'The Knicks Have the Best Team,' NBA Coach Hypes East's 'Best Roster' Ahead of Playoffs

Despite some ups and downs over the course of the season, the New York Knicks are still regarded as an NBA Finals favorite in the Eastern Conference by people around the league.

One Eastern Conference head coach told ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst that the "Knicks have the best team" and "best roster" in the conference as they look to reach the Finals for the first time in 26 years.

"The Knicks have the best team," the coach said. "I don't know if they'll play their best when it matters, but they have the best roster in my opinion."

After losing in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the Knicks made a change at head coach by replacing Tom Thibodeau with Mike Brown. It looked like a genius move early, as they beat the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA Cup and were 23-9 started 23-9 on Dec. 30.

Since that time, though, the Knicks are 14-13 in their last 27 games. The biggest difference from that hot start to now is the offense. They are 14th in offensive rating since Dec. 30 after being third behind the Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets in that same category prior to that date.

There have also been reports throughout the season of disconnect between Brown and Karl-Anthony Towns, who said prior to the opener back on Oct. 22 that he was still trying to figure out his role in the offense.

While that's not unusual since Brown was entering his first year with this group, things don't appear to have dramatically improved in the four months since that comment.

Towns has not been the only problem for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson is still playing at a high level, but he's on pace to have his worst shooting season by field-goal percentage (46.8) and three-point percentage (37.2) since his second year in the league.

OG Anunoby is having his worst three-point shooting season (34.9 percent) since 2018-19.

The ceiling and track record for this group can be extremely high, as they showed over the first two months of the season. Their recent downturn has them two games behind the Boston Celtics in the loss column for the No. 2 seed in the East. They are also just one game up in the loss column on the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 3 seed.

New York's closing schedule will go a long way toward showing where it stacks up in the NBA title hierarchy. The Knicks have games remaining against the Spurs, Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder (two), Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets.