Tuesday was another memorable night at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks raised the franchise’s third NBA championship banner and the team received the customary championship rings in a ceremony worthy of the adulation showered upon them by the sellout crowd.
Then the game began.
The opponent on opening night of the 2026-27 season was the Philadelphia 76ers, projected as one of the Knicks’ primary challengers for Eastern Conference supremacy. They prevented the Knicks from having a flawless evening, defeating the reigning champions 106-100, driven by guard Tyrese Maxey, one of the sport’s brightest young stars, who scored a game-high 28 points.
The Knicks didn’t seem to be caught up in the emotions of such a historic moment. Rather, their uneven performance is likely attributable to early season kinks. Their collective execution, sharpness, and intensity were, by and large, unsurprisingly substandard. This was also the case for the 76ers, who earned the win by being slightly better than the Knicks in the closing minutes of the game.
“I want to give a shoutout to [76ers head coach] Nick Nurse and his team a lot of credit,” said Knicks head coach Mike Brown, after the game.
“It was a long night and they came out and they tried to do what they needed to do to get a win so you have to give them credit first of all. But you know, there were some things that we could have done better. Our transition defense was not good. … We were walking everywhere, which hurt our spacing and then when we didn’t get to the paint, we couldn’t finish. And we have to finish with authority.”
“…For me,” Brown continued, “it’s about trying to keep taking steps or climbing forward and not giving any excuses. I’m going to call it like I see it, so hopefully we can be a little bit better next time we step on the floor. … I mean, the teams are good, you know, and like I said before, Nick Nurse is a great coach. He’s got at least four All-Stars on the team.”
On paper, the 76ers are stacked.
This past summer they signed LeBron James, a four-time NBA champion and one of the greatest players ever. At 41 and in his unmatched 24th season in the league (the most all time), James still remains one of the game’s best practitioners; he appeared in his record 22nd All-Star Game last season.
The 76ers also acquired 29-year-old guard-forward Jaylen Brown in a trade with the Boston Celtics in July. Brown was the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals and Finals MVP with the Celtics in leading them to the championship. Last season, he was All-NBA second team and finished sixth in MVP voting. Plausibly, Brown should have been top three in the MVP balloting and a first-team selection.
Yet, as they proved a season ago, the Knicks can be the most formidable team in the league when at their best. Jalen Brunson has ascended to superstar status. Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby are force multipliers, and fellow starters Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges have shown they can elevate the entire group on any given night on both ends of the court.
Surprisingly, the Knicks’ best performance of Game 1 was put forth by newcomer Andre Drummond. The 33-year-old Mount Vernon native, who played for the 76ers the past two seasons, came back home when he signed a one-year, $3.9 million deal with the Knicks in July to fill a void at center after former Knick Mitchell Robinson agreed to a 3-year, $47.4 million contract with the Boston Celtics in July.
Drummond, one of the most prolific rebounders in NBA history, had 14 boards in addition to 12 points in his Knicks regular season debut. Now he will face Robinson tomorrow night when the Knicks play in Boston against the Celtics, another contender aspiring to unseat the Knicks from the throne.
Being the king requires constant defense of the kingdom against the invading forces at the gate, and the Knicks’ ambitious adversaries are now on the attack.
