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Sources: Knicks acquiring PG Jose Alvarado from Pelicans – ESPN
Knicks’ Mikal Bridges says teammates helped him bounce back after foul forced 2OT against Nuggets – SNY
Here’s the Knicks roster after the 2026 NBA trade deadline – Posting & Toasting
REPORT: Knicks’ Deuce McBride to miss considerable time with sports hernia – Posting & Toasting
Pistons face injury concerns ahead of Knicks’ visit – CBS Sports
Knicks pick up most impressive win of streak as looming NBA trade deadline could alter roster – SNY
Pod Strickland Patreon Preview Episode 566: Jose – The Strickland
Knicks at Pistons – Recap & Reaction | POSTGAME SHOW | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
Mitchell Robinson’s Dominance Over Jokic: A Defensive Masterclass! #shorts – Knick of Time
KNICKS at PISTONS | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | February 6, 2026 – NBA
Knicks vs Pistons Preview: CP The Fanchise vs ESPN’s Bart Scott In A Battle Of The Fans! – Knicks Fan TV
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65 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.02.07)”
I’m oddly at peace with this result. I don’t think it’s meaningless just bc we were missing OG & KAT. It definitely meant something. I just think all it means is Detroit is way better built for the regular season than us. They have superior depth, athleticism, identity, cohesion, and an appetite for the 82 game grind.
Most of those things take a back seat in the playoffs, though. And I still trust our shot making more than theirs… unless we continue to leave them wide open, of course.
This whole thing reminds me of us and the Hawks in 2021, with them being the rigid Thibs team with a great Plan A but no Plan B for the playoffs, and us being the more talented side with the diminutive, foul-baiting PG who gets booed lustily and serenaded with foul-mouthed chants bearing his name.
Cade’s better than Randle but I think the same kind of treatment will punish their lack of shot making.
Morning folks – last night was an abomination I”d rather forget so I’m reposting here… hopefully PT sees the bat signal.
I’m curious about something and I have no idea if it’s legal…if let’s say Nurkic were to sign somewhere for the vet minimum and bought out or cut from the 2nd team, would we then be able to sign him? I’m not convinced he’s the specific archetype of what we need but I’m curious if there’s a loop hole there that Leon can exploit if someone else were to shake loose that fits our needs better that makes over 14M.
You would think with all of the CAA connections across the league, they could get help from a client while staying within the boundaries of the CBA.
It’s really just a question of whether Detroit has ratcheted up its defensive game. If they play that swarming style of defense for a full playoff game, that is going to be hard to beat. I guess we’ll have to see if they CAN do that in the playoffs.
Not disagreeing with you on their defense, Brian, but i think we can play a lot better on defense ourselves to level it and make it a close game. They’re not better than us, and they won’t shoot as they shot yesterday, in the 1st half at least, as i didn’t watch the 2nd half.
Oh, and we won’t shoot as we shot yesterday too. It was a bad day for us, and a good day for them, i’m not using it as a measuring stick.
To put it simple, the way we played, we would’ve lost to the Wizards too and they’re clearly not better than us.
Who of you were so resilient and managed to endure that awful game? Before the game i thought watching the game had more appeal than washing the dishes*, but at the half the dishes won. LOL
*yeah, we’re only a family of 4 but sometimes i wonder if we have a secret division where a family is hiding, given the amount of stuff i have to wash. 😛 😀
Good to have the Olympics as a palate cleanser
I watched the new episode of The Pitt instead of the 2nd half. It was a good choice.
I don’t think Brunson deserves what they do, but i’m pretty sure he won’t be fazed about it. Of course, if he keeps playing as bad as he played yesterday, they’ll keep doing it, so i hope he’ll get ready for it.
And Brunson is no Trae Young, he’s cool and i’ve never seen him provoke the opponent’s fans.
