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2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Mavericks – MLK Day

It’s kind of weird how MLK Day has become this big, like, EVENT for the NBA. I liked it better when it was this more serious tribute by a handful of teams, like the Knicks. But hey, at least the Knicks still play on it.

They’re playing a shitty Mavericks team, so they really need to win this one.

Let’s go, Knicks!

Happy MLK Day, everyone!

Here’s my old article on how the Knicks played the first game in NBA history with only Black players.

202 replies on “2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Mavericks – MLK Day”

Knicks playing spirited, Mikal running like he read Knickerblogger earlier, can’t make a bunny to save our lives, and yeah, I found it on Hulu.

You’d think that they’d come out high energy. This team is too inside its own collective heads

Much like the NBA on Christmas, which is another tradition the Knicks invented, I believe if you create something you should get to keep it.

The Knicks didn’t invent MLK Day hoops. David Stearns did and the first nationally televised game on MLK day was 1986 Atlanta vs the Bucks. More faux NYC centricism.

Don Nelson alienated every player on his roster except Mase and Hubert Davis yet he had more control of his team than Mike Brown currently has.

“The Knicks didn’t invent MLK Day hoops. David Stearns did and the first nationally televised game on MLK day was 1986 Atlanta vs the Bucks. More faux NYC centricism.”

david stearns the exec for the mets invented mlk day hoops seems unlikely

Clarkson struggling to get the ball over a 6’1″ Brandon Williams is a pretty good summary of where he’s at. Nice steal though.

Knicks have their 4 best perimeter defenders on the floor right now and are still getting torched.

I don’t know how a team that is trying can look so bad on defense.

Something is totally broken.

So who’s the JVG on the Knicks bench who can take over for Brown like JVG took over for Don Nelson?

Once again, the team looks totally helpless. At least Fizdale had the excuse that there was no talent on the roster. What’s the excuse now?

This is actually pathetic. Something has got to change because we are in absolutely in free fall as a team.

My solution? Nuke Towns from orbit.

Cooper Flagg is going to be a better all around player than Doncic. It’s hard to believe how much better he got in just half a season.

The conspiracy theorist in me sees a mutiny in real time to get this guy fired….

The rangers did it last year and it worked….

Dolan only has so much patience

Trade towns, trade bridges. Fire Brown. Forget about this season and regroup for next year.

What a fucking joke to fire Thibs.

If they don’t show some signs of life in the 3rd quarter Brown should take all the starters out and play the deep bench players the rest of the way.

Sure we can bring back Thibs and not win playoff series we should win. No problem. Good solution

It will probably never happen, but I would have loved to seen this Mavs at 100% healthy.

This transition defense—especially the three point defense—should lead to trades on principle alone.

yeah…the “thibs woulda got’er done” mantra is pretty shaky…this roster is drek…

Funny thing is the rangers just issued their 2nd “we’re gonna retool/rebuild” letter to the fans in the last 8 yrs…and the GM is likely keeping his job….I think Rose is the one who loses his job this summer and the knikcs probably will stil make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs whereas the rangers might pick no 1 overall…

if they lose this by 30…i could see brown getting canned tomorrow…let mo cheeks coach them the rest of the year

Fuck James Dolan. Choosing the feelings of a few players over the culture Thibs had created. How the fuck you gonna fire the guy who got your farther than your team has gone since the turn of the century?

Choosing the feelings of a few players over the culture Thibs had created.

If you fire that coach, you better bring in someone who is as good or better. Instead, they hired their fifth or six option.

It’s not Thibs and it’s not Brown. Our highest paid player is playing sub replacement-level basketball and there are some absolutely putrid vibes that are making us less than the sum of our parts. Those are the two primary contributors to what we’re seeing. We can at least control for the towns issue by trading him. And we can trade Yabu and a young guy for someone with the ability to run down the court. That’s all I’ve got.

The entire team looks unprepared time after time, and we only hope to get hot from behind the arc. It’s been going on forever.

The Knicks have officially forgotten how to play basketball. This is painful to watch. This recent stretch has me almost fearing for Brown’s job

I didn’t realize the game was on MSG and have been enduring Reggie Miller’s schtick, making things even more painful.

I’d rather watch McCullar/Kolek/Diawara brick 3s the entire 2nd half than this garbage

Our highest paid player is playing sub replacement-level basketball

Our two highest paid players are.

It feels like OG quit playing defense out of protest.

1

I can’t believe we started this season 23-9…

That was fugazi. We were playing mostly crappy teams and split with teams mid-level or above.

Wow even I couldn’t predict a collapse like this.

I actually thought we might have our best team ever back when our SRS was like 8+!

This is looking like we might actually have the worst team of the 2020s.

We’re getting mauled on our home floor by a 17-25 team and the looks on the players’ faces is that they couldn’t give a crap.

