As it turns out, there were no glitches in the computer.
Before the season, an ESPN projection system called SCHOENE pegged the Knicks to win 37 games, which was a steep falloff from the 54-28 record the team posted the previous season en route to the Atlantic Division title and No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
The Knicks sit at 36-45 going into their season finale Wednesday night against the Raptors, just one win from perfectly matching the forecast.
The projection appeared to be far-fetched, as the Knicks still had their core from 2012-13 in Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, J.R. Smith and more. They added Andrea Bargnani, a former No. 1 pick, and were playing in a division with three teams — Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto — set to “tank.”
“Sometimes there’s glitches in the computer,” Anthony said when asked about the 37-win projection. “That’s all I can say.”
“Do they play?” coach Mike Woodson asked, rhetorically. “It’s a computer system. I don’t think computers run up and down the floor. You still have to play the game, guys. I don’t get caught up in that. I don’t have any control over the computers. The only thing I can control is our team and how we play.”
A self-congratulating wrap-up piece this week cites the told-ya-so reasons behind the regression.
The Knicks had a record-breaking performance from behind the arc last season, then lost marksmen Chris Copeland, Jason Kidd and Steve Novak.
Woodson chose to incorporate Bargnani into a big starting frontcourt that backfired miserably, taking the Knicks away from their floor-stretching lineup. In the 38 games since Bargnani suffered a season-ending elbow injury, the Knicks are fifth in the league in offensive rating; before, they were ranked 19th.
The Knicks also did very little to improve their defense in the offseason. Metta World Peace, who used to be an above-average defender, quickly fell into Woodson’s doghouse and was bought out in late February.
As it turned out, the 37-win projection looked to be generous for most of the season. Chandler broke his leg in the team’s fourth game of the season, and the team fell into the abyss, reeling off a nine-game losing streak and coming out of the gate 3-13.
Even in a weak conference, the Knicks could never truly recover, despite a run in January and an eight-game winning streak in March that brought them to the periphery of the playoff picture. The Knicks were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday night.