Josh Hart Says Fatigue Is Slowing Knicks’ 2-4 Title Defense

Six games into the 2026-27 season, the New York Knicks stand at 2-4 — a record that sits in stark contrast to June, when the franchise won its first championship in 53 years, and forward Josh Hart says the long playoff run is the reason for the sluggish start, audimax.de reported.

The latest defeat came Friday night in Philadelphia, where the 76ers beat New York 98-93 at Xfinity Mobile Arena, according to empiresportsmedia.com. It was the Knicks’ second loss to Philadelphia this season, joining setbacks against the Boston Celtics and the Orlando Magic.

The slow start shows in the box score

The numbers behind the 2-4 record are concrete. Point guard Jalen Brunson, the engine of the title team, is shooting 39.5 percent from the field and 32.5 percent from three-point range this season, audimax.de reported — well below the level that carried New York through the playoffs. In Friday’s loss, Brunson still led the team with 24 points and hit a three-pointer that gave the Knicks a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but New York could not hold it, sports.yahoo.com reported.

The Knicks committed 13 turnovers and shot 35-for-86 overall, empiresportsmedia.com reported. Philadelphia capitalized early: the 76ers shot 55 percent from the field in the first half and went 6-for-8 in the paint in the first quarter alone, while New York coughed up eight first-half turnovers, sports.yahoo.com reported. The Knicks clawed back in the second half by taking away Philadelphia’s interior looks, but the energy spent erasing a slow start was energy they did not have at the end. Hart finished with seven points, six rebounds and three assists, empiresportsmedia.com reported.

Hart names the problem: fatigue

Hart did not mince words after the loss. “It’s a new year. The flow’s tougher. The ball gets stagnant, and I think that’s a little bit from fatigue,” he said, according to sports.yahoo.com. “Mentally, you know what to do, but you’re trying to get your body to that point. That’s part of it. Have to be more deliberate with cuts and movements, and taking care of the ball.”

Asked to elaborate, Hart said the whole roster is feeling it: “We all feel the fatigue. We have to fight through it,” he said. “It’s six games in. We have to try and find a way to get our bodies ready to play every day. Mentally, we’re there. We just have to find it physically.”

Audimax.de quoted the same admission in similar terms: the team feels the tiredness, but has to push through and make sure their bodies are ready for a game every day — mentally, they are ready.

Towns sees it too, and Brunson jokes about it

Karl-Anthony Towns described the same flat energy after the game. “Today, we looked like a team that was at the end of a road trip,” Towns said, according to sports.yahoo.com. “We got to find that gear, got to find that energy. I thought we did a great job in the fourth quarter of finding that gear, just getting out of that quicksand…to do that, it puts us in that position where you gotta make some magic happen, and we just didn’t have enough magic today to get back and win the game tonight.”

Brunson, asked about Hart’s comments, deflected with a joke — that Hart is simply old — but then addressed the team’s real issue: turnovers. “Being hesitant, sometimes, can put you into a position where you want to make the right play, but you don’t want to turn the ball over. At that point, it turns into a home run pass or something like that,” Brunson said, according to sports.yahoo.com. “We have the right intentions; we have to be confident in the decision-making. Don’t be afraid to fail.”

Why the offseason was so short

In June, the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs in a five-game Finals series to win the title, and in each of their four victories they had to erase a deficit of at least 10 points, audimax.de reported — a run that demanded enormous energy. Most of that championship roster is back, and many players went deeper into an NBA season than ever before, not to mention the extra game from last year’s NBA Cup, sports.yahoo.com reported. The result: New York had a shorter offseason than every other NBA team except the Spurs.

Every one of New York’s four losses has been close, audimax.de noted — the Knicks still know how to put themselves in a good position to win, but they have not yet achieved the desired result.

Monday against Brooklyn is the next test

The Knicks will look to get back on track when they host the winless Brooklyn Nets at home on Monday, sports.yahoo.com reported. Whether the fatigue lifts before the record slips further is the open question hanging over the team — Hart says the mental side is ready, but the physical side has yet to catch up.