This was no way to start the new year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Knicks came out flatter than a pancake for their first game of 2026 and produced one of their worst performances of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For what should have been the last possession of the first half, Jalen Brunson, who was under no pressure from the defense, was too slow walking the ball up the court and was called for an eight-second violation. That lack of focus on the unforced error was a perfect encapsulation of their uninspiring showing as the Knicks fell 111-99 to the Hawks on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot gonna lie, we just didn\u2019t have it tonight,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cI know that\u2019s a terrible, lame-ass excuse, but we let shotmaking affect our overall gameplay. That includes our pace, our sense of urgency. Just wasn\u2019t our style of basketball today and it\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kristaps Porzingis attempts a shot during the Hawks\u2019 Jan. 2 loss to the Knicks. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
They were shorthanded, with a major hole at center without Karl-Anthony Towns (illness) and Mitchell Robinson (load management). And they were still without Josh Hart (ankle) and Landry Shamet (shoulder). It certainly showed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They trailed by 24 points after three quarters and actually heard some boos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Knicks, after a three-game win streak, have dropped two straight ahead of a tough back-to-back with the 76ers coming to town Saturday. And since their NBA Cup triumph, they are just 5-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first time they have lost two in a row since they lost three straight at the end of October.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They showed more life in the fourth quarter \u2014 they started the quarter on an 11-0 run to cut their deficit to 13 and provide the MSG crowd with some juice. But two straight 3s from Luke Kennard reestablished a 19-point Hawks lead. The Knicks cut the deficit to 11 with just under four minutes left and nine with 1:29 left, but never got closer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was too late by that point,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cWe have to have that sense of urgency throughout the game. Can\u2019t let it get to that point.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coach Mike Brown has criticized the Knicks\u2019 defense repeatedly in recent games, and it was lax yet again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shot\u2019s not falling, where else are we gonna hang our hat? And it has to be on the defensive end of the floor, and we didn\u2019t get it done throughout most of the game tonight,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why we ended up losing, at the end of the day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But recently, the Knicks have at times bailed out their poor defense with strong offense. On Friday, they were brutal on both sides of the ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brunson finished with 24, but got little help from healthy co-stars OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges until it was too late. Anunoby had 19 points \u2014 seven of which came in the fourth quarter when the Knicks were already facing a big deficit \u2014 and Bridges recorded 18 \u2014 12 of which came in the fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a team, the Knicks shot just 36 percent from the field and a rough 20 percent from 3-point range. That was their worst mark from deep this season, and it affected their effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson tries to drive to the basket during the Knicks\u2019 Jan. 2 loss to the Hawks. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
They let the Hawks shoot 48 percent from the field, led by Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Onyeka Okongwu, who tallied 23 points apiece.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just lack of energy defensively,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cI know we weren\u2019t making shots, but that doesn\u2019t leave an excuse to not play defense and get back. We can\u2019t let missing shots affect us on the other end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
All the Knicks absences forced Brown to again go deeper into his bench. But that expanded bench struggled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jordan Clarkson was a non-factor. Tyler Kolek failed to affect the game like he has recently. Kevin McCullar Jr., who has entered the rotation in Hart\u2019s absence, took a step back and was scoreless. Mohamed Diawara missed all three shots he took and was scoreless as well. Pac\u00f4me Dadiet and Trey Jamison III even briefly saw the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ariel Hukporti and Guerschon Yabusele were the only two members of the bench unit that mostly held their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how many guys are in uniform or who\u2019s in uniform,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe gotta go play the right way. Sometimes, if you play the right way, you\u2019re gonna take a loss and you\u2019re OK with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was definitely not the case Friday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels drives to the basket as New York Knicks guard Miles McBride tries to steal the ball and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson gives chase during the first quarter.
Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
The Knicks were flying for a few weeks, winning 11 of 12 games, including the NBA Cup final. But all of a sudden, they\u2019ve begun to falter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They have an immediate chance to respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This was no way to start the new year.\u00a0 The Knicks came out flatter than a pancake for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":489331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,3119,24114,24282,1260,405,403,3122,5226,5225,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-489330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-jalen-brunson","11":"tag-mike-brown","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-knicks","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115830962588024411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}