Two Knicks appeared on the All-Star “Game” on Sunday.

Neither won the thing, and only one made it to the final match.

This is the first time all season someone involved with New York has failed to win a meaningless title.

Jalen Brunson

On Jeremy Sochan’s addition and what he brings:

“Yeah, I’m very excited to see him. I think he brings a level of toughness. From what I’ve seen, he’s been a great teammate. So I’m very excited. It’s a great opportunity for us and for him.”

On his “holy grail” outside of winning a championship:

“Honestly, I feel like my journey has been very different from most. I’m very thankful for it. It made me work extremely hard. It made me realize the opportunity that I’ve had. I’m still chasing a lot. I write my goals — long-term and short-term — at the beginning of every year, and I keep that to myself.”

On lessons learned from the Eastern Conference Finals loss last year:

“Never looking ahead. You want to focus on the task in front of you. After last year, you can’t just jump right back into where we were. You’ve got to go through the journey all over again. So it’s taking it one day at a time, step by step, not focusing down the road — just being present.”

On Jose Alvarado’s impact:

“He’s had a great impact so far with his energy — who he is on and off the court, what he brings to the table. He’s a great person to be around. He’s already impacting our team and it’s going to be great for the Garden. Fans are going to love him if they don’t already.”

On who he’d want on his podcast:

“I’m a big SVU fan — Mariska Hargitay.”

On who is his most annoying teammate:

“I’m not going to say his name. I’ll just say No. 3 on the Knicks is the most annoying person ever.”

On game-day mental preparation:

“I’m very routine-based. I try to stick to the same routine. My focus comes from preparing — not just game day, but the days leading up to it, the summertime, the work I’ve put in my entire life. Your confidence comes from your work ethic. That’s how I prepare.”

On podcasting advice:

“It’s talking to one of my best friends. We talk about things we want to talk about. We don’t have to answer every question people want us to answer. You can create your own narrative, say things you need to get off your chest. It’s its own platform. It’s something we didn’t think we’d want to do, and now here we are in year three. It’s fun. It’s unique. It’s a great opportunity, possibly life after basketball if we want to continue it.”

On his first NBA field goal:

“It was a dunk against the Lakers. It came off a Julius Randle turnover — Julius and D’Angelo Russell were fighting over the ball. It ended up in my hands, and I did a two-hand dunk, which I never do.”

On the possibility of Jason Tatum returning this season:

“He’s a very dangerous player in our league. Obviously, seeing him go down last year, it sucks to see. You never want to see that from anyone in any sport. But the fact that he’s worked so hard to get to where he is and is preparing to come back, that just speaks to who he is. Basketball fans around the world are excited to see him come back.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On representing the Dominican Republic and inspiring kids:

“I don’t think it’s pressure. I put the time and work into the gym and my craft, and I feel very confident every time I step on the court. I know this is bigger than me. I’m super happy I have the opportunity to show Dominican kids it’s possible — not only to get a scholarship, but to make the NBA. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my mentors who showed me it was possible — Charlie Villanueva, Francisco Garcia, Felipe Lopez, Al Horford. It means a lot that I was able to take their teachings and continue to show the next generation that it’s possible.”

On Dominican culture influencing his game:

“The work ethic, the passion. Dominicans are passionate about family, about food, about having a good time. I translate that passion into my game. Every time I’m on the court or in practice, I’m passionate. I take the work serious. I look for quality over quantity.”

On international basketball and future opportunities:

“I love international basketball. It would be cool to see it grow and operate at a high level. Maybe one day be a part of it. There’s so much talent in the world. Making the NBA as one of 450 players is extremely difficult. Some guys fall through the cracks but have the talent and work ethic. It would be cool to see those guys get a chance to show their talents and live their dream.”

On comparisons between New York and Los Angeles:

“I love both. In New York, I’ve got my family — my father, grandmother, my whole Dominican family, my mom’s side too. In LA, my fiancée’s family is here. Happy mother-in-law solves a lot of problems.”

