You might have thought the world as we knew it was ending after the New York Knicks started the season 0-3. It really felt that way when they were down double digits in the first quarter against the Pistons on Tuesday, and Paul Reed couldn't miss a shot. Rather than face the despair of falling to 0-4, the Knicks stormed back to take the 111-97 win with a second-quarter resurgence.
As Jalen Brunson said postgame, Rome wasn't built in a day. This year's team isn't last year's team, though for the most part, it looks the same. Just because the Knicks won it all in June doesn't mean they were supposed to pick up where they left off after a few months off. It doesn't work that way.
The new season brought new challenges, and New York faced several in its first three games. It did again on Tuesday, allowing the Pistons to score 38 in the first quarter, but between then and the start of the fourth, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges led the charge to hold the Pistons to just 25 points.
The Knicks let Detroit chip away at their 23-point lead in the final quarter (you knew it wouldn't be easy), but not to the point where they were at risk of a Spurs-like collapse.
It wasn't pretty, but it won't be in October. What matters is that New York got its first win of the season out of the way, and beating a previously unbeaten Detroit team made it even better.
The Knicks won a basketball game again
The last time that happened was June 13, 2026, the best day of your life. You can still feel the energy from the Knicks' incredible playoff run reverberating throughout the city. It made New York feel invincible, even after turning the page and starting a new season.
The Knicks got a reality check against the Sixers, then the Celtics three nights later, and again on Sunday against the Magic. Life in the East isn't easy. Still high on the thrill of the championship, some forgot what it took for New York to get there. It hit plenty of potholes along the way that Zohran Mamdani hadn't gotten to yet.
And there will be more of those this season, but that's what comes with playing 82 games with a target on your back. You've already heard people question whether the Knicks have what it takes to win another title after they lost their first three games, which was pretty silly, but it made watching New York look like New York even more satisfying.
The Knicks have something to build on, and the timing works out, as this is their first back-to-back, with a trip to Chicago to take on the Bulls on Wednesday.
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