Knicks Navigate Ring Night Challenge Ahead of Season Opener
Players and coaches balance the celebration of a championship with the immediate need to focus on the upcoming season.
By mid-August, Josh Hart was already tired of the perpetual congratulations. In September, it felt like a burden. As great as winning a championship was for the Knicks, Hart expressed a desire to focus on progress rather than dwelling on past achievements.
“You’re fully into the swing of working out in the summer and it’s tough to turn the page,” Hart said. “Because you’re sitting there, you turn the page, you’re like ‘I got to work and then somebody says, ‘Congrats, we did this, my family did this, we watched it together,’ and you just keep getting brought back to the championship. You move on, you get brought back. That’s also why I can’t wait for that opening night tip, to really put all that stuff behind us.”
Hart's sentiment highlights the challenge facing the Knicks as they prepare for their season opener against the 76ers. Tuesday's game at Madison Square Garden is scheduled to celebrate the championship, a moment players like Hart have been trying to move past.
The team will transition from accepting rings and raising a banner to competing against LeBron James and the 76ers, all within a matter of minutes. Head coach Mike Brown, who has experienced four ring nights with the Spurs and Warriors, offered his perspective.
“It is a little tough even for me as a coach,” Brown said. “People are patting you on the back, telling how good you are and it’s good and you want people to be able to do that with you and for you and all that stuff, but in the same breath there always has to be a part of you — and I know this from experience that says — don’t listen to this, don’t read this, don’t watch this. Because it’s hard to stay even-keeled in situations like that. You got to embrace it, you got to enjoy it with others, especially your family, but try to come back down to earth as soon as possible. … We have a pretty sharp group. But if they don’t know, we’ll definitely help by reminding them, ‘This is not last year. This is a new season and we can’t just think we’re going to switch that light on and get after it.’ ”
Historically, defending champions tend to perform well in their home openers. The Knicks are 64-15 in such games, according to The Elias Sports Bureau. Recent examples show the challenges associated with ring nights, however.
The last team to lose on their ring night was the 2020 Lakers, who were defeated by the Clippers in an empty arena due to the pandemic. LeBron James was part of that Lakers team. Two years prior, the Knicks lost to the Celtics on ring night in Boston.
OG Anunoby recalled his own championship ring night with the Raptors in 2019, which required overtime to secure a win against the Pelicans. "You celebrate with the ring, take pictures, then the game started. It was kind of weird,” Anunoby said. “Then the game goes on, first quarter and second quarter, it gets back to normal. You get used to it. But initially, yeah, it was kind of weird.”
For Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, this will be their first championship ring night as players. While they won an NCAA title with Villanova in 2016, the banner was raised at a student event, not before a game.
Brunson acknowledged the importance of mental adjustment. “It’s about how quickly you turn a page and how quickly you understand that the egos have to be checked at the door,” he said.
