OG Anunoby is scoring almost as much as ever. This may be the best (offensive) version of Karl-Anthony Towns we have ever seen. Jalen Brunson is in his playmaking bag and joins Anthony Edwards and Tyler Herro as the only players who’ve buried 40-plus percent of their pull-up triples on more than 100 attempts. Mikal Bridges is having a December to remember.

Oh, and the New York Knicks are jockeying with the Boston Celtics for the league’s best offense. The five-out model is working as intended.

So much of the Knicks’ defensive struggles get attributed to Bridges. As Jonathan Macri unpacked for Knicks Film School, though, the 28-year-old is getting better.

Bridges is (mostly) being shoehorned into a full-time role for which he’s not hard-wired. And his screen navigation on the season still rates in the 17th percentile, according to BBall Index—the worst placement of his career, and it’s not even close. But he isn’t the only problem.

New York simply might not be built for much better results. Talk of improvement falls flat when they rank 28th in points allowed per possession against top-20 offenses. Mitchell Robinson’s return, if it ever comes, might help. But it will take an offensive toll. A trade could help, too. Then again, any deal is unlikely to change the complexion of the Knicks’ go-to lineup, so maybe not.