I’m curious about something and I have no idea if it’s legal…if let’s say Nurkic were to sign somewhere for the vet minimum and bought out or cut from the 2nd team, would we then be able to sign him?
pretty sure the answer is no. the cba is slightly ambiguous because it just talks about a player’s pre-waiver salary during the season without further specifying, but i think trying to laundry cycle this way is widely believed to be a no-go (unlike the vaguely similar mike conley laundering move the wolves just pulled).
I will say that I was kinda hoping for a better showing from Mikhail. He knew he was going to get a healthy shot diet (along with Brunson’s struggles) so I really wanted to see him shine a bit. I don’t know why it seemed like his misses came at critical times.
It would not have influenced the outcome and I’m rooting for the brother because he seems like such a good guy. Those 5 picks weigh heavier after performances like this.
Thanks man. Figured as much.
If my wife ever knew how much time I spent trying to solve the Knicks problems, instead of our own, it’d be another complaint to toss on top of the pile.
And to make matters worse, the Celts won?? 🙁
LOL
At the risk of sounding like I’m making excuses..
It has to be more than frustrating to play when the refs are letting the other team be unreasonably physical. What I saw last night was the Pistons lottery fouling a Knick almost every other play, and the Knicks being unable to adapt and respond. Like..they were doin this shit in clear view of the refs and they turned a blind eye. For example, when they actually pressed or faked a press, they literally ran into the ball handlers EVERY TIME. Refs looked the other way. Brunson drives, gets fouled multiple times and loses the ball, and the refs say play on. Paul Reed held Mitch & Hukporti on damn near every offensive rebounding chance, refs saw nothing. I now our 90’s Knicks and Bad Boy Pistons were super physical, but I don’t even think they got away with it as much as the Pistons did last night. Theoretically, they are just an outstanding Cade, 2 actual shooters, and guys who want to hack and shove. They should be easier to deal with that we’ve shown last night. And when we are down Deuce, KAT, and OG- we are much easier to defend. Much easier to take us out of the game with physicality- especially if the refs keep the whistle tucked
It kinda sucked that the players who played didn’t show up.
But it’s hard to take anything away from a road game where you were down four rotation players (KAT, OG, Deuce, Jose) and a fifth was clearly hobbled (Hart).
The biggest takeaways for me are:
-DET has an outstanding defense
-Their bench is better than ours
-If/when we play them in the playoffs, we had better be close to 100% healthy
Yea..Detroit is a problem. I don’t like the fact that they get away with being extra physical, but I love their energy and attitude towards the opponent. Bickerstaff is doing a fantastic job there with a less talented team than he had in Cleveland
I’m mostly upset by how much damage was done to Brunson’s TS%.
I’m going to the Barkus Parade tomorrow. Life is dandy. Last night’s game was a no pants at school dream. It’s over.
1. They played us extemely tough in the playoffs last year. Other than a couple of calls and plays that went our way we could have lost that series. That’s how close it was.
2. They were younger and had more potential internal upside than us. That may be double edged sword come playoff time, but the evidence clearly indicates they are improved since last year.
3. Their record, SRS, and the H2H matchups indicate they are better.
4. When they play us they show up ready to play at their highest level to make a statement that they are the better team. We either don’t show up or take the night off.
They are simply better than us so far and the gap may be more likely to increase than decrease since each time they drub us the confidence of these young guys grows.
I’m sick I didn’t make a small bet on them at a big price to come out of the east and win it all. I love defense and knew they’d get better. Instead I took Orlando who I thought was a year ahead of Detroit in development and added a good piece. They haven’t been able to put it all together yet due to injuries. My results are better in the west.
life is full of losses, hopefully we can bounce back manana…
nice clarence, enjoy senor 😊
did you poach someone’s pooch for the parade?
do you get to wear a costume…that’s usually a pretty good day when you get to put a costume on and hang out in public like that for a while…
Ausar actually is on the defensive end what OG’s bigger backers think OG is.
Here’s my bold prediction, Knicks will make the NBA Finals without facing Detroit during the playoffs.
It’s not about Detroit. All agree that they have a good team. The question marks are about the Knicks and their contenting status in particular. If one believes the Knicks are just a good team, then last night’s humiliation can be digested. If we are contenders, then last night was an unbearable ulcer.