On the Knicks’ deadline moves:

“It’s unfortunate losing someone like Yabu, who was a big part of our locker room. But I’m glad to see him thriving in Chicago. Jose brings a lot of energy. It’s great to have someone who can jolt the game whenever we need it.”

On playing in the World Cup:

“It was really cool. I think it was the biggest World Cup attendance game of all time. Playing with my mother’s country on my chest, in a different atmosphere, not an NBA game — that’s something I won’t forget. I’m super happy our country got the win.”

On inspiring the next generation:

“It’s special. I’m honored to be in this position to show the next generation that it’s possible — to show them where I’ve been successful and where I’ve made mistakes, so they don’t make the same ones and can take this game and this flag to even greater heights.”

For a league taking L’s left and right this past week, at least the NBA can say they saved the All-Star Game.

A contest that had been mostly a disaster for roughly two decades received a much-needed facelift when it split USA players from the rest of the world into teams, who then played a round-robin of one-quarter games to determine the winner.

Veteran basketball pundits Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons explained on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” that while the NBA has failed to fix tanking, playing-time manipulation and game flow, at least the All-Star Game is watchable again.

“It was a great bit of redemption for the NBA,” Lowe said on the podcast. “It was definitely the world’s better than two years ago when it was 211-180-something, and the five All-Star games before it were dunk, dunk, laziness. This was a fun game. There were fouls, blocked shots, buzzer beaters, and drama.”

“Team Stars” was a group of younger players that wound up winning after they defeated “Team Stripes,” which consisted of LeBron James and a group of veteran faces of the league.

“A huge win for a league that needed a win,” Simmons said while adding that he gave the new All-Star Game “two thumbs up” as the game at one point appeared to be heading toward NFL Pro Bowl status.

Where things get really dicey is tanking, injuries, schedule length and much more, as the league deals with questions about the relevance of the regular season.

Simmons admits he has been hard on commissioner Adam Silver, as the league has clear issues with tanking that he has often left unpunished, as teams like the Utah Jazz and Brooklyn Nets find creative ways to lose games on purpose for a better draft pick.

“If you’re judging [the job that Adam Silver has done as commissioner] by what the league is like competitively, this is about as bad we’ve been in since the early 80s,” Simmons said.

Simmons then goes on to list the problems with the league, adding that the season is too long and the second half of the regular season is mostly meaningless, with the only reason to maintain 82 games being money.

“This is why I was so hard on Silver,” Simmons said. “This is the most important decision of his entire career. If he can’t do this. If he can’t convince two separate groups of people that are tough to convince anything that the season has to be shorter and here’s all the reasons why… This is a crisis now.”

What hasn’t been fixed about All-Star Weekend is the Slam Dunk Contest, as several star young players have refused to participate in recent years, while the league taps G-League-level players to compete, despite them hardly being NBA-level talent.

Mac McClung, who has played in 10 career NBA games, won three consecutive seasons from 2023 to 2025, while Keshad Johnson won this year despite playing in 21 games as a rookie.

We’re about two-thirds of the way through the 2025-26 NBA regular season based upon games played, but the league’s All-Star break always serves as the arbitrary halfway point of the season. The vibes were way down for the Philadelphia 76ers, but we received a welcome respite over the weekend, getting to enjoy VJ Edgecombe shine in the Rising Stars Challenge and Tyrese Maxey’s coronation as one of the league’s top stars. Now, before regular season hoops get back underway, let’s zoom out a bit and take stock of where things stand in the Eastern Conference.

Race to the Bottom

Washington (14-39)
Indiana (15-40)
Brooklyn (15-38)

These teams are going to be jockeying with a handful of teams out West for top lottery odds in what is a stacked 2026 NBA Draft class. The Wizards have positioned themselves to compete next year, trading for Trae Young and Anthony Davis at their low points of their value, and having those former All-Stars sit out the rest of the way. They’ll hope to pair those two with promising youngsters Alex Sarr and Tre Johnson, plus whoever they take in this year’s lottery. The Pacers had always signaled taking a step back this season after Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles, even going as far as to let Myles Turner walk in free agency. Indiana did trade for Ivica Zubac at the deadline, but I imagine his sprained ankle is going to take a historically long time to heal. This is another club that will be looking to compete again next season. Meanwhile, Brooklyn is playing more first-year players than a Rising Stars roster. The Nets are on the long rebuild path, and they could be right back in this group a year from now.

