{"id":886748,"date":"2026-09-07T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886748\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T13:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T13:00:21","slug":"knicks-new-years-road-swing-will-get-very-real-in-denver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886748\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks&#8217; New Year&#8217;s road swing will get very real in Denver"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/empiresportsmedia.com\/category\/new-york-knicks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Knicks<\/a> are heading west for a New Year\u2019s stretch that should get their attention. They visit Phoenix on Dec. 31, then play Denver on Jan. 2 in the next stop of the league\u2019s national television slate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is a serious way to start 2027: two road games against teams that can punish a lazy first quarter, a loose defensive possession or a bench unit that drifts through its minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/player\/1628973\/jalen-brunson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jalen Brunson<\/a>, Denver is another chance to run the offense in one of the league\u2019s tougher buildings. The Knicks will need more than a big scoring night from their lead guard, though. Road games like this put every part of the rotation under a microscope.<\/p>\n<p>The Knicks get a useful early-January test<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phoenix is first, which matters. The Knicks cannot look ahead to Denver and sleepwalk through New Year\u2019s Eve. Then comes the altitude, a road crowd and a game that will demand clean execution late.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"858\" height=\"483\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/body-reuters-39.jpg\" alt=\"Knicks guard Jalen Brunson reacts during a Denver game\" class=\"wp-image-428976\"  \/>Jalen Brunson reacts against Denver. Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I like that stretch because it gives the team something concrete. There is no need to overreact to one regular-season trip, but games against Phoenix and Denver can show whether a group is handling its details when the setting gets uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<p>Denver will test the Knicks\u2019 discipline<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Knicks have the kind of roster that should welcome nationally televised road games. They also know the difference between a fun schedule spot and two nights where every missed box out or bad turnover gets punished.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">January is far away, but the calendar already handed them a serious road checkpoint. The trip will be more interesting than the usual holiday schedule filler.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img alt=\"avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788786021_306_IMG_1384.jpg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-70 photo\" height=\"70\" width=\"70\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Knicks are heading west for a New Year\u2019s stretch that should get their attention. They visit Phoenix&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-886748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}