News & Blogs
How to watch Spurs vs. Knicks: TV channel and streaming options for March 1 – The New York Times
Game Preview: Knicks vs Spurs, March 1, 2026 – Posting & Toasting
Jose Alvarado immediately impacts Knicks in debut win over Celtics – SNY
Guerschon Yabusele on amending Knicks contract to facilitate Bulls trade: ‘The passion is more than just the money’ – SNY
Steve Popper: Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns able to shut out trade rumors – Newsday
Knicks 127, Bucks 98: “No worries” – Posting & Toasting
Knicks Get a Statement Win over the Spurs! – Knicks Fan TV
Knicks vs Spurs – Recap & Reaction | POSTGAME SHOW | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
The Run.down Knicks vs Spurs Postgame Show – The Strickland
SPURS at KNICKS | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | March 1, 2026 – NBA
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70 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.03.02)”
With Tatum back on Friday…road to the finals is through Boston again. So annoying….
Some of it is conference/schedule dependent, but 3 of the top 5 teams in SRS (and 4 of the top 7) are in the East.
(Eastern Conference teams are 157-160 against Western Conference teams, so it’s not a huge discrepancy between conferences so far)
I don’t think anyone on this site thinks that the road in April will be a cakewalk, Tatum or no Tatum. A handful of teams that will be, well, a handful for us. But I have faith.
After yesterday’s breathtaking win, I had my own moment of fear. I LOVED our bench. We have a BENCH now!
But when I looked at those who helped make it happen, I saw that Mitch ($13M), Shamet ($3M), and Mo D ($1.3M) are all on contract for this year only. Which means that Leon will have to do some magic this summer to figure out how we keep this group, let alone hold on to Brunson.
I look to this blog to ask how scared I should be? Will we have a bunch of Hartenstein-like losses this summer? Or will this wonderful group be able to stay the course?
With Mitch and Diawara, it really just comes down to whether we’d go into the second apron to keep the team together. There is no amount of money anyone else can pay them that we can’t match (unless we’re hard capped at the second apron as a result of an aggregation trade, which would likely be for Giannis).
Going into the second apron for a year really isn’t the end of the world, it’s the repeater penalty that kills you. In fact, my guess is we do go into it next year unless we get Giannis. In that case, I’d expect both Mitch and Diawara back.
Shamet is a different story because we’ll only have Early Bird Rights. We’re at the mercy of other teams.
“With Tatum back on Friday…road to the finals is through Boston again. So annoying….”
I still think there’s a non-zero chance that Tatum’s return messes up what Boston has been doing all year long as much as there is a chance that he improves them. We can hope, and we shall see.
I wouldn’t disagree. That’s a big change to their dynamic right now. Also how healthy will he be. Something to keep an eye on.
My attitude toward next year’s Knicks is similar to my attitude toward climate change. I’m just trying to enjoy the unseasonable daffodils and cherry blossoms.
(Not that I don’t actually work on climate mitigation and adaption in my day job, but I’ll be damned if I spend angst about something I otherwise can do little about — I don’t have nearly enough angst to go around…)
On a more chipper note, this:
The Knicks just completed an 18-game stretch in which they ranked first on defense.
I mean Tatum coming back seemed kind of inevitable, given all the reporting since the fall. And you know what? Good for him. He’s not an asshole like Haliburton, it’s all about the laundry and only the laundry with him.
I still think that Mazz is “thibsing” his way through the regular season in a Knicks 2020-21 kind of way. Frankly, beyond Derrick White, I don’t find their supporting cast all that formidable.
Starters:
Tatum
Brown
White
Queta
Scheierman (or Hauser?)
Bench:
Prichard
Vuc
Hauser (or Scheierman?)
Walsh
Hugo
Garza
Obviously I will be a wreck if we wind up playing them, but we should be able to prevail if everyone is healthy and Mo is not an illusion (or any more of one than any of Scheierman, Hugo, Walsh, or Garza).
