Duke Sizemore here, and New York has given us one gigantic number to chew on today: a PLUS-41.5-point recent Elo swing! Here’s what we’ve got: the Knicks’ scorching finish, the preseason reset that knocks them down two spots, and a Jalen Brunson surgery update that could matter when October arrives.
Okay, okay, okay, get into that finish! New York went 70-32 in the tracked run and won five of its final six listed games. Four of those wins came against San Antonio, including back-to-back closers by the slimmest of margins: 107-106, then 94-90. And before that Spurs stretch? A 130-93 hammering of Cleveland that alone added 21.6 Elo points. THAT is how you build momentum!
Now THIS is the number that jumps off the page. Across the four-game advanced sample, the Knicks posted a 128.8 offensive rating, a 102.6 defensive rating, and a plus-26.2 net rating. Twenty-six point two! They finished the tracked run at an 1808 Elo, number one in that snapshot.
But preseason math does not hand out trophies for June. COURT VISION regresses New York all the way down to 1702.3, dropping the Knicks from first to third. And there’s an immediate availability variable: Jalen Brunson is listed day-to-day, is set for surgery on his right wrist and forearm area, and is expected to need at least two months of rehab.
The title market is also giving us a clear hierarchy today. Oklahoma City leads at 24.82 percent, San Antonio sits at 21.55, and New York is third at 7.8 percent with plus-950 odds. There were no day-over-day power movers, so I’m not gonna manufacture movement where there isn’t any.
And no stale Summer League leftovers either. The next confirmed game on this board is Miami at Toronto on October 3. Until then, New York gives us the offseason question: how much of that ferocious finish survives regression and Brunson’s rehab?
That’s your COURT VISION Daily Brief. I’m Duke Sizemore, and I will catch you tomorrow!