The Knicks haven\u2019t entered a season with this kind of excitement since the days of the Yankees Core Four dynasty.<\/p>\n
They begin a new year with NBA Finals expectations, anointed as one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. A core that reached the Eastern Conference finals is back, bolstered by an improved bench featuring Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele.<\/p>\n
But to captain Jalen Brunson, that\u2019s just noise. It is irrelevant to what this group wants to accomplish. He\u2019s doing his best to avoid the hype.<\/p>\n
\u201cI disregard it, because it doesn\u2019t mean s\u2013t,\u201d the star point guard said Monday after practice. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean anything. It\u2019s not for me to worry about. My worry is practice, my worry is film, my worry is getting better every single day. I don\u2019t have time to think about what people say about us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns had a similar response. Projections and predictions don\u2019t guarantee anything. <\/p>\n
So while the Knicks and the Cavaliers are expected to battle it out atop the conference, that doesn\u2019t mean the 2025-26 season will play out that way. <\/p>\n
Nobody expected the Pacers to come out of the East at this time last fall.<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson dribbles the ball up court against the Charlotte Hornets in the first half at Madison Square Garden in New York, Friday, October 17, 2025. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cAll that is, is looking at a crystal ball, hoping that things work out the way the crystal ball says,\u201d Towns said. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotta take care of our team and can\u2019t even think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It begins for real on Wednesday night at the Garden against, not coincidentally, the Cavaliers and Donovan Mitchell. It will be a fun early challenge for the Knicks under new coach Mike Brown. An early opportunity to see where they stand against another top contender, even if Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart may not play.<\/a><\/p>\n Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) when the New York Knicks held their media day Tuesday, September 23, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good test. It makes us better,\u201d Towns said. \u201cI think both teams would agree, and I\u2019ll say the same that we get to go against the best of the best. You get to see where you stand and also what to work on when you play teams that are highly looked upon this year. So we just go out there and play our best.\u201d<\/p>\n It will be interesting to see how the Knicks look<\/a>. They went 4-1 in the preseason, but weren\u2019t at full strength. In the final dress rehearsal on Friday against the Hornets, four key players \u2014 Towns, Hart, Robinson and OG Anunoby \u2014 didn\u2019t play<\/a>. Brown has warned that it could take time for this group to hit its stride in this new up-tempo style.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n So while many of the same familiar faces are back in orange and blue, creating incredibly high hopes within the fan base, there is still some mystery as to what it will look like when the games count for real.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of things are the same, but some things are different. Yes, we have the same core, but we have some different pieces,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cThe voice is different and everything is different from the coaching aspect of it. But the mentality and the approach has to stay the same.<\/p>\n Mike Brown reacts on the sideline in the first half at Madison Square Garden in New York, Friday, October 17, 2025. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s wanting to win games and wanting to get better, it\u2019s wanting to learn and doing whatever it takes. Those other things are different, but that has to be the same.\u201d<\/p>\n A year ago, the Knicks opener was against the Celtics, and they were crushed, which meant nothing when they eliminated Boston in the playoffs. Wednesday night is just the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the first step,\u201d Brunson said, \u201cto hopefully a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Knicks haven\u2019t entered a season with this kind of excitement since the days of the Yankees Core…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[36783,36782,355,361,99],"class_list":["post-239895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}