Fans should boo the shit out of them.

I can’t believe we started this season 23-9…

About to be 2-9 in our last 11

That was fugazi. We were playing mostly crappy teams and split with teams mid-level or above.

We had SRS over 8 which we have never had in our history for a full season and never had at any point last year…

OG has been bad but has not even been in the same galaxy of bad as KAT, who single handedly brings our offense and defense to a screeching halt.

It’s important to be clear-eyed about what the deepest problems of this team are. OG isn’t one of them. KAT is.

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Putrid in every metric of the game. Being outrebounded by a team without its centers is inexcusable.

Thought Brown would be given the entire season . I’m not sure now. His team is not responding to him at all

That has left me speechless. I’d say it really can’t get any worse, but I’ve been saying that about a lot of things and being proven wrong almost daily, so I’ll just say I hope we come out of the half with a bit of fire.

Does make me wonder what Brown says to them before each game. “Be soft! Don’t chase the ball! Never block out! Don’t get hurt guarding your man!”

Also we’re shooting 19% from three and they’re shooting 55%.

would like to be in that locker room now and see what’s going down….

i would 2nd mike malone…..its pretty clear a new voice is needed…they essentially have quit on this guy

Michael Malone should be the Knicks head coach for the next game on Wednesday.

You’ve had worse ideas…

Malone is Thibs-like, with the exception that he likes throwing his players under the bus. Not sure this would work in New York.

Adelman seems to get more out of the others than Malone

Malone wouldn’t be my choice

Does make me wonder what Brown says to them before each game. “Be soft! Don’t chase the ball! Never block out! Don’t get hurt guarding your man!”

And don’t forget, make sure to kick the guy guarding you in the balls while shooting threes!

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Z-Man I was gonna list a random coach just to say something stupid but then I thought about trying to make a somewhat realistic option!

New York Basketball

@NBA_NewYork
The last time the Knicks were down this much at the half was 2019 and this was their starting lineup:

Mario Hezonja
Damyean Dotson
Kevin Knox
Lance Thomas
Mitchell Robinson

Fuck James Dolan. Choosing the feelings of a few players over the culture Thibs had created. How the fuck you gonna fire the guy who got your farther than your team has gone since the turn of the century?

One player. Used to like him a lot, but dude is soft as Charmin.

There’s no serious sense in which this team’s crap defense is only on the shoulders of JB and KAT.

You know what’s going to happen

Dolan is going to hold a team meeting post game and ask if he should call Thibs..

Team needs to get back to the simple fundamentals of building things around its two multiple-time all-NBA players.

Mike Brown miserably failed this indispensable threshold test.

There was no need in any way, shape, or form to depart from that broad strokes template.

No way Brown is going anywhere. 4 years for 40 million and they are also paying Thibs. If there is an issue between the players and Brown, something will have to change, but it won’t be Brown after such a controversial firing of Thibs.

I think there are dozens of players in the NBA who would go 8-9 from three if they weren’t guarded.

No way Brown is going anywhere. 4 years for 40 million and they are also paying Thibs. If there is an issue between the players and Brown, something will have to change, but it won’t be Brown after such a controversial firing of Thibs.

Dolan doesn’t like hearing the fans Boo . He will surely fire Brown if this doesn’t get cleaned up . He knows this roster can work just fine cause he saw it last season

Dolan also isn’t worried as much about his wallet as some other billionaires

Put it Guerschon Yabusele
#28
Pacome Dadiet
#4
Mohamed Diawara
#51
Ariel Hukporti
#55
Tyler Kolek
for the balance of the game

I have a new theory,

Brown has used TOO MANY lineups and made too many changes to the minutes allocations, especially given the injuries. I suspect everyone is out of sync. I think he should probably go back to a fixed rotation for awhile using 9 players and focus less on experimenting and matchups.

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When you laugh it up with Green post game”

You start to lose some respect ..

Because while they’ve been playing bad, this is szero effort

KAT has a better percentage on shots to Powell’s face and junk than actual shot attempts

1

I don’t think OG is a “deep” problem, Silky. But I do think his lack of defensive impact over the last few weeks is very conspicuous.

I’m reading tea leaves but I think something happened when KAT sat out that game against Atlanta with a mysterious illness. We followed that up with a loss at home to the Sixers and then the dam burst in Detroit.

This isn’t a slump. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

1

OG might be tired of covering for the entire teams defense

The other defender plays half a season and rarely gets enough floor time with him – Mitch

1

But I do think his lack of defensive impact over the last few weeks is very conspicuous.

Other than for a few weeks when he first got here, he’s never been as advertised on defense. His best on-camera, on-ball moments are very good, but other than that … meh.

