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Game Thread: Knicks vs. Suns, January 17, 2026 – Posting & Toasting
How to watch Suns vs. Knicks: TV channel and streaming options for January 17 – The Athletic – The New York Times
Knicks run out of gas in fourth quarter of 106-99 loss to Suns – SNY
Suns 106, Knicks 99: Not even home can’t fix them woes – Posting & Toasting
Suns 106-99 Knicks (Jan 17, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN
Knicks Injury Tracker: Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson ruled out vs. Suns – SNY
The Run.down Knicks vs Suns Postgame Show – The Strickland
New York Knicks Mid Season Report: Contenders or Pretenders? | Knicks Weekly – Knicks Fan TV
MidSeason Review Starting 5 – Knick of Time
Licking Our Wounds | KFS Weekly Recap | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
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72 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.01.19)”
I just gotta say..
Did anyone see that Caleb Williams throw yesterday?? SHEEEEEESH! Brought back memories of a young Elway, Vick, Cunningham, or Favre. That was incredible!
Anyways..
Anyone here other than me nervous about today? This is a game that we should win fairly easily even without Brunson and Hart, as Flagg isn’t at the point where he can carry the Mavs…yet. But with the way our squad has been struggling to adjust and sustain the right level of play, I’m a little worried
I know this isn’t the way sports actually work, or even should work. But a part of me got to the end of that game and thought that once Williams made that throw, the Bears should have automatically advanced to the NFC championship game. Just doesn’t feel right that such a play should occur in a loss.
My feeling about the throw was how the heck was that guy wide open in the corner? Two guys back with nothing to do but guard him and no one was within five yards.
Apparently he may have pushed off.
Great throw though.
There isn’t any easy winning for this team right now. This could be an easy loss if we keep putting in same effort
Felt similarly when Deuce McBride stuffed Siakim’s dunk at the rim in game 1. Alas.
Expected Lineup
PG B. Williams
SG Max Christie
SF C. Flagg Ques
PF Naji Marshall
C Dwight Powell
MAY NOT PLAY
F C. Flagg Ques
C A. Davis Out
C D. Gafford Out
G K. Irving Out
G D. Russell Out
F P. Washington Out
Expected Lineup
PG J. Brunson Ques
SG J. Hart Ques
SF Mikal Bridges
PF OG Anunoby
C K. Towns
MAY NOT PLAY
G J. Brunson Ques
F J. Hart Ques
even with the raptors loss to the lakers with ayton going 10-10 we are still closer to the 4th seed than to the 2nd seed
While the last second play was marvelous (I’ve never seen a QB make a successful throw running for his life 30 yards behind the line of scrimmage) how on earth did TWO defenders lose track of a 6’5″ tight end on 4th down?
His 3 interceptions (two of which were awful throws/decisions) were decisive in the game.
It just goes to show how equanimity is such an important quality in a QB.
Both of these guys (Mikal & KAT) have been incredible disruptors, and I would give anything to go back to the vibes we had before they showed up. They each make the Knicks less fun and I’m growing tired of watching them.
Love everyone else, though.
Yeah I’m not very high on Mikal. I thought we were getting something more. He’s very disappointing and if anything keeps us from really competing it’s that trade
Yeah, as a bears fan, that game pretty much summed up the season. Miracle end-of-game plays were bountiful, but the regular downs during the game were often disappointing. I think he’ll pull it all together next year, though. They have a great coach/qb combo… just need a better pass rush.
Other than the vibes, Mikal’s game is possibly the thing that annoys me the most in the team. Whenever he has a clean lane with one defender, and pulls up for a midway fadeaway, I want to throw something at the TV. There were also a number of plays in which he could have gone for a 50-50 ball and just avoids contact. For all his flaws, I’d much rather watch Hart.
If you just look at the short-term consequences of that trade, they’re pretty stark. Making it capped us at 2nd apron, which forced a lot of the bad moves we made in the ‘24 draft (like all the trade downs to get cheaper players, and drafting Dadiet bc he was willing to take 80%).
