You can add Rick Pitino to the rapidly expanding Knicks bandwagon.
The St. John’s coach sees the possibility of the orange and blue going deep — deeper than the franchise has gone in more than 50 years.
Yes, that includes a championship. The Hall of Famer believes this surging group has that kind of potential.
“I think they have the best nine or 10 players. They may not have the best three, they have the best nine or 10,” Pitino told The Post. “Their bench is excellent, [coach Mike Brown] uses them great. The improvement offensively and defensively in OG [Anunoby], the improvement in Karl-Anthony Towns away from the basket with his passing, [Jalen] Brunson is the most unique player I’ve ever watched in my lifetime.
“I love it. I root for the Knicks like they’re my team. I do think they are championship driven.”
The Knicks are on a stunning run, coming off a conference semifinal sweep of the 76ers — the first time they have swept Philadelphia in the playoffs since Pitino was the coach in 1989.
They have won seven straight playoff games by an average of 26.4 points and are currently the betting favorites to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
Though most experts still see the defending champion Thunder as the favorite, the Knicks are playing just as well.
Since the team tweaked its offensive game plan to run more offense through center Towns — the change happened during the opening-round series against the Hawks — the Knicks have found a higher level. In the postseason, Towns has 66 assists — 40 more than he amassed in the playoffs a year ago.
“They look for each other much better than before,” Pitino said. “If you watch Cleveland and Detroit, you know the ball is going to [Cade] Cunningham or [James] Harden is going to create or the ball is going to be in Donovan [Mitchell’s] hands. Although Brunson is a great scorer, they are sharing the basketball so well that keying on Brunson is not enough to stop this team. Before the Atlanta series, keying on Brunson was the way to stop the Knicks. That’s no longer working because of their ball movement.”
“They went from a one-on-one team to a ball movement, player movement team. They do a lot of different offensive things that are much more pleasing to the eye.”
Brunson remains the linchpin. The three-time All-Star is enjoying another awesome postseason, averaging 27.4 points and 6.1 assists.
He is shooting a robust 48.5 percent from the field and 40.9 percent on 6.6 attempts from 3-point range. Both are his highest numbers as a Knick in the playoffs.
“How a player that size with that vertical can get off any shot around the basket, he’s got Tiny Archibald in him around the basketball. He has the best midrange game,” Pitino said. “He gets off any shot midrange and he’s become a great 3-point shooter. He’s just an amazing, amazing 6-foot, 2-inch basketball player. Pound for pound, inch for inch, maybe one of the best players I’ve ever seen.”
The next two rounds figure to be tougher. The Knicks opponent in the conference finals has yet to be determined.
The Pistons-Cavaliers series is tied 2-2. If the Knicks get past that round, it will likely be either the Thunder or the Victor Wembanyama-led Spurs to follow.
They wouldn’t have home-court advantage against either of those teams. But with the way the Knicks are currently playing, nobody should scare them.
“The only negative is the home court,” Pitino said. “Outside of that, I think the Knicks have the best team. Now OKC obviously is great, they’re the defending champions. But the Knicks are deep, talented, and the way they are playing offensively — I don’t mean 3-point shooting, I’m talking about the ball movement, player movement — it’s so much better than what I watched in January.”
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