Sounds like wishful thinking to me. Boston immediately becomes the favorite as a former veteran playoff battle tested chmapionship team with vengence in their eyes.
Has there ever been an example to where a All-NBA, top 10 player in the world returned in March from a season long injury and the team got worse?
“Boston immediately becomes the favorite as a former veteran playoff battle tested chmapionship team with vengence in their eyes.”
The “battle-tested” guys are Tatum, Brown, White, Prichard, and Hauser.
The other guys are not battle-tested at all. Horford and Jrue were a huge part of their success. KP as well although obviously much less so.
Vuc is a solid vet but he’s 35 years old and has always been a very exploitable player on D. He has never been out of the first round and hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2022.
Queta (26), Walsh (26), Scheierman (22), Hugo (0), and Garza (45) have 119 playoff minutes combined.
Mazz is gonna have his hands full when the lights get bright.
“Sounds like wishful thinking to me.”
Exactly how many Knicks fans would worry about Jalen returning to a successful team in March if it had been him instead of Tatum getting injured? About the same number of Celtic fans worrying. My estimate is maximum 15 (KAT and Brown uber-stans and family members).
The battle tested Celtics got eliminated by the Knicks last year.
Sure did…thats why they want revenge. Tatum road back had to be filled with many different emotions and one of them is vengence. They really wanted to win back to back.
Just looking at the C’s stats, some interesting things stand out:
-They play at the slowest pace in the NBA
-They have the lowest FTr in the NBA
-They have the weakest SOS in the NBA, but the 3rd highest SRS
-They have the lowest TOV% in the NBA, but don’t generate many turnovers either
-They are shooting 6 fewer 3’s per game than last year
They seem to focus on slowing the game down and winning the eFG% battle in the halfcourt. They are good at scrambling for rebounds. In some ways, we have comparable styles.
Think securing the #2 seed will add ~15% odds of winning the series vs Boston. Not just home court but avoiding Philly matchup too. Really hope MB and NYK priotize wining every game moving forward.
I think I’d rather play Philly in the 1st rd than Miami or Orlando. Knicks will win against all 3 but Miami and Orlando will probably have a better chance of making it an ugly, annoying 6 game series.
Boston is obviously better with a fully healthy Tatum, but they’ve adapted so well to his absence that I think it’s fair to wonder how much Tatum at, say, 70% of his normal productivity will help. That might sound insane, but their offensive rating is a tick higher than it was last year, and it’s anyone’s guess how effective Tatum will be defensively.
The East is undoubtedly strong at the top regardless, and based on our first 61 games I could see us winning it or losing in the first round.
For next year’s cap, does Diawara make Hart expendable? He’d be taller, a better shooter (maybe), and pennies on the dollar. You’d lose rebounding and some intangibles, but you’d get a longer defender and a better ball mover.
“The East is undoubtedly strong at the top regardless, and based on our first 61 games I could see us winning it or losing in the first round.”
Anything can happen, but I don’t see us losing in the first round at all. We’ll likely be playing one of the Sixers, Heat, Raptors, Magic, Hornets, or Hawks. If we are healthy but can’t prevail over any of those teams, it’s time to blow it up.
Now that said, the team that worries me most is a fully-healthy Sixers team. We don’t really have an answer for Maxey, and he could sway a series by himself if he gets hot from 3. After that, it would be the Magic, as Suggs gives Jalen a hard time and they have lots of length. Spo makes the Heat dangerous, but they don’t really have the horses to compete with us. On paper at least, we should have enough to stop any of them in 6 or less.
Mo is just 20yr sold. He’s not at Hart’s level yet. They have a 3yr championship window. Mo got next after this.
The elephant in the room (literally and figuratively) is KAT. That contract is toxic, and an extension would be even more toxic. He has to be swapped out this offseason in any circumstance short of a championship. There’s 2-3 good players out there that can fit into that salary spot, or of course, one Giannis.