There’s no telling who we would have taken if we’d just taken a normal approach to the 24th, 25th, and 38th picks, but there were a lot of good players available, and this front office seems to draft pretty well in the 2nd round, which indicates to me that Walt Perrin is actually doing a really good job, and when they give up the cap shenanigans and just draft the highest player on his board we have good results.
We also gave up the 19th & 25th picks in the 2025 draft.
Honestly those 5 picks alone might be worth more than Bridges right now. Hell AJ Mitchell (who we drafted at 38 and traded to OKC) is probably worth more than Mikal Bridges right now.
I say this not to kill Leon for the past. Everyone knows I liked the trade, and DRed will remind you in case you forgot. But I also changed my mind within a month of seeing who Mikal really is and how he actually fits here, and I don’t believe we need to be handcuffed by the sunk cost.
If I woke up tomorrow and found out Leon made good trades for Mikal and KAT I’d be very happy. This team has not been very fun outside the NBA Cup and those two weeks against the Celtics.
And yes, it’s very upsetting to think about KAT and Mikal. With one we gave up all our draft assets, and with the other we gave up all our cap space.
This isn’t the Kemba/Fournier offseason. These trades can’t be undone so easily.
I’m guessing right now we could get one first (maybe two?) for Mikal and probably just salary dump KAT. Not good.
The Mikal trade reminds me of the big trade Schlenk and Landry made to bring Dejounte Murray to the Hawks, which also went poorly. Guess who doesn’t work for the Hawks anymore?
Imagine making the equivalent of the Dejounte trade AND ALSO trading for a 60-million dollar locker room cancer in one offseason?
I think this trade deadline is pretty big for Leon. If he can’t jumpstart this team, I’d say he’s very worthy of being shown the door.
I’ll take the 60 million dollar man who is 3 time all nba over a coach who’s resume is garbage outside of coaching one of the greatest players ever (-LeBron)
I would t exactly say it’s garbage
I totally disagree. They’re good players who just don’t fit, and it only takes one team to want them.
Recall last year I kept using Dejounte Murray as an example. Total bust on Atlanta, but they turned him into a pile of gold bc they found the right partner.
I firmly believe you can make good trades for both of these guys right now. The problem isn’t their value, it’s our dysfunction.
Leon convinced Dolan the roster is great and Thibs was the problem. I don’t think Dolan’s the kind of boss you can go back to and say “I was wrong, it’s actually the guys I traded for, now we need to pivot.”
EDIT: to be fair, he just do that with Thibs 12 months after extending him, so maybe Dolan deserves more credit than I’m giving him. But based on that interview he gave, I wouldn’t feel comfortable telling him we got the wrong guys.
We all have ups and downs, but this forum gets a bit manic depressive at times based on handful of games.
It’s going to be alright.
Just get into your head that we are a good but not great team, primarily because we have issues on defense. But there aren’t any great teams out there with the possible exception of a 100% OKC team. Both players and the team will have ups and downs, but we’ll be in the mix at the end among a handful of teams in each conference.
So now we are turning on Brown also? lmao
None of this has to do with Mike Brown. I’ve seen enough of him to know that Thibs was a better coach. But I’ve also seen enough of KAT and Mikal to know that there is no coach alive who is going to come in here and fix them. KAT in particular has been frustrating coaches, teammates, and GMs his whole life.
We have a tendency to over index to the coach here. It really doesn’t matter that much.
Brown should be getting a lot more hate for this.
https://x.com/KnickFilmSkool/status/2012933109503685118
I agree UK. Hugging and laughing with the guy who just roughed up and taunted your big man? Not cool at all.
It’s like hanging out at your old job on your lunch breaks from your new job…
And I agree with you Hubert, but I think you’re maybe overestimating the Hawks’ haul. Dyson (a great defender) plus Asa Newell and a protected 2027 first?
But I get your point, you take some loss but get the ability to pivot in return.
