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The Knicks have been swimming upstream for almost two years.

They have won 50 games the last two seasons and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, despite trotting out a starting lineup that has produced diminishing returns.

The unit, which features Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns, has been middling at best. The five-man group is outscoring opponents by just 0.7 points per 100 possession this season. 

At this point, we’ve seen enough. The starting unit has played 494 minutes together this season, the third-highest in the NBA. Last season, it was the most used five-man lineup in the NBA, hitting the court for 960 minutes.

Initially, the starting five looked elite. Through the first three months of the 2024-25 season, the combination was outscoring teams by 6.6 points per 100 possessions in 561 minutes. But those numbers dropped by the end of the season. The playoffs saw the group reach its nadir. The starters were outscored by 6.2 points per 100 possessions in 335 minutes together.

Former Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau opted to change the starting lineup during the middle of the Eastern Conference Finals last season, inserting center Mitchell Robinson for Hart after Game 2. New York began this season with Robinson in the starting lineup, but went back to Hart quickly.

Thibodeau’s replacement Mike Brown went to Robinson as a starter initially before going back to Hart after an injury to Anunoby in November. New York has gone back to the original five-man unit ever since.

Slow starts

There are several factors contributing to why the lineup hasn’t thrived. Opponents discovered that they can put a wing on Towns while having their center guard Hart. It has mucked up the paint, and disrupted New York’s offensive flow.

Hart is having a career year from three, making 40.9 percent of his attempts. But he can still be a reluctant shooter. Opponents are willing to live with him launching from deep rather than letting Brunson or Towns go one-on-one in the paint. Bridges has also been in a slump recently, creating even more issues.

New York’s defense has been better recently. But over the two seasons, there have been some spells of inconsistency. The starting lineup has also been a mess in the first quarter, which has contributed to the team’s recent trend of slow starts.

The Knicks fell behind, 14-1, in the first few minutes of their 111-94 loss to the Houston Rockets last week.

New York’s starting five has a negative 8.1 net rating in the opening quarter. In the other three quarters, the Knicks are much better. They are a plus-9.8 points per 100 possessions in the fourth quarter.

Options for a change

The Knicks have a few options as replacements. The club can use guards Miles McBride or Landry Shamet. They can go big with Robinson, too.

We haven’t seen much of Robinson as a starter with Towns since the first month of the season, since Robinson hasn’t played back-to-back games this season. In 51 minutes with Robinson in place of Hart, the Knicks have a plus-12.4 points per 100 possessions.

All of these previously mentioned lineups have played so little together that it’s hard to know which ones would actually work.

All of the results of the past two years have shown that this Knicks starting lineup is unlikely to have a turnaround. But there are just four games left in the regular season. With a team gearing up for the playoffs, it sounds unrealistic to make a change this late.

It seems as if Brown will be following a similar path as his predecessor. The most likely scenario will be a starting lineup alteration as a response to falling behind in a playoff series, which could be an impediment to New York’s playoff hopes.

It got interesting at times, but the Milwaukee Bucks mostly dominated the tanktastic Memphis Grizzlies, 131-115. As Deolu put it in his rapid recap, this was the Bucks’ their first win against Memphis since January 2022, which is crazy to think about. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast, Bucks In Six Minutes, below.

Player Grades

Kyle Kuzma

22 minutes, 4 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 turnovers, 2/3 FG, -4

Made some nice reads out of the short roll in the first quarter, and shot efficiently on extremely low volume, but the turnovers were still too high. Also got out-rebounded by smaller players on a few occasions.

Grade: C

Pete Nance

23 minutes, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2/4 FG, 0/1 3P, +23

Pete did most of his best work in the second half as a connector, making a few great passes in tight quarters to cutting teammates.

Grade: C+

Taurean Prince

23 minutes, 19 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 7/8 FG, 5/5 3P, +20

Rain, hail, or shine, TP remains one heck of a shooter. I mean, some of these three-point attempts were not easy, and he just nails them. Given his skill set, I think this might have been his best game of the year.

Grade: A+

Ryan Rollins

32 minutes, 24 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 10/16 FG, 4/7 3P, +0

Rollins was clinical, getting to his spots, working in the pick-and-roll, and taking what the defence gave him. He also had some ridiculous ambidextrous finishes around the rim. Can’t say enough about his development this year.

