00:00Stopwatch, Knicks defense murred in slump since cup win.
00:04First and foremost, Happy New Year's everybody.
00:06And the Knicks don't need to be on this whole
00:08new year, new Knicks BS, like a lot of us
00:11with the whole new year, new me BS.
00:13And we all know because that only lasts a couple of weeks.
00:16Dry January, hitting the gym,
00:18not picking up the phone with that hotline bling.
00:21Come on, real ones know what I'm talking about.
00:23The only 2026 resolution for the New York Knicks
00:27is to bring the city a championship.
00:30The offense is there.
00:31The bench has been absolutely phenomenal.
00:34The different rotations and clutch moments
00:36for Mike Brown has completely worked out.
00:39And of course we continue to get late game heroics
00:41by Captain Clutch.
00:43All of that, carry all of that into the new year.
00:46Outside of a major injury to a Jalen Brunson or injuries,
00:50the only thing that can stop this team
00:52from getting out of the East and winning a championship
00:55is its defense, man.
00:57This is what needs to change for the Knicks in 2026,
01:00because I feel like Mike Brown only has one infinity stone
01:04left to collect.
01:05And that's the consistency on the defensive side of the ball.
01:08It's nothing to panic about right now.
01:10I got some numbers for you.
01:11They've been, what, top 10 in the league all season,
01:14only giving up 112 and a half points per 100 possessions
01:18with a defensive rating of 116.
01:20And that rates them, what, middle of the pack in the NBA, 16th.
01:24Compare that to last season's 114.3 defensive rating, it's not terrible.
01:29But ever since that daggone NBA cup championship, for some reason,
01:34they've just been one of the NBA's weaker units with a 120.9 rating.
01:38Now Mitchell Robinson, as you guys know, hasn't played consistently.
01:42So you imagine that there'll be a lot stronger on the defensive side when he's in the lineup full-time,
01:49and they're playing games that count.
01:51But they've also been hit with some injuries.
01:53But if there's no panic, that means there are no excuses.
01:56Giving up 41 points in the fourth quarter,
01:58and the lead to the Spurs to snap the three-game win streak,
02:02and all the defensive bad habits we've seen recently,
02:05leave those in 2025.
02:06The Knicks are back in action, back at the Garden tonight.
02:10So head on over to newyorkpost.com slash sports
02:13to stay up to date with all the breaking news and information.
Comments