Jalen Brunson speaks during the Knicks championship parade ceremony
Jalen Brunson speaks during the Knicks championship parade ceremony
The Knicks will not get to ease into the part of the schedule that matters. The NBA has them visiting Cleveland on Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. ET, a national-TV rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals.
For the Knicks, it is more than a tidy early-season game. Cleveland was the team standing in the way before New York finished its title run, and the Cavaliers will have that date circled before the arena doors open.
The game will be on NBA TV, but it is going to feel much bigger than a normal November slot. A defending champion walking into an old playoff building is the kind of test that gets everybody’s attention.
Jalen Brunson mural during the Knicks championship parade
Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Knicks get an early answer on the road
No regular-season game decides a repeat bid. Nobody needs to pretend Nov. 7 will settle anything. The Knicks have months of basketball ahead of them.
It will show how ready they are to handle the target on their back. Last season, every opponent wanted to knock off New York once the playoffs started. The schedule will keep offering the same chance this year.
Jalen Brunson will be the center of the attention, as usual. He has already lived through the postseason pressure that comes with being the leader of a title team. Cleveland will not make the road game easier because the calendar says November.
Cleveland has a reason to remember the Knicks
The Cavaliers are a different kind of early opponent. There is recent history attached to this one, which makes the matchup feel different before anyone jumps for the opening tip.
New York should welcome that. A champion does not get a quiet title defense, and there is no benefit in ducking the teams that have the most reason to come after them. The first trip to Cleveland will tell us plenty about the mood around this group, even if it does not settle the bigger picture.