As all 30 teams return to action starting Wednesday night following the All-Star break, each squad has goals to accomplish. Some franchises simply want to lose as many games as possible to secure positioning in the draft lottery. Others are battling for playoff spots, while several lucky teams look to bolster their championship odds. For the New York Knicks, they need to continue to build chemistry, fix their defense, and prepare for their most anticipated playoff run in decades. However, as they close out February’s final five games, fans can have a specific goal in mind.
Knicks Must Go 4-1 To Meet Phil Jackson’s Championship Rule
Phil Jackson is considered perhaps the greatest NBA coach of all time. He’s won 11 championships, six with Michael Jordan‘s Bulls and five with Kobe Bryant‘s Lakers. Jackson’s been part of three of the five three-peats in league history, coaching some of the greatest players to ever live. The Zen Master is relevant to the Knicks today because of a proclamation he made in 2008 while coaching the Lakers. According to Jackson, a great litmus test for true title contenders in a given season is whether they won 40 games before they lost 20. In other words, a team must be 40-19 or better through 59 games, or they’re not a legitimate championship threat. As the man who’s won as many rings coaching as Bill Russell won playing, his advice should be listened to.
Obviously, failing to reach this benchmark cannot actually disqualify a team from hoisting the trophy. With that said, it’s still interesting to see whether the Knicks get there. Even if the team itself won’t admit it, this second half is a battle to prove they belong in the conversation with Boston, Oklahoma City, and Cleveland, all of whom have or will meet this mark.
Knicks Have a Brutal Final Five Games
The five-game stretch that will decide whether New York gets to 40 wins before 20 losses is not an easy one. Tom Thibodeau’s group starts with a tough back-to-back Thursday at home vs. Chicago and Friday at Cleveland. They then travel for a matinee tipoff in Boston on Sunday before hosting Philadelphia on Wednesday. The month closes out in Memphis, who the Knicks dominated just a few weeks ago at the Garden. Starting with three games in four nights, including road matchups with the top two in the East, won’t be easy. It will be a fun test for this team, who’ll get an opportunity to prove their worth right away.
New York needs to win at least four of the remaining five contests in February to reach 40 wins before 20 losses. While it will definitely be tough considering the difficulty of opponents, the Knicks have won eight of their last 10. The Knicks may also get OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson back at some point before the calendar turns to March. NY is 0-5 against the league’s top three teams. They’ll have to win at least one in Cleveland or Boston to reach Jackson’s standard.
Only Three Title Teams Have Failed to Reach the 40-20 Rule Since 1980
The 1995 Houston Rockets (35-20), 2004 Detroit Pistons (33-20), and 2006 Miami Heat (30-20) are the only three squads to defy the 40-20 rule in a full season in the last 45 years. The Rockets were defending champions at the time, the Pistons are perhaps the greatest underdog story of the modern era, and the Heat had a Dwyane Wade/Shaquille O’Neal duo. The Knicks are a very solid and well-rounded roster, but they have yet to determine whether they can break historical precedent the way these teams did. They would do well to go 4-1 over the next five games, and prove their contention in the process.
Photo credit: © Brad Penner-Imagn Images