We’ve had 142 games of this team so far and I think we all know exactly who they are: a 50ish win team with a low basketball IQ that can neither play championship caliber defense nor sustain its offense at a high enough level to overcome all its warts.
Do we really need another coaching change to figure that out?
I find it hard to take the “team should have KAT’s back” thing serious when KAT’s own father was chatting happily with Draymond after the game.
Underground has a weird vendetta against him
I appreciate the hard work of pinning our dismal play on one hateful player, or coach, or on Leon. The honest fact is that we’ve sucked, and while there are painful moments and trades and people who are painful to watch, the team right now pretty much sucks top to bottom. In the east, Knicks in January have the
Worst record
Worst def rtg
Worst eff FG%
Worst true shooting %
2nd worst net rtg
3rd worst ASST/TO
3rd worst pace
3rd worst loose balls recovered
Some of that will improve dramatically when Hart and Brunson return, but it’s still shameful.
Like I said. Thibs was a coach with a higher floor but potentially lower ceiling. You can’t judge a guy on 40 games
I agree UK. Hugging and laughing with the guy who just roughed up and taunted your big man? Not cool at all.
a bit goofy, yeah. but this was thibs in the rematch last year just after draymond went on his vapid podcast talking shit about kat.
https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1901118236109807779?s=20
In the NBA, 10 games is a sizable chunk of the season. In that time, we’ve gone from looking like we’re easily the best team in the East to being closer to the the 4th & 5th best teams than the 1st & 2nd. The team has collapsed in a way that makes it difficult to believe they will level out close to where they need to be, and we have no easy method of fixing the issues.
Can we judge KAT & Mikal after 142 games?
Dawg recognize other dawgs not beta cucks, pt.
Yes. I’ve said that. 142 is alot longer than 40. Bridges has been disappointing since all of last year. I was hoping new coach would get him going
Anyway… does anyone else get unreasonably upset when the NBA doesn’t honor our tradition of playing a 1pm game at MSG on MLK day?
At least we’re playing, and at least it’s at MSG (that year they made us play in Brooklyn was the worst), but come on. How hard it is it to give us the 1pm that we’re used to? This should be like the Detroit Lions on thanksgiving.
I’m not seeing any great ceiling with Mike Brown and whatever higher ceiling there was rested on getting more out of KAT. That ship sailed weeks ago.
Atlanta (MLK hometown) gets the Lions-on-Thanksgiving treatment.
While I pretty much agree with Hubert, there’s also no way we’re trading KAT and/or Mikal before this trade deadline, we’re just not.
Knowing this: how best to improve?
Personally, I think KAT always needs a true defensive center next to him (meaning Mitch, but along with a 2nd Mitch currently not on the roster). Also, I don’t trust Mikal to run the 2nd unit offense, nor do I trust Clarkson or Tyler. Maybe Deuce just does the best he can, or we get a vet backup pg who is a better version of Payne, idk.
lets face it clarkson was supposed to be the payne replacement and for the most part its not working well and yabu being the precious replacment is working out even less well i especially wish that we hadnt given up on precious so easily
There are plenty of equal or better options to Precious on the trade market, Doogie, we just need to find a taker for Yabu in the process.
Brown had a long track record. Nothing we are seeing should be a surprise.
I’m wondering if anyone still thinks that KAT is a better iso player than Julius.
I’m fine rolling with this team through the end of the season, whenever shit may be. And maybe Leon makes a few small trades with Yabu, Clarkson and Dadiet to change direction on the bench.
But if the team underperforms in the playoffs (ie does not at least make the ECF again), Leon better be ready for a major pivot towards a quasi rebuild. This would involve trading KAT, Mikal and OG, use our picks this draft and rebuild around Brunson in the hopes that you can still catch his late prime. I’d keep Hart since he is so tight with JB. McBride can stay too.
Looking more and more like I was dead wrong on Clarkson. It’s not even that he takes dumb shots, it’s that he is totally devoid of any burst and just meanders without really getting anywhere. I had hoped that he looked slow last year due to the torn plantar fascia, but he actually looks cooked to the point that I don’t see much hope of recovery.
