The New York Knicks may have this vaunted starting five, which took them all the way to the title last season, but they would not have gotten to the mountaintop if it weren't for their depth. On Monday night, the Knicks got some valuable contributions from their bench players as they earned a 103-90 win over the Brooklyn Nets to move to 3-4 on the new season.
Jordan Clarkson was brilliant in just 11 minutes of play; he gave the Knicks energy and made some timely shots to end with a plus-17 on the night. Tyler Kolek also came up huge, as the Knicks outscored the Nets by 13 points in the five minutes he spent on the court.
Suffice to say, the Knicks wouldn't have gotten that victory over the Nets without the impact their unheralded players had on the game, and Josh Hart decided to give them their flowers to make sure that their contributions do not go unnoticed.
“We talked about [Clarkson] earlier, Landry (Shamet), I mean, he had big threes. That third quarter kept us in it. Jose (Alvarado) played well. Ty (Kolek) played well. [Andre Drummond], I think he had to win like nine rebounds, ten rebounds in, like, 11 or 12 minutes,” Hart said, via SNY Knicks on X.
“It shows you the depth that we have, that it could be anybody's night on any given night.”
Article Continues Below"It shows you the depth that we have, that it could be anybody's night on any given night"
Josh Hart talks about some of the Knicks' role players stepping up for them tonight: pic.twitter.com/FIZAEBe3xl
— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) November 3, 2026
The Knicks' starters had their fair share of struggles. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for just 30 points on 10-of-27 shooting from the field, and OG Anunoby did not fare much better (18 points, 4-of-10 shooting from the floor). Mikal Bridges had another disastrous outing, as he finished with just six points in 16 minutes after head coach Mike Brown benched him.
With the Knicks yet to find their groove this season, it was crucial for the bench to give the team the boost it needed, especially in such a winnable game against the floundering Nets.