The New York Knicks (25*-17) are gearing up for a pivotal stretch of games this week, facing the Mavs in a MLK Day matchup at home, followed by a crosstown clash on Wednesday night, and finishing with a Saturday afternoon showdown. After dropping three straight, New York needs to regain some positive upward motion against a mix of rebuilding squads and Eastern Conference contenders. Let\u2019s take a look at the schedule.<\/p>\n
Mon, Jan. 19 vs. Mavericks (5:00 PM, NBC\/Peacock)<\/p>\n
On MLK Day, the Knicks return home looking to halt a three-game slide against a Dallas team deep into a post\u2013Luka Don\u010di\u0107 rebuild. The Mavericks sit at 17\u201326 near the bottom of the West after lucking into the Number One pick and anointing Cooper Flagg as their future.<\/p>\n
The Knicks edged Dallas 113\u2013111 when the teams last met on Nov. 19, surviving poor free-throw shooting and a cold start from three behind Jalen Brunson\u2019s 28 points and late heroics from Landry Shamet. Jason Kidd\u2019s group still defends, but the offense ranks among the league\u2019s worst. Dallas will again be shorthanded: Daniel Gafford, D\u2019Angelo Russell, and P.J. Washington are out, Anthony Davis remains sidelined, and Flagg is a game-time decision.<\/p>\n
The Knicks must win to avoid mental meltdowns across the tri-state area. Watch it on NBC.<\/p>\n
Wed, Jan. 21 vs. Nets (7:30 PM, MSG)<\/p>\n
The crosstown rivalry is always hyped and often falls short of expectations.<\/p>\n
The Brooklyn Nets have had a tough 2025-26 season so far, sitting near the bottom of the East. The rebuilding team clearly relies heavily on young talent and veterans like Michael Porter Jr. (leading scorer at almost 26 PPG), Nic Claxton, and Cam Thomas. Their January has been a mixed bag, with a comeback win and some close losses. They\u2019ve lost eight of their last 10 (as of this writing), making them seem like an easy target for a Knicks win.<\/p>\n
Sat, Jan. 24 at 76ers (3:00 PM, ABC)<\/p>\n
The prospect of a matinee in Philadelphia has me reaching for Tums. The Sixers\u2019 size and starry offense, led by Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Joel Embiid, demand respect. The Liberty Bells have compiled a solid record through mid-January, positioning them around the middle of the Eastern Conference pack. After a mixed start, the team has surged in January, fueled by Maxey\u2019s MVP-caliber play (averaging around 28 PPG this month) and Embiid regaining form and confidence. With Edgecombe impressing in his debut season, plus contributions from Paul George and others, the Sixers boast a top-5 offense and defense in January. Despite recent narrow losses, they\u2019re trending upward. You know they\u2019ll be extra eager to defeat New York for the third time this season.<\/p>\n
* Should be one more, but the Cup final doesn\u2019t count.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks (25*-17) are gearing up for a pivotal stretch of games this week, facing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,304,16315,6,1136,191,3810,3806],"class_list":{"0":"post-546912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-knicks","10":"tag-knicks-game-previews","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkknicks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115922436452241107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}