It only took one game for the New York Knicks to do something they couldn’t in the 2024-25 regular season: Beat one of the top title contenders in the NBA.
After infamously posting an 0-10 record against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, and Oklahoma City Thunder—most of those losses being in blowout fashion—the new-look Knicks began the Mike Brown era with a statement win over Cleveland, the only team with better odds to win the East than New York.
It’s just one game out of 82. Still, fans immediately noticed the numerous strategic and philosophical changes employed by Brown. Stylistically, the on-court product looked incredibly different from what fans became used to during the Tom Thibodeau era.
In many ways, the Knicks immediately established encouraging habits that, if maintained, could allow the team to break through the ceiling it had reached under Thibodeau.
Here are a few of the major changes displayed by New York in the season opener.
Rotation depth
Thibodeau was infamous for utilizing a short rotation and giving heavy minutes to his top starters. Brown wasted no time showing that things will be different moving forward.
New York utilized 11 players in Wednesday night’s win. Six bench players appeared in the first half and finished the game with at least eight minutes played; five of those six bench players logged at least 12 minutes.
With Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson sidelined, the Knicks went deep into their roster. Brown’s faith was rewarded by multiple unheralded players who seized their opportunities.
Third-year center Trey Jemison III, who joined New York on a two-way contract just over a month ago, provided two rebounds and solid defensive energy. The Knicks were a +3 in his eight minutes.
Second-year point guard Tyler Kolek had seven points and two assists in 14 minutes, with New York outscoring Cleveland by two during his time on the court.
Getting these types of contributions from Jemison and Kolek not only shows how deep the Knicks’ roster is, but also that they have a coach who is willing to utilize that depth.
Using Jalen Brunson off the ball
One of the most impressive aspects of Jalen Brunson’s excellent run in New York is that he’s achieved it primarily through self-created offense.
Despite being surrounded with talented floor-spacers, especially last year, the Knicks had never done a great job of making Brunson’s life easier by reducing his ball-handling workload and scheming up easy looks that don’t require immense effort. Brown has stated his intention to change that, and we already saw the results in Game 1.
Brunson led the NBA in time of possession per game last season, holding the rock for a whopping 8.6 minutes per game. Against Cleveland, the Knicks got that number down to 6.7 minutes, which is just 10th among NBA players so far.
Getting Brunson off the ball will help keep him healthier and promote more ball movement when he’s on the court. Most importantly, though, it will create more catch-and-shoot opportunities for him. Brunson attempted seven catch-and-shoot threes against Cleveland, his personal high with the Knicks.
Considering how good he is at catch-and-shoot threes, there are a lot of extra Brunson points waiting to be unlocked by pumping up his catch-and-shoot attempts. Brunson shot a fantastic 42.1% on catch-and-shoot threes in the 2024-25 season, but he only attempted 1.9 of them per game. That’s why Knicks fans should be thrilled to see him get seven catch-and-shoot three-point attempts in a single game.
Additionally, just 56% of Brunson’s field goal attempts were self-created against Cleveland, his lowest mark as a Knick when taking at least 15 shots.
The results weren’t there quite yet, as Brunson had an off shooting night (5 for 18 from the field, 1 for 9 from deep). The process, though, was excellent. If the Knicks keep generating these types of looks for Brunson, he could have his most efficient offensive season in New York.
More of Mikal Bridges initiating the offense
As a byproduct of getting Brunson off the ball, we saw much more of Mikal Bridges initiating the offense than we ever did in his first season with the Knicks.
Bridges led the Knicks with 55 passes against the Cavs, one more than Brunson. This is a massive increase compared to last year, when he ranked third on the team with 36.7 passes per game.
Bridges finished with a team-high six assists in the opener, which would have been tied for his 10th-best mark in 82 games last season, but that doesn’t do justice to how many chances he created for his teammates. He led New York with 16 potential assists, more than double his average from last season (6.0).
OG Anunoby aggressively pursuing turnovers
In my 2025-26 Knicks season predictions, I projected that OG Anunoby would see an uptick in steals as a result of Brown encouraging his team to push the pace.
So far, so good. Anunoby opened the season with three steals, a mark he reached in just 14 of his 74 games last season (19%). Anunoby also had three deflections, further showcasing his desire to force turnovers and get the Knicks out in the open floor.
Anunoby’s effort contributed to New York forcing 15 Cleveland turnovers, leading to 21 Knicks points.
Considering this came against a Cavaliers team that averaged the third-fewest turnovers per game last season (13.2), it’s a pretty encouraging sign. Starting point guard Darius Garland was out, but the Cavs averaged even fewer turnovers per game with Garland sidelined (12.4), making the Knicks’ defensive playmaking all the more impressive.
Pace
Anunoby’s defensive efforts were part of the Knicks’ collective focus on pushing the pace.
The Knicks were the NBA’s fifth-slowest team in the 2024-25 season, averaging 96.7 possessions per 48 minutes (the league average was 98.8). They ramped up to a 102.6 pace against Cleveland, which would have tied Atlanta for third-fastest last season.
Three-point volume
Brown has talked about his desire for the Knicks to boost their volume of three-point attempts. Last season, New York ranked 27th in the NBA with 34.1 three-point attempts per game, well below the league average of 37.6.
The low volume of attempts made little sense considering the Knicks had so many talented shooters; they finished eighth-best with a 36.9% conversion rate from downtown. Whenever the Knicks leaned into their shooting talent, they fared well. They went 20-7 when shooting 38+ threes (above the league average), compared to 31-24 when they shot fewer than 38 threes.
That 20-7 record would put New York on pace to win 61 games.
For that reason, it’s promising to see the Knicks come out and make a statement about their new emphasis on three-point shooting. Against Cleveland, the Knicks attempted 40 threes, a mark they reached in just 20 of 82 games last season.
Positive trends to monitor moving forward
As the Knicks move through the early portion of the season, keep an eye out to see if they maintain these trends that were established in the opener:
- Deep rotation
- Brunson off-ball
- Bridges initiation
- Anunoby creating turnovers (and the team as a whole)
- Pace
- Three-point volume
In each of these areas, the Knicks looked like a brand-new team on Wednesday night.
Here’s the thing: None of these changes should be expected to make any NBA team “better” in a vacuum. Playing faster, shooting more threes, using deeper rotations—these things do not always lead to more wins. Some teams might benefit from slowing their pace or shooting fewer threes. The coach’s job is to understand the strategies that work best for his team and lean into them.
That’s precisely what Mike Brown is doing.
The exciting thing for Knicks fans is that, despite their team already winning 51 games and coming within two wins of the Finals, their talented squad left so much meat on the bone last season. Tom Thibodeau was not leaning far enough into strategies that clearly made sense for the players at his disposal.
Brown’s choices to play Brunson off-ball, allow Bridges to initiate, use a deeper rotation, push the pace, and shoot more threes should all make the Knicks a better team. Why? Their players thrive in those areas, yet those strengths were not highlighted in last year’s scheme.
It yields remarkable growth potential for a team that was already one of the last three standing in the 2025 playoffs.