In the 80-year history of the NBA, only three champions have opened their title defense with three straight losses: the 1969 Celtics, the 2011 Mavericks and, now, the Knicks. New York has lost to the Sixers, the Celtics and, on Sunday night, a Magic team that was also winless and was playing without Paolo Banchero.
The slow start has revived doubts about last season's championship run. The Knicks won only 53 regular-season games and trailed San Antonio for more than 70% of the minutes in the Finals before rallying, including a 29-point comeback in Game 4. Skeptics are asking whether that formula can be repeated in a tougher Eastern Conference.
History offers little support for a simple hangover explanation. Of the 26 champions this century, only the 2006-07 Heat won fewer than 51 games the following season, excluding shortened years, and only those Heat and the 2002-03 Lakers started below .500 through 20 games. Defending champions are a combined 366-154 through that stretch. Still, the only team to start 0-3 and win the title that year was the 1990-91 Bulls, and only the 1969 Celtics and 1995 Rockets have won a championship as a seed lower than No. 3.
The most glaring problem is shooting. New York has the league's lowest true-shooting percentage, and only Charlotte has a worse field-goal mark than the Knicks' 40.8%. They are hitting 32.4% from three and own the second-worst offensive rating in the league. Jalen Brunson is shooting 39% overall and 26% from deep after going 12 for 28 against Orlando. OG Anunoby is at 41% and 28%, and Josh Hart is at 41% and 33% while taking 7.0 threes per game, up from 3.7 last year, because defenders are ignoring him on the perimeter. Karl-Anthony Towns has been the exception.
Mikal Bridges has struggled most. He is averaging 3.3 points on 5-for-23 shooting, has missed all 10 of his three-point attempts and has two airballs. The Knicks have a net rating of minus-26.1 over 183 possessions with him on the floor and plus-26.6 over 109 possessions without him. His 10 points are his fewest over any three-game span since his second season. He has three years and $109 million left on his contract, plus a player option worth $41.5 million for 2028-29, which raises questions about his future as New York faces looming contract decisions on Towns, Hart and eventually Brunson.
Turnovers are another issue. The Knicks are giving the ball away on almost 17% of their possessions, up from 13.9% last season, and are allowing nearly 21 points per game off those miscues, almost five more than last year. Against Orlando they committed six fourth-quarter turnovers and lost the points-off-turnovers battle 23-12. They are minus-20 in that category this season. Coach Mike Brown said after the loss that "that's a hard gap to make up" when shots are not falling.
Transition defense has also slipped. In the opener, the Knicks allowed 24 fast-break points to Philadelphia, the most they have given up in their last 58 games, including the playoffs. Against the Magic, a lapse in the second quarter let Desmond Bane hit two transition threes on consecutive possessions, turning a seven-point lead into a one-point lead. New York is limiting how often opponents run, but it has been among the league's worst teams when they do, ranking fourth-worst by Cleaning the Glass.
Brown said no single factor explains the start, noting that the Knicks play well in stretches and then let up. They allowed 13 fast-break points to Orlando in the first half and six in the second, but also committed 11 second-half turnovers. It is too early for panic, but with little margin for error in the East, New York will need to fix these problems quickly.