This isn’t a slump. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Send them all to Greenland

Teams look to attack

Brunson and Towns

“Man what is OG doing”

The truth is those other two are clueless on that end

Jokic and Murray got all the way to the top because Jokic is the best player in the sport

January 19, 2026 at 18:47
I wonder if Dolan and Rose are at this game?

Not at the game , see the models but no dolan

Hubert, I think we agree then: pretty much everyone not named Mitchell Robinson has been bad this stretch, and a lot of it seems effort driven (Deuce excepted). Like, players are literally just leaving shooters in trotting distance open in the corner and letting guys waltz to the basket in transition. While I think OG is just going through a normal slump, it wouldn’t be surprising to me if anyone/everyone on the team were dogging it. It smells like shit in Denmark at the moment.

1

If you put these 3 on the market

Towns
OG
Mikal

Towns would get the least amount of bids

1

Hubert, I think we agree then: pretty much everyone not named Mitchell Robinson has been bad this stretch

Deuce has been fine . Not in this game , but he has given the team enough in his minutes

All the Knicks beat writers are tweeting that Dolan hasn’t returned to his seat since halftime.

No prediction at all, but Dolan doesn’t care a whit about the money it would cost to move on.

That’s not what I meant by conspicuous, E.

I think OG’s been holding up the defense like Atlas, and when KAT decided to tank the offense OG might have responded in kind.

“No prediction at all, but Dolan doesn’t care a whit about the money it would cost to move on.”

I think he would care at least one whit, maybe two…

Everyone ready for the fake comeback?

I don’t even think that’s happening. Which is probably for the better, let em get completely humiliated

Instead of Don Nelson maybe this season is more like Stu Jackson’s with Mark Jackson playing the role of KAT.

Prediction- Dolan brings Brown to his office postgame for a 1 on 1 meeting and is waiting on the game to finish or it’s a meeting where the players talk about their issues with the coach.

or it’s a meeting where the players talk about their issues with the coach

I’d bet $100 KAT would talk about his issues with Brown and every other player would talk about their issues with KAT.

1

I’d bet $100 KAT would talk about his issues with Brown and every other player would talk about their issues with KAT.

I could see that . Definitely some people on this team that don’t like him. I know OG doesn’t , but not sure he would speak up

we coulda been contenda’s….

can someone send me the link to the “donnie walsh guide to sports fandom”?

1

Kat seems fine as a person but just dumb and uncoordinated as a player like the tallest 8th grader who just had a growth spurt and doesn’t know what to do with all the extra height

2

None of this is to say I exonerate Brown. He spent all that time developing the end of the bench, and today would have been a good day to turn to guys like Kolek, Diawarra, Huk, and McCullar for a spark.

1

can someone send me the link to the “donnie walsh guide to sports fandom”?

Step 1 – move to southern California

Step 2 – stay there… the rest will come

1

I did want to watch this game as I felt it might be a watershed moment, but boy was my feeling accurate in a way I wasn’t expecting.

good news: never been on the peacock app before and found some cool stuff to watch…

bad news: tuned in at halftime during the game and saw the score, then saw some replay of a timeout, without the coaches, listened to the peacock halftime crew seem sort of shocked…

good news: watching this movie called ‘my son’ with james mcavoy wherein the lead isn’t shown the script prior to shooting…interesting thing…

bad news: the knicks are in free fall, some of the players (KAT, OG, not sure who else) are sending a loud message…

good news: better that this situation gets sorted sooner than later and they (leon and the front office) can get to fixing it…

I was always skeptical about this coach and I admit that our record does not surprise me at all. That we would be playing that bad and look so helpless in late January is what I didn’t expect. It’s jaw-dropping.

Even Melo is screaming about the body language. You can see there are problems looking at the effort, facial expressions and body language. Players are not happy with their roles, touches, teammates, system or something.

I said it earlier, but I think it’s time to stop experimenting with lineup changes. I think set lineups, minutes and roles are what’s required now. Brown can always tinker here or there or go deeper when there are injuries, but I think it’s time to start over with some structure.

On offense the focus has to be on ball movement and on defense effort.

mike brown thinks hes the “great” larry brown circa 2005-2006 who started 16 different players and got fired after one season at 23-59 melo didnt really seem to be screaming he was pretty calm about it

Besides the 3 point defense well noted, the Knicks terribleness in getting back in transition or scoring in transition has been a long term issue. Brunson plays slow and Hart is really the only guy looking to get out for easy buckets .

We have hit the Plaxico shooting himself stage of the Knicks season. Let me know when Harbaugh opens up mini-camp.

Tmac with the quote of the night

If I don’t like you why am I playing hard”

TMAC and Melo were pretty much spot on.

They haven’t been moving the ball and playing unselfishly for the last few weeks. That has lead to frustration, bad body language, bad facial expressions and then the killer of less effort.

