NEW YORK — The New York Knicks are 6-5 after a loss at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

It’s a mediocre start for the defending NBA champions, especially when you consider that they’ve played the league’s ninth-easiest schedule in regard to cumulative opponent winning percentage (.460). Only one of the six wins has come against another team (Detroit) that has a winning record through Wednesday.

But when you’re the champs, you’re afforded more grace than any other team. What matters is how the Knicks are playing in May and June, and they just had one of the greatest championship runs in NBA history. The 6-5 mark is just one game behind their record (7-4) after 11 games last year.

Still, there are games to be played and habits to be built in the next five months. Wins and losses in October and November will help determine the Knicks’ path through the playoffs in the spring. They righted the ship somewhat with a four-game winning streak, but had some issues on both ends of the floor in the loss to the Cavs.

Here are some notes, numbers and film on the Knicks’ slow-ish start, where they’ve normalized, and where there’s still room for improvement.

All stats are through Wednesday, Nov. 11.

1. Ups and downs on offense

The Knicks scored just 103.4 points per 100 possessions over their first three games, which would have been their second worst three-game stretch of offense all of last season. The offense has picked up quite a bit since then, but there are still a few areas of concern:

1. Bridges off to a slow start — Among 169 players with at least 75 field goal attempts, Mikal Bridges ranks 168th in true shooting percentage (40.2%). He’s shot a career-low 47% in the paint, a career-low 2-for-13 (15%) from mid-range, and a career-low 26% from beyond the arc. He also has just four free throw attempts in 268 minutes, and those minutes have been reduced dramatically of late.

2. Brunson struggling in the paint — The Knicks have seen the league’s biggest drop in field goal percentage in the paint, from 58.3% (11th) last season to 51.7% (30th) this season. Some of that is Bridges and some is Andre Drummond, who’s shot a career-low 20-for-47 (43.5%) in the paint as he’s replaced Mitchell Robinson (72.3% in the paint last season) as the back-up center.

But Jalen Brunson has also shot just 41.8% in the paint, the second worst mark among 105 players with at least 50 field goal attempts inside and down from 54.9% over his first four seasons with the Knicks. The good news is that Brunson might be starting to find his touch inside, shooting 16-for-30 (53.3%) in the paint over the last four games.

3. Late-clock execution isn’t there — The Knicks have always been comfortable living late in the shot clock. But late-clock shots are generally worse shots than those that come earlier, and their late-clock magic hasn’t been there this season. They have an effective field goal percentage of just 41.5% in the last seven seconds of the clock, the league’s fifth-worst mark and down from 51.2% last season.

Knicks in the last 7 seconds of the shot clock

eFG% = (FGM + (0.5 * 3PM)) / FGA
%FGA = Percentage of total field goal attempts

Knicks coach Mike Brown was asked Wednesday if his team was playing with enough purpose offensively.

“Not yet,” he replied. “At times, yes. But we’re not always in a good flow right now, which is fine, because there are other ways to win a basketball game while we’re trying to work on that.”

2. Towns playing strong from the high post

One player playing with some purpose offensively is Karl-Anthony Towns. He’s scored more points than the 20.9 he’s averaging this season, but a true shooting percentage of 65.9% would make this the most efficient season of his career.

While Brunson has struggled in the paint, Towns is finishing stronger than ever, with his 57-for-87 (65.5%) in the paint being the best mark of his career by a healthy margin.

Towns has averaged 44.1 high-post touches per 100 possessions, the league’s seventh-highest rate and his highest in his three seasons with the Knicks. And New York has scored 1.26 points per chance when one of those touches has led directly to a shot, turnover, or trip to the line, a rate which ranks third among 92 players with at least 100 direct touches around the high post.

He’s been aggressive in driving against opposing centers:

And he’s been dropping dimes to teammates on the move:

3. Dominance on the glass

Turnovers are an issue for Towns, and the Knicks don’t force many on the other end of the floor. But they still rank fourth in the possession game (4.0 more shot opportunities per game than their opponents), because they’ve been the best rebounding team in the league.

The Knicks lead the league in offensive rebounding percentage (37.9%) and rank second in defensive rebounding percentage (72.6%). They’ve outscored their opponents by 7.4 points per game on second chances.

Andre Drummond doesn’t defend or finish like Mitchell Robinson, but he’s replicated Robinson’s rebounding. More important is that Towns has registered a career-high mark in rebounding percentage every season that he’s been in New York. And he’s just edging Drummond for the highest defensive rebounding percentage (33.1%) among 323 players who’ve averaged at least 10 minutes per game.

4. Protecting the paint

When the Knicks play, they’re not the only team struggling in the paint. On the other end of the floor, they’re one of three teams – the Celtics and Thunder are the others – that rank in the top five in both opponent field goal percentage in the paint (53.6%, fourth) and the (lowest) percentage of their opponents’ shots that have come in the paint (41%, third).

The league has taken 43.1% of its shots from beyond the arc, which would be the highest mark in the 48 years of the 3-point line. But scoring is still most efficient at the basket, so protecting the paint remains priority No. 1. And this is the second straight season where the Knicks rank in the top four in regard to opponent points in the paint per 100 possessions.

Lowest opponent FG% in the paint

%FGA = Percentage of total opponent FGA
PITP/100 = Points allowed in the paint per 100 possessions

5. Better than their record

Despite the paint struggles, the Knicks rank 10th offensively. And even after a rough defensive game on Wednesday, they rank seventh defensively. They’re 6-5, but they’re one of two Eastern Conference teams that rank in the top 10 on both ends of the floor.

The Knicks and the Houston Rockets are the only teams that haven’t lost a game that wasn’t within five points in the last five minutes. Their clutch numbers have not been good, but they have a better point differential (plus-6.8 per game, ninth in the league) than they had when they were 7-4 (plus-6.7 per game) last season. It’s the point differential of a team that should be 8-3.

The Knicks now hit the road for a four-game trip that begins with an Emirates NBA Cup game in Indiana on Friday (7 ET, Prime). They’re the only team that’s reached the Cup quarterfinals in each of the first three years of the competition, but they lost their first East Group B game against the 76ers in Philadelphia.

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