The champions are still waiting for win number one.
New York begins its title defense 0–3. Three single-digit defeats leave the Knicks close on the scoreboard and short of expectations.
At a glance
- The defending NBA champion New York Knicks opened the 2026–27 season 0–3, with a combined scoring margin of −19.
- The losses: 100–106 to Philadelphia, 103–107 to Boston and 102–111 to Orlando, all by single-digit margins.
- New York is BasketRewind’s negative-surprise pick after three games; the assessment concerns the start, not the whole season.
A title defense with a difficult opening.
The Knicks won the championship in June. Three games into the new regular season, they are still looking for their first win. Philadelphia beat New York 106–100, Boston won 107–103, then Orlando came into Madison Square Garden and left with a 111–102 victory.
That opening makes the Knicks our negative surprise after three games. A championship sets the expectation. An 0–3 start falls short of it.
Six points. Four points. Nine points.
The combined margin is −19. Look at the individual results and each defeat ended within single digits. These were competitive final scores, which makes the next response worth watching.
New York does not need to erase a twenty-point gap to turn one of those results around. It does need to find the possessions that change an outcome. The final scores show how close the games finished; they do not, by themselves, explain which decisions cost the Knicks.
The response is the next story.
That is where our attention goes now: shot selection, defensive stops and execution when a game is still there to win. The championship is the context for the expectation. The opening three results are the evidence for this week’s pick.
Three losses earn New York our unwanted award, but they do not settle the season. The immediate task is simple to describe and harder to do: turn the next competitive score into an actual win.
Watch this part of Weekly Rewind 001 ↗
Sources & context
- NBA — Philadelphia at New York, October 20 ↗
- NBA — New York at Boston, October 23 ↗
- Knicks — Official results, October 25 ↗
- NBA Communications — 2026 Finals game notes ↗
Sources checked 26 October 2026. Competition rules and formats may change; this page records the sources used for this edition.
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