News & Blogs
Karl-Anthony Towns wanted to be Magic Johnson. Mike Brown is letting him – New York Daily News
All Knicks’ playoff scenarios heading into Sunday’s finale – Posting & Toasting
Josh Hart’s fourth-quarter explosion helps Knicks hold on to 112-106 win over Celtics – SNY
Knicks Bulletin: ‘Tonight was a good night’ – Posting & Toasting
Knicks Injury Tracker: New York sitting three starters, including Jalen Brunson, in regular season finale – SNY
Hornets aim to bounce back in season finale vs. Knicks – CBS Sports
The Run.down Knicks vs Hornets Postgame Show – The Strickland
Atlanta It Is! – NYK vs CHA, BOS vs ORL & Claudio Casino Recap & Reaction | POSTGAME SHOW – Knicks Film School
HORNETS at KNICKS | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | April 12, 2026 – NBA
Knicks Playoff Preview | Mike Brown Kings Warriors Coaching Breakdown – Knick of Time
YT News
84 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.04.13)”
Good morning, all!
“They probably can replace Jemison and Brooks as two ways with late second rounders, but I don’t know who they would cut to make way for two full contracts.”
Not sure who the hell “Brooks” is. I hope to G-d this isn’t supposed to be Dillon Jones, because we never had Dillon Brooks (thank G-d!).
I’m trying to rationalize myself into thinking that getting the Hawks over the Raps is a good thing—better prep for the subsequent rounds, KAT and Mitch should feast, etc.—but it’s not going very well. I really wanted an easy first-round series for us, for once.
You are correct, I meant Dillon Jones.
I don’t think Hawks instead of the Raptors is a good thing, but I console myself thinking that last year the Celtics had a great edge over us in the regular season and it didn’t do them any good in the playoffs. So maybe our regular season edge over the Raptors wouldn’t have done us any good either.
I’m worried beyond worry that the “bad Knicks” will show up for one of the first two games at the Garden, putting us behind the 8-ball. We seem to really like to do that to ourselves, for some reason.
The Raptors were definitely a better match-up for us than the Hawks will be. But if Towns keeps playing like he has recently, we’re going to win. They have nobody who can match up with him, even if Daniels and their other tall guys can make life more difficult for Brunson.
From the last thread:
Teams not wanting to play the Knicks, what kind of strange world is this?? LOL
I agree. I hope we’re not going to see Brunson wasting precious energy bringing the ball up court against full court pressure.
I am really agnostic about who we meet, but if I had to choose I would rather it be the Hawks. I like having a tougher opponent in the first round, even if it means playing a game or two more.
I’m not really worried about our bigs versus theirs. I’m more worried that their guards and wings (Dyson, NAW, and McCollum) will just kill us. We’ll really need the Deuce of last night to show up, both on offense and defense. I really wanna blow them out on Saturday night to put them on their heels.
I would have preferred Toronto, but it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. We are much, much better than ATL on paper, they don’t really have an answer for KAT or Mitch and we have answers for all of their guys. I don’t think they are as good as either the Sixers 2024 or the Pistons 2025 and we are better than we were then.
Knicks in 5.
Sounds good to me.
Last 2 years in 1st rd Knicks were up 3-1 with a chance to close out the series at home and blew both games having to win dramatic Game 6’s on the road. Would assume this year Knicks will have another chance to close out the series at home in 5 but this time prevail.
Hawks will be tougher than The Raptors but I still think we can win in 5 or 6 games and if it does go to 6 I don’t think it will be as tough of a 6 games as The Pistons last year.
They don’t really have a go to guy like we do with Brunson and we have a clear advantage at center. And i think OG and Mikal can minimize the damage their wings will do to us.
I think the games will be close but I do believe we’ve been saving our best for now.
I’m just happy the knicks don’t play this week so that New Yorkers can focus their full attention on the Dodgers.
Yeah. Freeman, Ohtani, Will Smith, and Kyle Tucker should have their way against Peterson tonight, as should Wrobleski against the Mets bats.
