Call it a championship hangover or just misaligned biorhythms (the latter, by the way, is an unproven theory). For whatever reason, the Knicks have played well below the high bar they have set for themselves. Starting this season with three straight losses, including falling to the Philadelphia 76ers, 106-100, on Oct. 20 at Madison Square Garden. It was the auspicious night the franchise raised their 2026 NBA championship banner and the team presented their championship rings, but the Knicks ultimately came up short in their season opener.
Subsequent defeats to the Boston Celtics (107-103) last Friday on the road and the Orlando Magic (111-102) at the Garden on Sunday night and the Knicks went into Tuesday evening’s home matchup against the Detroit Pistons looking to avert becoming only the second defending NBA champion to begin their following season 0-4.
The Knicks, 1-3 before facing the Bulls in Chicago last night (Wednesday) kept the 1969-70 Celtics as the only team to hold that dubious distinction by outscoring the Pistons 37-13 in the third quarter to take a 88-53 advantage into the fourth. The uneasiness of the Garden crowd was palpable after the Knicks trailed 38-25 at the end of the first, but changed to an atmosphere of optimism when they took a 51-50 lead by halftime.
Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns was the catalyst. Towns was aggressive and intentional from the opening tip and had his best game of the young season with team highs of 27 points and 20 rebounds. Point guard Jalen Brunson added 23 points but shot just 5-18 and was 0-5 on three-point attempts. Forwards OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges contributed 13 and 12 points respectively. All of Bridges’ points were from behind the three-point line where he was 4-8 and took 10 total shots.
The Knicks’ offense is still working out kinks. They were in the bottom five of the league’s 30 teams entering Tuesday night’s game and were tied for last in points per game (104.0) with the Charlotte Hornets when they tipped off against the Bulls. While they are not yet firmly connected defensively, the Knicks were ranked seventh defensively prior to the Bulls game, allowing 113.3 points per game.
Towns emphasized the importance of staying in the moment.
“We got to get the next one. That’s the only thing on the mind,” he said. “Just build off of this game and continue to improve as a team. All year it’s going to be us improving throughout the ups and downs of the season. We got to stay steady, keep believing in each other, keep pushing each other to another level.”
Brunson invoked a baseball analogy to describe the approach the Knicks need to employ.
“Just sticking together and just chipping away and making sure we’re just continuing to hit singles. Just get on base and hit singles and just have everyone chip in and contribute,” he explained. “Just focus on the little things until we get our rhythm. Once we get a rhythm, continue to do the little things. It’s a big point of emphasis right now, just our attention to detail.”
The Knicks have a rematch with the 76ers tomorrow in Philly and are back at MSG on Monday, Nov. 2 to play the Nets.
