Nobody would describe the performance as beautiful, but the New York Knicks secured what they had been unable to grab since March 6: a win over a quality team.
It may have been one C.J. McCollum fingernail away from going to overtime, but with their 108-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Knicks secured their 27th victory over an above-.500 team, tying them with the Denver Nuggets for the NBA’s fifth-most. It’s a 12-win improvement over the 2024-25 Knicks squad.
There are plenty of holes to be poked in the gritty victory. The Knicks struggled with turnovers, allowed too many offensive rebounds, and saw their offense become stagnant at times.
Ultimately, though, they prevailed because of the superpower that makes them extremely dangerous heading into the postseason: their ability to close games out.
The Knicks are the NBA’s best fourth-quarter team
The Knicks seemed to be losing control of the game late in the fourth quarter. But an 11-2 run with under three minutes remaining, featuring 9 points by Jalen Brunson, was enough for New York to push through.
The valiant run continued a theme that has carried throughout the entire season: No NBA team is better in the fourth quarter than the Knicks.
Per NBA.com, the Knicks lead the NBA with a +11.6 net rating in the fourth quarter. Not only that, but the second-ranked team isn’t even close:
- New York Knicks (+11.6)
- Detroit Pistons (+7.9)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (+7.7)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (+6.8)
- Boston Celtics (+5.8)
- Los Angeles Lakers (+5.2)
- Golden State Warriors (+4.8)
- Philadelphia 76ers (+4.1)
The 3.7-point gap between New York and second-ranked Detroit is larger than the gap between Detroit and seventh-ranked Golden State.
It goes to show that the Knicks’ clutch gene is on a completely different level compared to the rest of the NBA. No matter who New York goes up against in the playoffs, they will be the stronger team in the final 12 minutes.
That goes a long, long way in the postseason.
Blowouts are common in the NBA regular season, as the talent gap between the haves and have-nots is massive. Many of the league’s best teams can routinely close games out before the fourth quarter. So, their clutch gene is rarely tested.
In the playoffs, though, the final scoring margins get tighter, for an obvious reason: every team is at least somewhat competitive. Thus, fourth-quarter efficiency becomes even more paramount.
The Knicks have proven themselves in the fourth quarter to a degree that other title contenders have not. That will pay dividends when the spotlight is brightest in the spring.
The most impressive aspect of the Knicks’ fourth-quarter performance is their defense. New York’s fourth-quarter dominance is driven by their ability to get stops, not buckets, despite all of the hoopla regarding Brunson’s clutch heroics.
New York’s 116.0 offensive rating in the fourth quarter only ranks seventh-best in the NBA. It’s actually nearly three points worse than their overall offensive rating (118.8).
However, the Knicks lead the NBA with a 104.4 defensive rating in the fourth quarter. Nobody else in the league is close; the second-ranked Oklahoma City Thunder, who are by far the league’s best defensive team overall, have a 107.5 defensive rating in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks’ fourth-quarter defense is nothing short of suffocating. They allow the lowest field goal percentage in the league at 41.7%, including the second-best defense against threes (32.4%) and the best against twos (49.2%).
The stingy interior defense was on display in Atlanta last night. In the final period, the Hawks shot an atrocious 5-of-13 (38.5%) inside the arc. The defense led to offense; following all four Atlanta possessions that ended with a missed two-pointer, the Knicks scored on the other end.
No NBA team is clamping down defensively in the fourth quarter like the Knicks this year, and that’s a frightening sight for whichever teams await them in April.
Just ask the Hawks, who entered Monday night with a 19-3 record since the All-Star break. They had yet another win in the bag… until they couldn’t even hit 40% of their twos in the final period, setting the table for a Knicks comeback.
