The New York Knicks’ 0-3 start has already put Jalen Brunson in the spotlight, and he didn’t run from it after the loss to the Orlando Magic. He pointed the finger at himself first, saying the late-game execution has to be better even as the broader issues around the team keep piling up.
"Poor decision-making by me late in the game. The ball's not falling in for us. I think we've gotten some good looks throughout the game, but the little things we can control that help contribute to wins," Brunson declared.
That honesty fits Brunson’s image, but it only tells part of the story. The Knicks have already run into a brutal early stretch against the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, and Orlando Magic, and the three defeats have left them searching for answers before the season has even had time to settle in. Some of that, as the source material notes, comes down to the caliber of the opponents and the mindset those teams are bringing into the year.
The bigger problem, though, is what the Knicks are doing with the ball. Through three games, they’ve coughed it up 47 times. Even when looking only at the losses to Boston and Philadelphia, they sit 17th in the NBA with a 14.5% turnover percentage.
Still, the turnover numbers aren’t the whole offensive picture. Brunson’s concern about ball security matters, but the Knicks’ broader issue is that nearly every major offensive category has slipped. Their offense has fallen below league-average territory in several places, and the group is now lagging behind both the 2025-26 league average and its own numbers from last season’s championship run.
Their offensive factors tell the story. The Knicks’ ball security is actually one of the better parts of the offense, with a 0.145 TOV%, which ranks second to their 0.283 ORB%, good for 15th in the league. Even so, those marks are not enough to cover up the wider inefficiency.
What Brunson really wants fixed is the stuff that shows up in winning basketball: cleaner decisions late, better shot quality, and a higher effective field goal percentage. He knows the season is nowhere near lost, and he said as much after the latest setback.
"Control what you can control. Focus on the little details.
It may seem small, but it will impact winning... Most importantly, stick together," he declared.
That’s the path forward for the Knicks, at least for now. The losses have been ugly, and the offense has looked out of sync, but Brunson’s message is that the season can still be salvaged if the team cleans up the details that have dragged it down.
In Other News...
Jaylen Brown Keeps Sixers Fans Watching This Celtics Drama
Even after the Celtics have moved on to other business, the Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum storyline still has a way of finding an audience in Philadelphia. Browns latest response to Tatums insistence that there is no animosity between them only added another layer to a relationship that has followed both players beyond Boston, especially now that Brown is wearing Sixers colors and any friction between the two is suddenly relevant to a different fan base.
Brown did not exactly close the door on the subject, instead pointing to Tatums public relations team and stopping short of saying he wants to clear the air privately. The bigger mystery is still the same one hanging over the exchange: the two stars have different versions of how much Tatum knew about Browns move from the Celtics to the Sixers, and neither has laid out the full story. For Sixers fans, it is a reminder that this is not just old Celtics drama. It is a subplot tied directly to one of their most prominent players. [Read more 🡒]
Nets 0-2 Start Still Brought A Promising Sign Fans Needed
Even in a 0-2 start, Brooklyn has had at least one encouraging development to point to, and it has come from the kind of young talent that can keep a fan base engaged through the early grind of a season. Egor Demin and Mikel Brown Jr. both showed flashes that suggested the Nets may have something worth building on, even if the results have not followed yet.
For a Philadelphia team watching the East unfold around it, that kind of early growth across the conference matters, especially with Joel Embiid set to miss a game while managing plantar fasciitis. The Sixers have their own health concerns to track, and while the Nets are still searching for their first win, the emergence of a couple of promising pieces gives Brooklyn at least one reason to stay patient. [Read more 🡒]
Jaylen Brown Just Added Real Heat To The Sixers Celtics Rivalry
Jaylen Brown has given the 76ers-Celtics rivalry a little extra edge before the season even gets rolling. Brown, now on Philadelphias side of the ledger, weighed in on Jayson Tatums reaction to Brown being traded to the Sixers and suggested his former Celtics teammate was not fully candid about it. The comments only add to a relationship that has long carried more complexity than the usual former-teammates reunion.
Now the spotlight shifts to the calendar, with Philadelphia and Boston set to see each other multiple times in the regular season and the first meeting coming Nov. 10. Brown also told Tatum to stay ready, which is the kind of line that tends to linger when two stars with a complicated history are headed for repeated head-to-head matchups. For the Sixers, it turns a familiar Eastern Conference showdown into something with a little more personal bite. [Read more 🡒]