94 replies on “2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Magic”
Ugly first quarter. Let’s hope the floodgates open posthaste
Thanks Brian! Let’s go Knicks!
Yabu game?
Take that you Yabu haters!
Orlando is picking off passes we were making against other teams
They have their hands in every passing lane. Pretty impressive.
This is worse offense than anything under Thibs.
Orlando shoots the most most free throws per game of any team in the NBA and they are getting fouled again this game
The reffing has been atrocious
I said rock fight. Maybe I’ll raise that to a fight fight.
If they don’t start calling fouls, this could get ugly.
29.4 percent chance to win this game
make that 26.7 percent
a loss would still have us on a 52-win pace
clarkson will come in and fix everything
up to an 11.07-assist pace
It feels like when we score a basket it’s some kind of blessing.
This does not look like our night.
That was some awful D
Contrary to what Novack just said, Knicks are not getting good looks
I don’t know, Bo, I was just thinking these are mostly good looking 3PAs.
We’re going to come back in the second half but this one has been so bad that it left me pining for Landry fucking Shamet
Knicks had more pts. in the first quarter last night than they might have at the half tonight.
Is this even the same team that played in these jerseys last night? wtf?
Just a horrible game. Brunson over-dribbling, everyone else just standing around, passes getting picked off, no rebounding.
And yeah, Orlando playing smothering defense. While we’re playing turnstile defense.
We’re on pace for 40+ 3’s, so there’s that!
This is like watching a caveman beat an astronaut.
1
But have we had even one catch-and-shoot three?
Both teams are playing physical, but it looks and sound like they’re smacking us alot harder than we are smacking them. It feels like Bad Boys vs 90’s Knicks..and we know which team was being more dirty
Brunson going hero mode in the very first possession was not a good sign.
Say what you want about Thibs, he wouldn’t be grinning like a clown at something one of the Magic said to him with the game going like this.
Just wondering what the game thread would look like if Thibs were on the sidelines instead of Brown…
I think Brunson was playing a lot of hero ball because Orlando was single teaming him and covering other Knicks well.
People would be wondering why all five starters have played 24 minutes this half…
Back to backs are a bitch
Hubie, it appeared to me that most attempts were contested( especially in 2nd qtr)-way more than in previous games. In any event, the 2nd half will be a test of mettle. How do they respond to the physical thrashing the Magic doled out.
Maybe the back to back is bothering them a little, but being home both nights should mitigate that a bit.
Brunson’s defense has been noticeably bad tonight.
Giving up 62 points at halftime against a team that’s been struggling on offense, not shooting well from 3 tonight and blowing possessions with TOs is not impressive defense.
The Knicks +/- for players with positive +/-:
minus 10
Magic getting more shots( and shooting better) due to more offensive rebounds and more Knick turnovers. In a sense beating Knicks at their own game.
Back to backs are a bitch
I imagine it’s 5x worse against the Magic when they’ve decided to punch you in the mouth and the refs are going to allow it.
My guess (hope) is the Knicks realized this is going to take a lot of effort and saved it for the second half.
Suggs is a cocky little fucker
That play where Bridges had to choose between Bane in the corner or Suggs at the elbow and chose Suggs hurt me.
I like the way we’re hanging around, and not with a 3pt barrage.
Franz Wagner just flat-out cooked OG on that drive.
With Banchero out, no excuse not to make a serious run here
Well that was a very ugly five-point swing.
Well there goes that comeback
Mike Brown chose a weird night to shorten the rotation.
Watching an exhausted Brunson miss a bunny followed by an exuberant Suggs skip up the court kinda says it all.
I wonder how many times Mike Brown is going to mention in the postgame that they didn’t spray the ball…
Can you imagine what folks would be saying if Clarkson had a quarter like Brunson is having?
Well we shaved 2 points off their halftime lead
Deuce not in Brown’s circle of trust
lol I was thinking the same thing, d-mar. All that work to cut it to 18.
KAT: 8 points on 10 shots
Mikal: 6 points on 7 shots
Hart: 5 points on 8 shots
That’s better!
Just have to figure out a way to stop Franz.
Two huge buckets by Black
These broken whistles are driving me nuts. I don’t mind the physical play, but even in letting that go, the refs still missed too many fouls and travels by Orlando. SO many travels
And two bad TOs by Deuce.
Still hanging around…
Jesus, Deuce.
Ban back 2 backs . It provides low quality ball which is why you see so many players nowadays not even suit up on the second night
A little small ball here with Brunson Deuce and Clarkson.
EDIT: and now it’s done. This may be my least favorite Brown game.
Damn, needed you there OG…
Ban back 2 backs . It provides low quality ball
LOL..normally I’d agree with the way the squad is playing, but B2B’s are fine- I just think today’s athletes aren’t really built for it thanks to more specialized training. Weren’t there even some back to back to back’s in the 80’s and 90’s?
