00:09Welcome to New York Gun Game.
00:15Dexter Henry, Stefan Bondi here, our fantastic beat writer for the New York Post,
00:20coming to you on Championship Night, Banner Night, whatever you want to call it.
00:24The Knicks played their first game of the 2026-2027 season,
00:27and they lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, excuse me, 106-100.
00:33Steph, before we get to the game, we've got to talk about the Banner Night ceremonies,
00:35what everybody was waiting for.
00:37The fans were in here early.
00:39There was a lot of great energy in this building.
00:43I thought the Knicks did a pretty dope job with the ceremony.
00:46What did you think of the situation?
00:47I thought, you know, they came through with a classy way to celebrate the team.
00:52You know, they had a couple of awesome videos that they showed.
00:55We heard the rousing ovations for OG and Inobi and Jalen Brunson when they came out.
01:01So, overall, they did a good job.
01:04They even put up the NBA Cup banner before we even got here.
01:08They actually put it up this afternoon kind of secretly.
01:12I call it like a thief in the night.
01:13They just put up a banner.
01:14So, you know, they acknowledged the entire season, and I thought they did a really good job.
01:19Yeah, I thought they did a fantastic job.
01:21I liked what they showed.
01:22You saw the players seem like they really enjoyed it.
01:24The rings look pretty nice.
01:25I heard you were going to buy me one of those rings.
01:27Yeah, I heard that was going to happen.
01:28I was not.
01:28They did not give me one.
01:30They did not give Steph a championship win.
01:31No, so I'm waiting.
01:31It's coming in the mail.
01:32He deserves one.
01:33He did a championship job covering this team.
01:35But let's talk about the game.
01:36Knicks lose 106-100 to the Sixers.
01:40You know, there's going to be the fans out there that wanted a team to go 82-0, wanted them
01:44to win on ring night.
01:45They didn't do that.
01:45What went wrong for the Knicks tonight in this one?
01:47I mean, they played terribly.
01:49They shot 40-44%, 42%?
01:53It was 42% for the game.
01:5442% for the field, 20-something percent on threes.
01:58Down the stretch, they were awful.
02:00Normally, that's Jalen Brunson.
02:01I'm going to captain clutch at time.
02:03He came in with 522 left.
02:06Missed a runner right under the basket that he would make 10 times out of 10.
02:10I don't know how he missed it.
02:11Airballed a three-pointer down the stretch.
02:13They kind of sealed their defeat.
02:15O.G. Ananobi threw a terrible turnover to Tyrese Maxson, who had a monster of a game.
02:19Tyrese Maxson was the best player on the court today.
02:22Mikael Bridges just disappeared.
02:25It opened layup down the stretch that he took up softly and flubbed it.
02:29So, an overall poor effort.
02:32Mike Brown called it an ugly game, and it was.
02:34Yeah, Mike Brown talked about it after the game.
02:36Steph had a good question for him, and Mike Brown talked about what he thought about this performance tonight.
02:40And, you know, you can't have, you can't shoot 42% for the game in the paint.
02:46That's roughly what we shot.
02:48While you're turning the ball over, while you're getting beat in transition.
02:53So, the neat part about it, there's some things that we can clean up, and we will clean up.
03:02But, it was a tough ball game to watch for me.
03:06All right, Steph.
03:06Also in this game, early on, we saw Cat get in foul trouble.
03:09Picked up two quick fouls in this one, and you heard some of the groans in the crowd.
03:13And you could hear some fans saying, oh, is this happening again?
03:15Is this something we should be concerned about with Carlton Towns, who played so well in the playoffs and kept
03:20those, I would call it silly fouls, pretty much down.
03:23Something you're concerned about, or just one game?
03:25No, I mean, fouls are always something I'm concerned about with Carlton Towns, especially with this team where they're really
03:30thin in the front court.
03:32Andre Drummond came in and played really well.
03:34Yeah.
03:34But, part of the problem in the second, he was great in the first half.
03:37Part of the problem in the second half is he was gassed.
03:39He played too many minutes in the first half.
03:40And, Mike Brown said, I've got to figure out the balance, how much I can play him right now.
03:45Carlton Towns has had foul trouble throughout his career.
03:49That happened very early today.
03:51And, yeah, that is something I'll be monitoring throughout the season.
03:53I will say this, down the stretch, Carlton Towns was the best player for the Knicks.
03:57He hit some big-time shots, and if it wasn't for him, they wouldn't have had an opportunity to win
04:03this game.
04:03He was fantastic in that fourth quarter.
04:05Did a great job on the defensive glass.
04:06Hit some big-time threes, like you said as well.
04:09And then we're going to get to Andre Drummond, who you just mentioned.
04:11A double-double in this one.
04:12I agree with you, and Coach Brown talked about it too.
04:14He did look gassed in this one.
04:16What were you more encouraged about with Andre Drummond?
04:18Was it what he provided for the team offensively or what he did defensively?
04:22Both.
04:23And rebound, I mean, he had a double-double in the first half.
04:25I think he's the fastest double-double.
04:28Knicks PR said the fastest double-double for a player making their debut in the season opener.
04:34So, you know, encouraging all around for Andre Drummond.
04:38He's somebody that you look to.
04:39Is he going to replace Mitchell Robinson?
04:41Is he going to give up that, get produced in the similar ways that he did?
04:45I thought he did a good job today overall.
