This is Catching Strays, the Daily News’ regular Knicks rundown for the quotes, stats and storylines that didn’t make a headline.
Today: championship chemistry at 2-4, the lulls that keep hurting, Michael Wilbon stepping back, the Nets’ first win and Yaxel Lendeborg’s big night.
Back to base camp
The Knicks are 2-4, and two of their starters answered the same chemistry question on opposite sides of the spectrum.
Mikal Bridges was asked Sunday whether the Knicks have to reestablish theirs after winning the franchise’s first title in 53 years.
He started with the calendar.
“The last time we played was in June,” Bridges at the team’s Tarrytown training facility on Sunday. “I think we were probably the most polished as a team we were at the end of the year, as we should be.”
Bridges, who hasn’t shot the ball well through the first chunk of the season, put some of the gap on himself.
“Obviously we should be better than we are, me personally,” he said. “But it takes time and just not skipping steps.”
Karl-Anthony Towns was asked the same thing. Does limited roster turnover the season following a championship give a team a leg up over others that were reconstructed year over year?
“I think our chemistry is one of our greatest strengths still,” Towns said. “I mean, I know our record is 2-4, but a lot of times you see [other teams] panic.
“You don’t see that on our team because of our chemistry.”
Chemistry, camaraderie, familiar faces or not, the ball is not moving the way it did to end last season.
The Knicks entered Monday’s matchup against the Brooklyn Nets averaging 26.2 assists, down from 27.4, and 14.5 turnovers, up from 12.8. Their assist-to-turnover ratio has slipped from 2.14 to 1.8.
Head coach Mike Brown has been here before. Asked Sunday whether a team with this much continuity still has to rebuild its chemistry, the Knicks coach said he experienced “winning it one year and repeating the second year,” and that Year 2 was no shortcut.
“No, you’re starting all over. It’s like climbing a mountain,” he said on Sunday. “And when you climb that mountain the second time, you’re starting from base camp again. And if you skip steps doing that, you’re going to die.”
He added a disclaimer for the 2-4 crowd.
“It’s not that tragic for us, but when you’re sitting at 2-4, people equate it to that sometimes,” said Brown. “No, I don’t think we should be here. You wanna be there. There’s a difference between should and want.”
Breakdowns, magnified
Brown opened Sunday’s availability by crediting his team’s effort.
“We’re competing,” he said he told the team, calling competitiveness one of the hardest things to teach.
The problem, he said, is a breakdown here or there that “with the way that we’re shooting the basketball right now, it can be impactful.”
Philadelphia scored 26 points in the paint in the first half Friday and 10 in the second, by his count.
A legend stepping back
Renowned sports journalist and host of ESPN’s hit show Pardon the Interruption Michael Wlibon announced he is stepping back — not retiring — from his post as one of TV’s preeminent voices.
“This isn’t retirement, but it’s a trip to the injured list,” he wrote in a statement posted on X. “Hopefully not an extended one. Struggles with multiple health issues in recent months lead me to take an indefinite leave of absence from PTI and NBA duties on ESPN and ABC.
“As one close friend has said as my issues have become bigger: ‘The bill has come due.’ The struggles are health-related, not to alcohol and not to gambling.”
Wilbon has been one of sports media’s most popular fixtures for 25 years.
Brooklyn got one
The Nets walked into Madison Square Garden with their first win. Brooklyn beat the Pacers 98-90 in Indianapolis on Sunday to improve to 1-5, on the first night of a back-to-back that ends at The Garden.
Around the league
Yaxel Lendeborg had the rookie night of the weekend. The Warriors forward scored a career-high 37 points on 13-of-19 shooting, 6-of-11 from three, in a 124-112 win over the Clippers on Sunday. He added six assists and four rebounds in 34 minutes, two nights after scoring six against the Lakers.
The Knicks host the Nets at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Madison Square Garden.
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