The New York Knicks defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-111 in the season opener for both teams.
NEW YORK — It’s a new day for the New York Knicks, and not just because it’s a new season.
The Knicks have a new coach, a new offense, a new rotation, and on Wednesday, a different result against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team they might be battling at the top of the Eastern Conference from now until late May.
Last season, Cleveland swept the season series and finished 13 games ahead of New York. But the Knicks controlled the 2025-26 opener at Madison Square Garden for about 40 of the 48 minutes, finishing strong and holding on for a 119-111 victory on Wednesday.
The Cavs erased a 17-point deficit and took a brief, two-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Knicks answered with a 14-0 run and were never really threatened after that. That was the story of the night, with Cleveland making some runs, but never able to sustain success on either end of the floor
Here are some notes, quotes, numbers and film as the Knicks won their first game of the season for the first time in Jalen Brunson’s four seasons in New York …
1. Knicks’ offense looks different
The Knicks had a top-five offense last season. But there was certainly room for improvement in regard to pace (getting into the offense quicker) and ball movement (less reliance on Brunson). Enter new head coach Mike Brown, who’s last team – the Sacramento Kings – played faster and with more movement when they led the league in efficiency three seasons ago.
The Knicks’ very first possession on Wednesday was a great example of how things could be better … and easier for Brunson.
Mikal Bridges brought the ball up the floor, OG Anunoby dribbled off a ball-screen, Ariel Hukporti made a play out of the short roll, and Karl-Anthony Towns made the extra pass.
The result: a wide-open corner 3-pointer for Brunson …
Brunson shot poorly (5-for-18) from the field, but still scored 23 points, because he was 12-for-13 from the line. More important is that he didn’t have to carry a huge load.
He was one of five Knicks who scored between 15 and 24 points, and he had possession of the ball for about 6.8 minutes, according to tracking data. That was down from an average of 8.6 minutes per game (highest in the league) last season.
2. Cavs’ offense looks clunky
Good offense starts with gaining advantages that bend the defense. And the Cavs had too many possessions on Wednesday where no such advantages materialized. Part of that was the absences of three key rotation players and that this was Game 1 of 82.
“It’s a different flow,” Evan Mobley said afterward. “Everybody’s still learning each other.”
The Knicks’ also deserved credit for their Game 1 defense.
Cleveland fell into its first real deficit when it scored just once on a stretch of 10 possessions midway through the first quarter. And the Knicks were particularly on point with their help and rotations on the last two possessions of that stretch, one ending with a Mobley turnover and the other resulting in a contested 3-point attempt from Jalen Tyson …
Donovan Mitchell was able to pull the Cavs out of a couple of deficits with by making some tough shots, but generating good shots is ultimately going to be better than making tough ones. And Cleveland just didn’t generate enough good shots on Wednesday.
According to tracking data, the Cavs had an expected field-goal percentage of just 41.4%. They outshot that mark, but not by enough.
The Knicks, meanwhile, had an expected field-goal percentage of 46.6%. In addition, New York won the possession game, getting eight more shooting opportunities than Cleveland. It also attempted twice as many free throws (36-18).
Really, the game shouldn’t have been as close as it was.
3. Mobley given more offensive responsibility
While Brunson handled the ball a little less than he did last season, Mobley handled it more than ever. The reigning Kia Defensive Player of the Year is still coming into his own on offense, and there were highs and lows as he had possession of the ball 4 1/2 minutes on Wednesday, almost double his per-game average (2.3 minutes) from last season.
On the Cavs’ first possession, Mobley backed Karl-Anthony Towns down and drained a turnaround jumper. On the next possession (and with plenty of time on the shot clock), he forced a similar, but more contested shot and came up short.
There were times when he drew the attention of a second defender and made the right play …
There were times when he got stuck in a crowd …
Mobley shot 4-for-8 from 3-point range, with two of the makes coming off the dribble. And he had a chance to pull the Cavs within two with a little less than two minutes left when a Dean Wade screen freed him up in transition. But his pull-up attempt over Brunson was off the mark.
“I thought that was going in,” he said. “I ain’t gonna lie.”
“There’s going to be a lot more shot-taking and shot-making,” Mobley said of his expanded offensive role. “To keep us afloat until the guys are ready to come back. I’m just going to stay aggressive, keep getting to my spots, and taking open looks.”
4. New faces thrown into the fire
“The guys” Mobley was referring to were Darius Garland, De’Andre Hunter and Max Strus, three of the Cavs’ top six players from last season. This was just Game 1, but both teams were shorthanded, with the Knicks also missing two of their top six: Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson.
So we had two starters — Jalen Tyson for Cleveland, Ariel Hukporti for New York — who played fewer than 500 total minutes as rookies last season. Cleveland also got 16 minutes from rookie Tyrese Proctor, the 49th pick in this year’s Draft. Tyler Kolek (fewer than 300 minutes as a rookie last season) and Trey Jemison III (a two-way player with fewer than 1,000 career minutes) came off the New York bench.
Maybe some of those guys will still have significant roles six months from now. More likely is that the film from this game — because of the absences and the date — won’t get much attention if these teams meet in the playoffs.
But there will be more opportunities for that group of newbies. Knicks coach Mike Brown obviously has some degree of trust in the bottom of his roster, because he used 11 guys, when he could easily have stopped at nine or 10.
“I truly believe this team is a deep team,” he said afterward. “We have guys that can play. I like to play a lot of guys. I don’t know if I can play 11 guys every night, but we’d like to play as many as we can. We want everybody ready in case their number is called at any time.”
No matter who played or how much better these teams will get over the next 81 games, this one counts as much as any other. Advantage, New York.
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John Schuhmann is a writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
