Happy New Year!
Let's make some resolutions.
Good morning! The Knicks close out tonight in San Antonio at 7pm. Mitch is out for injury management, along with Josh Hart and Landry Shamet.
Happy New Year!
Hello friends. We’re almost there.
2025 has been quite a year. It started off with New York’s ninth straight win against the Utah Jazz, devolved into a maddeningly frustrating slog through the final three and a half months of the regular season, contained an unforgettable playoff run for reasons both glorious and heinous, saw an earth-shaking changing of the guard, the hiring of a new leader, and over the last 70 days, the dawning of a new era.
It makes you wonder…
Can they possibly top that in the 12 months that lie ahead?
The answer to that question depends on a group of 17 men (almost1 all of whom Mike Brown seems intent on giving a significant role in this journey), and while this team might be playing at close to a championship level already, there’s always room for improvement.
So in the spirit of the new year, here are five resolutions I thought might be helpful.
Jalen Brunson: Hold the line
Jalen Brunson doesn’t need to be Jrue Holiday on defense. He doesn’t even need to be Deuce McBride. He just needs to be respectable.
But we’ve seen plenty of defensively challenged guards reach new levels in the postseason over the years - guys like Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, Jamal Murray and even Tyrese Haliburton last season. A modicum of resistance can sometimes be the difference in these games, and we know from past performance that JB is capable of leveling up.
He hasn’t done so on that end of the court this season. New York is 11.3 points per 100 possessions worse on defense when Brunson plays this season, good for the 3rd percentile league-wide according to Cleaning the Glass.
But the games that matter the most are still months away. When the time comes, he needs to be ready.
