As Jalen Brunson said after the Knicks won the NBA Cup, there was no parade. And as reported on Wednesday, there was no banner raised to the rafters, either.
The team announced a celebration ahead of Friday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Knicks’ first home game since winning the in-season tournament on Tuesday.
There wasn’t much to it. The trophy wasn’t brought onto the court. There was no speech by Brunson, any of his teammates or coach Mike Brown. Just before the national anthem, a two-minute video of the Knicks’ best moments from their run to the NBA Cup title played on the jumbotron, to which the sellout crowd at the Garden erupted in cheers and applause.
Earlier in the day, the organization allowed fans to take photos with the NBA Cup trophy, which was displayed in the arena’s main entrance from 3 to 5 p.m.
But once the highlight video and the national anthem were finished, it was time to play a basketball game.
That didn’t go as well for the Knicks, who fell to the 76ers, 116-107, in the second game of a back-to-back. Tyrese Maxey had 30 points and nine assists for Philadelphia (15-11). VJ Edgecombe, who graduated from Long Island Lutheran High in 2024, had 23 points and four assists.
Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 22 points and Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson each had 21 for the Knicks (19-8), who fell to 13-2 at home. Robinson added 16 rebounds and shot 7-for-8 from the free-throw line. The Knicks had won six straight games, not including the NBA Cup final.
Brunson and the Knicks refused to use the grueling schedule they’ve played in the last 10 days as any kind of excuse.
“These guys are human, but at the end of the day, we try to pride ourselves on being a no-excuse team,” Brown said.
“We’ve got to hold each other to a higher standard. I’ve got to hold myself to a higher standard,” Brunson said. “It’s not like we got blown out tonight. It was very winnable.”
In a game that featured 19 lead changes and 11 ties, Robinson hit a free throw to finish a three-point play and give the Knicks a 92-91 lead with 9:20 left in the fourth quarter. He was 6-for-27 from the line entering Friday.
“We’ve been working on a lot of arc on the free throws,” he said. “I feel way more comfortable. Getting my elbow under it, getting it up in the air a little more. I’m trying to stop everybody from doing that hacking. That’s kind of the main goal because I wouldn’t be able to play the fourth quarter. The longer I’m out there, the more I can help my teammates.”
Bridges’ three-pointer with 2:24 remaining brought the Knicks within 108-105, but Edgecombe slammed a two-hand putback dunk to give the 76ers a 113-105 lead. Two plays later, the rookie dived on a loose ball and fired a pass from his back to Jared McCain, who found Maxey in the corner for a three-pointer that gave the 76ers a nine-point lead with 47.9 seconds left.
Playing in front of their home crowd was welcomed by the Knicks, who had flown to Toronto for their NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup on Dec. 9. They briefly returned to New York before heading to Las Vegas for a week. From there, they went straight to Indiana for Thursday night’s 114-113 win over the Pacers.
Along with the physical toll that comes with playing all the way through the in-season tournament, there comes an emotional toll. There wasn’t much time to celebrate Tuesday’s title win. To the Knicks, there’s no benefit to living in the past.
“It’s really weird because you’re fighting, fighting, fighting and your emotions are high,” Brown said. “For the beginning of the regular season, it’s pretty intense. When it’s over, you’re right back into regular-season games and you don’t have a ton of time to reflect. You’ve just got to kind of figure out a way to keep going again.”
“We weren’t really looking too far ahead,” Josh Hart said. “We didn’t realize how challenging going from the final game of the Cup and then going right into a back-to-back and we have an earlier game on Sunday, so we knew it would be a challenge. We’ve just got to make sure we get our bodies right and get some sleep.”
Brown said earlier in the week that the NBA Cup was “a taste” of what the Knicks can accomplish this season. Now that the celebration (or lack thereof) is in the past, the team can focus on winning a title in June and leaving no debate about whether the organization should raise a banner.
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
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