Kristian Winfield: Knicks agreed to sacrifice, but in Game 2 loss to Hawks, they did not

NEW YORK — At the conclusion of every regular season, provided the Knicks make the playoffs, the organization redesigns the corridor leading from the home locker room to the Madison Square Garden hardwood floors. On the wall parallel to the exit, the words “10 Weeks of Sacrifice” are printed in big, bold letters, a reminder of what it will take — and how long it will take — for the Knicks to make good on their NBA Finals mandate.

And framed and hung on the door directly outside of the locker room is a life-sized contract sitting roughly eye-level with the players, ranging between six and seven feet tall. It’s the first thing anyone from coaches and players to executives and ownership see when they walk in the room.

The title reads plainly: 2025-2026 NBA Season. “Standard of a CHAMPION.” And every inch of the life-sized contract is adorned with the signatures of Knicks personnel. The first line of the contract is the most important:

“My willingness to SACRIFICE at the highest level for the TEAM, on and off the floor, will represent my dedication to our collective objective.”

The contract continues as follows: “I’m selflessly CONNECTED to the TEAM because we are stronger as one. I pledge that my unending COMPETITIVE SPIRIT, or drive to win while being the best version of myself for the TEAM, will be unmatched. My unwavering BELIEF in the TEAM and our process will hold truth during our most adverse times, every play and every day.”

It concludes: “I embrace our TEAM standard and fully commit to being held ACCOUNTABLE as a New York Knick.”

This is the contract head coach Mike Brown asked organizational members from top to bottom to sign when he first took the job, replacing Tom Thibodeau, fresh off of the franchise’s first conference finals appearance in a quarter-century, in July. It wasn’t on the locker room door for the 82 regular-season games the Knicks played en route to securing a 53-win season and the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed.

But it’s there now, a reminder of the promise they made to put the team first and push egos to the backdrop.

And it embodies why these Knicks — flaws and all — can accomplish the impossible: run the table in the East, make the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 and hoist an NBA Finals trophy for the first time since 1973.

When they play the right way.

Game 2 was a deviation from the contract the Knicks signed at the beginning of the year — and it’s why they lost to the Hawks, 107-106, to tie the series at one game apiece on Monday as it shifts to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4 starting on Thursday.