Oh, joy. A week of listening to one of my trolls do his yearly trashing of Met fans… to the point that I have to defend them as a Yankee fan lol.
Unsolicited context: he works Dodgers games doing 50/50 raffles. Hates the Mets. Swears all their fans are unruly and that all of Queens smells like piss.
He’s only been to Queens once. When he was seven. 😂
Knicks in six, hoping for 5 but concerned about OG not being 100% and team’s possible laissez-faire attitude. *
CDiggy that’s about as wack a description of Met’s fans and Queens that I ever have heard of . That said, Dodgers are going to put feeble Mets through woodchipper this series.
* Hawk’s possible motive to tank last game in order to not play vs. Mobley and Allen. KAT and Mitch must show the folley of that reasoning.
Bo, I am not sensing a laissez-faire vibe around the team at all these days. On the contrary, I think they have played like team that has been just itching to get to the playoffs. In a sense, they mirror my feelings as a fan, meaning that in the aftermath of last year’s disaster vs. the Pacers, including the coaching change, the regular season was pretty much meaningless and just a long slog to get to where they are now. I think they will be a team on a mission, and they have the talent, the chemistry, and the focus to make short work of the Hawks. I don’t think they will look ahead to the second round. In fact, playing a decent team like the Hawks rather than a pushover team (in theory) like the Raptors will make them even more focused on the now.
I also hope that the Knicks take the Hawks resting their starters and tanking game 82 as an insult, since it clearly suggested that they didn’t care about avoiding the Knicks and may have actually preferred it.
Z-Man, I hope you’re right. KAT seems unKATatonic ( heh) since ASB. *His continuing energy on O & D will be key. Mikal seems to also raise his energy level in the playoffs. My concern is that they play with the consistent sense of urgency that the Celtics did last night. There are no gimmes in the Knicks path to ECF.
*Shaq has said that he has talked to KAT about asserting himself more and intends to ” get on his ass” for the playoffs. I do believe KAT would be influenced by Shaq.
Yeah, Bo, the chemistry between KAT and Brunson will be key in that regard, and that has been much better lately. I also am not a big fan of Quin Snyder, his coaching record in the playoffs is spotty, he’s never gotten out of the second round and his record in round 2 is 3-12.
With all the potential opponents the Knicks could’ve faced in the first round a couple weeks ago I would’ve ranked them easiest to Hardest something like
1- Toronto –
2- Miami – great coach, meh team
3-Orlando –
Gap
4-Atlanta
5-Hornets – could make them 6 with how they looked. They chuck plenty of threes and have size all over the starting lineup, but never been in a playoff environment
6-Philly when Embiid was around
So not the hardest matchup, but much different from the Raptors who present a very easy matchup
The Knicks will be fine, but you ALWAYS want the joke first round matchup if possible.
But yes, the Hawks’ lack of a “closer” is SUPER helpful.
ATL rematch without Trae Young is crazy.
Because KAT is going to have to be really good for NY to win this series and because KAT is very inconsistent, – this will go 7 games.
I predict we will be tied at 2-2 entering game 5.
Only below two things matter…everything else is just fun and games.
1) we advance
2) no one gets injured
If Towns outplays Jalen Johnson, we should be good. Jalen’s a bit of a wildcard though – will this be his coming out party on the national stage or will he get stage fright? Josh H did a good job toward the end of that game, but he’s too big, fast or tall for most of our guys to handle consistently. If Towns plays like he’s been playing and Brunson continues to trust his teammates, we should be okay
wonder how we will deal with jalen johnson…
BBA has convinced me, knicks in five to stay alive…
Atlanta won’t be a cakewalk, that’s for sure. They seem to be coming into the playoffs with the momentum I wish we had. But, for a team (and fanbase) who’s mantra all season was, lets wait for the playoffs, we’re just keeping our powder dry, we’re seasoned!, welp lets see what they got. These Knicks deserve a kick in the ass, hopefully it gets em in gear.
Better on paper don’t mean a thing in the playoffs.
