Knicks Have Issues To Sort Amid 0-3 Start

The New York Knicks became the first defending champions to start 0-3 since the 2011-12 Dallas Mavericks after falling to the Orlando Magic 111-102 on Sunday night. Losing to the Philadelphia 76ers is understandable, as is losing to the Boston Celtics . Philadelphia and Boston are considered top contenders in the Eastern Conference. But losing to an Orlando team without Paolo Banchero is a different story. Here are some concerning observations about New York’s rocky start. The offense is way too Sloppy One of the Knicks’ greatest strengths last season was their offensive prowess and chemistry. They almost always made the right pass and took the right shot. It was one of the team’s aspects that led many to believe they had a good shot at successfully defending their title. However, that has not been the case this season, and definitely was not the case on Sunday.  For one, there are just too many missed shots, particularly from beyond the arc. Before Sunday, New York was shooting 37% from three. Against Orlando, they shot an abysmal 24%. Karl-Anthony Towns went 0-4. Jalen Brunson went 1-7, with his lone made three-pointer coming late in the fourth quarter when the game was already beyond reach. Josh Hart went 3-9. Constantly hitting the iron is not a recipe for success, especially on a night when the opponent shot 43% from three. But the offensive issues are more than just missed threes. Turnovers have been killing this team. The turnovers keep the Knicks on a self-imposed leash, allowing teams to stay in games the way Orlando did tonight. Orlando scored 23 points off of New York’s 16 turnovers, which was one of the differences in the game. The Knicks tend to turn the ball over most often when they make an extra pass. Making an extra pass can usually be a great aspect of an offense. But the Knicks are not just making one extra pass — they make an extra two, three extra passes. In search of the “perfect” shot, they are constantly passing up good looks right there. It makes all five players on the court at a given time too passive on offense. And Sunday night was no exception. Mikal Bridges is Invisible Another game, another ghost performance from Mikal Bridges . After scoring only four points in the opener and not scoring at all in Boston on Friday, he finished with just six points on seven attempts over 35 minutes. He had an abysmal plus-minus of -21, far and away the worst from any player on either team.  It looks like Bridges lost a bit of confidence in his game. Bridges is playing much more passively and is hesitant to commit to an offensive decision fully. And on the defensive side, he often looked lost amid the Magic’s three-point barrage. Bridges has gone through such stretches with the Knicks before, most notably during Games 2 and 3 of the first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks last season. Bridges did not score in the second half of Game 2, including missing a game-winning shot, and didn’t score at all in Game 3. But he made it out on the other side and became one of the most integral pieces to the Knicks’ success. But he’s going to have to find any port in the storm sooner rather than later. Jalen Brunson Hasn’t Been Captain Clutch Lately Brunson is known across the league and to most fans as the most clutch player in the game right now. The 2025 Clutch Player of the Year has risen to the occasion, saving the Knicks when they needed him most. This was especially the case in the closeout Game 5 of the NBA Finals, when he scored 45 points to clinch the title for New York. But that version of Jalen Brunson has yet to be seen this season. Brunson only scored six fourth-quarter points over the first two games, which was already raising alarm bells. Sunday night raised them even more. Brunson had nine points in the fourth on Sunday, but seven of those came inside the final 33 seconds when the win was already beyond reach. Before that, he turned the ball over twice, missed two field goals, and missed both free throws during his first trip to the stripe. It was an abysmal performance in every sense of the word. The Knicks cannot and will not win if he keeps playing like this. The Last Word on Knicks Winless Start The Knicks are still one of the elite teams in the NBA. There’s a reason the Larry O’Brien Trophy currently resides on 33rd & 7th. But the status as the hunted is not something to be taken lightly. Every team will treat their game against the Knicks as the most important on the schedule. And while the Knicks sleepwalked through the first week of the season, they saw the best efforts from three different Eastern Conference teams, all of whom thoroughly outplayed them in their respective games. The offense needs to clean up its turnover bug and start making its threes. Bridges needs to push through this rough stretch. And Brunson’s fourth-quarter shots need to start hitting the nylon. They are more than capable of overcoming all of these issues, but in an extra-competitive East, they need to do so with urgency.   More NBA News 2022 Top 10 NBA Draft Pick Finds New Landing Spot While Thunder Open Waive 2nd-Round Pick The Houston Rockets Stats To Watch After “Passing” 3-0 Start What To Make Of The Sacramento Kings’ 0-2 Start To The Season Photo Credit: Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images via Reuters Connect