Steve Popper: Knicks earn the type of win that makes you wonder if a trade is really necessary
Knicks’ Mikal Bridges scores against the Portland Trailblazers at Madison Square Garden on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
It was a methodical victory for the Knicks, who almost casually pulled away from the Portland Trail Blazers, 127-97, on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
It was their fifth straight victory after a 2-9 stretch, the sort of win the Knicks (30-18) imagined when they put this team together and the sort of winning streak they imagined, too. There was no need for late-game heroics from Jalen Brunson or a 40-point performance from any player as the Knicks, top to bottom, did the work that was needed to put another win in the standings.
It also was the sort of game that makes you wonder if — with all of the rumors swirling ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline — the pieces already might be in place for the Knicks to reach the lofty goals and expectations they brought into this season.
After struggling with an illness Wednesday, Brunson was back to normal with 26 points. OG Anunoby added 24 points and Josh Hart had 20. All five starters were in double figures, including Karl-Anthony Towns, who had only14 points but followed up Wednesday’s season-high 22-rebound outing with 20.
The defense, built around Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, held the Trail Blazers in check all night, no mirage during this streak. In the previous four games, the Knicks’ defensive rating of 91.7 was by far the best in the NBA, and Friday marked the fourth time in the last five games in which they held the opposition under 100 points. They’ve allowed 90.2 points per game in that span.
“It’s just a work in progress,” coach Mike Brown said before Friday’s game. “We’re continuing to try to work at it, try to help them. The guys are a little bit more comfortable with what we’re trying to do, and it’s shown.”
Facing a Portland team that has been the subject of rumors surrounding a potential trade with the Knicks, it seemed to be a night to see auditions on both sides. But while a Giannis Antetokounmpo deal before the deadline is unlikely for the Knicks, any major deal with Portland might be just as unlikely. This might be the team the Knicks take to the finish line — whenever that is.
After the Knicks beat the Raptors on Wednesday night, turning a miserable start into a 27-point win, Bridges got the call for an on-court interview with Madison Square Garden Network.
When Walt Frazier asked him about his performance, measured against the struggles that had preceded it, he opened up in an unexpected fashion.
“I think I just wasn’t playing how I was supposed to be playing,” Bridges said. “I think I wasn’t coachable enough. I don’t know what it is, maybe I felt too much entitlement. Just had to kind of talk to myself a little bit about it and just be coachable, be the best teammate I can be and then let the basketball speak for itself.”
The basketball hasn’t always spoken up enough for Bridges since his arrival. He’s soft-spoken off the court and sometimes blends in on the court — a role that’s important on a team with clear offensive stars.
His words prompted Hart to go to social media and write, “This is the realest and most impressive postgame interview you will ever see. Proud of my brother.”
It was an unexpected openness and explanation for how a player could go from a 3-for-16 night in Philadelphia two games earlier to the lights-out effort he put forth in Toronto. And it wasn’t even just one night to another.
With the Knicks missing Deuce McBride and Mitchell Robinson that night, Brunson trying to play through an illness and clearly not himself and Towns struggling to find his offense, Bridges still seemed invisible early.
Before he saved the Knicks with a 12-for-15 shooting, 30-point night, he went through the first 20 minutes of the game without attempting a shot. Then he scored 24 points in the second half, shooting 7-for-8 in the third quarter.
“I was talking to Landry [Shamet] about it,” Bridges said. “It’s a mental thing. Not worrying about it, knowing that you’re aggressive and trying to make plays on both ends, the basketball gods will bless you at one point.’’
The Knicks have built a starting five as potent as any in the NBA. Last season, Towns, Brunson, Bridges and Anunoby each had at least one game of at least 40 points. That means some nights the shots won’t be there.
Bridges’ name has surfaced in trade rumors of late, with outsiders trying to do the math on a way for the Knicks to swing a multi-team trade to land Antetokounmpo. He’s already been saddled with the cost of the trade that brought him to the Knicks — the five first-round picks they sent to the Nets in the deal — as well as the four-year, $150 million contract extension the team gave him this past summer.
“Just figuring out our team, I feel like I just wasn’t being coachable to my standard,’’ he said. “Maybe I’m feeling too entitled or something. Something that I had to just sit down and talk to myself about a little bit, look yourself in the mirror — what type of player you want to be? It was affecting me personally on both ends.”
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.