04:47Yeah, he was solid.
04:48And his head coach, Mike Brown, he thought that as well.
04:51I thought he played with a lot of bounce and energy in the first half on both ends of the
04:55floor.
04:56We probably ran him too long, you know, because it looked like in that second half, not just him,
05:03but especially our five starters, he looked like he ran out of a little bit of gas.
05:08And so, you know, I got to keep getting to know him to see, you know, where the minutes may
05:15lie for him to be effective.
05:18But I thought he was really, really, really good in the first half on both ends, sorry.
05:27I don't know if you were surprised by this, Steph.
05:29I maybe was a little bit just because Mike Brown had talked about this particular player getting more minutes.
05:34And that was Mohamed D'Awar.
05:35We did not see Mohamed D'Awar.
05:36It's an IDMP 10-man rotation for Mike Brown.
05:39We did see Jordan Clarkson, though.
05:41Were you surprised by that?
05:42Or do you think this is going to be the plan as usual with his 10 coming out of this
05:46preseason?
05:46No, I mean, if you go back to the playoffs, D'Awar was out of the rotation.
05:49Yep.
05:50And he did not play well in Summer League.
05:52He did not play well in the preseason.
05:55D'Awar is still a project.
05:58And he had some, obviously, great moments in the playoffs.
06:01And, yes, they do need size.
06:03But D'Awar does not play big.
06:04D'Awar is not a power forward.
06:06D'Awar is definitely not a center.
06:08So, you know, I understand why you're going with the experience of Jordan Clarkson.
06:11I actually thought Jordan Clarkson did a good job bringing it defensively today.
06:15Like he always does.
06:18Which wasn't his reputation coming to the Knicks.
06:20But he found a way to really find his spot on this team.
06:24And he showed some of that today.
06:25I thought he did a good job.
06:26I thought Jordan Clarkson did a good job today.
06:28I thought he was good in the minutes that he came in, too.
06:30And then I guess another guy we talk about when we look at that bench rotation was Landry Schammett.
06:33You saw him getting the bulk of the minutes as the guard off the bench, if you want to say,
06:38over Deuce McBride.
06:39Yeah.
06:39Is this a case of just Mike Brown going with the guys that he really trusts?
06:42Because when you see that with Jordan Clarkson, you see this with Landry Schammett.
06:45Hey, he's going with the guys he trusts.
06:46And we saw that in the postseason.
06:47Yeah.
06:47And that's a carryover from the postseason.
06:49Yeah.
06:49Well, first of all, let's start here.
06:51Mike Brown loves Landry Schammett.
06:52We know that.
06:53That's his favorite player.
06:55He's going to ride with him, ride or die, Landry Schammett.
06:58But also, that's what he rolled with in the playoffs.
07:00Yep.
07:01Deuce McBride did not play well in the playoffs.
07:03Landry Schammett was awesome in the playoffs.
07:05So what we saw today was a heavier dose of Landry Schammett and a heavier dose of Jose Alvarado.
07:10So he basically went with the playoff rotation that we saw.
07:13Yeah.
07:14That's what I said to someone else who said that.
07:15Jared Swartz was actually next to me.
07:17Went with his playoff rotation.
07:18That is what we saw.
07:19The last thing for me, I'm, you know this, I know you two.
07:22Never the person to trip over one game.
07:24But there is going to be an adjustment period for the Knicks in some ways in terms of them
07:28now being the hunted, right?
07:29And teams coming, particularly in here to Madden Square Garden, wanting to give their best
07:33shot.
07:33And then they're also the champs.
07:34Do you think it's going to take them a little bit to adjust to that?
07:38Or because of the way this team is led by Jalen Brunson, Friday night in Boston is just
07:43a spot where you can see them bouncing back.
07:44Well, let me say that.
07:45I've been covering this team for a long time now.
07:48And especially when, you know, during the Brunson era, teams came in and they gave it their
07:53best.
07:53Like, they're not going to come in just because they're the defending champs and play it uptick
07:57at another 10%.
07:58They were already coming to the Garden and saying, this is the mecca, the big arena.
08:03We're going to play everybody.
08:04Like, I think Mike Brown said all of a sudden people get healthy when they come to the Garden.
08:08That's been the history here.
08:10I don't think that you're the defending champs that's going to change that much.
08:14These guys are veterans.
08:15So I don't see that being as much of an issue, being the hunted thing.
08:19As Josh Hart said today, nobody's picked us to win the championship anyway.
08:22Like, they just released the ESPN predictions and not one team, one expert picked them to
08:27win the championship again.
08:29None of the GMs in the NBA picked them to win the championship again in the annual GM survey.
08:33I did not pick them to win the championship again.
08:36So I don't think there is this idea that we're the favorites, we're the hunted.
08:40I don't think that's going to be a factor.
08:41Yeah, and I wonder if they use some of that as motivation.
08:44They might look at you for motivation.
08:45They're going to be pointing at Steph.
08:46Steph did not pick them to win the championship.
08:48So they might come at Steph with that.
08:50Either way, Knicks fall 106-100 here in the home opener.
08:53Next up for them is a trip to Boston.
08:55Steph will be there on Friday night.
08:57We will see if the Knicks can bounce back.
08:59That's going to do it from here at Madison Square Garden.
09:01For the great Steph and Boddy, I'm Dexter Hemmer.
09:03We'll catch you next time on NewYork.Game.