Grade: A-

Myles Turner

21 minutes, 19 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 6/13 FG, 1/4 3P, -3

Finished around the rim decently (as he should, considering he was the biggest and tallest player out there by some margin). Also got four O-boards because of that height, along with four stocks. Great production on those fronts. Still, got exposed a few times moving his feet on the perimeter against fringe NBA players.

Grade: B-

Ousmane Dieng

31 minutes, 17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 turnovers, 6/15 FG, 1/4 3P, +8

Not the best game from Ous, who failed to make much of an impact. He certainly had moments of brilliance—such as his full-court outlet pass to Cormac Ryan—but failed to put it together from a scoring standpoint. You want to see him succeed with the ball in his hands to be a long-term player for this team.

Grade: C+

AJ Green

26 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist, 4 turnovers, 2/7 FG, 2/7 3P, +0

A nothing game from AJ. You wish he’d be more impactful against a team of G-Leaguers.

Grade: D

Jericho Sims

26 minutes, 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 6/7 FG, +19

Sims mostly did his job by playing off others, but he showed signs of savviness we hadn’t seen earlier this season. For example, he had a play where he faked the DHO and kept it, leading to the massive slam. Great to see that development.

Grade: B

Cormac Ryan

29 minutes, 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals, 7/8 FG, 3/4 3P, +19

Another great game from Cormac, who just keeps showing out. He made threes from both a standing start and on the move, but also did great work inside the arc; he spun for a dipsy-doo fadeaway, and also cut backdoor for the reverse layup. Also showed his stuff as an instinctual defender, racking up five steals.

Grade: A+

Doc Rivers

Thought Doc did a solid job coaching. I’ll echo Finn’s sentiment about Rivers getting the team to “play the right way,” which has been evident over the past two weeks, and honestly, really refreshing. No agendas, just a bunch of dudes playing for each other. Now, the opponent was tanking to a significant degree, but all Doc could do was put guys in position to succeed and get them to play in the way that best helped the team, and I thought he did. The Bucks won a game they should have won, and Doc played a key role.

Grade: B+

Garbage Time: Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo

Inactive: Kevin Porter Jr., Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, Gary Trent Jr.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Doc said that although the team is out of playoff contention, these games are meaningful for a lot of guys.
• On Cormac: “Great cutter, great IQ, better with the ball than we thought… and his hands have been everywhere. Very impressed with him.”
• Rivers highlighted how Ryan Rollins is doing his work “in the game flow” and not forcing anything.
• Ousmane Dieng, Rayan Rupert, and Adama Bal all grew up together in France and shared an NBA court in this one. Pretty cool moment.

Up Next

The Bucks are back in action on Tuesday night against yet another tanktastic team, the Brooklyn Nets. Catch the game at 6:30 p.m. CDT on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

This is the second part of a two-part season recap series. Read part one here.

With their season-long five-game losing streak in the rearview, the Minnesota looked to transform their team at the trade deadline. The Wolves did just that with a series of moves that traded away Mike Conley, Rob Dillingham, and Leonard Miller, while getting back Ayo Dosunmu and Julian Phillips. They also re-signed Conley following his buyout with the Charlotte Hornets and reunited with Kyle Anderson, who was let go from the Memphis Grizzlies.

The roster shakeup breathed new life into a roster that had seemingly grown stale over the past few months and gave them desperately needed bench depth to use for both the stretch run of the regular season and the Playoffs.

Here are the top Post-All-Star break moments of the Timberwolves 2025-26 season.

The Vibes Were High Against the Raptors

The season of high-highs and low-lows continued into February for the Timberwolves. Following a 115-96 drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers, the Wolves started to put things together.

They won their final two games before the All-Star break, swept a three-game road trip where they beat the Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Denver Nuggets, before capping off a stretch of seven wins in eight games at home in a 115-107 win over the Toronto Raptors.

The game was a professional victory for the Timberwolves. The game was tight the entire first half before the Wolves put their foot on the gas in the third quarter to take a double-digit lead. The ball movement was on point the entire game, and the defense was able to shut down the Raptors with Rudy Gobert dominating the paint, while also leading the team with five assists.

The vibes around the team seemed to be in as good a place as they had been in years. The trade deadline had passed, Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Hyland had transformed the Wolves bench into a quality unit, and the Wolves were up to third in the Western Conference standings for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

Like many times earlier in the season, it felt like the Wolves were finally putting everything together. Despite numerous stumbles throughout the season, the Timberwolves seemed primed to go on an extended winning streak. Instead, the opposite happened.

