Mike Brown didn’t spend much time worrying about the final score after the Knicks’ first preseason game. The bigger concern coming out of Monday’s 120-97 loss in Philadelphia was the stuff that doesn’t show up in the box score: the process, the physicality and the habits New York brought to the floor.
That’s the right lens for an exhibition opener, especially one where the regular starters barely played. Jalen Brunson put up 12 points in 14 minutes and 51 seconds, which tells you plenty about how little this game should be treated like a regular-season snapshot. A short run for the top group can’t be used as a full read on what the Knicks will look like when the games actually count.
Still, Brown has a job to do in these games, and it isn’t just surviving them. He has to get players conditioned, sort through combinations and figure out which reserves can help. A preseason loss can still be useful if the staff gets real information out of it, even if the result itself isn’t much fun to watch.
What stood out from Brown’s postgame discussion, carried by SNY, was how much he leaned into the details players can control. Missed shots happen.
What matters more is whether a team is competing for rebounds, handling contact and staying locked in through screens and assignments. Those are the kinds of possessions a coach can use to judge whether the night was productive, even when the shot-making wasn’t there.
That’s why the physicality piece matters more than the score. Brown doesn’t need to run his starters into the ground just to make a point in October. He needs the shorter stretches to look sharp and intentional, and he needs the players fighting for roles to show they can bring the right level of effort and execution.
Now the Knicks get another chance to show it. Washington comes to New York on Thursday, and that gives Brown and his staff another look at whether the response is there. The shooting numbers may swing one way or the other, but the bigger test is whether the team shows better competition and cleaner habits after what bothered Brown in Philadelphia.
The Knicks earned their place last season. This group now has to carry that standard into the preseason, and Brown made it clear after the first night that he’s not interested in pretending otherwise.
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For the Knicks, that leaves a familiar front office problem: trying to turn a roster logjam into a clean solution without paying too high a price. There has been no concrete deal reported, and the lack of outside interest suggests New York may have to get creative to get anything done. For now, Dadiet remains on the roster and the team is still looking for a path forward that fits both the cap sheet and the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]