The Knicks still have some things to work on.
The New York Knicks needed a win badly, and they got one on Wednesday night, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 130-119 to snap a three-game skid that had the fan base getting restless heading into the final stretch of the season.
The offense looked sharp, the ball was moving, and three different Knicks scored 20 or more points.
But even after all of that, Mikal Bridges wasn't totally satisfied.
"It was good. We were sharing the ball, all that stuff. I think defensively we could've been better, still gave up a lot of points," Bridges said. "Offensively, we were sharing the ball, moving well. But defensively, we could've done better."
He's not wrong, either.
The Knicks (49-28) gave up 119 points to a Grizzlies team sitting at 25-51 that was missing Ja Morant, Zach Edey, and a handful of other key players.
New York allowed Memphis to cut an 18-point lead down to three in the third quarter before pulling away again, and that kind of lapse is exactly what keeps a team from being truly elite.
They outrebounded the Grizzlies 49-20 and shot 55 percent from the field, so the talent gap showed up in a big way on offense, but the defensive issues kept the game from ever feeling comfortable.
A Rollercoaster Year in New York
This season has been anything but smooth for the Knicks.
They won the NBA Cup back in December, went on a brutal 2-9 stretch from late December into January, rattled off a seven-game winning streak in late March, and then immediately dropped three straight before Wednesday's game.
For a team that sits third in the East and clinched a playoff spot on March 30th, the swings have been hard to explain.
The talent is clearly there with Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Bridges all capable of taking over on any given night, but consistency has been the one thing this group can't seem to find.
Bridges Finding His Groove Again
Nobody on this roster knows more about inconsistency this season than Bridges himself.
His month of March was rough by any standard, as he averaged just 10.8 points on 43.1 percent shooting and even had a scoreless game against the Lakers that had people questioning whether he was worth the five first-round picks New York traded to get him.
His season averages of 14.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.8 assists tell a decent story overall, but March dragged those numbers down in a big way.
Wednesday in Memphis looked like a different player, though.
Bridges dropped 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting, knocked down shots from all over the floor, and showed the kind of aggression the Knicks have been begging for.
The Bigger Picture
What stood out most about his postgame comments was that he didn't celebrate the offensive performance and instead went straight to what needed fixing.
That mindset matters heading into the playoffs, because a team that gives up 119 to a depleted Memphis squad isn't surviving a seven-game series against the top teams in the East.
Karl-Anthony Towns had a triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, and Anunoby was the best player on the court with 25 and 13 boards, so the pieces were all working on offense.
Now it's about getting the other end right before time runs out.