Rock Bottom in Los Angeles

The win against the Raptors, like many other wins before it, was not the spark that would propel the Timberwolves toward regular-season consistency. Rather, the Wolves lost three straight games by a combined 66 points.

It started at home in a 119-92 loss to the Orlando Magic. Next, a 120-106 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers in a game where Anthony Edwards shot 2-15 from the field. The third straight blowout came against the Clippers. The Wolves gave up 153 points, a Clippers franchise record for points scored in regulation.

The losing streak was rock bottom for the Timberwolves. It wasn’t just that they lost three games, all of which to above .500 teams; it was the way they lost them.

In the first two games, the Wolves’ offense completely disappeared. The ball movement had completely deserted them as Edwards, Julius Randle, and others over-dribbled the ball on countless possessions. The Lakers specifically baited Edwards into terrible shots, successfully shutting him down and the rest of the Timberwolves. Hitting a rough patch on one side of the ball for a couple of games would be one thing. The Wolves could pinpoint specific issues that needed to be solved and fix them.

While the Wolves did get their offense going the next night against the Clippers, their defense fell off a cliff.

Scoring just 92 points one game, only to give up 153 points just two games later, spoke to larger issues going on with the team beyond anything strategic or talent-based. It showcased a potential fatal flaw of a team unwilling or unable to provide a consistent performance night-to-night.

A Record-Setting Overtime Comeback

The most insane game of the season, and in recent memory at Target Center, came a week ago against the Houston Rockets. With Edwards and Dosunmu both out, the Timberwolves grabbed a 110-108 overtime victory in a game that won’t soon be forgotten.

The Wolves controlled the lead for most of the game and eventually built up an 11-point lead with less than four minutes left in the game. Just when it felt like the Wolves were going to cruise to a really solid win, the game took a turn toward the absurd.

Following an Alperen Şengün layup and a Timberwolves shot clock violation, Julius Randle ran over Şengün, who was setting a screen, for a foul. The play was upgraded to a flagrant foul for Randle, with crew chief Scott Foster saying Randle unnecessarily “launched” into Şengün on the play.

“I’ve never seen it before,” Finch said about the flagrant call on Randle. “They’re telling me they had a clear opportunity to avoid the screen. They said he sought him out to run him over. I’ve never seen a flagrant like that. He goes through a screen, they call a foul, fine. That’s clearly a foul. Play on. But a flagrant? I don’t know.”

The Rockets hit both flagrant free throws, scored on their next possession, and continued scoring to go on a 13-0 run to take the lead. Randle gave the Wolves the lead back with a bully ball layup in the paint before a Gobert away-from-the-play foul gave Kevin Durant the game-tieing free throw as well as the ball back, while also fouling Gobert out of the game.

With a chance to win the game, the Rockets turned the ball over, giving the Wolves the chance to win it on a Randle layup that was blocked by Şengün.

The game was insane enough, but that was only the beginning. The Rockets opened up overtime to score the first 13 points of overtime, with Naz Reid getting ejected in the middle of the run following a foul call on him not overturned.

The craziness did not stop there as the Wolves responded with the next 15 points with DiVincenzo knocking down the game-tying 3-pointer and Randle capping off the run with a midrange jumper to give the Wolves the lead. After a foul and a pair of missed free throws from Durant (one of which was intentional), the Wolves secured a win in one of the most insane games of the season.

In the hallway to the Timberwolves locker room, Randle shared his displeasure with the lead official, yelling out, “That shit didn’t work Scott Foster.”

The Timberwolves’ winning after trailing by 13 points in overtime was the largest overtime comeback since the NBA began tracking play-by-play data in 1996-97, as the Wolves avenged their nine-point overtime collapse to the Nuggets on Christmas.

Kevin Garnett Returns

The most memorable part of the Timberwolves regular season. On Friday, the Wolves announced that Kevin Garnett would be making his long-awaited return to Target Center during the team’s regular season finale on April 12th against the New Orleans Pelicans.

The announcement comes a couple of months after Garnett agreed to return to the organization in an ambassador role with a jersey retirement ceremony set to take place during the 2026-27 season, with ceremony details set to be released on a later date.

While the game itself might end up being anticlimactic, as the Wolves could potentially be locked into their seed for the Playoffs, the night itself is set to be one of the most memorable and cathartic moments in the history of Minnesota basketball. It’s been an excruciatingly long wait for Timberwolves fans to see their franchise icon back with the organization and pumping up the Target Center crowd yet again.

That wait is almost over.

