Josh Hart didn’t waste any time pointing to the Knicks’ supporting cast after Monday night’s 103-90 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
The box score had plenty of familiar names, but the real lift came from the players outside the spotlight. New York moved to 3-4 on the new season thanks in large part to a bench group that swung the game when the starters weren’t finding their rhythm.
Jordan Clarkson was the spark. In only 11 minutes, he brought energy, knocked down timely shots and finished with a plus-17. Tyler Kolek made his minutes count too, as the Knicks outscored Brooklyn by 13 points during the five minutes he was on the floor.
Hart made sure those efforts got noticed.
“We talked about [Clarkson] earlier, Landry (Shamet), I mean, he had big threes. That third quarter kept us in it.
Jose (Alvarado) played well. Ty (Kolek) played well.
[Andre Drummond], I think he had to win like nine rebounds, ten rebounds in, like, 11 or 12 minutes,” Hart said, via SNY Knicks on X.
"It shows you the depth that we have, that it could be anybody's night on any given night"
— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) November 3, 2026
Josh Hart talks about some of the Knicks' role players stepping up for them tonight: pic.twitter.com/FIZAEBe3xl
“It shows you the depth that we have, that it could be anybody's night on any given night.”
That depth mattered because the top of the rotation was uneven. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 30 points on 10-of-27 shooting.
OG Anunoby added 18 points but went 4-of-10 from the field. Mikal Bridges had a rough night as well, scoring six points in 16 minutes before head coach Mike Brown benched him.
With the Knicks still trying to find their footing early in the season, the bench’s production was the difference in a game they needed to have against a Nets team that has been struggling.
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Jose Alvarados return from injury was supposed to make the rotation picture clearer, but Kolek still got meaningful fourth-quarter run against the Brooklyn Nets and delivered enough key plays to help New York build its lead. For a Knicks team that values steadiness at the point, that kind of trust in a tight game says plenty, and it leaves the backup job looking more like a live competition than a formality. [Read more 🡒]