Home fans. Home court. And a real bed to sleep in at night.
All of the above, Jalen Brunson says, is why home-court advantage matters — and why, if you can help it, you chase it.
The Knicks have certainly helped themselves. They’re 10–1 at Madison Square Garden to open the 2025–26 season, the second-best home record in the league. Only the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder have been better, sitting at an unblemished 10–0 at the Paycom Center.
“I feel like protecting home court in the NBA is really, really important,” Miles McBride said after Sunday’s 116–98 win over the Raptors. “MSG is a place where guys want to come in and really get off, so we have to be even more locked in at home than other places.”
The 1992–93 Knicks set the single-season franchise record by going 37-4 at home en route to a 60–22 finish before falling to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. Since then, only three Knicks teams have won 30 or more home games in a season: 33-8 in 2000, 30-11 in 2001, and 31-10 in 2013.
Which means this group is tracking toward one of the best Garden seasons New York has seen in more than three decades.
“Obviously the fans come out and show love and they’ve been great in terms of support,” said Josh Hart. “So give them love. I don’t know. We’re comfortable, I guess.”
The challenge now: finding a way to take that fortress mentality on the road. New York began the season 0-4 away from home before winning three of its last four–though all three came against non-playoff opponents. Their 3-5 road record ranks among the bottom third of the league, and the on/off splits paint an even clearer picture.
The Knicks score four fewer points per 100 possessions on the road, and their net rating at home is a staggering 13 points better than it is anywhere else. It’s a discrepancy Mikal Bridges wants to close sooner rather than later.
“I think I’m more leaning on getting wins on the road,” he said. “I think winning at home is a little bit easier, so having that attitude and grit to win on the road is more important to me.”
History backs both ideas: You need to dominate your building, but you also can’t collapse outside of it. Oklahoma City (35 home wins), Boston (37), and Denver (34) all rode elite home records to championships in the past three seasons. Only one of those teams–the 2023 Nuggets–made the Finals with a losing record on the road, going 19–22 before eventually beating Miami for the title.
The Knicks appear on a similar early track, but they’d prefer not to test the margins. Their next opportunity to shift the narrative comes Tuesday against a shorthanded Celtics team trying to stay afloat without Jayson Tatum.
If they can’t? At least the wins at home keep stacking, and the juice at the crib isn’t going anywhere.
“Our fans make playing at home so fun, and the support they give us and energy they give us is priceless,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “So 10-1, of course we want to give the fans the best product, the best version of ourselves every single night, but it’s really the fans that bring out the best in us. Shoutouts to them. They’ve carried us to the finish line many times and more than just home games.”