Things Went Off the Rails in the Midwest

Milwaukee (23-30)
Chicago (24-31)

These two clubs expected to be in the mix (towards the top half of the playoff bracket in Milwaukee’s case, and solidly in the Play-In in respect to the Bulls), but things have gone terribly wrong. In Wisconsin, Doc Rivers is pointing fingers everywhere except the thumbs pointing back at him, and the Giannis Antetokounmpo most passive aggressive trade request ever was comical, followed by his acting like he was taking the harder loyal path by sticking around. They have a roster built to operate around Giannis that doesn’t work one bit with him sidelined with a calf strain. Their current brand of no-defense will have them continue to lose games the rest of the way. If there’s a silver lining in Chicago, the Bulls finally, finally, finally embraced something of a rebuild, sending out Nikola Vucevic, Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White. They waited too long in all cases and didn’t get too much valuable in return, but maybe now Chicago will lose enough to get lucky in the lottery.

Frisky Futures

Atlanta (26-30)
Charlotte (26-29)

The Hawks actually pulled the trigger on trading away Trae Young, fully embracing building around Jalen Johnson with a longer, more defensive-minded roster. I understood moving on from Kristaps Porzingis given the health concerns, but I’m not sure the Jonathan Kuminga experience would be something I wanted to sign up for. I suppose his value can only go up away from Golden State. Getting Jock Landale for nothing was a good deal, something I wished the Sixers had done. I don’t expect the Hawks to do anything of note this year, but they seem to have a clear vision going forward. Charlotte is one of the most entertaining League Pass teams out there. Rookie Kon Knueppel looks like the real deal, already ranking as one of the best outside shooters in the league. You can really see something with a young core of him, LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. I also liked the buy low on Coby White at the deadline. If the Hornets could just excise Miles Bridges, I’d like rooting for this bunch.

Stuck in the middle with us

Miami (29-27)
Orlando (28-25)
Philadelphia (30-24)
Toronto (32-23)

The Heat struck out in having a big star come to South Beach, as shockingly Tyler Herro and Pat Riley throwing his rings on the table wasn’t enough of a trade package for people. Erik Spoelstra is an excellent coach who will keep Miami afloat, but there’s just not enough top-end talent on the roster there to be true contenders. Orlando is one of the more disappointing teams this season. People loved to talk about the Magic prior to the season as a dark horse to come out of the East, but they don’t look anywhere near that level. Paolo Banchero certainly hasn’t taken the next step this season, and Orlando signaled they weren’t making a run by just doing a salary dump at the deadline.

Speaking of salary dumps, the Sixers only subtracted from their rotation earlier this month. Despite pretty good injury health from their injury-prone stars, Philadelphia’s front office didn’t want to push any chips into the middle to improve the current roster. With Paul George now suspended, the Sixers are a major injury or two away from their shallow roster making a real slide down the standings. Toronto is one of the most pleasant surprises this season, with a bunch of pretty good parts coalescing on a solid roster that plays hard every night. The Raptors didn’t do anything major at the deadline; they seem content to let this season play out, and remain in a good position to tweak the roster in future years.

Candidates to emerge

Cleveland (34-21)
New York (35-20)
Boston (35-19)
Detroit (40-13)

The Cavaliers made the splashiest deadline acquisition, bringing in James Harden from Los Angeles. The Beard will certainly be an upgrade over an injured Darius Garland in the present. Was it the right move to trade away a young guard for a 36-year-old to make a push this season? I guess we’ll find out, but Cleveland certainly sensed the East is wide open and decided to go for it.

New York had a slide a little while ago that kicked off a bunch of Karl-Anthony Towns trade rumors. The Knicks have since righted the ship, and they plugged the hole created by Deuce McBride’s injury by acquiring Jose Alvarado. The Jalen Brunson-Towns defensive pairing issues will still present a problem for the Knicks in the postseason, but no one would be shocked if they were the squad to represent the East.

