With Knicks at halfway mark of season, are they legitimate NBA title contenders?

The NBA season is full of ebbs and flows. That’s exactly what the Knicks have experienced over the past month. After a nine-game winning streak, they dropped four of five games, including a “sound the alarms” 126-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.

But life goes on in the league, and the Knicks got back in the win column with a 140-106 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.

The Knicks will reach the halfway mark of the season when they play their 41st game against the Pistons on Monday night, and New York finds itself in third place in the Eastern Conference with a 26-14 record after 40 games.

At the same point last season, New York was in sixth place with a 23-17 mark. But the pressure has ratcheted up.

The Knicks made a collection of moves with the present in mind, including trades for Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges.

Is this team a legitimate title contender?

Here’s where the Knicks stand…

The good

There’s a lot that’s working for the Knicks. New York is tied for second in offensive efficiency, racking up 119.2 points per 100 possessions. The Knicks offense has looked unstoppable at times, such as the 145-point explosion against the Nuggets or the easy 133-107 win against the Timberwolves. In fact, the Knicks have already scored 130 points or more seven times this season. They crossed that threshold just three times all of last season.

The team has two bonafide scorers in Jalen Brunson and Towns. Both players are in the top 12 in scoring in the NBA. Towns has three 40-point games and Brunson scored 44 points on Sunday. He also had a 55-point masterpiece against the Wizards last month.

Where Towns’ impact has been most understated is how he’s lessened the amount of responsibility that fell on Brunson last season. Now when Brunson sits, the Knicks can trot out a credible offense without him.

In the 374 minutes Towns has been on the floor without Brunson, the Knicks are scoring 125.6 points per 100 possessions and have a plus 15.5 net rating, per PBP Stats.

After a really rough start to the season, the defense has come along. Since the start of December, the Knicks are seventh in defensive efficiency. They’ve become a bit more crisp in rotations and switching with their wing players, and it’s slowed down the alarming amount of threes the club was giving up early in the season.

Meanwhile, the starting lineup has worked so far this season. The group has played more minutes than any five-man unit in the NBA and is outscoring opponents by 5.1 points per 100 possessions.

Struggling against the elite

The Knicks offense has looked very good, but there are some weaknesses that can be exposed. New York is struggling against elite teams, with a combined 0-5 record against the top two teams in each conference.

Those teams — the Cavaliers, Thunder, Celtics, and Rockets — are long, athletic, and versatile. They all also employ defensive strategies such as switching or having a smaller defender check Towns.

The strategy has worked. Though Towns has been able to make some plays, it limits New York’s clean looks from the three-point line and forces the Knicks’ supporting players to make plays.

After combining for two points against the Thunder, the spotlight fell back to wings Bridges and OG Anunoby, who have struggled to create good shots and have been inconsistent as perimeter shooters.

New York’s lack of depth and the long-existing minutes dialogue will continue to be a conversation as the team has three players in the top ten in minutes per game. The Knicks could add some playmaking or shot creation by the trade deadline. Center Mitchell Robinson is also bound to return from his injury and will add interior defense and rebounding to the roster.

Still, the questions will continue. New York has the toughest remaining schedule of any team. This includes three games each with the two teams ahead of them in the East — the Cavs and Celtics. That will further inform if this team is a legitimate contender.

Reaching the level of a contender is difficult in the NBA, and the Knicks need some work to truly get there. It requires small, incremental steps.

In all, New York has become a very good team. They have the fifth-best record in the NBA. But expectations have been elevated. Each game against a contender is a test. So far, the Knicks have failed.