I’m not all that worried about Jalen Johnson. He’ll put up nice stats but is unproven as a playoff performer. He has never come across as the headiest player to me.
I’m just happy
not a comment happy folks generally make dear donnie…
are you well today?
rain is in the air, crystal clear skies soon again…
Has there been on update on OG’s health?
Jalen Johnson averaged 22.5 pts (2.4 more than KAT), 10.3 Rebs (1.5 less than KAT despite being only 6’8″), and 7.9 assists per game (1.1 more than that other Jalen, who’s ostensibly a point guard).
Dismiss him at your own risk.
Hawks starting lineup net rating – plus 20
Knicks starting lineup net rating – plus 2
Hornets starting 5 net rating- plus 26, only one above the Hawks
Definitely would not dismiss him, Raven. I do think that if the Knicks gameplan for him well enough, he can be mitigated – tamed even. Looking at his B-R page, my initial takeaway is to keep him on the perimeter: he’s pedestrian from 3 (35%) and a non-factor from the corners.
Raven, as you know I’m not the biggest fan of KAT, especially on his contract, but speaking just to this playoff series, I would way rather have him in his role on the Knicks than Jalen Johnson in his role on the Hawks.So I’m not dismissing him per se, I’m dismissing the Hawks’ chances because of the fact that he has an outside role, among other things.
I also think that JJ has a tendency to make gaffes in crunch time, and seasoned teams like the Knicks can goad him into bad decisions on both ends.
I feel like dismissing NAW and/or McCollum would be at our own peril even more. If we allow either one or both of those guys (especially .399 NAW) to get hot from 3, that would be super dangerous for us. We’d better not sleep on Okongwu from 3 (.376), either.
My suspicion is that our defense is going to be key — OG on Johnson I presume, and Mikal on Alexander-Walker, I guess. And then making sure that annoying detritus like Cory Kispert or Gabe Vincent or, god forbid, Kuminga, don’t light us up.
I guess it’ll be josh’s main assignment to cover johnson?
Edit: seems like someone who you need to pick up full court, bump and hold constantly, or double whenever he touches the ball beyond half court…
Damn. I forgot about Kuminga. Quite the wild card they have there.
Assuming we win, it will be more about our “playoff-testedness” over theirs, probably more than anything else.
I feel optimistic about OG because 1) he kept playing for a little while before alerting the team that his ankle wasn’t quite right, and 2) he’s getting 8 days of rest.
“ The Knicks will be fine, but you ALWAYS want the joke first round matchup if possible”
With “normal” teams, completely agree. But with this team that tends to play with its food and let the intensity/move the ball level wane depending upon the quality of the opponent, I want all the first round reps at a high level. To win the whole thing they need to improve each round, so better to start with a tough round one.
PS: Of course, no complaints with an easy round one…!
If the Knicks contain Jalen Jonson in transition, they should be able to choke out their offense.
Johnson & NAW are good offensive players, but I wouldn’t trust either to go get a bucket in the halfcourt.
My one big worry is Dyson’s ability to harass Brunson.
We’re a better team by quite a bit. This shouldn’t be an issue.
And yet…….
Hawks have no answer for Mitch.
Nobody does!
He’s played 50 playoff games including 2 runs to the conference finals the past to seasons. It is no coming out party, He has a long trac k record of being far less effective in the playoffs than the regular season.
“He’s played 50 playoff games including 2 runs to the conference finals the past to seasons. It is no coming out party, He has a long trac k record of being far less effective in the playoffs than the regular season.”
johnlocke was obviously talking about Jalen Johnson, who has played a grand total of 65 playoff minutes.
I will maintain Knicks in 4.
ATL is untested & don’t have an answer for our bigs.
Everyone’s better than Jalen Brunson until it’s time to be better than Jalen Brunson.
““He’s played 50 playoff games including 2 runs to the conference finals the past to seasons. It is no coming out party, He has a long trac k record of being far less effective in the playoffs than the regular season.””