My guess is that Hart is unlikely to be swapped out until at least July 2007 because of his versatility and relationship to Jalen. I could even see his team option being declined and a 3-year extension in the $10-12M AAV range. He should be at least very valuable minutes eater off the bench going forward. If he bristles at a reduced role, then that’s something different, but on a smaller contract he should be easy to trade.
I’ve been thinking more that Diawara could be a way to get us out from OG’s contract.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love ME some OG and Diawara is nowhere near where OG is right now. And it’s nice having a OG Jr. off the bench right now as we now have another long wing to throw out there.
But OG has a BIG contract and he is the exact type of player we could trade to just about any good team for a decent little asset haul in return.
So I could see Diawara as an OG replacement if we fall short this season and Leon is looking at the second apron and trying to find a way to do a little rebuild for Brunson’s late prime.
That being said, KAT’s extension is the real ticking time bomb. But that’s for the off season to figure out.
OG is the last guy I’d be looking to trade unless it’s for Giannis, at least for the next 2 years. He is very much a winning player and worth the money, not a bargain by any means, but still.
I think Leon is going to do everything possible to acquire Giannis this offseason, with nothing off the table except Brunson. I’m not sure if Mo can even be included in a sign-and-trade given his RFA status, but he’s the kind of young player Milwaukee might be looking for to make taking on KAT look less onerous. Same with Deuce. But for that to happen, Giannis is going to have to demand a trade here.
So, even though I just said I’m not thinking about this (liar!), some of these comments make me wonder what position people will take if we do win a chip with KAT playing a prominent role. So far it’s all about dumping him if/when we don’t go all the way. But if we do…?
I mean, I agree. But I could also see Diawara stepping up into a larger role if OG is used in a Giannis trade.
honestly, even if we win a title this year with KAT playing a big role, I kind of think for the long term success of the franchise, Leon might have no other choice but to trade KAT as opposed to resigning him.
The new CBA makes it so hard to build dynasties, which kind of sucks.
Unless Leon could get him to resign for a shorter contract. IE, not max him out for max number of years. I do think stars like KAT are going to find themselves having less power to demand max contracts at max dollars than they used to.
For some reason Giannis is returning tonight, at least it’s against Boston.
Think Mo is a young OG but there is no guarantee he will age like him. Needs another two years in the oven to simmer before we can talk about moving OG for two 50 cent pieces.
I really don’t want Giannis, at this point, especially since we’d have to gut our already very good team. (KAT for Giannis straight up? OK, maybe.) But if that means that he has to have niggling but obvious injuries keep cropping up throughout the next 20 games and we decide not to chase him any longer because of it, I’ll consider it bullet dodged.
Count me in on team Giannis this summer but the days of worrying about next yer are long gone…we get to live in the present as contenders now.
If one or both of Diawara and Sochan can make open 3’s at a decent enough clip, I think Brown should go 10 deep. Even in the playoffs. Heavier minutes in the regular season of course, because Brown’s gonna lean on his top 9 guys once Deuce is back. The roster has, in theory, alot of length and flexibility now that we didn’t have last season.
“So, even though I just said I’m not thinking about this (liar!), some of these comments make me wonder what position people will take if we do win a chip with KAT playing a prominent role. So far it’s all about dumping him if/when we don’t go all the way. But if we do…?”
If we win a championship, I couldn’t care less if they signed KAT to a max extension. I’m exaggerating of course, but you kind of get what I mean, right?
Sochan will Not. Ever. Make open threes at a decent clip.
Well, not until next year at the earliest, and then only if he finds some fantastic shot doctor over the summer and puts more work into it than he does his hair.
Mo is still something of a question mark. It sure looks sustainable, even if he was heat-checking like crazy yesterday. He still was at 31% even with a ton of misses, and a good number of those misses were in-and-outs, as was mentioned by others. He’s got a very likeable stroke.
Hand-eye coordination and spacial processing seems like one of those things you either have or you don’t. I’m sure that Mitch has practiced his ass off and has had shot-coaching up the wazoo, but alas, if anything has gotten worse.