Deuce not in Brown’s circle of trust
happy to stand corrected
This game is a mess on both ends.
Suggs doing his best Trae impersonation
Suggs hit that three for the sake of the blog.
The Anthony Black Game
Worst loss of the season.
Glad we play Friday so we’ll only have 48 hours to overreact to this loss
1
If we lose again on Friday it’ll be 72 hrs before their next game…
Not Mike Brown’s finest hour…
Rockin’ the assists at 18.
OG took 4 shots. Hart took more shots than Bridges.
Yabu looking conscious. Alert, even.
Are we sure that we’re better than Orlando?
Who knows, but it helps to be rested vs playing 3 games in 4 nights
Too much Brunson on offense and bad overall defense, especially by Brunson. They did a good job on Towns and OG was missing in action. I’m not sure why OG wasn’t involved. I’d have to watch the replay.
Not a very smart Mike Brown game. Leaned too heavily on the starters in the first half, didn’t adjust at halftime, leaned heavily on them again in the 3Q. This was the wrong team and the wrong night to push Jalen Brunson. Clarkson’s here precisely to take these beatings for him. And I like Landry but this seems like a fetish.
Are we sure that we’re better than Orlando?
Or Pistons?
Those are the young teams in the east that had a shot to step up and replace the theoretical wins we’ll get with the decline of Boston and Indiana. Plus there were injured teams in the east last year that tanked that are playing for a playoff or playin spot this year. And the west is arguably stronger than the east. But IMO it’s not going to be offense that is the problem. The defense is not good enough.
The play where Carter injured Brunson looked deliberate and dirty AF.
Knicks are much better than the Magic and Pistons, 2 teams who haven’t even won a single playoff series since last decade. Still doesn’t make tonight’s performance any less embarrassing though.
And the west is arguably stronger than the east.
The West is definitely stronger than the East.
Luckily, the Knicks play in the East, so they’ll only have to play a single Western team in the playoffs.
I had a feeling that a normally physical team would give us hell on the 2nd night of a b2b during a win streak where every win was a blowout. Even still, Suggs and Black don’t normally hit the shots they made, so the fact we lost the way we did is crazy to me. Legs looked shot, and it looked like physicality bothered us when it normally doesn’t. Just a weirdly bad game
Brown pulling a Thibs . Brunson in with the game over ..
The good news is that we play Orlando again next week on 2 full days rest. Then we’ll find out whether it was just being tired or something else. This is all assuming that Brunson is okay.
Didn’t realize not only was it the 2nd of a back to back but also 3rd game in 4 days. Granted Sunday was a joke game where nobody played even 30 mins and all 3 games were at home but still a bit annoying schedule wise.
This was 2nd back to back set for the Knicks and they still haven’t played a team on their 2nd game of a back to back so while the current long home stand is a nice break for the Knicks they haven’t yet had the schedule advantage in a game. Good thing is no more back to backs until next month and the next one has us playing Charlotte at MSG on the 2nd night so that shouldn’t be a problem.
OKC is “light years” ahead of the NBA as Joe Lacob use to say
ESPN getting two rough games
Apparently JB left MSG in a walking boot and crutches.
If thibs left him in with the game over…
It is not just the back to back; it’s the intensity, physicality, and length of Orlando that was bothering us all night long. It is surprising that the team didn’t seem ready for that. Our offense wasn’t good tonight, yet we still scored 107 points. It is our defense that continues to be problematic most of the games so far. Tonight, the Magic were getting to their sets easily and had a ton of open shots. We played just a tad better in the second half in terms of protecting the paint and rebounding, but still not well enough.
Games like this show what kind of team we are. Wins against trash teams like the Nets, Wizards, and Grizzlies show nothing. It’s easy to blow those teams out the way we play.
Overall, this season we had one good win against Minnesota, and a few ugly losses against good teams. It is still early. I am not optimistic, but I am patient.
If thibs left him in with the game over…
Mike Brown isn’t gonna get off any easier. 37 mins (would’ve been 39 if the game stayed close) in the 11th game of the season on the 2nd night of a B2B against a dirty team playing dirty basketball all night was incredibly stupid. (And I repeat: that was a dirty and deliberate foul by Carter that injured Brunson.)
I agree Hubert, if you can find the video check out the smirk on Carter’s face after he fouls him
I didn’t think it was intentional, just reckless. Carter seemed like he was in between trying to get in front of Brunson and then pulling back once he realized he was too late. I’m not aware of him having any history or rep for being a dirty player, so I would give him the benefit of the doubt.
I could also see teams looking at film of this game and trying to rough us up a bit.
I could also see teams looking at film of this game and trying to rough us up a bit.
