GREENBURGH — A year ago, the Knicks took the court at TD Garden on opening night, eying the game as a measuring stick, watching the Celtics ring ceremony and then facing the defending champions. And they fell behind by as many as 35 points as they were blown out in the first test for the rebuilt roster.
I don’t mean to stir up bad memories, but to remind Knicks fans that what you see on opening night isn’t always where you end up. It would have been hard to imagine on that night that the Knicks would knock the Celtics out of the playoffs and advance deeper into the postseason than the franchise had in a quarter-century.
It’s something the fan base, and the Knicks, themselves, might want to repeat over and over as the new season begins Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who won 64 games last season, lined up across from them and the Knicks admittedly not ready for prime time.
With a new coach in Mike Brown, a new system, and already missing two of the top rotation pieces with Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart out with injuries, Karl-Anthony Towns questionable with a strained right quad and OG Anunoby probable but on the injury report with a sprained left ankle.
But like last year, Day One is not the concern as much as the postseason where the expectations will either be met or they won’t — the standard set when the team fired Tom Thibodeau despite him leading the franchise to the Eastern Conference finals.
“First thing, the good part about it is, the Finals or the championship round doesn’t happen until June, so we’ve got a long time to get there,” Brown said after the Knicks final tuneup practice before the premiere. “It starts on the first day. We can’t skip any steps. It starts with the first day in training camp, even before that, in the summertime. Going to training camp. Going to the preseason. Going to Abu Dhabi.
“Every time we’re on the floor together, every day off, we just want to keep taking steps because it’s going to be a process. Knowing that we may take one or two steps backward, but hopefully we can regroup and take three, four, five more forward. It’s not just about me doing that, or me being the catalyst because I was hired. It’s about the entire group. We have to be connected as a group and believe in each other. If we do that and we truly understand it’s a marathon and it’s one day, one game, one shootaround, one practice at a time, then the path will bring us to where we need to go.”
Remember, repeat over and over, it’s only the first day. But also know that just like last season, there is no clear date for Robinson, who underwent surgery on his left ankle in December 2023, then again in May 2024, and sat out the first 50 games as a precaution. Add to that Hart’s back issues, called lumbar spasms, has sidelined the team’s energizer since he played just seven minutes in the preseason opener three weeks ago. So maybe you’ll be repeating it for days or weeks or, well, if it’s months you’ll be rocking back and forth banging your head against a wall like the Giants’ Cam Skattebo.
If Brown sticks to what he hinted at last week, the absence of Robinson would mean Ariel Hukporti getting the opening night start as the Knicks take on a Cavs squad that wants to prove the regular season wasn’t an aberration after another early playoff exit. The Knicks, even before the injuries and absences, were talking about patience as they try to adjust to a new system on both ends of the court, one they hope and believe will ease the burden on Jalen Brunson.
On this night, maybe it’s worth just mimicking last year’s strategy of putting the ball in Brunson’s hands and getting out of the way.
“I want us to take one day at a time and not jump forward, not speculate, not wish,” Brunson said Monday. “Just continue to grind and just get better every single day and just control what we can control.
“It’s an opportunity to see where we are. Regardless of who it is. … Obviously, everything is new and we’re learning. We’re learning every single day. Like I said, see where we are. It’s the regular season now. It’s for good now. We’re going to go into the game and we’re obviously playing to win. We’re going to learn regardless and continue from there.”
It’s just the first night and the Knicks don’t have to endure a ring ceremony. Maybe with the changes the Knicks need the mantras more than the fans, reminding themselves that this is just the start and we won’t know what they are until the playoffs come to an end.
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.