Roughly two thirds of the season are behind us. Here is a quick breakdown.
We have an average to below average record against good teams. Away from MSG we won only in Philly and Toronto. One might include Miami as well. That is it! All other wins came against tanking or below .500 teams. At home we have several good Ws like those against the Nuggets, Clippers, Wolves, Lakers, and Cavs, but the majority of wins came, again, against mediocre or below average teams.
Not to discount bad losses like those against Dallas and Sacramento, but we overall excel in beating tanking or below .500 teams wherever we find them. Why this happens is a separate discussion, but the fact is that it makes us look better than what we actually are.
So far, the evidence suggests that the Knicks are a good to very good team, but no more than that. Making it to the ECF is doubtful, to say the least, winning the ECF is wishful thinking, and winning NBA finals is a pipedream.
Here is the good news. Our defense did start looking better during the 8-game winning streak and this gave us all hope, but we rightfully waited to see how this defense holds against really good teams. So far, we beat Denver in a tossup game which might have gone the other way, and then handily lost to Detroit. Within the next dozen games, we come against Boston, Detroit, Philly, Houston, Cavs, OKC, and Denver. Then we will know. The jury is still out though the odds are not very good.
Isaiah Stewart is also a great defender, and Detroit didn’t have him in last year’s playoff series. They’re going to be a very tough out, especially if Huerter works out.
this made me smile yesterday, I like the thought process – there is a line out there somewhere, let’s go find it…
+1
Detroit is very long and good defensively. Having close to 5 shooters on the floor is essential to beating them. Without OG and KAT being respected for their ability to shoot, the paint was colsed for business last night. Brunson couldn’r step foot in the paint and dish which is 90% of our offense.
What we learned last night was if we aren’t healthy going into the playoffs, we have no chance vs Detroit because their defense is stiffling.
It is also a good thing Leon didn’t spaz trade KAT unless Naz Reid or someone of that ilk was included.
“What we learned last night was if we aren’t healthy going into the playoffs, we have no chance…”
This is a truth for any and every NBA team. Simple and clear.
Oh sure, you can caveat about hey, if OKC loses a peripheral player they can still win a championship. But we were without our second and third best player (arguable, but still). Plus arguably our best bench player (Deuce). Nobody wins anything like that, including most regular season games.
I don’t see it this way. We happen to be particularly reliant on the margins, and I think more so than Detroit. They clearly have much better depth than us and can afford to be missing pretty much anyone not named Cade.
Bigs: Duren, Stewart, Reed
Wings: Harris, Ausar, Holland, Green, LeVert
Floor spacers: Duncan, Huerter
PGs: Cade, Jenkins
Take any two of those guys (not from the same position) away other than Cade and they are still formidable.
If we lose any one of Brunson, KAT, or OG, or any two of Mikal, Hart, Deuce, Shamet, Jose, or Mitch, and we are probably done.
I understand and agree with you that they have better depth, but if you take away Duren and Ausar they don’t look all that formidable to me.
I keep saying that what gives me hope is when the team is locked in, we are amazing, and my hope is that when playoffs come we’ll be like that all game.
We seem to be cruising the regular season, which is inline with what we were all in agreement that we should do, when Thibs was on the sidelines taking every game as a game 7 to win the championship.
That’s fair. I’m probably just overreacting, similar to last year with drubbings from Celts and OKC.
Yes, certainly numerically we don’t measure up well:
Bigs: KAT, Mitch
Wings: OG, Bridges, Hart
Floor spacers: Deuce, Shamet
PGs: Brunson, Alvarado
Then we have Huk, Diawara, and Kolek, who MIGHT fit into these slots by the end of the year if they continue to get seasoning and actually improve along the way.
(I didn’t put Clarkson in there because I didn’t want to, but also he actually doesn’t really qualify for any of those roles…).
