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But the Knicks were mauled 114-97 Monday night at Madison Square Garden, extending their losing streak to four. It’s their second four-game skid in their past 11 games. They went 2-9 in those 11 games and are now 7-11 since their NBA Cup triumph. In a season that was set with Finals-or-bust expectations, the Knicks sit just 1 ¹/2 games above the play-in. “We didn’t show up,” Jalen Brunson said. Any idea why? “No,” he responded. It now feels like ages ago that Brown was being praised when his Knicks were firing on all cylinders. The alarm bells around his team keep growing louder, and it was Mavericks coach Jason Kidd — who The Post previously reported the Knicks had strong interest in hiring but were denied permission to interview — who delivered the latest gut punch to Brown’s team.
Ian Begley: Ty Lue credits his players & assistant Jeff Van Gundy for LAC’s improved defense after NBA Cup. Clips have won 8 of 9 & have No. 8 defense in that span. “Over the last 10-12 games, we’ve put ourselves in position to be really good defensively & that’s because of JVG.”
Ian Begley: Lue said Van Gundy, the last coach to lead NYK to a Finals, adjusted Clips’ defense during their days off amid NBA Cup. “JVG, the work he puts in, studying all the different teams, studying the league, how the game is being played and now” was critical, Lue said.
Carton: “They're like, ‘Banner, banner.’ I go, ‘I can guarantee you we are not raising a banner.’ Not that we’re not proud of winning.” Dolan: “Yes. No, we are going to raise a banner.” Carton: “No, you're not.” Dolan: “We're going to raise the NBA Championship. That’s the banner we want to raise.” Carton: “I said for all the accomplishments way back in the day the Knicks had… James Dolan and the New York Knicks are not — as much as it's great to win — and I think what Mike Brown said afterward, which was important: teams have to learn how to win. That was a playoff game. It was a Game 7 atmosphere. Spurs are a really good basketball team. That fourth quarter was awesome. And I'm a fan of the Cup because you get special games like that in the regular season.” Dolan: “Yeah.” Carton: “But I know the NBA wants teams to raise a banner. The Lakers said no for a while. Eventually, they did because LeBron wanted one. Milwaukee said no for a while. Eventually, they did. Was there ever a thought — we're going to raise an Emirates Cup banner at Madison Square Garden?” Dolan: “No.”
Kris Pursiainen: James Dolan says he never had the thought to raise a banner for the NBA Cup. Says the organization wants an NBA Championship, not “the consolation prize” “We’re proud to have the Emirates Cup, but we want to hang a championship banner”
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The Blazers earned one of their most gutsy and impressive wins of the season Saturday night at San Antonio, edging the Spurs 115-110 before 18,652 at Frost Bank Center. Playing the finale of a three-game trip and on the second night of a back-to-back, the Blazers (16-20) started hot, finished clutch and flexed plenty of mettle in between, avenging a painful November loss to the Spurs that prevented them from qualifying for the NBA Cup. “We’re really just sticking together,” Donovan Clingan told reporters after the game. “We’re figuring out what we have to do to win games, what we have to do to play well. And we’re not going off script … we’re listening to coaches. Everyone’s playing for one another and that’s really important.”
Dan Weiss: Keldon Johnson told me earlier tonight that despite not winning the NBA Cup, he did go ahead and purchase the and in his words the llama is “in transit”. No name yet but he’s willing to take fan suggestions.
Kansas coach Bill Self likes the hypothetical of the NBA playing the championship game of its midseason “NBA Cup” tournament in Allen Fieldhouse. The title game is typically played in Las Vegas, and it was no different this season. The New York Knicks defeated San Antonio to win the 2025 title on Dec. 16. League commissioner Adam Silver brought up the idea of playing the title game in “storied college arenas” during an interview with the “NBA on Prime.”
According to Self, KU hasn’t yet talked to the NBA about the possibility of hosting the NBA Cup championship at Allen Fieldhouse. That said ... “Why wouldn’t they want to come here?” Self said. “Good gosh. If they’re going to try to play in historic college venues, why wouldn’t the NBA want to be here? I know KD (Kevin Durant) said at one time that this was the best place that he’d ever played. So I don’t know if that still holds true, but I would think that would be a great option.”
Many KU fans don’t want to see any modifications to the iconic arena, but Self does not share that sentiment. “Whatever would most put us in a position for us to host, I think we would be totally happy and content doing whatever the NBA wanted us to do,” Self said, “if we can get that.”
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Around the league, meanwhile, it remains unclear which teams could put together a package that would move Horst and the Bucks off of their current position. Or, to be clear, which teams actually want to. The teams that have the most to offer — chief among them Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Houston — don’t appear eager to make that sort of monumental move at the moment. The franchises that have reasons to be more motivated — from Miami to Minnesota, Golden State, Atlanta and Toronto — all bring complications when it comes to satisfying the Bucks’ lofty desires in a potential deal. And then there’s the one team that Antetokounmpo showed a desire to play for last summer — the New York Knicks. Until further notice, the recently-crowned NBA Cup champions are fully invested in their current crop of title-contending talent. All of which should help explain why Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t about to shift into neutral anytime soon. He’s too great, and too in-his-prime, to waste even a day of this stage of his incredible career. No matter how messy things might be in Milwaukee.
The new NBA media rights deals is still paying dividends two months in. NBA games were averaging 1.81 million viewers across NBCUniversal, ESPN and Amazon’s Prime Video through last week’s NBA Cup Final, a figure that includes Adobe Analytics-measured viewership for NBC games — up 27% from last year and the highest average at this point of a season since 2017. The year-over-year increase rises to 53% including games on NBA TV, which is airing far fewer games this season than in past years, and thus drags down the average far less.
With more nationally televised games across more platforms, it may not be surprising to note that the league’s reach number — the total number of viewers who have watched at least one minute of NBA games this season — has increased far more than the average minute audience. The league said Monday that more than 87 million viewers had watched at least part of an NBA game this season, up 89% from last year.
The veteran guard confirmed Sunday to The Post that he, Jalen Brunson and others among the highest-paid players are skimming off NBA Cup prize money to reward Knicks support staff members. Each Knicks player won more than $500,000 for capturing the NBA Cup. “I don’t think it was a hard decision,” Hart said before the Knicks toppled the Heat 132-125. “Some of those people don’t get a bonus and they’re working to make sure we’re at the top of the game, no matter who they are. We want to make sure those people are also compensated for their extra time and their efforts.” Hart mentioned the massage therapists and PR staff members as recipients of the unexpected NBA Cup bonus: “We’re compiling that list together now.”