Jan 21, 2026
3 min read
Jalen Brunson said a lot in just a few words.
Jalen Brunson says a lot in a few words.
"We have to care a little bit about what we're doing," Brunson said."It should mean a little more to us."
For a team that entered the season with NBA Finals-or-Best hopes, whether the players were "careful" or careless shouldn't be a question midway through the year.But the lack of "effort" was a major theme in the locker room after the Knicks' 114-97 loss to the Mavericks on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
It's not talent or schematic issues that are plaguing the Knicks right now.It is ruining their season at the most fundamental level as they have lost nine of their last 11 games and are four behind.
After Monday's game, Josh Hart drew a comparison between this year's team and last year's.A year ago, he said, the Knicks could overcome poor shooting or offensive performance with physicality and defensive intensity.They can work in groups, quite simply.But he saw that trait fade this year.
Most of the staff level is out of some changes, the same is the difference in like.name?
"I don't know.If I can answer that question, I don’t think it’s a conversation right now,” Hart said Tuesday.“We just need to play with more energy, with more physicality.You see the way teams play, when we played in Phoenix recently, they were picking on guys, making guys feel uncomfortable every possession, and that's not what we're going to do.We're not going to make it until the second half when we're down 15, so how do we start the game?And how to continue the game."
"[Practice Tuesday] felt like an ass. We were just embarrassed. We got on our home court. It's not that embarrassing. And we'll see how we respond [Wednesday against the Nets]. the hole that makes ourselves.
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Tom Thibodeau has long had a reputation for forcing his teams to play hard and outscore their opponents.Mike Brown had a solid NBA team this year, but he couldn't ignite them during this slump.
"It's hard to compare," Hart said. "Thibs was here four or five years? and he built that identity over a period of time. What you saw last year and the year before last was more set in stone. Now it's the same guys, but it's a new philosophy, new coaches, new systems, new voices. So it takes time to really forge and build that. And you can only really forge and build that through adversity. In terms of us going through this adversity, it'sexcellent opportunity to build."
Myles McBride suggested on Monday that the Knicks were riding too high and took their foot off the gas pedal after winning the NBA Cup.A day later, Brunson said, "That might be part of it."
The first half of Monday's loss was a new season low, giving up 75 points to a Mavericks team.At halftime, Brown said he didn't talk much about X's and O's.Instead, he urged them to "do your damn job."
The Knicks outscored the Mavericks by 11 points in the second half.Brown took it all together for a better effort.
"We didn't change anything in the second half," Brown said Tuesday."And there were more film screening clips that we drew from the second half than the first half, which showed us that we're doing our job the right way. The way they're talking about it, the way we're talking about it, the way we're analyzing it, the way we're looking at it. We had more opportunities -- clips that were positive in the second half than the first half, and that can't be in 48 minutes."
The right candidates should not talk too much about passion and effort.But right in the middle of the year, that's where the Knicks find themselves.
