New York Knicks: 5 Reasons for Hope This Season

New York Knicks fans, it is not yet time to don a magic-markered #KnicksTank T-shirt and start rooting for the Brooklyn Nets.

Watch a few highlights of the three-win streak, set your wallpaper to a cheeky photo of Kristaps Porzingis in a unicorn mask, have a quick gargle of Listerine, wash away the taste of vomit lingering in your throat since the 119-97 loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday and get happy. There is hope for this season.

And no, I don't just mean hope for a No. 1 draft pick.

The Knicks are 3-4! Ranked higher than the Cleveland Cavaliers! Young players are proving their mettle. Veterans are stepping up as leaders. Tim Hardaway Jr. finally had one great game, maybe two!

Here are five good reasons to keep watching this season.  

Kristaps Is Killing It

Start believing in magic, kids, because the unicorn may be back. A healthy Porzingis (so far) has put up over 30 points in five of the first seven games of the regular season and is fourth in the league in points scored (27.9). 

If there was any weakness in his game before—anything that might prevent him from being a team's go-to scorer when Carmelo Anthony left—it was that he did not create many shots for himself. Not so anymore. This season, 40.3 percent of KP's made buckets are unassisted, compared to only 25.3 percent last season.

Part of the reason for that is the vast improvement in his post game. Although KP is still drilling three-pointers from South Ferry with cool deadly accuracy, he's on the block more than he's on the perimeter. And the strength training he's done (and shirtlessly documented on social media) over the summer has paid off. He's the league's No. 3 player in post-up points per game.  

He's also giving fans some of the highlight plays they came to know him for:

• Spinning left, spinning right, sinking the fallaway jumper over a Denver Nuggets double-team and following it up with a huge block on Paul Millsap as the buzzer sent the Knicks to a huge halftime lead.
• Dodging and slicing around the Brooklyn Nets' Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and swinging around with a left-handed slam over him and Jarrett Allen.
• "Rising and surprising with the tomahawk stuff," to quote Walt "Clyde" Frazier's MSG Networks color commentary, when putting back a Jarrett Jack miss. 

KP's rebounds are down, due in part to the eager glass-crashing of Enes Kanter and Kyle O'Quinn. Yet, he's already snuck into the top 10 in blocks. 

The season is very young. If he's still playing like this by the All-Star break, dust him in glitter and give him a horn.   

Play Well with a Deficit

Perhaps a more accurate way of putting this is to say the Knicks play poorly with a lead, but once they lose one, they (sometimes) display poise and grit to get it back.

New York lost a 21-point lead over the Detroit Pistons Oct. 21, but it scrapped back to regain the lead a few times before a narrow 111-107 defeat in the end. 

A better example was Tuesday versus the Denver Nuggets. The Knicks charged into halftime up by 22, but by midway through the third quarter, the lead had been slashed to seven after five Knicks turnovers and a goaltending by Porzingis. Jeff Hornacek called timeout to bring the madness to a halt...and it got worse.

First possession: turnover, followed immediately by a foul on the other end. Second possession: the same. Delay of game. Another turnover. The Nuggets took the lead and even their bench didn't celebrate, because it's all too easy and embarrassing.

Then another Knicks turnover. And another. And another. Hornacek could only smirk on the sideline in disbelief. Twelve turnovers and eight fouls in the third quarter alone, with the lead cut to ribbons.

But then, Kristaps Porzingis jammed an impossible one-handed alley-oop on the break from Courtney Lee. Followed it up with a big block on Mason Plumlee. Doug McDermott drilled a three-pointer. Quick, desperate ball movement led to a Kyle O'Quinn and-one. 

KP got applause as he took a breather even after that eyesore of a quarter. Tim Hardaway Jr. suddenly lit up in the fourth after three quarters of futility. Lee and Frank Ntilikina kept a red-hot Jamal Murray in check at the perimeter and the Knicks battled back for the 116-110 win. 

It was stupid. 

It was great.

Jarrett Jack Works

Between the time that Jarrett Jack was inserted into New York's starting lineup and the moment they all came crashing down from their Halloween candy sugar high around the second quarter of Wednesday's debacle versus Houston, the Knicks were in harmony.

As Knicks player development coach Dave Bliss told sideline reporter Rebecca Haarlow during a halftime interview: "It's like having another coach out there."

Head coach Jeff Hornacek told reporters after the victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers:

"[Jack is] a thinking point guard. If some guy hasn't had a shot in a while, he's going to figure out a way to get him the ball. If somebody's hot, he's going to figure out a way to give him the ball. He's out there thinking about the game. Jarrett is a veteran guy who's really done a nice job finding the mismatch when there is one, getting the guy who's hot, make sure he calls a play for that person. He's just a good team leader that way."

Jack racked up nine assists versus Cleveland, 10 against Denver and helped coax Tim Hardaway Jr. out of a shooting stupor.

Of all five-man lineups in the league right now, the Knicks' new starters aren't half bad, even after the woeful performance Wednesday. They rank eighth in offensive rating (111.7), 10th in defensive rating (102.7) and 16th in net rating (plus-8.8). It's just a pleasant change to have the net rating have a plus sign attached.

Ntilikina Is More Than Just Defense

When rookie point guard Frank Ntilikina languished on the bench while Dennis Smith Jr., drafted one spot later by Dallas, was putting together eye-popping NBA highlight reels, impatient Knicks fans were ready to trade Ntilikina before seeing the 19-year-old play.

After a few games, Ntilikina is showing his value goes far beyond his extraordinary wingspan.

Yes, his defense is delectable. He logged five steals Wednesday versus the Rockets, picking James Harden's pocket twice and harassing Harden into a moment when all he could do was shake his head. Nevertheless, Ntilikina told ESPN.com's Ian Begley: "I think I could have done a better job stopping him." 

He slips over screens like water, his arms are always up, his ball denial is excellent, his on-ball pressure in transition is vexing, and he knows where to roll and direct teammates to help. He still has a bit of catching up to do on the speed of the NBA game; Ntilikina did have a tendency to overcommit, which Dwyane Wade exploited with crossovers and fakes. 

His court vision may be even more exciting than his defense. It made the fourth quarter of the Rockets game occasionally bearable.  

Ntilikina, making multiple, long outlet passes to a red-hot Damyean Dotson, helped trim the Rockets' insurmountable lead in the fourth enough to cause Houston head coach Mike D'Antoni to call a timeout. Even better: Ntilikina threaded the needle between Nene and Luc Mbah a Moute to find a cutting Doug McDermott with a backward bounce pass; McBuckets finished with an and-one. 

Hornacek Is Rewarding Defense with Minutes

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

Let's not get all excited and say the Knicks have a "good" defense. 

However, Hornacek will yank a player off the floor after a bad defensive failure, even if he's a starter. Enes Kanter has been rewarded for his hustle on defense, but when he lapses or he's merely outmatched, he sits and is replaced by O'Quinn.

Meanwhile, wunderkind Willy Hernangomez is sitting. And when he has his opportunities, his defense has not been up to par.  

McDermott, though not known as a defender, is making the grade with hustle, blocks and deflections. Lance Thomas makes it into the rotation ahead of a shooter like Mindaugas Kuzminskas.

Yes, Ron Baker—who harasses perimeter shooters and recovers loose balls with the zeal of a golden retriever—has been on the inactive list more often than not lately. However, Baker will likely get back on the hardwood if Hornacek and the Knicks front office decide to cut loose Ramon Sessions once Joakim Noah returns from suspension (and they have to trim the roster to 15 players) or Hornacek tires of Hardaway's on-again, off-again commitment.

Disagree with Sara Peters on Twitter @3FromThe7.