Knicks will have two chances within a week to show they can beat the NBA’s best

Sooner or later, it has to happen.

Sooner or later, the Knicks are going to have to beat a really good team. Sooner or later, they are going to have to show they can play with the best, show that they can face a team with a record better than theirs and come out with a W.

The Knicks have two chances in the next three days to change this as they play the only teams in the Eastern Conference with better records than theirs. After their game against Chicago on Thursday night, the Knicks board a plane for Cleveland where they will take on the Cavaliers team that has had the best record in the Eastern Conference all season. Two days later, they will play a Sunday matinee game against the Celtics in Boston.

Heading into Thursday night’s play, the Knicks are 0-5 against teams that have a better record than they do. They are 0-2 against Oklahoma City, 0-2 against Boston and 0-1 against Cleveland, which they play three more times this season.

The Knicks moved into third place on Dec. 15 and have been a fixture there for 24 games. Although they really haven’t been threatened by anyone behind them in the East — fourth-place Indiana began Thursday night’s paly 5 ½ games behind the Knicks — they haven’t done much to threaten the teams above them.

Whether they can send a message in the next few days may have a lot to do with their injury situation, which remains murky at best.

The Knicks were down two starters Thursday as Josh Hart sat out with a recurring sore knee and OG Anunoby missed his sixth straight game with a foot injury. Anunoby had been listed as questionable for Thursday’s game, but was ruled out 30 minutes before tipoff. Hart, one of the team’s ironman, had missed just one previous game this season and that was for personal reasons. He was a surprise addition to the Knicks injury report on Wednesday after not having practiced with the team.

Both players are listed as day-to-day and its highly possible that the team decided to rest them for the Chicago game so they could play the second game of the back-to-back in Cleveland.

The Cavaliers and Knicks haven’t played since the third game of the season when both teams were still figuring out who they are. The Knicks lost that game, 110-104, when they were outscored in the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers have since added De’Andre Hunter and entered Thursday night’s game against the Nets with a 2-0 record with Hunter in the lineup. Still, the Knicks match up much better with the Cavaliers than they do with Oklahoma City and the Celtics and Friday’s game could be an interesting playoff preview.

Boston is a different story as the Knicks’ goal here has to be to avoid a third straight embarrassment. The Knicks lost their season opener to the defending champs, 132-109, in Boston and were defeated, 131-104, on Feb. 8 at Madison Square Garden.

In both games, they have had absolutely no answer for Jayson Tatum, who followed a 37-point game in Boston with a 40-pointer at MSG. Anunoby did not play in the second blowout. His availability could go a long way in helping to slow Tatum.

It’s also possible that Mitchell Robinson returns for the Celtics game. Robinson has gone through five-on-five drills and seems just days away from rejoining his teammates for the first time since reinjuring his ankle against Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs last season. Robinson will likely be on a minutes restriction when he returns, but fans are anxious to see him on the floor for the first time with big man Karl-Anthony Towns.

With the Knicks having played their 55th game of the season Thursday night, they have completed two-thirds of the season. They now have 27 games to show who they are, show that they can compete with the best in the league.

The Knicks — who had two new starters this season in Towns and Mikal Bridges — have already established their identity. Now, they have to assert their will.

“You focus on daily improvement so you’re not changing your approach,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said when asked what his goals were down the home stretch of the season. “….It’s impossible to work on everything every day. So the idea is to be strong on both sides of the ball and to play to the best of our ability and keep improving so we’re playing our best at the end.”

Of course, winning a big game in the interim wouldn’t hurt. Sooner or later, it has to happen.