Mo seems to have it. What he is doing seems reasonably sustainable…maybe not 40+% worth, but good enough to make him a threat at the very least. His FTs seem effortless and pure, which bodes well for the theory that his poor percentages in Europe were more nurture than nature.
Whereas Sochan looks discombobulated from his feet to his fingertips. He needs a complete overhaul and even that will not work unless the hand-eye thing is being masked by dreadful mechanics.
Josh Hart is a guy with terrible mechanics, but he has good enough hand-eye coordination to make it sort of work…even if unreliably so. Same with guys like RJ and Julius. I’m not seeing a significant mechanics issue with Mo, other than a somewhat low release point. The ball consistently looks like it should when it comes off his hands and is in the air.
The biggest caveat with Mo is that he’s shooting a completely unsustainable 82.4% on corner 3’s. I would guess that his “real” 3pt% right now is somewhere in the low-mid 30’s. He certainly has made a fair share of non-corner 3’s and looks comfortable taking them.
Great bit from Macri about Shamet encouraging Mo to shoot.
I forgot how to clean the Twitter link, what do you insert in URL
This is the normal link
https://x.com/jcmacrinba/status/2028273917899538621?s=46&t=0wqff4cNt-sCGcDs-uMExw
Worked for me, Owen, and thanks, that’s hysterical.
I love the idea of Mo being the world’s best corner three-point shooter…
Btw, the emergence of Diawara might be very helpful when it comes to our offseason Giannis chances.
If the Bucks actually want to do right by Giannis (though they probably don’t and also don’t know their elbow from their ass when it comes to talent), they could just accept a pretty good return of OG, Deuce, a newly-signed Diawara, Dadiet (for friendship), three 1st rounders (2026, 3030, and 3032) and a few 2nds.
That’s nothing to sniff at.
Also, I don’t think it’s a crazy idea that KAT could accept a lower extension (something between what Giannis and OG currently make) in this new apron era. Who would offer him more than that on the open market anyway?
“three 1st rounders (2026, 3030, and 3032) and a few 2nds.”
I don’t believe we can include 2030 and 2032 (assuming you didn’t actually mean picks in the next millenium) because of the Stepien rule, but we should be able to use 2023 pick, plus the two possibly excellent 2nds from the hopelessly protected Washington pick.
“Also, I don’t think it’s a crazy idea that KAT could accept a lower extension (something between what Giannis and OG currently make) in this new apron era. Who would offer him more than that on the open market anyway?”
I would rather risk losing KAT for nothing than offer him any kind of extension that he wouldn’t consider an insult (i.e. anything over $29,999,999 AAV). Which is a roundabout way of saying I would trade him for anything that doesn’t actively hurt our cap sheet and roster going forward. (Again with the caveat that we don’t win a championship this year; if we do, whatever, I’ll gladly swallow whatever Leon is serving for the rest of my life.)
“If one or both of Diawara and Sochan can make open 3’s at a decent enough clip”
You had to have been kidding, right, Poindexter? Sochan somehow beat Yabu as moving from cromulent to complete suckitude as soon as he started playing for us. He can’t even hit an open layup right now, much less provide the defense that we had hoped for.
WHOA…this has to be on anemic volume…WTF?
Sochan has made three shots as a Knick. I can say one was a dunk, no memory of the others. None were from three.
I am wondering if Pops retired after a brief moment of lucidity where he went, “What was I thinking?!?!”
Or maybe “Wow, I really *don’t* have it anymore!”
Owen, I think it’s xcancel.com instead of only x.com if you want to cancel Elon. 😉
If I read Mo’s shot chart correctly (no promises), he WAS 14 out of 17 from the corners. That’s 82% as reported. League average is ~38.5.
I’m presuming that didn’t count last night’s loony 4-13 barrage from three, but no idea how many of those were corner threes.