100%, except I think teams knew that coming in. Not a lot of teams can actually push teams around like Orlando can. This is what Orlando did to Boston in the playoffs, too.
By the way, no way did Brunson do anything more than turn his ankle. He’ll be fine.
94 replies on “2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Magic”
Ugly first quarter. Let’s hope the floodgates open posthaste
Thanks Brian! Let’s go Knicks!
Yabu game?
Take that you Yabu haters!
Orlando is picking off passes we were making against other teams
They have their hands in every passing lane. Pretty impressive.
This is worse offense than anything under Thibs.
Orlando shoots the most most free throws per game of any team in the NBA and they are getting fouled again this game
The reffing has been atrocious
I said rock fight. Maybe I’ll raise that to a fight fight.
If they don’t start calling fouls, this could get ugly.
29.4 percent chance to win this game
make that 26.7 percent
a loss would still have us on a 52-win pace
clarkson will come in and fix everything
up to an 11.07-assist pace
It feels like when we score a basket it’s some kind of blessing.
This does not look like our night.
That was some awful D
Contrary to what Novack just said, Knicks are not getting good looks
I don’t know, Bo, I was just thinking these are mostly good looking 3PAs.
We’re going to come back in the second half but this one has been so bad that it left me pining for Landry fucking Shamet
Knicks had more pts. in the first quarter last night than they might have at the half tonight.
Is this even the same team that played in these jerseys last night? wtf?
Just a horrible game. Brunson over-dribbling, everyone else just standing around, passes getting picked off, no rebounding.
And yeah, Orlando playing smothering defense. While we’re playing turnstile defense.
We’re on pace for 40+ 3’s, so there’s that!
This is like watching a caveman beat an astronaut.
But have we had even one catch-and-shoot three?
Both teams are playing physical, but it looks and sound like they’re smacking us alot harder than we are smacking them. It feels like Bad Boys vs 90’s Knicks..and we know which team was being more dirty
Brunson going hero mode in the very first possession was not a good sign.
Say what you want about Thibs, he wouldn’t be grinning like a clown at something one of the Magic said to him with the game going like this.
Just wondering what the game thread would look like if Thibs were on the sidelines instead of Brown…
I think Brunson was playing a lot of hero ball because Orlando was single teaming him and covering other Knicks well.
People would be wondering why all five starters have played 24 minutes this half…
Back to backs are a bitch
Hubie, it appeared to me that most attempts were contested( especially in 2nd qtr)-way more than in previous games. In any event, the 2nd half will be a test of mettle. How do they respond to the physical thrashing the Magic doled out.
Maybe the back to back is bothering them a little, but being home both nights should mitigate that a bit.
Brunson’s defense has been noticeably bad tonight.
Giving up 62 points at halftime against a team that’s been struggling on offense, not shooting well from 3 tonight and blowing possessions with TOs is not impressive defense.
The Knicks +/- for players with positive +/-:
minus 10
Magic getting more shots( and shooting better) due to more offensive rebounds and more Knick turnovers. In a sense beating Knicks at their own game.
I imagine it’s 5x worse against the Magic when they’ve decided to punch you in the mouth and the refs are going to allow it.
My guess (hope) is the Knicks realized this is going to take a lot of effort and saved it for the second half.
Suggs is a cocky little fucker
That play where Bridges had to choose between Bane in the corner or Suggs at the elbow and chose Suggs hurt me.
I like the way we’re hanging around, and not with a 3pt barrage.
Franz Wagner just flat-out cooked OG on that drive.
With Banchero out, no excuse not to make a serious run here
Well that was a very ugly five-point swing.
Well there goes that comeback
Mike Brown chose a weird night to shorten the rotation.
Watching an exhausted Brunson miss a bunny followed by an exuberant Suggs skip up the court kinda says it all.
I wonder how many times Mike Brown is going to mention in the postgame that they didn’t spray the ball…
Can you imagine what folks would be saying if Clarkson had a quarter like Brunson is having?
Well we shaved 2 points off their halftime lead
Deuce not in Brown’s circle of trust
lol I was thinking the same thing, d-mar. All that work to cut it to 18.
KAT: 8 points on 10 shots
Mikal: 6 points on 7 shots
Hart: 5 points on 8 shots
That’s better!
Just have to figure out a way to stop Franz.
Two huge buckets by Black
These broken whistles are driving me nuts. I don’t mind the physical play, but even in letting that go, the refs still missed too many fouls and travels by Orlando. SO many travels
And two bad TOs by Deuce.
Still hanging around…
Jesus, Deuce.
Ban back 2 backs . It provides low quality ball which is why you see so many players nowadays not even suit up on the second night
A little small ball here with Brunson Deuce and Clarkson.
EDIT: and now it’s done. This may be my least favorite Brown game.
