Sometimes the best way to mark your own growth is to note the struggles of those you’ve left in your wake

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, there are any number of things people in polite society will express their gratitude for. The holiday break. The food before them. The presence of loved ones. The absence of loved ones.

If we’re keeping it real, there’s something many of us are grateful for many times a day that we don’t talk about in polite society. We give silent thanks for it when we walk by a co-worker having a loud and confrontational phone call. When the person in front of us at the checkout line misdirects anger at the cashier. When some driver’s being an idiot. Thank goodness that’s not me.

We’re grateful the New York Knicks have shown glimpses of a cathedral ceiling this season, one there’ll undoubtedly be a million words spilled over between now and the spring. Today we’re celebrating a haters’ holiday and checking in on how the teams the Thibodeau Knicks have faced in the playoffs are doing. In every case, including one that may surprise you, we’re grateful to root for the Knicks and not one of these loser teams. To lord it over one’s enemies and be justified in so doing is to live well. (In that vein, I didn’t include Atlanta because they’re literally a losing team since 2021. You know how some people you struggle to move on from, but some slip off for good like snakeskin? That’s the Hawks)

Miami Heat (7-8, sixth in the East)

Two years ago the Heat were what they’ve generally been ever since adding Jimmy Butler in 2019: a dangerous side; a middleweight’s record with a heavyweight’s punch; the proverbial “team no one wants to face in the playoffs.” They had a continuity the Knicks didn’t, maybe the best coach in the league and a history of success owed to a front office fiasco born out of the Knick/Heat version of Red Sox/Yankees, with Babe Ruth in this case one Patrick James Riley and “No, No, Nanette” a resignation via fax.

Since eliminating the Knicks in six games in 2023, the Heat edged the Celtics (not in the good way) to reach the Finals, where they lost to Denver. Since then . . . meh. They were mediocre most of 2023-24, and after losing Terry Rozier early in the season and Jimmy Butler late were little more than target practice for Boston in the first round. This season they haven’t won three in a row or lost more than that many straight. Like I said. Meh.   

Acknowledging there’s a lotta time to go, given that most teams have about 65 games left, of all Miami’s issues their defense is the reddest flag. Not because it’s bad – they’re 11th in defensive rating – but because after years of being mostly exceptional on that end, 11th is just pretty good, and pretty good won’t get them where they wanna get if their offense gets in any way mucked up. 

The offense kinda has. Again, the numbers aren’t all DEFCON 1. The Heat’s offensive rating is 16th, better than it’s been the last couple years. It’s more the cumulative effect of their various ills that may point to a deeper malady. 

Butler, consistently inconsistent behind the arc for his whole career, is having his worst season from deep since his rookie year, though on the bright side his shooting is up everywhere else. Bam Adebayo is already just one three away from tying his career-best in a season; his volume has tripled without any drop in his accuracy, though that accuracy is slightly below-average. The big drop in Adebayo’s game has been his efficiency from the rim out to 10 feet, where he’s down significantly from 0-3 to feet (73-62 percent) and 3-10 (52-41 percent).  

I wondered if in taking more 3s he might be away from the paint more and therefore losing putback opportunities, but Adebayo’s actually pulling in more offensive rebounds than ever. His shot profile shows he’s taking fewer shots between the paint and the arc from last year to now and more outside it. He’s attempting the same number of shots from 0-10 feet, but making less. 

Meanwhile, Rozier has only hit 33 percent from deep, though he did snap a 1-for-16 drought with three treys his last time out. The biggest change in Rozier’s game has been the drop in his 2-point tries, where he’s taking a third fewer per 36 minutes than he did after arriving last year from Charlotte. If Bam is less of a threat from in close and Butler and Rozier combine for sub-30 shooting on threes, pretty good defense won’t mean much.

Indiana Pacers (8-10, seventh in the East) 

The Pacers’ slow start hasn’t closed any doors for them, especially in an Eastern conference more forgiving than sweatpants. But that’s no way to go through life for a team more dependent than most on homecourt advantage: Indiana is 6-2 in their friendly confines this season vs. 2-8 on the road; in last year’s playoffs they reached the conference finals thanks largely to sweeping all six home games against Milwaukee and New York (they were 2-5 away those rounds). 

Law Murray elaborated on their splits: “When the Pacers play in Indiana, their defense is acceptable while the offense is good (albeit not great like last season). When the Pacers get on a plane, they have a bottom-10 offense and defense, and All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton goes from 22.5 points per game on 46.3 percent from the field to 12.3 points and 31.8 percent.”

