Knicks' season opener went well, but things still are a work in progress
New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown calls out in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
For Mike Brown, opening night could not have followed the script any better. The usual full house at the Garden brimming with optimism, including his mother and sister, who’d flown in from Texas to witness his debut. And every part of his plans and promises from the news conferences and preseason workouts was on display and clicking without fail.
And maybe most important, it resulted in a win and a celebration, a 119-111 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that won 64 games last season, beat the Knicks in all four meetings and are the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference this season.
Next up on Friday night at the Garden are the Boston Celtics, who also beat the Knicks in all four regular-season meetings last season before the Knicks knocked them out of the postseason.
If Brown had a checklist jotted down before the game, it might have contained his principles:
We’re going to use our bench.
We’re going to pressure up and down the floor on both offense and defense.
We’re going to provide help to relieve the pressure on Jalen Brunson.
And our two-way wings are going to flourish in the new system.
Check, check, check and check.
But even in the giddy moments, it was clear that Brown has been around long enough to know that this isn’t how it’s always going to be.
“I like to play a lot of guys,” he said after using 11 players in the opener — 11 by the time he put out the starters for the second quarter. “I don’t know if I’ll play 11 guys every night, but we like to play as many as we can.”
Stretching the depth might mean nine players on most nights, 10 on others, and if Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart were available, those two would play more minutes than players put in their place. So math just dictates that there will be fewer minutes to go around.
The bigger picture was that Brown did trust players who hadn’t shown much in preseason — such as Tyler Kolek — and that he rolled the dice with all sorts of combinations.
He inserted Ariel Hukporti into the starting lineup to keep Karl-Anthony Towns at power forward but didn’t hesitate to shuffle the lineups and finished the game with Towns at center and Deuce McBride inserted with four starters.
“The coaching staff has been experimenting with a lot of different lineups in practice and a lot of different looks,” McBride said. “Just really felt great to be able to go out there with your guys, and it doesn’t matter who is out there. Just going to step up and get the job done.”
McBride, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby flourished in the opener, maybe no surprise. They all seemed limited at times last season, and a more open court and egalitarian system fits their skill sets. And with additional work for them, from bringing the ball up the floor or serving as de facto point guards, it meant less work for Brunson, who was off the ball more than he had been last season.
Now, will that be a good thing? That remains to be seen. Brunson shot 5-for-18, including 1-for-9 from three-point range. He brushed off the changes as having anything to do with it afterward, noting, “I’m very comfortable shooting the ball regardless of however I shoot the ball. So, I mean, I wasn’t comfortable tonight, 5-for-18, but I have a comfort level I’m very confident with.”
The Knicks — and particularly Brown — know they will go as far as Brunson and Towns will take them. While Brown’s plans will, they hope, ease the burden and make more use of all the weapons, Brunson and Towns are the All-NBA talents who brought the Knicks as far as they went last season. They need Hart and Robinson back, even if there is no clear answer to when that will come.
Although Day 1 might have been a night for a democratic process, when the moment comes — whether it’s Game 2 or 82 or in the postseason — the Knicks will need Brunson to be at his best.
Notes & quotes: Hart was upgraded to questionable for Friday night and Towns again was questionable. Robinson already has been declared out and Anunoby is probable.
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.
