The secret sauce for a New York City that bounces back from a disappointing start

The New York Knicks hit the recent rough patch. After winning the first two games, New York lost three straight. That worried the fans, especially given the quality of the teams they lost to. But don’t be afraid. With head coach Mike Brown new to his role, there will always be a learning curve. Add to the uncertainty surrounding Mitchell Robinsonas well as Myles McBride’s missed time, and the early season struggles become far less surprising.

Still, after seven games, New York is 4-3, which is a better record than they boasted in the first seven games of last season or the season before. After back-to-back wins against the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards, it’s worth looking into how those games are won. And that should put most concerns about the Knicks to bed, at least for now.

Mikal Bridges quietly starting the season on the right foot

Bridges is probably the most pleasant surprise of the Knicks at the beginning of the season. After the 2024/2025 season. started with cold shooting, Bridges rounded into form. And he’s built on that (and then some) so far this season.

Bridges fills the stats. In the first seven games for the team, he averaged 16.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1 block in 35.4 minutes. He also hits effectively. Bridges is sinking 54.5% of his shot attempts, especially 48.5% of his 3-point attempts. And he also shoots 87.% from the charity stripe.

But Bridges’ power play is about more than stats and efficiency. He was also the vocal leader. In particular, Bridges expressed displeasure to his teammates about the lack of hustle after the majority failed to come back in transition defense Sunday against the Bulls. That’s a good sign from someone who remained relatively quiet early last season, his first with the Knicks.

Bridges also served as the de facto point guard at times, even with Jaylen Brunson on the floor. And it also helps New York in its quest to stay healthy and give teams different looks. Bridges moved the ball on the floor as Brunson plays the ball, giving Brunson a break from battling the opposing defense. And that’s something that was sorely needed last season when Brunson was the team’s only ball handler, at least until former coach Tom Thibodeau turned to Bridges when Brunson was off the floor.

The Knicks’ rotation is working itself out — and it’s starting to contribute

With McBride missing two of the Knicks’ first seven games and Robinson missing five, there were rotation challenges due to a lack of continuity. However, the Knicks and their bench took care of business with a healthy team against the Chicago Bulls at home on Sunday. And they followed it up with an impressive performance against the Washington Wizards for the second night of back-to-back games.

Specifically against the Bulls, the Knicks bench scored an astounding 46 points. And that was followed by 33 against the Wizards. Comparatively, the 2024-25 Knicks bench averaged a team-worst 21.7 points per game. Thus, both recent exits represent a major improvement.

Despite all the progress, the New York bench is still not a finished product. After starting the season with a 10+ rotation, Brown has seemingly tightened up his rotation a bit. He has played just nine players in significant minutes in the last two games. But who played has changed, and that’s because of the changing availability of players like Robinson.

New York prefers to be cautious with Robinson, who did not play last night as it was the back of a back-to-back. That meant a bigger role for Gershon Yabusele. Yabusele played 14 minutes against Washington after playing just two minutes against Chicago. And this fluid nature of backup minutes is likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

The Knicks will continue to experience growing pains as they figure out which lineups work best together. Guys like Landry Shamet, Iabusele, and maybe even McBride will likely see varying amounts of playing time until Brown figures out which players work best with each other. And while progress rarely shows up in a straight line, the Knicks should get better and better as they understand more about what’s expected of them. And that it should turn into better results.