Yep, the original comment was about Jalen Johnson, as stated. But I’m wondering who Bob is referencing here regarding the 50 ineffective playoff games. It can’t be anyone on the Knicks, because we haven’t reached the conference finals in each of the past two seasons.
Jalen Williams?
This is a fun game…
This is the worst possible first-round matchup and ATL is likely about to rocket past us just ike DET did this year. ATL was 19-4 in 23 games before they tanked the last game to face us. We’ll be down double figures after most first quarters because our starting lineup is broken and theirs is good, and we’ll likely have OG out or hampered.
I feel far from good.
There he is.
If we got the Raptors you’d be all like “this is awful. RJ and IQ are going to be itching for revenge against us and have likely been saving their best for when they face us in the playoffs.”
Never change, pags. Or maybe do change?
Bob was obviously confusing JJ with KAT, who has reached the conference finals with both the Knicks and Wolves.
I was wondering if he meant KAT, but didn’t think of him until after I’d already posted. Thanks as always, Z.
What the hell is with Aaron Boone’s lineups these days? Ben Rice leads the MLB in OPS and wRC+, is newly 27, plays 1B, and…has gotten 2 rest days in the first 16 games with the offense struggling?
The guy can even catch! Bench Wells for him if you need to play Goldy so badly. I don’t get it at all.
Nothing is worse than having Grichuk taking all those at bats over the weekend especially against RH pitching while Jasson is learning absolutely nothing from dominating Triple A.
Ummmmmmm……. When did Buddy Hield go to the Hawks? Now that I think about it, I guess it was the Porzingis trade. I hope there is no “Buddy Hield Game” against us.
CJ McCollum was once traded for Josh Hart and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. That trade is going to have very little impact on the Blazer’s play-in game(s) this year, but a very large impact on this series.
It would be hilarious if after all the fear about the new, improved Hornets they lost to the Heat in the play-in
Apparently, James Ingram was just named NBA player of the week for both the east and the west. Wow! I haven’t considered him an all star since I was 9 and Somewhere Out There was my favorite song from my favorite movie. Congrats, man!
One point on Atlanta’s late season surge. Since all their trades were completed – the Hawks have won a lot of games but have only beat five teams not in the play-in. 1/ Detroit wo Cade. 2/ Boston w/o Tatum, 3/ The Cavs without Donovan Mitchell and 4/ The Nuggets without Jokic or Murray. and 5/ The one game this season they beat us, we had 3 of our core missing – Hukporti starting at center instead of Towns, no Josh and no Shamet.
Bullshit. The Raptors are under .500 over the last 25 games. Over the last 1/3 of the season they have been average while ATL has performed similar to OKC and SAS.
I’ve consistently opined that RJ is a bust. IQ is an average NBA PG which is not a bad thing but TOR is the definition of a mezzanine team.
We would destroy the Raptors. We are maybe a coinflip against ATL.
Over that span we won a whole… six games against non-play in teams. Two of those came against the Raptors, the worst team in that category. Another was BOS without Brown, who has been better than Tatum this year, in a game they had nothing to gain by winning.
They went 5-4 against this group and we went 6-5.
Judge with a nice 2-run homer to lead off.
Knicks are so much better than Atlanta its kinda sad watching Pags trying to spin it any other way.
Six o’clock Saturday time slot for Game 1 like two years ago against Philly.
Primo.
That was a great series, and we won it!
18 players played in all 82 games:
Desmond Bane
Keldon Johnson
Jeremiah Fears
Reed Sheppard
Brandin Podziemski
James Huff
Mikal Bridges
Toumani Camara
Julian Champagnie
Donte DiVincenzo
Javonte Green
Bub Carrington
Jake LaRavia
Bruce Brown, Jr.
Jamal Shead
Oso Ighodaro
Kris Dun
Sion James
There were 24 players who played in 80 or more games.
Not for the past 25 games we haven’t been
The Hawks ranked eighth in 3-point attempts and fourth in 3-point percentage during the regular season.
