What did you expect?
That was that question, seemingly rhetorical, a Knicks fan posed to another Knicks fan, both draped in the team’s paraphernalia, as they were exiting Madison Square Garden Monday night. He was referring to the Knicks losing by 128-110 to the Phoenix Suns, who came into the Garden last in the 15-team Western Conference with a record of 6-24, tied with the Atlanta Hawks for the fewest wins in the league but winners of three straight when they left MSG.
The Knicks weren’t much better in comparing records. They were 9-23 before playing against the 76ers in Philadelphia last night (Wednesday) and will host the Hawks tomorrow at the Garden.
“We’re the favorites?” Knicks head coach Dave Fizdale said laughing incredulously in response to a reporter’s assertion the Knicks should have beaten the Suns. “We don’t have the luxury to look at the game like that.” Especially because they faced the Suns without their leading scorer Tim Hardaway Jr., as well as Mitchell Robinson, Allonzo Trier and Damyean Dotson because of injury.
As the calendar approaches 2019, the Knicks are right where any reasonable follower of the NBA thought they would be, which is near the bottom of the standings in the Eastern Conference. But their record is irrelevant in the first year of the franchise’s reconstruction under Fizdale. The primary mission is for the Knicks to develop the players with whom they are going to move forward and establish a foundation that will be appealing to some of the league’s marquee free-agents next summer and beyond.
One of the players who is rapidly emerging as part of a sound structure is point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, the No.7 overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Denver Nuggets, three spots behind the Knicks’ pick of Kristaps Porzingis. Before facing the 76ers, the 22-year-old Mudiay was averaging 20 points, 5.8 assists and 3.6 rebounds over the previous 9 games, including going for 32 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds against the Suns.
The Nuggets essentially gave up on Mudiay after only two and a half seasons, and he was acquired by the Knicks near last season’s NBA trade deadline for Doug McDermott and a second-round pick in a deal that included the Dallas Mavericks.
“I think the first thing he had to prove to himself and to everyone was is he a legitimate NBA basketball player,” said Fizdale Monday after Mudiay’s strong performance, “and I think that’s proven right now.”
He added, “So now the next step is can we get him to really grow and develop and show the consistency of what a lead guard can do?”
Fizdale summed up the Knicks squandering a seven-point halftime lead, and then being run out of the building in the second half as “our painful path to growth.”
Mudiay said the relatively inexperienced Knicks have to learn how to steel themselves against the opposition. “Just seeing how we are, how young we are, we’re not trying to use that as an excuse,” he said. “We just gotta see that we gotta want it more than the other teams. Because they’re going to come in here thinking were young, they’re going to try to bully us a little bit.” What did you expect?