5 games that have defined the Knicks' season at the All-Star break
The Knicks' Jalen Brunson holds the NBA Cup trophy after defeating the San Antonio Spurs at T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 16, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Credit: Getty Images/Ethan Miller
The Knicks made it to the All-Star break with a 35-20 record — good enough to ease some of the question marks that they entered the season with and not impressive enough to convince anyone that they are ready to take the final step to the long-elusive NBA title that has been set as the goal.
As the Knicks packed their suitcases for either Los Angeles and the All-Star Weekend or a more tropical locale, Josh Hart was asked where the Knicks are at the break relative to expectations. He laughed and said, “I don’t even know where we’re at.”
As a whole, that’s understandable. So we picked out five games that might provide an answer.
Nov. 24: Knicks 113, Nets 100
On the surface, perhaps this game might not matter, beating a lottery-bound team. But it marked the first time that Mike Brown shook off his own plans — and ego — and began to mesh what the Knicks were with what he wants them to be. He inserted Hart into the starting lineup, kicking off a run of 10 wins in 11 games after a 9-6 start. After the Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau days after he brought the franchise to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years, it took guts for Brown to revert to previous plans. “He makes things easier for everybody," Brown said of Hart. "And I said this: We got a new coach, new system. And you look back, especially our first three losses on the road, I think two of those losses Josh was sitting next to me in the fourth. And I’ll be the first to say that wasn’t the right thing to do because he does so many great things for us and our group and our coaching staff.”
Dec. 16: Knicks 124, Spurs 113 (NBA Cup title)
Winning is hard, and the Knicks' 52-year absence from winning an NBA title is proof of that. The franchise opted not to raise a banner at Madison Square Garden to commemorate the win over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, but the Knicks hope it won’t be forgotten. Jalen Brunson earned Cup MVP honors, and in accepting the award, he opted to direct the praise to his teammates, to the bench players who had helped forge the comeback win, and said, “We got down 10, whatever it was, and we found a way to win. That’s it. That’s going to be our motto going forward. We’re going to find a way.” So far, they have.
Dec. 25: Knicks 126, Cavaliers 124
Just over a week after Brunson promised the Knicks would find a way, they did it again. After falling behind by 17 points in the fourth quarter, they mounted an unlikely rally led by backup point guard Tyler Kolek on Christmas Day. The Knicks not only proved Brunson prophetic but also beat the Cavaliers for the second time in a row this season, shifting the energy from last season’s struggles against the best teams in the NBA. That might show that this season’s team has something burning to prove, just as the overachieving incarnations of the team in recent years did.
Jan. 5: Pistons 121, Knicks 90
A month and one day after being blown out by the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons, the Knicks again were routed by Detroit, 118-80. What does it mean? Well, the Knicks could point to last year’s 0-8 record in the regular season against Boston and Cleveland and remind us that they knocked the Celtics out in the postseason and that the Cavs failed again in the playoffs. They could note that Hart sat out the first meeting and OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns missed the second one. Or they could admit that the Pistons humbled them without a talent surplus as much as it was a physical beating — and that’s the part that they have to prove they can overcome. The Knicks open the second half of the season at home against the Pistons on Feb. 19.
Feb. 8: Knicks 111, Celtics 89
This is a stand-in for a four-game set. The Knicks have had four losses that could have sent them spiraling — the two blowouts against the Pistons, a one-sided loss at home to Dallas and the overtime home loss to last-place Indiana — but they have followed up all four games with wins, including the two largest-margin-of-victory games in franchise history against the Nets and 76ers. But the win over the Celtics on Super Bowl Sunday was impressive because on the heels of the 38-point loss at Detroit, the Knicks went into a hostile environment and dominated a team that never has a day without full effort.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