If this happens, i think we should try to keep him. It’s called give back. 😉 But we also have to be careful about the aprons, because now it’s not only Dolan’s money.
cyber, you had to be happy about Queta’s 27/17/3 line last night!!!
What’s the most memorable play from the 2016 NBA Finals Game 7?
Lebron’s block or Kyrie’s three-pointer?
Doogie, that’s a high quality Knickerblogger comment. Keep it up!!!
If all Mo Diawara ends up accomplishing is helping me survive the worst winter of my adult life, well, I will be eternally grateful to him for that….
BC – for me, it’s the block. It’s one of my favorite plays ever in any sport, and I am not even a LeBron guy. Up there with wide right, the Flutie Bomb, and a few others.
It was such an electric moment.
https://x.com/AndrewJClaudio_/status/2028448060892709067?s=20
Landry Fields hit 29 of his first 70 three point attempts, then proceeded to shoot 30% for the rest of his career, for what it’s worth.
Landry Fields had a flat, broken shot that went in for a while but eventually started obeying the laws of physics.
Mo’s shooting form and shot trajectory is way better…at least for now.
I was just watching a video collection of “The most memorable play from each NBA Finals since 1980” and they showed BOTH of those plays, and I think that’s a cheat, so that’s why I was wondering which one should be the actual answer.
It’s the block, Brian. No question.
I’m with Kyrie’s 3. There was crazy tension at that point, as both teams were struggling to score that pivotal basket.
Most memorable play from the 1994 NBA Finals had to be Anthony Bonner’s dunk.
For sure it was the chasedown block. Just think how seldom those happen in comparison to big 3-pointers, and then add to it that it was towards the end of a Finals Game 7? Easy call for me.
Brian, maybe I made the video. LOL. Because upon reading your first comment, and without reading the second, I thought “can’t both moments be tied as the most memorable?” 😉
I am happy, yeah. Happy for him, and proud that a fellow countryman is playing this good in the NBA. But it wasn’t a perfect night… it would have been perfect if he had lost the game! 😀
You’d think they’d at least try defending Diawara beyond the line at some point
That’s a good point, EB. At some point very soon teams are likely going to start taking Mo’s 3s seriously and he’s going to have to learn how to pass out of them. I think he probably has the BBIQ to learn that.
One thing I have seen glimpses of with Mo is a potential ability to attack close-outs with curling drives. He can dribble-drive a bit and just needs a bit of daylight near the rim to finish with either hand, using his length to just outreach defenders with his ball hand. Maybe squinted wishful thinking on my part, but we won’t really know until the close-outs come with more regularity.
Just like Knicks the Thunder have a game tomorrow but SGA and iHart are sitting out which assume means they’ll shockingly become healthy enough to play next night vs Knicks.
Here’s a clip of Diawara’s highlights. At the 0:59 mark there was with 9:42 left in the game and the Knicks up by 11 where Castle tried to iso vs. Diawara on the right side. Mo easily blocked the baseline pull-up attempt which lead to a Knicks fast break. It’s that kind of play that makes him so tantalizing. He seems to be getting a sense of how to use his length and footwork to defend tough covers without fouling.
The Celtics continue to annoy the fuck out of me. No Jaylen Brown, Giannis is playing and they’re up by 14 at halftime.
Mazzula is a magician.
This is far and away the most encouraging thing going on to me (and I’m a huge Diawara fan). I don’t fully understand it, but I think simply getting Clarkson and Yabu off the court was a huge plus and throwing in Alvarado helped.
https://nypost.com/2026/03/02/sports/josh-hart-impacting-knicks-as-he-works-through-shooting-struggles/
If we can play consistently the defense we played yesterday, and we certainly can, then we have a chance against anyone. Can we sustain the energy, focus, attention to detail, and so on when the shots don’t fall? When the opponent disrupts our offense, when they play us physically, when we don’t get the calls, and the like? This is the question. When you manage to stop your opponent, you always have a chance.
This applies both to the players as well as to game preparation, strategy and in-game adjustments by the coaching staff
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