One of the Knicks final games en route to the second seed was 118-109 masterpiece at TD Garden, one that saw the visitors go up by as much as 31 before the embarrassed Celtics mounted a coeback that served to only beautify the scoreboard. Of note, it was the lone meetng between New York and Boston to date that featured the services of OG Anunoby.

Modern Knicks fans cling to so little ... why loosen that grip now?

Granted, an 0-2 start for the Knicks is obviously a grain of sand compared to an 0-2 start for, say, their blue and green gridiron brethren. The 2020 NBA Finals notwithstanding, must-wins in basketball don't exist in October. Heck, if anyone has proven the power of recovery : there were so many injuries en route to 50 wins that no one in their right mind remembers the ice cold start that befell Julius Randle after his ankle surgery.

But there's no denying that the Knicks' parents have given them an extraordinary gift ... they better use it.

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