The regular season is winding down. After splitting a tough back-to-back vs. Minnesota and Detroit, they Sixers travel to San Antonio to kick off their final regular-season road trip — a three-game stretch away from home.

The Spurs are putting the cherry on top of a dominant season, with many considering them one of the two best teams not just in the West, but in the league period. A win tonight would be their 60th of the year, joining the Oklahoma City Thunder and possibly the Detroit Pistons as the only teams to accomplish that feat. Standings-wise, there isn’t much for them to play for here — they sit nine games above the contested three seed and three games behind the Thunder for the one seed. Barring some crazy circumstances, the Spurs are going to be the two seed out West. We’ll see how far they push their starters tonight if this game is close down the stretch.

Heading into this game, the Sixers are slated to take on the Spurs at seemingly full strength. The only listees on the injury report are G League assignments, meaning you can expect the Sixers to be on the wrong end of their gauntlet of Victor Wembanyama and a deep stable of guards.

These two teams faced off not too long ago, resulting in a blowout win for the Spurs in Philadelphia. However, the Sixers were without Paul George and Joel Embiid — both of whom should be available this time around. The Sixers struggled offensively with Wemby’s massive frame mucking up their paint-based offense, and the Spurs had no shortage of firepower either, with eight players scoring in double figures.

With the regular season in crunch time, it’s hard to keep up with all the games — especially in the cluster where the Sixers are packed in with five or six teams. Last night the Toronto Raptors lost to the Boston Celtics, putting the Sixers in the driver’s seat for the six seed due to tiebreakers once again. A win tonight would help solidify their standing, while a loss would make things interesting with the Raptors and Charlotte Hornets lurking close behind.

The good news is that, like the Spurs, the Sixers should be close to full strength as well. Both George and Embiid are not listed on the injury report heading in, and Tyrese Maxey has also been cleared. The lone listees are rookie Johni Broome and Cameron Payne, who is out with a hamstring strain and expected to be sidelined for a minimum of two weeks.

On paper, this will be a seriously tough game to win, and that’s only more true depending on how far the Spurs go to lock up a win. If the Sixers can manage the not impossible but very hard task, it’ll go a long way in the standings battle. After this, they’ll travel to Houston to play the Rockets on Thursday, then follow that up with two games against tanking opponents in the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks. At worst, you’re probably looking at 2-1 for that stretch. Factoring in the schedule strength of the teams they’re jockeying with, a win tonight would seriously put pressure on them.

The Spurs have been an elite team all year, so this won’t be an easy game. Let’s see if their added reinforcements can shift the tide and the Sixers can make a big dent in their postseason seeding aspirations.

Game Details

When: Monday, April 6, 8:00 PM ET
Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers

Deandre Ayton, you want to be a star?

You viewed joining the Lakers as a golden opportunity to resuscitate your career and rewrite your narrative?

Well, you’ve now become a central figure in the Lakers’ hopes of surviving the first round of the playoffs until Luka Doncic (Grade 2 hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves (Grade 2 oblique strain) return from their injuries. 

And so far, not so good. 

Ayton finished with 13 points and four rebounds in the Lakers’ 134-128 loss to the Mavericks on Sunday. 

Five of his teammates outscored him. And four of them outrebounded him, including Luke Kennard, who had a team-high 16 rebounds. The 6-foot-5 Kennard had four-times as many rebounds as the 7-footer?

Come on. 

Ayton has gone from being someone who can sway games from time to time, to someone whom the Lakers desperately need for 48 minutes. 

Things have drastically changed for LA after they lost their top two scorers. 

The 41-year-old James has gone from being the team’s third option to needing to play at a superstar level. Of course, he rose to the occasion, scoring 22 points in the first quarter, the most points he has scored in any quarter this season, en route to finishing with 30 points, a season-high 15 assists and 9 rebounds. 

Kennard had his first triple-double of his career with 15 points and 11 assists to accompany those 16 boards. Jaxson Hayes scored 23 points. Rui Hachimura had 21 points and 7 rebounds.

Ayton needs to take his game to another level, too. 

Let’s not forget that Ayton is the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft. He was picked ahead of Doncic (No. 3) and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (No. 11). 

It’s clear he wants to be a star.  Heck, he made waves in February by exclaiming in the locker room “I’m not no Clint Capela.” But the problem is he’s inconsistent. 

Some nights he’s a ball of energy who uses force on both ends of the court to effortlessly produce double-doubles.  

Other nights? He’s a liability. 

Well, Ayton doesn’t have the luxury of being the latter right now. 

