Knicks turn in season-worst scoring quarter in loss to Cavs,

Welcome to the roller coaster that is the Knicks’ 2025-26 season, a journey that begins with a free fall from historic highs: the firing of head coach Tom Thibodeau after the Eastern Conference Finals, coinciding with the hiring of Mike Brown.

The Knicks haven’t quite been the same since, and even though eight players from last year’s team are back chasing a title this time around, the group in orange and blue looks unrecognizable.

Their third quarter in Cleveland may have been the worst in the last three years. It was certainly the lowest point offensively for a team that had a hard time adjusting to Brown and his coaching philosophies.

These philosophies were supposed to generate quality offense and give rise to an aggressive type of defense capable of consistently creating transition opportunities.

The Knicks made mistakes on both ends in their 109-94 loss to the Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Tuesday. In the third quarter, they shot 3 of 24 from the field and 1 of 12 from downtown for 11 points at halftime.

40-point quarters seem like a lifetime ago. The Knicks only managed 40 points in the second half against the Cavaliers. They shot 10 of 37 from behind the arc on the night.

Eleven points tie the Knicks for their second-lowest quarter since 2020. It’s the fewest points they’ve scored in a span since acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges via trade two summers ago.

Both of these acquisitions seem lost in Brown’s new offense. Bridges shot 6 of 17 for 18 points and missed a number of lightly contested layups at the rim. Towns, who scored 25 and 28 points in his last two games, made just five shots — four in the first half, one in the fourth quarter — and recorded 14 points and seven rebounds.

And Brunson, in an important position, in a game seemingly tilted in his favor against a Cavs backcourt featuring James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, shot just 6 of 19 for 20 points on the night. The Knicks were outscored by 20 points in Brunson’s 36 minutes on the floor.

Brunson scored a point and missed all six of his shots in the third quarter, marking just the second time in his Knicks career that he made five or more shots and finished scoreless in a quarter.

Mitchell led all scorers with 23 points on 5-of-18 shooting, and Harden added 20 points and four assists. Jarrett Allen had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the Cavs made it nine wins in their last 10 games with Tuesday’s win over the Knicks.

And now, like the Detroit Pistons, the Cavaliers have every confidence to head into the playoffs, should the ever-fickle NBA standings tilt toward a Cleveland-New York series. The East’s second through fifth seeds (the Celtics, Knicks, Cavs and Raptors) are separated by just 3.5 games, meaning a No. 2 vs. No. 3 second-round series can’t be taken out of the equation.

The Knicks are now 2-1 on the year against the Cavaliers, with their only loss coming after trades that brought out Darius Garland (Los Angeles Clippers) and De’Andre Hunter (Sacramento Kings) while bringing in Harden, Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis. They are 0-3 against the Detroit Pistons with an average margin of defeat of 28 points and 2-1 against the Boston Celtics for a 4-5 record against the Pistons in the Eastern Conference. the first four seeds.

The Knicks are also 0-1 against the San Antonio Spurs (not including winning the NBA Cup Finals), 1-0 against the Houston Rockets and 1-0 against the Denver Nuggets in the West. They have yet to face the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Knicks are now 1-1 on their three-game road trip following Sunday’s win in Chicago against the Bulls. Next: two days off and an essential workout before a game in Milwaukee with the Bucks on Friday.