Geo, i remembered to click on your name to check the music. Nice one! I like orchestras because the musicians are often super expressive in how they are feeling the music. Also this singer looks so effortless that is amazing. And all this while being conducted by Wednesday Adams! 😉 😀
Geo, I am going to revel in all the other doggies. I love other peoples’ children.
Im not a dress up guy but my beef and broccoli works. Some beads and Mardi Gras is lock.
We often hear the “let’s somehow make it through the regular season and then we will turn it on during the playoffs” argument. We hear this about the Knicks this season as well. Numbers don’t support such approach. All teams up their effort in the playoffs and cancel each other’s advantage out.
The 1994-5 Rockets were the only low seed (6th) to win an NBA title. Then there is the 4rd seeded Boston winning it all in 1969, and that’s it! Top three seeded teams have won 76 out of 78 times. Out of those 76, the 3rd seen won only 8 times.
The regular season already shows who you are. The hope that in the playoffs you will change everything is a pie in the sky.
Rough, it’s a good point, and something embedded in that point is the fact that most top seeds have to deal with players being injured and out over the course of a long season yet still win enough games to be top seeds. Conversely, having a lower seed suggests that you more likely than not have a depth issue.
That said, the numbers for “lower” seeds actually making it to the finals are much more forgiving. So if we temper our expectations to “making the finals” then the urgency to have a top-2 seed is less, and that is especially true in the East this particular year.
Every team, situation, and season is different, but the bottom line is, if you aren’t good enough to be a top-2 seed, you probably aren’t good enough to win it all. However, if your goal is tempered to just “make the finals” then many more teams come into play, so there’s that. The EC doesn’t have any powerhouses this year so it wouldn’t be surprising if a lower seed gets to the finals.
We are the 3rd seed, and hopefully tomorrow we’ll be the 2nd seed.
awwwwwww luv you guys ❤️
Oops, I see I repeated myself in that post, sorry!
This is my goal for the season, to get back to the Finals. A 3rd time for me, after 1994 and 1999. And we have a saying here in Portugal that says… third time’s the charm! 🏆
I am always looking at the big picture. It hurts to witness that this time we came so close to building a true championship roster, we were so lucky to find Brunson, so smart to get OG and Hart, and so on. Remember when we lost to Indiana in April 2024 and, still, everyone was delirious? We were so full of hope! Then things went south in that fateful summer of 2024. I don’t want this rebuilding cycle to close in disappointment as so many others did.
As a matter of fact, I am more pessimistic about this season than I was about the last one. ECF is not enough, even if we make it there, and this is a big if. My hope at this point is that we get Giannis this summer, that we won’t have to destroy the entire roster to get him, that Giannis will stay healthy, and that he will stay on top of his game for a few years. This is a lot, I know, but at this point I don’t see any other path. Who knows what the future holds though.
Season is barely halfway over. Some of you need to spend less time online. There is a lot of bball to be played
Hey, we’re not kicking the tradition of “making bold predictions after ONE game” to the curb easily. 🫢😂
Yeah, a win in Boston will make us championship contenders again, right? It’s game by game, sure.
I like us.
I’m 100% with you, but I think that the Knicks will be a top three seed.
I salute your optimism. Time will tell. Not to be vitriolic, but we need at least the 2nd seed to have a statistically good chance, don’t we? 😂
That actually wouldn’t surprise me.
I feel confident we will either make the finals or lose a revenge series to the Celtics. It feels like 50/50 to me.
The key, I think, is going to be lucking into a Raptors draw in round 1. If we start off with Philly or Orlando, it’s going to be a tough sled to pull for three rounds.
Not vitriolic — possibly pedantic…
It’s 68 out of 78 times, Raven. There is no pedantism in this. Numbers don’t lie. Let’s coast now and we shall see in the playoffs does not work.
Apparently some guy on the LA football team won the MVP. I bring this up here because, with Jokic teetering on the edge of ineligibility, and SGA himself currently sidelined, there’s a growing chance that the city of Los Angeles, despite my class-action lawsuit against them, could own the MVP award for all the major sports. Go Lakers?
