It was always going to be that way, just like Ewings_Finger_Roll joked in the Postgame Thread. There seemed to be nothing the New York Knicks could have done in last night’s road game against the lowly Chicago Bulls that would have made many in their fanbase jump out of their wonderful plushy seats from which they watched a championship just half a year ago. But man, Jordan Clarkson and his friends surely tried nonetheless.
To make things a little interesting, the reigning champs went by the playbook of last year’s early-season game at Chicago on October 31, 2025, even if that Cup contest wasn’t on the second night of a back-to-back like this one. They still sleepwalked through it against a young, inexperienced outfit of bull calves which bears no resemblance to the mighty teams of the Windy City’s past—let me know if that sounds familiar. Then, in the end, your Knickerbockers made a furious comeback only to have it fall short just before the finish line.
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When Norman Powell put Chicago up by 19 midway through the third quarter, that looked like it would be a good bet to happen again. I’m sure you could have found a parlay or something with one of the many bloodthirsty gambling companies that populate our sports world these days. But as is so often the case, that money would have been gone.
Knicks play around and still win
Would it have been nice if the Knicks hadn’t played with their food so much but rather gulped it down immediately, just like my young Labrador does with anything edible (and not edible) that gets within a mile of his jaws? I’d guess so. Letting a young and, in parts, actually talented team like the Bulls gain confidence is a dangerous proposition. It can quickly turn a game into a mess that it just shouldn’t be, not even on the second night of a back-to-back. It can get players benched, too, as Mikal Bridges can confirm after getting just 13 minutes in this one. But while there are plenty of gripes to be had about how the first two and a half quarters went this time around, nobody can argue with the final result.
In large part, we can thank the Knicks reserves for that, especially Jordan Clarkson, Landry Shamet and Tyler Kolek. They all took turns scoring, defending, passing and fighting; their energy, especially on the offensive end, was palpable. With better and, most notably, quicker ball movement initiated by Kolek (9 assists) came more and more open opportunities from downtown, and the Knicks capitalized (48 percent from three). What a game like this means for Kolek going forward is hard to say, especially once Jose Alvarado comes back from his injury. But even with a more than crowded backcourt, there is probably always room for classy, heads-up point guard play.
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Jalen Brunson’s wrist looked pretty solid
It’s not really how Jalen Brunson interprets his role at the one, but we’ll take the alternative for now. The captain was his vintage self in his former home state, going for 38 big points in a game where his team needed each one of them. Fourteen of those came in the fourth quarter, when there was nothing the Bulls could do to stop the reigning Finals MVP. Word on the street is that Norman Powell is still looking for his ankles around the United Center; considering how he is an old buddy of OG Anunoby from their Toronto days, we surely wish him the best.
The most welcome sign from Brunson’s game was that he finally had his three-pointer going (6 of 10 from beyond the arc). Wrist surgeries can be a tricky thing for shooters, and quite a few people were at least slightly concerned when Brunson started the season ice cold from the floor. Worry no more, my friends: our captain is still our captain, and the wrist looked fine. Just like the Knicks did in the end when they pulled out a game that easily could have been one of those dreaded schedule losses that we’ve luckily grown accustomed to over the last few years.
I mention “luckily” because you basically can only have these types of losses when you are a good team. When people expect you to win, when they expect you to walk over the bottom feeders of the Association. There’s a temptation to chalk these games up as business as usual no matter the result, especially if you’ve partied up and down the Canyon of Heroes in June. But winning them more often than not points to a certain quality a team possesses. And witnessing that never gets boring, does it?
