Good morning! The Knicks still don’t have a preseason win, but they are defending NBA champions. All in all, not the worst trade off.
PSA: there will be NO NEWSLETTER on Monday, barring any news between now and then of course. The next edition will come your way on Tuesday morning recapping Monday night’s Wolves game (7:30 pm; MSG & NBA TV). Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!
Sound the alarms. The Knicks can’t win a game.
There was probably a time when I’d be even one percent serious with such talk, but thankfully those days are long gone. After the “longest, shortest summer ever,” as Jalen Brunson said on media day, the players are very much still working their way back into game shape. Mike Brown admitted as much yesterday before the game when he said he encouraged his veteran players to get away from it all this summer and go enjoy themselves. “They needed to go fill their cup, however that may be.” They did, and now it’s time to get back to work.
We’re seeing the fruits of that labor play out now, albeit in drips and drabs. After a modestly paced opening game against Philly, there was definitely an uptick in tempo last night, although it resulted in some sloppy ball early with plenty of missed threes and unrefined offensive possessions. The starters looked a bit more like themselves to close the half, with special kudos going to Josh Hart for the dime of the game…
Rit Holtzman@BenRitholtzNBA
Only Josh Hart could turn a free throw defensive rebound into a fastbreak dunk.
12:36 AM · Oct 9, 2026 · 8.89K Views
11 Reposts · 194 Likes
…and Jalen Brunson for reminding anyone who needed reminding that he’s still quite good at this game of basketball:
Teg🚨@IQfor3
Phew
1:02 AM · Oct 9, 2026 · 15.2K Views
7 Replies · 72 Reposts · 889 Likes
I thought it was interesting that Brown used almost all of the starters minutes to play them together, as opposed to mixing and matching with the bench as we’ll see in the regular season. The message, it seems, is that he’s prioritizing getting those five on the same page ASAP.
Even if they haven’t looked quite like themselves, either individually or collectively, no one should be concerned about the first unit. Ditto for co-sixth men Landry Shamet and Deuce McBride. Shamet was on fire last night while McBride was ice cold from deep, but both provided great energy and look more than ready for the bright lights of opening night.
As for everyone else, your milage may vary.