The New York Knicks withstood some early season turbulence and have now cemented themselves as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. There are those who believed this would be the case since the beginning of the season, and others who needed to be convinced. Either way, 30 games in, the Knicks are here to stay.

The orange and blue have been steamrolling lesser opponents and hanging with good teams with consistent off-ball cutting, efficient three-point shooting, and tough defense. According to Statmuse, the Knicks have a point differential of +123 in December, and the month isn’t even over yet.

Karl-Anthony Towns has been a double-double machine, and the resurgence of Mikal Bridges has seen the two-way forward improve his average to 18.1 points per game while shooting 37.1% from the three-point line (46.9% in December). A big fat exclamation point was placed at the end of this resurgence during the Knicks Christmas Day victory over the San Antonio Spurs, when Bridges dropped a team-high 41 points.

When we last left readers in Part II of KPC, the Knicks were just four games over .500. Now, the Garden squad is 20-10, good for third place in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks sit just behind the Boston Celtics and in front of the Orlando Magic.

Looking at the advanced metrics, the Knicks are currently second in offensive rating (one spot down from our previous check-in), 15th in defensive rating (up seven spots), and fifth in net rating (up one spot).

Don’t Call It A Comeback

If you want to find someone who was in on the ground floor, when Mikal Bridges’ stock was at its lowest, look no further than teammate Josh Hart. In life you can only be so lucky to find someone that defends you the way that Hart defended Bridges during his struggles.

And more recently.

Bridges, for his part, has rewarded his teammates’ staunch support with a December to remember. The former Villanova-standout averaged just over 20 points per game, while shooting above 55% from the floor and over 40% from the three-point line. During December, Bridges owns the NBA’s best plus/minus margin. According to Statmuse, he is also first in the league in plus/minus (+349) over the course of the season.

Not bad for a guy who some thought had a broken jumper…

A Michelin-Rated Role Player

It’s hard to standout on a team that has Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges, but that’s exactly what Josh Hart does. I mentioned him earlier, highlighting the way he backs up his teammates, but felt the need to devote an entire section of KPC to our orange and blue Swiss Army knife.

I can’t stress enough how rare it is to find a player who is comfortable in their role on a team and fits that specific role so well. In an age where agents use counting stats to try and leverage more money for their clients, it can be difficult to quantify how important Josh Hart is to this team by looking at his stat sheet.

Even Josh seems to have some fun with this from time to time:

Earlier in the season, the Knicks struggled with producing three-point shot attempts, their offense was in flux, defense was terrible, and as a result, their record was up and down. Josh Hart, however, was on fire. A career 34.7% shooter from the three-point line, Hart converted 40.7% of his three-points shots in November and 45.5% in December. He ranks second on the Knicks in second-chance points, and second in the league in field goal percentage (69.1%) for two-point shots for players that have played in at least 25 games this season (per NBA).

But put aside the shooting and hustle stats, its really the momentum shifting plays that symbolize and highlight Hart’s do-whatever-it-takes mentality that makes him so special. Diving on the floor for loose balls, timing his jumps just right to out rebound players taller than him - those are the moments Knicks’ fans will always appreciate.

The most recent of which came on Christmas Day.

A Tough Road Ahead

The Knicks will play 18 games over the next 36 days, including four sets of back-to-backs. Over that stretch, eight of those games will be against teams above .500: the Orlando Magic (twice), Oklahoma City Thunder (twice), Minnesota Timberwolves, Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies, and Denver Nuggets.

The Knicks will see old friends like Isaiah Hartenstein and Julius Randle and will need to manage the emotions of playing in those games. They never seem to play well against the Thunder, and you can bet any amount of money that Randle will be looking to avenge the loss his former teammates handed him the last time the T-Wolves and Knicks faced off, despite him (prior to the game) saying that it was just “another game.”

Separately, the Knicks are just two games back of the second-place Celtics, and have a chance to move within an ear shot of the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers if they can string some more wins together.

The Knicks won’t get a shot to play either team until February, but can make some headway before those highly anticipated matchups.