People posited that the Celtics might do a mini-tank this season with Jayson Tatum sidelined with an Achilles tear, but punishingly for Sixers fans, Boston has continued to churn out wins. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White ramped up their usage to good effect, and the front office brought in spare parts to round out the rotation. Management also showed it’s possible to both duck the tax and help the roster, as although the Celtics just made some salary-dumping trades, the swap to acquire Nikola Vucevic might mean their rotation is better than it was a month ago. If Tatum can make an improbable return later on (he recently practiced with the Maine Celtics), Boston would get upgraded to clear favorite.

Finally, Detroit is this year’s Cinderella darling, second best in the NBA in both record and net rating. Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren are young and ascending, and the Pistons have solid depth and complimentary pieces on the roster. The major argument against the Pistons would be that most of the roster hasn’t done it before in the playoffs (unless by “it” you mean Tobias Harris missing a million threes), but there always has to be a first time for young cores.

How do you size up the East? Let us know in the comments.

There might not be a player on the New York Knicks that represents the team’s identity more than Mitchell Robinson. The backup center has a modest stat line at All-Star break, averaging just 5.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. 

Those numbers don’t jump off the page, but Robinson is the secret weapon to New York’s championship hopes this season.

The Knicks are outscoring the opposition by 8.9 points per 100 possessions in Robinson’s 766 minutes on the floor this season according to NBA Stats, which is the second highest net rating on the team, only behind Miles McBride.

If the Knicks are going to reach their goal of making the NBA Finals, Robinson will be instrumental. A solid defender and quality rim protector, the big man has regained his defensive mojo after a slow start.

Even though his defense is effective, Robinson’s super power really is on the offensive glass. 

Among players who have played at least 30 games, he is number one in offensive rebound rate. Teams still haven’t found a way to keep Robinson off the offensive boards, and many of his offensive caroms have led directly to open three-pointers for his teammates.

When Robinson’s on the floor, New York is collecting 40.8 percent of its misses, a number that would be first in the NBA. The Knicks have a 29.3 percent offensive rebound rate when Robinson sits, a figure that would rank 22nd in the NBA. That has helped juice the Knicks' offense, which is ranked third in the NBA, recording 118.9 points per 100 possessions.

Injury history

Robinson brings tools that no one else on the roster can provide, but it’s not all roses with him. 

The eight-year veteran has a significant injury history. 

Robinson has missed 16 games this season -- he sat out the first four games of the season and is not playing back-to-back games due to left ankle injury management. He’s also been out for a total of 139 contests over the previous three seasons.

It’s hard to rely on a player who is unavailable so often. 

Robinson is in the final year of a four-year, $60 million deal. He’s eligible for a contract extension but the Knicks and the 27-year old center did not engage in substantive talks before the season, according to SNY’s Ian Begley.

Contract negotiations between the two sides seem a bit complicated. The seven-footer’s importance to the Knicks is hard to quantify, but the number one question would be if Robinson is unable to play back-to-back games the rest of his career? If not, that puts a cap on how much he can truly earn on the free agent market.

Also, the big man is limited on the offensive end. Some teams intentionally foul Robinson, who is shooting a career-low 40.8 percent from the free-throw line.

At 19.6 minutes this season, Robinson has averaged 21.0 minutes over the last three seasons. 

The Knicks already have Karl-Anthony Towns as a starter at center. Towns is set to make $57.1 million next year and has a player option for $61 million in 2027-28. It would be a significant amount of money to allocate to one position, and with New York brushing up against the second apron, there’s only much more scrutiny on each move the team makes.

Towns and Robinson have played 213 minutes together this season. The pairing has worked for the most part with a +5.4 net rating, but recently, it hasn’t been as successful.

Some of Robinson’s contributions have driven some of New York’s finest moments over the last few years. Robinson was the X-factor in the Knicks’ second round win against the Boston Celtics. He also proved vital in this year’s NBA Cup championship win, recording 15 rebounds, 10 of them coming on the offensive end.