1

Games like tonight the fans should get a refund. The players get a nice check for zero effort.

Thibs teams don’t do this. The coach is losing the squad

Thibs can command a locker room. Mike Brown hasn’t got the buy in from day one.

Problem is Mitch missses a bunch of games so that lineup will get switched up all the time.

Why are you guys so obsessed with Thibs? Are you related to him? This guy may not be doing job but there was still a reason he was fired.

2

@krispursiainen

Mike Brown:

“What bothers me is those three areas in the first half, and in the second half with no changes at all in terms of X’s and O’s, we go and do what we’re supposed to do. That’s what bothers me”

Is he the head coach?

He was fired because of Bridges. Bridges should answer back and play like a star..

Some players might not have liked Thibs or didn’t agree with his decisions. But they respected him and if you played for him, you played hard bc if you didn’t, you didn’t play. And he fucking hated losing above all else. People made fun of him for squeezing out “meaningless” regular season wins but no win is fucking meaningless. And losses aren’t meaningless either bc winning and losing is contagious. It’s a habit and a mindset.

Say this is culture rah rah bullshit all you want but there’s a reason why the heat are never really bad. Culture matters.

Dolan got cute and thought he could fire the guy who built that culture and just sprinkle some modern offense in too and, voila, championship. But Brown is the fucking music man. A go along to get along guy. He talks a good game and says the right things and, gosh, I’m sure some of the players think he’s a real swell guy.

We fucked u firing Thibs and now we’re getting our comeuppances karmically.

Because the team tires out their guys and lost to lower teams three times. You can’t be this dense

They lost to a team that if their star player doesn’t down with an Injury they might be the champions

Will Mike Browns rested Knicks win one series?

Say this is culture rah rah bullshit all you want but there’s a reason why the heat are never really bad. Culture matters.

The culture turned on him and got him fired.

Maybe the coach didn’t make the culture.

Maybe the players we had were just built like that, and you attributed their mentality to the coach without cause.

Maybe when you replace Randle and Donte and Hartenstein with guys like KAT and Bridges, the culture is gone.

I had no idea there was a game today.

Seems like the team may have shared my confusion…

Glad the AO is on. I’ll check back in Feb.

Thibs was fired, it seemed, for not beating a better team in the ECF after beating a better team in the EC semis. That’s life in NY I guess, but the idea that Mike Brown would take this team to places otherwise impossible was always kind of funny.

I am the resident coaches don’t matter poster here, but I do feel like Thibs is maybe one of a small handful of guys who can seem to make lemonade.

Steve Popper:

“The Knicks have spoken with Orlando, Charlotte, and Memphis about potential Towns trades.”

@NBA_NewYork
The last time the Knicks were down this much at the half was 2019 and this was their starting lineup:

Mario Hezonja
Damyean Dotson
Kevin Knox
Lance Thomas
Mitchell Robinson

Every time I think of Kevin Knox, I throw up in my mouth a little bit.

When Knox was drafted by the Knicks in 2018, the next two picks on the board were Mikal Bridges and then SGA.

(And, yeah, I know everyone on this board knows that fact…)

Michael Pina has a piece in The Ringer on the seven most disappointing players this year, and JJJ is one of them. I thought a number of them didn’t deserve top seven, but interesting to see JJJ singled out regardless.

Oddly enough, no Knick made it on. Early yet, though.

I’d link to the article but I always send people to my wedding album…

I made the mistake of watching the Pistons Celtics game tonight. Great game, just ended.

Both of those teams seem to want it a lot more, and are in prime shape in mid-January. Ugh.

Boston almost won that game and Derrick white made 1 shot…

That Boston roster isn’t that impressive . Mazzula has the ear of the locker room though and uses his roster properly.

Luka Garza – couldn’t cut it in the NBA. Becomes useful

Simons- losing player. Becomes part of winning

Queta- who?

Sam Hauser- bad defender somehow starting and helping . Been playing around 30 minutes a night recently.

I actually love it. This is great. Going through this type of adversity will either make them unbeatable in the playoffs or it will break down the entire house of cards by February 5th.

Need multiple team meetings tomorrow. Cancel practice.

Let’s see if they have champoinship caliber character or if they let their emotions & fears get the best of them, point fingers and fold like a cheap suit.

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@Krisplashed

Asked Josh Hart if he thinks the Knicks’ flaws are personnel or scheme driven. He said 100% personnel. He said the players need to look themselves in the mirror and, most importantly, “be professional.”

Hmmm, only thing Hart forgot was the name of the who he’s taking about

Towns making the All-Star team while the Knicks apparently try desperately to trade him is really quite funny. It’s been a while since we’ve had a truly Knicksy situation, and that really feels like one, right?

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