I still think the Mikal trade would have been great if IHart had not left. The 2024 January Knicks plus mikal with Mitch eventually coming back would have been one of the best teams in the league.
But IHart leaving started the transition away from the tough identity that team had. Losing IHart, Randle and Divo and replacing them with Mikal and KAT changed us from a tough team that grinned out other teams to a finesse team. Thibs being fired was the nail in the coffin for that style too.
It makes me sad bc the league is obviously softer than it used to be but the 2024 January Knicks were like the modern equivalent of those tough 90s Knicks teams and were a total Thibs team too. Represented what NY Knicks basketball should be about. This team right now? Just not as fun or rootable. They’re soft.
If this season doesn’t turn around, the best path for this team to follow is the path that the Suns just took. They swapped out entitled whiny bitch Durant and crippled Beal and put together a modern team of relentless physical defenders and decent shooters who complement Devin Booker perfectly and a bench full of athletes with upside.
“I’d keep Hart since he is so tight with JB. McBride can stay too.”
og as well and would be nice to maintain mitch
Z-man we shall see how far that team goes in the playoffs. It’s a nice regular season team that plays harder than the opponent similar to how Thibs gets his teams to play.
I’d like to skip having to root for Dillon Brooks and Grayson Allen, however.
UK, they have the misfortune of being in the west, so it is likely that they will play either the Thunder, Nuggets, Rockets or T’Wolves in the first round, and all of those teams have either a generational superstar or a significant size advantage. But if Jalen Green comes back and his game matures, that’s another physical specimen for oppon to contend with.
Re: Towns, I think it might be helpful to look at the Trae Young trade to think about what we might get back in the apron era.
Towns is better, but Young is younger and therefore cheaper (for now), so it’s probably a relative wash.
Let’s look at what the Wiz gave up:
CJ McCollum
Corey Kispert
That’s it. An aging undersized scorer (big expiring contract) and a good-shooting, replacement-level wing. We may be able to add a 2nd rounder to our haul, but that’s probably going to be our top bid.
I think we all need to ease up a little on Mikal. Up until January, he was performing at an All Star level but unfortunately like the rest of the team he seems to have hit a bit of a wall this month.
He’s still sporting a TS% of over .60, shooting 40% from 3 and averaging over 2.5 STOCKS per game. I do agree with prior posters that his pull up jumpers in lieu of driving to the basket drive me nuts, but overall he’s still having a pretty good season
And let us not forget his heroics vs. Boston last year.
We’ve got 99 problems with this team, but Bridges ain’t one.
Agreed about Mikal: he was playing genuinely awesome basketball at the beginning of the season and has regressed to the mean, but overall he’s playing far better than he did last year.
If he stays in this funk he’s been in recently for the rest of the year that is obviously no bueno.
Mikal has played very well. Even since Brunson went down (incl. the Sacramento game), he has a .600 TS% on basically 20% usage.
But the 20% usage is the problem. OG is at 27% usage, and shouldn’t be. Mikal has also averaged only 1.7apg since Brunson went down, less than half his 4.0apg on the season. For a guy we spent 5 picks on and who ran, even though he did so poorly, the Nets offense for a year that’s not holding up his share.
As a side note, OG is at a .507 TS% due to shooting 2/17 from 3. If he hit even 1/3 shots he’d be just shy of .600. Whatever Dirk or Peter Patton did broke him.
It just feels like the entire team has a month-long episode of food poisoning.
It’s not completely dissimilar to the Yankees’ annual July slump, and it’s weird.
I’m going to angrily break down and get Peacock for this fucking game. But it pisses me off.
Especially because yesterday I couldn’t watch the Bears game because Peacock.
Just feels like losing to that dorky kid who’s sporting Beelzebub’s facial hair would be a real moment of note in this stupid season.
this is one of those games that is on the regular nbc affiliate as well as peacock so you shouldnt have to buy that crap similarly the bears game was also offered on regular nbc and i was able to watch it despite the fact that i have zero access to peacock there has actually only been one knicks game thus far that ive been unable to watch because of the fact that it was *exclusively* on peacock
I got Peacock at $10.99 a month and will cancel after it is no longer necessary for Knicks games.