They’re slower and less explosive than the smooth-running engine they were a year ago, when they were second in pace and offensive rating vs. 12th and 15th this year. A year ago they were elite making twos and above-average making threes; this year they’re middle-of-the-pack with both. Unfortunately, they haven’t gained any hard-won defensive wisdom from braking a bit on the other end – they were bottom third a year ago, they’re bottom third now.

Pascal Siakam has sustained his quality across the board while shooting a career-best 45-percent from deep. Benedict Mathurin is back healthy and continuing to show growth. It’s probably a lot more than one thing going on in Indiana, but when your best player’s playing like your third- or fourth-best, that one thing’s enough. 

Even if the Pacers eventually get back in gear, could they upset a higher-seed on the road come the postseason? They did twice last year, with an asterisk, so let me revise the question: could the Pacers upset a higher-seed on the road that isn’t injury-ravaged? Tougher call.

Philadelphia 76ers (3-13, 14th in the East)

A lot of people have piled on the 76ers for their 3-13 wet fart of a kickoff. I’d like to point out some positives. 

They Sixers take and make a lot of free throws. 
They force a lot of turnovers.

That’s it. 

You can point to Jared McCain, and yes, while a mid-first round pick scoring 16 a game on 46/40 shooting is undeniably remarkable, focusing on that is like marveling at the tech that deployed your oxygen mask while your plane nosedives toward the sea. 

This is a franchise that spent years not trying in order to gain more chances at a crapshoot, that’s gone from paying Jimmy Butler $20 million at age 29 to James Harden $33 million at 32 to now Paul George getting $49 million at 34. That looked Joel Embiid’s Mr. Glass-ass injury history in the eye and doubled-down by putting all their eggs in a basket dependent on he and George defying empirical evidence and the ravages of age and somehow staying healthy, especially come playoff time.

And while, like Indiana, Philadelphia’s season is anything but lost despite their Process-era like 3-13 opening salvo, part of the point of this Sixer Big Three squad was to focus on rest and strategic load management in order to best position them for the bit that counts come April. Now they have more riding on their seeding than most – it does them no good to spend the regular-season fighting for play-in positioning, only to end up facing Cleveland/Boston/New York in the first round. But that’s the danger they find themselves in. 

I’d always looked positively on the 76ers, seeing as how they’ve never threatened the Knicks and also hate the Celtics. But after Embiid’s dirty play last year in the playoffs and Nick Nurse’s dickhole-ish wailing and gnashing of teeth, I’m okay with Philly languishing some more.    

Cleveland Cavaliers (17-1, first in the East)

So this would seem to be the one team on the list deserving of respect. The Cavaliers have the league’s highest offensive rating and are top-10 in defensive rating and pace. Behind new coach Kenny Atkinson they’re evolved from predominately guard-led pick-and-rolls to a more egalitarian, free-flowing offense emphasizing movement off the ball. They have an established superstar scorer as well as elite younger talent. They broke their post-LeBron playoff duck last year, beating the modern version of the ‘90s Knicks in Orlando. They’ve already beaten the Knicks this year and did well for themselves coming back to turn a Boston blowout into a near-comeback.

I’m not too worried about it.

Do you know who Cleveland has beaten this year? Besides the Knicks? Golden State, Orlando and the Lakers. They’ve knocked off Milwaukee, Toronto, Chicago and New Orleans twice each (including the current Pelican M*A*S*H* unit). Also Brooklyn, Washington, Detroit, Charlotte and Philadelphia.

Yes, they won a playoff series last year, but when it comes to inspirational stories tanking at year’s end to get the Magic in the first round, then needing seven games to beat them ain’t exactly “Rudy.” Not only have the modern Cavs not beaten a peer-level power, they’ve been smoked twice by them, including an admittedly very different Knicks team two years ago.   

The Cavaliers are designed to wreck regular-season opponents. They have more talent and more continuity than maybe everyone but Boston. They have no obvious weaknesses, which is too much for bad teams to bear. But if you’re a Knick fan reading this, ask yourself: are you any more afraid of them now than you were in 2023? I’m guessing most aren’t. 

Vibes aren’t as respectable as data, but a lot of people walking around day exist solely because their ancestors went with the vibes instead of calculating sex cells like win shares. The Heat are stagnant, if not eroding. The Pacers look like reality just hit them in the mouth. The Cavaliers are great, but not airtight. And the 76ers are experiencing the completely ironic and not at all karmically-aligned fate of all their best players suffering leg injuries the season after Embiid tried to pull Mitchell Robinson’s legs from their sockets like some raging toddler. 

Dunno where this year’s Knicks are headed. Just know it’s not where any of those teams are, or look to be going. For that, we give thanks.