Knicks’ Strong 2nd Half Cannot Overcome Flat 1st Half. Chicago 135 NY 125

November 1, 2025 LouV 2025-26 0
In his first game of the year, Mitchell Robinson played 20 minutes and had 11 rebounds, 6 of them offensive. Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

After getting blown off the court in the 1st half — and down by 19 at intermission — the Knicks came back with a strong 2nd half to pull within 2 points with 5:43 left, but did not hit key shots in the final 2 minutes while the Bulls did — enabling Chicago to pull away with a 135-125 win on a Friday night in the Windy City.

The Knicks have way more talent than Chicago and were Eastern Conference Finalists last year under coach Tom Thibodeau — but Chicago looked like the better-coached team: in relentless motion on offense and in the final 2 minutes scoring at will on NY with pick-and-rolls. Chicago’s Billy Donovan was one of the 5 coaches the Knicks sought to interview before hiring Mike Brown, but were denied by Chicago management.

And so NY falls to 2-3, losers of 3 straight road games. Despite a roster full of talent and having been one of the final 3 teams playing ball last year (and one of the final 5 teams playing the prior 2 years) — NY looks ‘mid’.

It will take time for new coach Mike Brown‘s offensive schemes to ‘stick’ — but the magnifying glass is out of the pocket.

Brown’s Thoughts

“It’s really simple tonight. We lacked physicality that we wanted to have and we’ve been showing on the defensive end of the floor,” said coach Brown afterwards. “Our ability to guard the basketball was not good in the 1st half. We were getting blown by possession after possession after possession. And guys were finishing at the rim with no defense there. … Our defense tonight in the first half especially — in the second half it was a little better — was non-existent and it starts with guarding the basketball.”

“We have to guard better,” continued Brown. “Guard the basketball. And it has to be with a sense of physicality because if we don’t teams are going to do exactly what Chicago did on the offensive end of the floor. We lost 3 in a row, we’ve hit some adversity early in the season. I’m interested to see how we respond.”

“We have to give a little time first before I’m too worried about it, but our bench does have to play better,” Brown added. “We’ve got to knock those shots down or we’ve got to finish at the rim when we get there, or try to get out in transition to try to get a couple of easy (ones) from those guys coming off the bench. Right now we’re not doing any of it.”

NY goes to 2-3 on the year; Chicago is now 5-0.

1. Thibs Coached Chicago for 5 Years Too; Left Same Way

Tom Thibodeau of course coached Chicago 10 years ago — and lifted the Bulls to their most successful period of sustained winning since the Michael Jordan era. It was Thibodeau’s 1st job as a head coach, after being the secret sauce to Boston’s 2009 title — when he gave the Celtics a torrid defense as the Assistant Defensive Coach.

Thibs record with Chicago is highlighted in yellow below:

But Thibodeau was abruptly fired by Chicago in much the same way he was fired by NY — for allegedly being too head-strong and stubborn in wanting to run the team his way — Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf issuing a letter at the time that said in part, “there must be free and open interdepartmental discussion and consideration of everyone’s ideas and opinions.”

After firing Thibs, the Bulls spent 5 years in disarray, plummeting to one of the worst teams in the NBA — before gradually becoming a .500 team for 5 years under Billy Donovan, and finally looking like a playoff team this year.

Meanwhile Thibs went to Minnesota where he turned a 29-win team into a 47-win team before getting fired again after 3 years for reportedly the same reasons (bull headedness). He then was hired by Leon Rose and coached the Knicks to their best, sustained-winning basketball in 25 years. Thibs record with NY is highlighted in yellow below.

2. Giddey & Bulls Run Knicks Off Court in 1st Half

As seen in the graphic above, the Bulls have been just under .500 the last 3 years under Billy Donovan, but this year he has the Bulls cooking. In perpetual motion on offense the Bulls attacked, attacked, and attacked the Knicks for layup after layup.

The Bulls are led by 6’8 point guard Josh Giddey, who is in his 2nd year with Chicago — having been traded by Oklahoma to the Bulls for Alex Caruso before last season. Giddey is an offensive whirlwind — and led a fast-paced offensive-juggernaut of an Oklahoma team that then  re-invented itself as a top defensive team (trading Giddey for Caruso and stealing Isaiah Hartenstein away from NY) and won the 2024-25 NBA championship.

Giddey meanwhile has done well with Chicago — averaging 14.6 ppg last year with 8.1 rebounds per game (RPG) and 7.2 assists per game (APG) — and reving up their offense for Billy Donovan. Giddey signed a 4-year, $25M a year contract extension before the season began. He is averaging 22 ppg so far this year, with 8.8 RPG and 8.0 APG.

Giddey orchestrated the up-tempo Chicago offense and scored 32 pts himself with 10 rebounds and 9 assists. He fed the likes of Nikola Vucevic for buckets inside or Ayo Dosunmu (22 pts) and Matas Buzelis (13 pts) for drives off pick-and-rolls.

NBA Analyst Ross Kreines noted: “Tweeted this below on Josh Giddey in 2022. What Josh also does is play with a purpose, gets to his spots while playing to not just his strengths but his teammates strengths along with playing his tempo and he can play with the ball in his hands or off ball. Also, can fill stat sheet.

Ross was referencing his tweet from November 13, 2020:

“Josh Giddey is such a crafty player with great court vision that makes others better along with his ability to get in the lane and use his floater, get others easy looks and penetrate and kicks that lead to open 3’s.Also,good size, plays at his tempo, competes and fills a stat sheet.”

3. Mitch Is Back. Hart’s Bad Finger Makes Him a Non Factor

Good news for NY was that Mitchell Robinson was back — playing his first game of the season as the Knicks play him with caution this year because of his surgically repaired ankle. If he feels any soreness or discomfort, he sits.

Mitch immediately made an impact on the game — on defense and on the offensive glass.

Mitch played 20 minutes and had 11 rebounds, 6 of them offensive. He was a key part of the Knicks surge in the 2nd half.

But bad news for NY — Josh Hart continues to be plagued by problems with his surgically repaired right index finger. He suffered the initial injury in May during the playoffs, and played through it (although was affected by it), then underwent surgery in the offseason.

Hart had a setback in practice before training camp, and now plays with a splint on the finger. He has stated he has a loss of feeling in the finger and discomfort in his hand. There is a possibility the finger won’t be fixed without another procedure.

Hart was a complete non-entity in this game — 15 minutes with 1 rebound and 0 points on 0-1 shooting.

4. Knicks Play Better Ball in 3rd — Pull Back within 10

The headline to his game was going to be “Layup, Layup, Layup” — which is what Athletic reporter James L Edwards tweeted.

But the Knicks came out of the lockerroom looking more like the team that was one of the last 3 teams playing last year.

Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges led them on a 26-9 run that sliced the Chicago lead .

A Jalen Brunson 3 pulled the Knicks to within 5 points with 4:35 left in the 3rd at 84-79.

5. Knicks Keep Coming in 4th — Pull within 2

Chicago pushed back to go up by 9 entering the 4th — but the Knicks kept coming:

6. NY Misses Key Shots in Final 2 Minutes — Chicago Doesn’t

But the Knicks missed key shots in the final 4 minutes, and Chicago executed their offense with pick and rolls to take the game.

  • Miles McBride missed a 16 footer that would have made it a 2-pt game,
  • KAT missed a 3 that would have made it a 1-pt game,
  • OG missed a 13-footer that would have made it a 3-pt game,
  • Nikola Vucevic hit an inside floater and a drive-and-1 to put Chicago up 125-116 with 2:09 left for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401809505

 

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