One Clear Positive and Negative From Knicks' Win Over Bulls

The Knicks are 2-3 and have won their last two games. While neither wins have been the exemplification of picture perfect basketball, the team has started to turn the corner.

But it’s still been a mixed bag and Wednesday night’s Bulls game perfectly encapsulated the team’s current state: some positives, some negatives. So with that said, here are one of each that stood out the most during their win.

Positive: The point guard play

For much of the season, the point guard play for the Knicks has been subpar. It hasn’t been atrocious. But this is a team that’s used to getting 30+ minutes of nearly nightly elite play from Jalen Brunson, with some solid minutes coming from Jose Alvarado. Until this season that was.

Brunson had started the year compiling stats but on horrendous efficiency. No thanks to two atrocious shooting nights against tough defenses, Brunson entered the night with both his field goal and three point percentages looking like an eye sore.

Though just hours after I called Karl-Anthony Town the Knicks’ best player, Brunson answered the call with his first signature performance of the season. The captain looked much more like the Finals MVP we’ve become accustomed to watching. He was getting to his spots and hitting a lot of the shots he had been missing. The three-point ball, especially off the dribble, was back. And he wasted no time reminding everyone that he’s not only an incredible player, but a very clutch one as well.

The Knicks didn’t just get high quality point guard minutes from Brunson, though. Backup point guard Tyler Kolek continues to impress. He finished the night with nine assists off the bench and has now racked up 21 assists in his last 44 minutes without committing a single turnover.

Given Alvarado’s experience and pivotal role during the team’s championship run, it’s difficult to imagine a world in which he loses his spot in the rotation after a few games. But with each passing game (no pun intended), Kolek makes the decision more and more intriguing and the conversation more and more necessary.

The third-year man pilots the bench offense better than any other non-starter and he’s been great for Towns, and in the past, Mikal Bridges. If he can hit open shots like he did on Wednesday night and hold his own defensively, Kolek will earn more playing time.

Negative: The worrying trend of Mikal Bridges and Miles McBride

Now, the bad. I don’t want to pile on top of Bridges because it’d be beating a dead horse. But his level of play to begin the season has just been unacceptable.

While many of the Knicks outside of Towns has had their share of stinkers early on, Bridges has just totally disappeared outside of one half against the Pistons in which he played well. For the other four and a half games, Bridges has either looked hesitant or been aggressive but downright bad.

Even for a player whom the fanbase now expects occasional regular season disappearances from, this has been an especially bad stretch. It’s still far too early to make any bold claims about Bridges. But the veteran’s very rough start to the season carries on.

He isn’t the only one though. Miles McBride, another member of the “I’ve had one good game but have been bad outside of that” club, is coming off of yet another disappointing performance. When the reserve played just 14 minutes in the opener, I wondered if it was a coincidence or writing on the wall. Five games in to the season, it’s looking more like the latter.

McBride played 15 minutes or less just a few times last season. This season? He's done so three times already. And we’re seeing a classic chicken or egg situation where McBride, who has been an incredible shooter over the last three seasons, has struggled immensely from deep. Mike Brown could make the argument he’s playing less partly due to his shooting struggled. But McBride could also argue that playing a much less significant role this season is messing with his confidence.

Regardless of the reason, it’s now become clear that McBride, like Bridges, is just not playing up to standards. New York has thus far been able to navigate with the handicap of having both of these guys look so bad. But if they want to be the team they’re striving and hoping to become, they’ll eventually need much more from the duo.

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