More than a championship hangover: Four reasons behind Knicks' troubling 0-3 start

The Knicks are just the third defending champ this century to drop their opening three games In the entire 80-year history of the NBA, only three champions have started their title defense with an 0-3 start the next season: The 1969 Celtics, 2011 Mavericks, and this year's Knicks, who've taken losses to the Sixers, Celtics and, on Sunday night, a Magic team that had also come in winless and was playing without Paolo Banchero. Last year's title was the product of a legendary postseason run, but this start has provided an opening for all the skeptics to question its sustainability. Were last year's Knicks really that good? They only won 53 regular-season games.

They trailed against the Spurs in the Finals for more than 70% of the total minutes played before pulling off multiple basketball miracles. There was, of course, the largest comeback in Finals history (29 points in Game 4). The OG Anunoby tip-in. The Victor Wembanyama pass off his teammate's back in Game 2. The 16-point rally in the clincher. The Knicks had to overcome a double-digit deficit in every game and Jalen Brunson had to turn into a fourth-quarter folk hero — which he did, and all credit to him and them, but again, is this a repeatable formula in a much tougher Eastern Conference than the