Steve Popper: Why do Knicks constantly have to dig themselves out of holes?
Adem Bona of the 76ers falls on top of the Knicls' Karl-Anthony Towns during the second half of an Emirates NBA Cup game on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026 in Philadelphia. Credit: Getty Images/Emilee Chinn
PHILADELPHIA — When the Knicks raised the banner for their long-awaited NBA championship a little more than a week ago, while the pomp and circumstance at Madison Square Garden was focused on lifting it to the rafters, there already was another new artifact lined up alongside the dusty collection of tributes.
Without any of the focus, the Knicks had placed a banner — smaller than the others — to honor the NBA Cup championship they captured last season, an achievement that the organization had refused to put up with the rest of the franchise’s history. The real NBA title was the goal they were chasing.
While the Knicks’ NBA title defense got off to an inauspicious start with three straight losses — beginning the night of the banner-raising with a loss to the new-look Philadelphia 76ers — they took the floor at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday with a chance to at least avenge that loss and take the first step in the defense of their NBA Cup title.
The Knicks showed signs of emulating last year’s achievements — falling into a huge hole while appearing lifeless and then scrambling back into the game, even turning a 14-point third-quarter deficit into a one-point lead in the final minutes. But if that has been a continuing pattern from last season to this one, the difference has been that four times, including on this night, they could not complete the comeback. The Knicks fell, 98-93, and took their second loss to the 76ers in the opening six games.
The bigger question than just why the Knicks lost this one is this: Why do they fall behind by double-digits every game?
“I wish I could,” Josh Hart said. “I wish I could tell you that one. If I could tell you that one, the reason why, maybe it would stop happening. I think we all have a great will to win. I think sometimes it takes us a little longer than we like to find the game, whether that’s the flow, whether that’s fatigue, whether that’s whatever it is. We’ve gotta do a better job of finding the game early, making it easy and then not relying on double-digit comebacks because it’s taxing.”
“I’ve said in the past, it’s always important to learn from wins,” said Jalen Brunson, who has carried the Knicks through so many fourth-quarter comebacks. “Obviously, you learn from losses as well. But there’s been plenty of times we learned from being down, what we can do, and obviously, in that same game, we made adjustments to where we weren’t down anymore. We came back and won the game.
“We understand what we have to do. It’s just starting games that way. And I think that just has to be our biggest point of emphasis going forward.’’
The 76ers won the offseason with their rebuild, and on the court in the opening weeks, they have delivered a statement that the path back to the NBA Finals is not going to be easy.
What the Knicks have seen is that the comebacks that marked the championship run just haven’t come this time around, as turnovers, sluggish starts and missed shots have left them fighting out of holes.
This time it came against a team already loaded with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe that has been boosted by the addition of LeBron James, Anfernee Simons and Jaylen Brown, who sat out this game.
“It’s our next opponent, and that’s the most important game,” Mike Brown said, dismissing this as any sort of a statement. “Obviously, it’s a Cup game. You wanna win the Cup game, but I don’t care if it’s Philly or Boston or Charlotte. Let’s play the right way, and for the first half, we did not.”
Down 58-44 when Brown called time 1:41 into the third quarter, it took the Knicks only 2 minutes and 58 seconds to close the gap to five. Brunson had 13 points in the quarter, but the Knicks trailed 77-68 heading to the fourth after Simons hit a three-pointer with 4.5 seconds left.
With 4:45 left, Karl-Anthony Towns delivered a long three-pointer and the Knicks were within two. When Brunson sank a tough corner three-pointer with 1:32 to play and the 24-second clock ticking toward zero, they had their first lead since the opening minutes of the game at 90-89.
James hit a fadeaway jumper in the lane to give the 76ers the lead again and Edgecombe drained a three-pointer with 33.8 seconds remaining. James then tipped in a miss by Maxey to make it 96-91 with 11.9 seconds left.
Brunson had 24 points and Towns added 22 for the Knicks (2-4). Maxey had 27 points and Simons had 21 off the bench for the 76ers (5-1). James added 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
“They’re a great team,” Towns said. “Obviously, you know, you add the greatest player of all time, you’re gonna get a lot better.
“We gotta bring our best. We gotta actually go to a high level, and we gotta continue to use these games as a learning experience and continue to remind ourselves it’s hard to win an NBA game and we gotta continue to get better every single day, that 1% better, so as the season goes along, we can show that version of ourselves.”
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.