Donnie… Mathurin isn’t winning the MVP just because he got traded to LA
The Winter Olympics are hot
Also, to be frank, I’d be okay with a Finals loss this season. And lower seeds have had recent success in making it to the Finals. But I really need this team to at least make the Finals.
Also Maria Carey’s vision of love just absolutely sends me
What Utah is doing is disgusting. They pulled Markkanen, JJJ and George from a game they were winning on the road. It’s ridiculous.
Edit: they pulled all the starters, not just those 3.
Edit2: also, they had a 17 point lead, which they lost, and at no point did their coach call a timeout.
And then Utah let’s the Magic win it with two turnovers in their last two offensive possessions.
Congratulations, Adam Silver.
This was an utter disgrace. I had no rooting interest, but it was a good game, and then they just allowed Utah to ruin it.
Also: it looks like the NBA might have a gag rule on announcers? Magic announcers never ever hinted at the tank job that was obviously happening.
I watched the last few minutes of that game and it looked indeed repulsive. Utah had about seven seconds at the end while being down three points. They didn’t even use their last timeout to advance the ball or run a play.
This year’s daft is predicted to be exceptionally strong so be ready to witness more of this cynicism until April.
Sit your guys if you are tanking. Don’t pretend that you are trying to win and then sabotage your team. It’s ridiculous.
Agree, Clarence, I do get riveted. Plus the goalie of the USA women”s hockey team is a kid from my town and played baseball on my son’s rec team!
I would like it if Leon could get Haywood Highsmith in here. Supposedly he ‘s pretty close to returning and he’s bigger and tougher than Shamet as a guy to match up on big guards and wings.
The open tanking needs to be fixed . The Jazz straight up sat Jackson JR and Lauri all 4th to lose
Oh, hell. Let’s just get Kevin Love in here and call it a day. He fits a need very well, he’d be a *great* locker room presence (PJ Tucker+), he deserves to be on a contender again, and he can still play a little bit: 15/12/4 per 36 in 17 minutes per game with 36 percent shooting from 3 (3.0 made out of 8.2 taken per 36). Could be a fitting end to his storied career.
Yes, I know that Love hasn’t been bought out yet, and maybe he won’t be. But he is on Spotrac’s post-trade deadline list of buyout candidates at https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/3263/2026-nba-buyout-market
Kevin Love (Utah Jazz, C, 37 years old)
Current Salary: $4.2 million
Love has played a lot more for Utah than most expected he would. His shooting has slipped, which is an issue because Love is strictly a spot-up shooter now on offense. He can still rebound, so maybe a frontcourt-needy team will take a look. The Jazz also seem to like having Love around, so he may finish the season in Utah.
And there is this: https://thejnotes.com/insider-all-confirms-why-jazz-have-not-bought-out-kevin-love
Many have wondered why exactly Kevin Love is still on the Utah Jazz over two months after they acquired him. While it would be easy to determine that it’s because the Jazz waited until he was trade-eligible with other players, NBA Insider Marc Stein revealed the real reason: because Love doesn’t have his next team lined up.
Stein revealed in his latest intel on Monday that Love and the Jazz haven’t even discussed a buyout much because Love doesn’t have a contender lined up to sign him if and when he hits the market.
“The Jazz and Kevin Love, I’m told, have not yet moved into serious buyout discussions despite reports to the contrary,” Stein wrote. “It is widely known in league circles that Love is determined to play for a playoff contender at this point in his career, but it is also customary for a buyout process to progress to an advanced stage once a post-buyout landing spot is assured.”
“The search for that spot continues for the 37-year-old former All-Star forward, who was dealt to the Jazz in July as part of the three-team traded that landed Norman Powell with Miami and John Collins with the Clippers.”
Love is a far cry from the player who made multiple All-Star and All-NBA teams and won a title back when he was in his prime. However, he helped the Heat make the NBA Finals two years ago. At 37 years old, it’s clear his days in the NBA are numbered. It is surprising that he apparently has no market.