Damn, needed you there OG…
LOL..normally I’d agree with the way the squad is playing, but B2B’s are fine- I just think today’s athletes aren’t really built for it thanks to more specialized training. Weren’t there even some back to back to back’s in the 80’s and 90’s?
happy to stand corrected
This game is a mess on both ends.
Suggs doing his best Trae impersonation
Suggs hit that three for the sake of the blog.
The Anthony Black Game
Worst loss of the season.
Glad we play Friday so we’ll only have 48 hours to overreact to this loss
If we lose again on Friday it’ll be 72 hrs before their next game…
Not Mike Brown’s finest hour…
Rockin’ the assists at 18.
OG took 4 shots. Hart took more shots than Bridges.
Yabu looking conscious. Alert, even.
Are we sure that we’re better than Orlando?
Who knows, but it helps to be rested vs playing 3 games in 4 nights
Too much Brunson on offense and bad overall defense, especially by Brunson. They did a good job on Towns and OG was missing in action. I’m not sure why OG wasn’t involved. I’d have to watch the replay.
Not a very smart Mike Brown game. Leaned too heavily on the starters in the first half, didn’t adjust at halftime, leaned heavily on them again in the 3Q. This was the wrong team and the wrong night to push Jalen Brunson. Clarkson’s here precisely to take these beatings for him. And I like Landry but this seems like a fetish.
Or Pistons?
Those are the young teams in the east that had a shot to step up and replace the theoretical wins we’ll get with the decline of Boston and Indiana. Plus there were injured teams in the east last year that tanked that are playing for a playoff or playin spot this year. And the west is arguably stronger than the east. But IMO it’s not going to be offense that is the problem. The defense is not good enough.
The play where Carter injured Brunson looked deliberate and dirty AF.
Knicks are much better than the Magic and Pistons, 2 teams who haven’t even won a single playoff series since last decade. Still doesn’t make tonight’s performance any less embarrassing though.
The West is definitely stronger than the East.
Luckily, the Knicks play in the East, so they’ll only have to play a single Western team in the playoffs.
I had a feeling that a normally physical team would give us hell on the 2nd night of a b2b during a win streak where every win was a blowout. Even still, Suggs and Black don’t normally hit the shots they made, so the fact we lost the way we did is crazy to me. Legs looked shot, and it looked like physicality bothered us when it normally doesn’t. Just a weirdly bad game
Brown pulling a Thibs . Brunson in with the game over ..
The good news is that we play Orlando again next week on 2 full days rest. Then we’ll find out whether it was just being tired or something else. This is all assuming that Brunson is okay.
Didn’t realize not only was it the 2nd of a back to back but also 3rd game in 4 days. Granted Sunday was a joke game where nobody played even 30 mins and all 3 games were at home but still a bit annoying schedule wise.
This was 2nd back to back set for the Knicks and they still haven’t played a team on their 2nd game of a back to back so while the current long home stand is a nice break for the Knicks they haven’t yet had the schedule advantage in a game. Good thing is no more back to backs until next month and the next one has us playing Charlotte at MSG on the 2nd night so that shouldn’t be a problem.
OKC is “light years” ahead of the NBA as Joe Lacob use to say
ESPN getting two rough games
Apparently JB left MSG in a walking boot and crutches.
If thibs left him in with the game over…
It is not just the back to back; it’s the intensity, physicality, and length of Orlando that was bothering us all night long. It is surprising that the team didn’t seem ready for that. Our offense wasn’t good tonight, yet we still scored 107 points. It is our defense that continues to be problematic most of the games so far. Tonight, the Magic were getting to their sets easily and had a ton of open shots. We played just a tad better in the second half in terms of protecting the paint and rebounding, but still not well enough.
Games like this show what kind of team we are. Wins against trash teams like the Nets, Wizards, and Grizzlies show nothing. It’s easy to blow those teams out the way we play.
Overall, this season we had one good win against Minnesota, and a few ugly losses against good teams. It is still early. I am not optimistic, but I am patient.
Mike Brown isn’t gonna get off any easier. 37 mins (would’ve been 39 if the game stayed close) in the 11th game of the season on the 2nd night of a B2B against a dirty team playing dirty basketball all night was incredibly stupid. (And I repeat: that was a dirty and deliberate foul by Carter that injured Brunson.)
I agree Hubert, if you can find the video check out the smirk on Carter’s face after he fouls him
I didn’t think it was intentional, just reckless. Carter seemed like he was in between trying to get in front of Brunson and then pulling back once he realized he was too late. I’m not aware of him having any history or rep for being a dirty player, so I would give him the benefit of the doubt.
I could also see teams looking at film of this game and trying to rough us up a bit.
100%, except I think teams knew that coming in. Not a lot of teams can actually push teams around like Orlando can. This is what Orlando did to Boston in the playoffs, too.
By the way, no way did Brunson do anything more than turn his ankle. He’ll be fine.