Honestly, I don’t really get the outrage over spending a few bucks to watch a few games. Maybe it’s because I grew up with grainy video on a 28″ square TV (and not all games were televised) and now I get to watch games in hi-def with a million video effects on a 60″ OLED TV.
To be fair, my wife insists on paying $250 a month for a premium FIOS cable/internet bundle so the extra Peackck fee is a drop in the bucket. But still, after growing up with channels 2,4,5,7,9,11, and 13 on a black-and-white TV, I’m happy to pay for what we have.
there’s also (or was in october) and apple tv peacock bundle for $14.99, so if you already wanted apple tv it’s only $2 a month extra (with ads in peacock, but for nba games that doesn’t matter much).
Raven, only the Bucks game is Peacock exclusive. Thunder – Cavs is on NBC as well. The Knicks game is on Peacock, NBC and MSG. Also, the internet is full of free links if you would like to watch on your laptop, phone, and so on.
I’m actually watching the Bucks game on my laptop right now, hoping for another Bucks humiliation and hoping the Greek malakas will finally gather the strength to ask out. Ain’t happening today though 😂
I don’t have much of a problem with Mikal in a vacuum. It’s only when I consider the cost of acquiring him (and to a far lesser degree, his salary) in the larger context. If this iteration of the Knicks runs into a hard ceiling at something less than the finals, people need to look no further than the all-in trade for him for the main reason why.
Not a single bit. Atlanta has a much stronger connection to MLK than NYC.
I don’t think the trade deadline will affect him at all. The sole determinant will be how the Knicks do in the playoffs.
“I don’t think the trade deadline will affect him at all. The sole determinant will be how the Knicks do in the playoffs.”
Yeah, but deadline moves (or lack thereof) might play a significant role in how we do in the playoffs.
Other than open corner 3s; OG’s shot detection has deteriorated a bit and he’s developed a case of the yips again. It’s not every shot. But on some of them he kind of jerks the ball up instead of stroking it smoothly. His percetage is WAY lower when he does that. I don’t have data to verify it, but believe me it’s true. It’s been happening to him on an off for at least 2 years and I pay close attention to it. Also, I think coaches wold be better off if they did NOT tell him to be more aggressive because for him that turns into bad decision making and worse shot selection.
The Knicks started playing on MLK Day in 1986, i.e. the very first MLK Day in history. 9-year old Hubie attended the game with his dad, and the two of them went to every MLK Day matinee from 1986 until 2011.
Atlanta started doing it in 1994.
We’re the only team who has played on every single MLK Day in history.
By all means, let Atlanta play, too. They can be the Cowboys of MLK Day. But we should have the matinee every year.
Also I’m pretty sure the NBA dissed Atlanta last year, too, sending them to MSG to play us instead of giving them a home game.
howdy rama, I hope all is well for you today…
I got a weird one for ya…
the other day I was watching this nature type show (Pole to Pole) which I enjoyed…
started thinking of our very own raven whom I know to be very engaged with the outdoors and such and wondered if there were any particular network explorer/naturalist types he enjoyed watching…
when i thought to ask him, also thought of you as being someone whom has really trekked their way around the world…
was going to ask you also if there was anyone you enjoyed watching in this field…
but, thought to myself – you don’t really seem to much the type to be watching too much, if any tv…you seem more interested in actually living life…
so curious now, do you ever watch the tube much?
if so, are there any folks who’s content you enjoy?
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.
There’s not much I like about the NFL but the Detroit Lions have been dogshit my whole life and they’ve never taken that game away from them.
jalen and josh back tonite full complement!!! flagg playing gafford out
Kevin McCullar received 1 all-star vote from another player. Yabu received 2.
is jock landale too old?
Watching Cleveland vs. OKC, I think the Cavs and the Knicks both have similar personnel problems.