Robinson is such a unique player that the Knicks are probably the best fit for him. With only a few teams having significant cap space, it’s more than likely that Robinson and the Knicks extend their partnership past this season either through an extension or in free agency -- but the playoffs will truly determine his future with the club.

LOS ANGELES — Last week, Jaylen Brown shared an Instagram story that highlighted the Celtics’ record this year compared to last year.

The graphic, created by NBC Sports Boston, compared the 2024-2025 Celtics’ and the 2025-2026 Celtics’ record, net, offensive, and defensive ratings at the All-Star break, ultimately demonstrating how, remarkably, both teams’ on-court success were pretty comparable.

Both Celtics teams held the the second seed in the Eastern Conference at the break, as well as the NBA’s third-best net rating. This year’s Celtics have the better offense; last year’s more veteran team had the better defense.

Almost immediately, Brown’s post was widely criticized, with some fans perceiving it as a shot at Jayson Tatum, who has been sidelined all season due to an Achilles injury he suffered last spring. 

But, Brown was perplexed about how that happened – how a post touting his team’s unlikely success turned into a negative thing.  

“The thing I posted, that was about celebrating our group,” Brown told CelticsBlog in an exclusive conversation. “People make it seem like it was about me, because that’s what people wanted it to be about. But in reality, I’m just so proud of our group. I’m extremely proud.”

Back in July, the last time we extensively spoke 1-on-1, Brown told me that he expected to surprise the world ahead of a season in which few expected the Celtics to be competitive. 

But, even he didn’t know that this level of team success was coming so soon.

The Celtics have the third-best record in the league since December 1st, and a litany of improbable victories. Earlier this month, for example, they blew out the Houston Rockets on the second night of a back-to-back in a game in which two-way player Ron Harper Jr. got his first career start — and the Celtics got a big-time win with Brown and Sam Hauser both sidelined.

So, it fills him with an immense amount of pride and gratitude to talk about the Celtics’ success so far.

“I believed that we were going to be fine, but even to me, it’s like, ‘Damn, we’re the second seed – one of the five best records in the whole league,” Brown said. “Only a few teams have a better record than us in the entire league. We’re a top-five team in the league, coming from the start of the season, when it was [supposed to be] a gap year.”

Brown can’t stop beaming as he talks about his group.

He appreciates that the Celtics have blown previous expectations out of the water, and enjoys gushing about how this season has been playing out.

But, in our lengthy conversation, he never brings up himself – not his own career-best individual season, nor his first-ever All-Star start, which he celebrated in Los Angeles. 

For Jaylen Brown, this season has been about the young guys

What Brown has enjoyed most this season is seeing the Celtics organization at its best — watching unproven players like Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez tremendously impact winning. In his first two years in the NBA, Walsh had yet to break into the Celtics’ rotation, and Brown, a close friend of his, stayed in his ear, encouraging him.

He broke through this season en route to a career-year highlighted by 20 consecutive starts for Boston. Walsh is averaging 5.6 points in 18.5 minutes per game — both career-highs.

And, Gonzalez, drafted late in the first round and at just 19 years old, quickly became an impactful rotation player. As it currently stands, he has the best individual net rating of any player in the NBA. Few predicted that, at 19 years old, the Celtics rookie would be so impactful, so soon. But he’s been a critical part of multiple victories. 

“As a leader, to see our guys finding their footing and flourishing, I’m prouder about that,” Brown said. “Just to see certain guys unsure about their roles, or their situation, and to see Jordan playing well, Hugo playing well in stretches. Like, they’ve helped us win games. I take pride in that. I’m proud of that.”

He’s especially in awe of the Celtics’ player development program, which, alongside Gonzalez and Walsh, has propelled players like Baylor Scheierman and Luka Garza toward career seasons. He shouted out each of the Celtics’ assistant and player development coaches, people who are integral to the Celtics’ team success, but rarely receive credit in the public eye.

“I’m extremely proud of our group, coaching staff included,” Brown said. “All the guys that put time and effort – Sham [God Shammgod Jr], Da’Sean [Butler], Ross [McCain], DJ [MacLeay] – all our coaching staff have done a really good job of developing guys.”