On Sunday, Ayton shot well in the third quarter, scoring 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting, helping the Lakers cut their 22-point hole to two points in that period. But otherwise, he was quiet as a mouse. 

He wants to be known as more than a guy who catches lobs and gets a block or two a game. Well, the Lakers need him to play to his potential right now.

On Sunday, he did that in spurts, which wasn’t enough against the Mavericks, who are in 13th place in the Western Conference with a record of 25-53. 

So, imagine how that would fare against an elite team in the West in the first round of the playoffs?

It’s no secret that Ayton’s effort wavers. 

He’s mercurial. He has struggled with moments of immaturity. Sometimes he’s all in. Other times, he’s somewhere else even though he’s in the building. 

Recently, Ayton has been trending in the right direction. 

During the Lakers’ 16-2 run heading into Thursday’s disastrous game against the Thunder in which both Doncic and Reaves suffered injuries, Ayton was starring in his role.

He had embraced playing winning basketball, which meant doing what the Lakers needed as opposed to what he wanted. 

What changed? 

“Felt like I picked up my energy and my focus,” Ayton said March 12. “And, you know, I finally caught up with the team. That’s about it.”

That’s great and all.

But really, that’s the bare minimum.

He needs to make another transition. The Lakers need him to be DominAyton. 

If he could regularly produce 20-and-10 performances, the Lakers have a chance of treading water until they’re complete again. James needs help. Everyone needs to step up, especially a former No. 1 overall pick. 

Ayton can’t take quarters off. He can’t be someone the Lakers hope shows up. He needs to be a force. 

Over the last month, Ayton has been getting credit for putting in the requisite effort. That no longer moves the needle. He needs to dominate. 

He doesn’t want to be compared to Clint Capela?

It’s now or never for him.

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There was one concern I had heading into Sunday against the Chicago Bulls, and it came straight from the last time these two teams met. You remember it. The Suns could not keep the ball in front, and it turned into a layup line. Guards getting downhill whenever they wanted, no resistance at the point of attack, and everything collapsing from there.

And on Sunday, it showed up again.

Tre Jones lived in the paint. Over and over, he blew by perimeter defenders, got to his spots, and finished clean. He ended with 29 points, 21 of them coming right at the rim. Collin Sexton was not nearly as aggressive this time, and if he had been, this could have looked very different. The Phoenix Suns got the win, but it did not erase the concern.

Because the issue is the same. Containment. Or lack of it.

Jordan Ott rolled with a nine-man rotation, and there was no Rasheer Fleming and no Ryan Dunn. Two players who at least give you a different look defensively. More length, more disruption, more potential resistance either at the point of attack or at the rim.

There was an adjustment early. Jordan Goodwin got the start over Collin Gillespie in an effort to slow things down. But Chicago countered. They screened him out of the action, forced switches, and suddenly it was Devin Booker and Jalen Green trying to contain downhill pressure. That is not a winning formula. Not against guards who are looking to attack every possession. Layer in transition defense, or the lack of it. Phoenix was outscored 28–6 in fast-break points. That is effort, awareness, urgency, all of it. And it turned what should have been manageable into something far more stressful than it needed to be.

They won. That part counts. But the concern does not go away. Because teams are showing you the blueprint. Get downhill, force rotations, live in the paint. And until the Suns prove they can consistently stop it, it is going to keep showing up.

The hope is that the adjustments come. The hope is that the staff sees it, addresses it, and finds a counter. Because if not, these final four games are going to feel the same way, and at some point, you drift into that territory where you mess around and find out.

Bright Side Baller Season Standings

Jalen Green was hyper-efficient against the Hornets, which was enough for him to earn Bright Side Baller #6 on the season.

Bright Side Baller Nominees

Game 78 against the Bulls. Here are your nominees:

Devin Booker
30 points (9-of-22, 3-of-7 3PT), 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 9-of-10 FT, 1 steal, 1 turnover, +3 +/-

Jalen Green
25 points (11-of-21, 2-of-7 3PT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers, +8 +/-

Dillon Brooks
15 points (6-of-15, 1-of-4 3PT), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 1 block, +10 +/-

Mark Williams
14 points (6-of-8), 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 1 block, +7 +/-

Jordan Goodwin
12 points (5-of-5, 2-of-2 3PT), 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 0 +/-**

Collin Gillespie
9 points (3-of-11, 3-of-8 3PT), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 0 turnovers, 1 block, +13 +/-

Where do you end up?