I can kind of visualize us losing at least one game where ISM goes completely missing. Buddy, CJ, NAW, Johnson, Kispert, even Okongwu (.376!).
It will make the league happy to know that I, a twenty year daily reader of an NBA blog, have never heard of most of these guys. Amazing product, ‘25-‘26!
Seriously? I’ve heard of every single one of them, and can tell you what teams they’re on. In today’s NBA, though, I’d have no idea what positions to use to assign to them.
Well, I guess I haven’t heard of Kris Dun, as he had the second “n” truncated from his last name. He’s the usual starting point guard for the Clippers, though, and was drafted by the Wolves (I believe) several years ago. Most of those guys (with the exception of Javonte Green, LaRavia, and Bruce Brown) started several games this season, off the top of my head. You’ve been lulled to sleep by the woeful Pacers, which is the team that James Huff plays for.
Between Alibaba’s Rome autonomously deciding to mine bitcoin, cuz you gots to make a fucking living and Anthropic’s Mythos shaking the pillars, I don’t know that I am that scared of the hawks. Knicks in a comfortable 6… we can handle pace better than they can handle grind… and pags how can you talk yourself past the net rating differential…
Sure, come to my city and hit Ohtani in the back. On pitch three.
Congrats! You’ve spent a lot of time watching 3rd rate players play every day.
Being that nearly every poster here seemed to have a strong preference for playing Toronto over Atlanta, it’s probably true that some are now sugarcoating the outcome by being dismissive of them, including myself. Still, the Knicks are strong betting favorites and the Hawks have definitely benefitted from teams not adjusting to them post-trade. The Knicks are betting faves, so there’s that. Pags is being Pags, but it could be a tough matchup, and possibly tougher than any of TOR, ORL, PHI, CHA, or MIA would have been. Although he has no credibility whatsoever so we can all assume that he would have said the same thing no matter the matchup, just using different justification for doing so.
Both teams will have nearly a full week to rest, recover, and prepare for this series. I think the Knicks will benefit more because a number of players have been banged up and need some rest…OG, Deuce, Shamet, Brunson, Hart…although the Hawks might get Jock Landale back to give them some size. But I also think that the Knicks have more options to go to than the Hawks, and have a legitimate “closer” in Brunson while the Hawks are more “closer by committee.” I also think Brown is a better coach than Snyder.
That said, I would agree with anyone who thinks that losing the series would be an abject disaster, and a horrifying way to end the season.
Donnie, how’s plans/construction coming along?
LOL Donnie, the only games I (sometimes) have time to watch are Knicks games, but I still have heard of all 18 guys who have played every single game. It’s difficult to be an NBA fan and *not* have heard of guys who have played that much, at least in my opinion. YMMV, of course!
I’m sure Peterson’s 66 MPH fastball didn’t hurt Ohtani too much
LOL
My picks—
MVP:
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
2. Victor Wembanyama
3. Cade Cunningham
4. Nikola Jokic
5. Chet Holmgren
6. Luka Doncic
7. Jalen Brunson
8. De’Aaron Fox
9. Kevin Durant
10. Austin Reaves
Knicks:
1. Jalen Brunson
2. Karl-Anthony Towns
3. OG Anunoby
4. Mikal Bridges
5. Josh Hart
Knicks-Killers (no one on Hawks!):
1. Tyrese Maxey
2. Cade Cunningham
3. Brandon Ingram
4. Franz Wagner
5. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Top 2 Knicks-Killers on Hawks:
1. Onyeka Okongwu
2. Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Power Rankings:
1. Thunder
2. Spurs
3. Pistons
4. Celtics
5. Knicks
6. Nuggets
7. Rockets
8. Hornets
9. Cavaliers
10. Timberwolves
Bottom 5:
30. Wizards
29. Nets
28. Kings
27. Jazz
26. Pacers
Where does Oso Ighodaro rank? What about Sion James?
Last season, Ighodaro was ranked #253 overall, and #70 for SFs. Sion James is a rookie this year, so still unranked.
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