Brown is also adamant that Derrick White should have been an All-Star, and that starting center Neemias Queta is only beginning to scratch the surface of his ceiling. He’s been thoroughly impressed with how Anfernee Simons carried himself through his 49-game Celtics stint, and with how Payton Pritchard has handled an increased role as one of the Celtics’ primary scoring options. 

So, Brown might just keep posting Instagram graphics that highlight just how good this Celtics team has been playing. 

He emphasized that, alongside Tatum, they lost four other great players this offseason – Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Luke Kornet, and Kristaps Porzingis.

And, he’s in awe of how the Celtics have adapted in the face of those veteran losses. 

Brown also attributes some of the the Celtics’ success this season to a formative offseason conversation between himself and Joe Mazzulla, in which both candidly discussed their preferred approach for the year ahead.  

“Before the season started, Joe had an idea of what he wanted, how he wanted to coach the team,” Brown said. “I had an idea of how I wanted to lead the team, and we kind of had to meet in the middle before the season even started. We had an idea of how we were going to both work together. Because if we don’t work together, if it would have been me not buying into Joe, none of this would work. Me being able to be on the same page with Joe has allowed us to be in the position that we’re in now.”

Jaylen Brown has found peace

At age 29, Brown understands that words and actions can be taken out of context. That’s part of why he started regularly Twitch streaming — so that he can address things head-on and elaborate on his perspective.

For example, in a recent stream, Brown spoke glowingly about Tatum’s rehab, and shared how much pride he has in his co-star for all the progress he’s made. 

“If you hear me talk about anything in my most recent streams, I mentioned how proud I am of my team, I mentioned how proud I am of JT’s progression,” Brown said. “It’s all that type of stuff.”

Brown still finds it perplexing why his Instagram story had become controversial, though it’s far from the first time something like that has happened in his NBA career.

After a screenshot of his Instagram story blew up online, he ended up Tweeting it on his own account, with a simple caption emphasizing why he had highlighted those statistics: “I’m proud of this group and staff / office looking forward to 2nd half go Cs.”

But, at this point in his career, he doesn’t worry too much when these kinds of things happen.

Tuning out the outside noise has brought him an inner peace. 

“People have always tried to pick apart everything that I said,” Brown said. “And over the course of my career, I’ve tried to be very meticulous about it. I try to say as little as possible, I try to make sure that I’m not saying anything that’s gonna stir the pot. Now, I’m at this point in my career, and I’m like, I could care less.” 

“People are going to infer whatever they want. It’s not in my control… I say how I feel. I say what I’m proud of. And, I’m proud that our team is doing great.”

What Brown does want to talk about is how incorrect the pundits and analysts were about how good this Celtics team could be. 

“We were supposed to be tanking, that was the talk,” Brown said. “To be in the top five teams in the league? I’m proud of that. I’m extremely proud. Ain’t nobody can tell me nothing.” 

It doesn’t matter how outside people might perceive that sentiment. 

“I feel like the most peaceful I’ve felt this season is because I just stopped caring about all that stuff,” Brown said. “And that’s why I feel like I’ve been at the most at the most peace I’ve ever been at in my career, because I just stopped giving a fuck about what the media or what people feel about what I gotta say, or, you know, if they feel offended by something I said  – whatever. I said it with the right intent. I said it to highlight something that I feel like is important to highlight.”

And, in this case, he won’t let the world forget about how wrong people were about this Celtics team. 

“Everybody was calling it a gap year,” Brown said. “How do you go from a gap year to top five in the East? That’s a big jump. That’s not a small jump. People want to skip over that. I’m not gonna let you skip over it. That is a big deal.” 

Most importantly, he thinks this Celtics team is only going to get better as the year continues. As it currently stands, they hold a half-game lead for second place in the Eastern Conference, with Tatum’s potential return looming.

And, he wants to keep talking about how they’re doing the improbable.

“I’m proud of our group,” Brown said, beaming. “And I would yell it from the top of this house.”

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Loic Meillard of Switzerland wins men's slalom, Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen falls in 1st run to end medal chances.