This should be the easy part.
After a successful 3-1 road trip against the Western Conference, the Knicks returned home Friday for a four-game stretch against all lottery-bound teams.
Two of the contests will take place at MSG – against the Nets on Saturday, then against the Pistons on Monday – before matchups in Toronto and San Antonio.
Based on records, this may be the easiest four straight games on the Knicks schedule.
But there is injuries to consider — OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle have all been ruled out again.
Plus, the turnaround time is fast.
After a 10-day drive and a flight to New York on Friday, tipoff for Saturday’s interborough game is at 1 p.m.
The Knicks (41-28), sitting in fifth place in the East, will enter the game a half-game behind No. 4 Orlando (42-28) and two games below No. 3 Cleveland (43-26 ).
The Nets (26-44), wrecks this season, have had five consecutive defeats.
On the road trip, New York beat Portland, Sacramento and Golden State before fall to the Nuggets.
“Definitely a building block,” Jalen Brunson said. “But you’re only as good as your last game, so we have to go back, regroup and prepare for Brooklyn. It’s certainly a successful road trip, but we can still learn.
With just over three weeks and 13 games remaining in the regular season, Randle is still waiting to make contact and “trying to strengthen the shoulder area,” Tom Thibodeau said.
“Some days were better than others,” added the coach. “But keep working at it and you never know when it turns out.” So that’s the way we have to approach things.
Randle accompanied the Knicks on their four-game road trip but, according to Thibodeau’s periodic updates, the power forward has been stuck with “light pad contact” for about three weeks.
With a dislocated shoulder – which Randle suffered in late January – there is a high incidence of re-injury and possible surgery.
Randle opted not to have surgery, or at least postpone it, because he wanted to return this season.
He was ruled out of Saturday’s game against the Nets, according to the injury report, which will represent his 24th consecutive DNP.
“[He’s] I’m just training,” Thibodeau said. “That’s all.”
Anunoby, who is called “day to day” by Thibodeau, will miss his third straight game since leaving the team’s road trip to undergo an MRI scan on his surgically repaired elbow.
Anunoby’s elbow “got inflamed,” Thibodeau said, but the MRI was clean.
Isaiah Hartenstein’s game is improving in two areas as of late.
One is his health, which is a concern due to Achilles pain.
Although still limited to minutes, the center’s explosion and physicality appear to have returned to pre-injury levels.
Hartenstein’s dunk Thursday over Michael Porter Jr. was the latest reminder.
The other area is playmaking – with an uptick in scoring over the last two games – as Thibodeau feels more comfortable using Hartenstein in an expanded offensive role.
Hartenstein uses his float in particular.
“It’s just to get more eyes,” said Hartenstein, who dropped 20 points in the loss to the Nuggets. “Sometimes, especially last year, I maybe didn’t have a consistent look for five or 10 games. So now, just to get a consistent look, Thibs kind of sees how it works, we’re playing more with the elbow, more in the pocket. So that’s kind of my game that I know I’ve always had, but now I’m just getting more looks.
