The mental resolve of the Knicks, which has been nearly impenetrable this season, could not mitigate physical fatigue in three straight losses heading into last night’s game at Madison Square Garden versus the Toronto Raptors. The Knicks were still sturdy in the standings with a record of 24-13, third best in the Eastern Conference and tied for fifth best in the NBA overall when the league’s slate games began yesterday evening.
After winning nine in a row, including a gripping 117-114 Christmas Day matchup with the San Antonio Spurs in which Knicks forward Mikal Bridges and Spurs center Victor Wembanyama gifted the Garden crowd a captivating performance, scoring 41 and 42 points respectively, the Oklahoma City Thunder (117-107), Chicago Bulls (139-126) and Orlando Magic (103-94) all seized on the Knicks’ tired fourth quarter legs.
The Knicks were unable to counter the liveliness of their opponents as head coach Tom Thibodeau has pushed his starters, showing a reluctance to go deep into his bench. With Karl-Anthony Towns (right knee tendinopathy) and Miles “Deuce” McBride (right hamstring) out on Monday, the Magic, despite missing three starters — Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner — still had more juice than the Knicks. The game against the Magic was McBride’s fourth straight absence after injuring his hamstring during warmups before the Knicks’ 119-103 win at MSG versus the Utah Jazz on New Year’s Day.
Thibodeau acknowledged his team’s desire could not overcome their weariness.
“I don’t want to say there was a lack of effort because I think the guys were trying but we played with low energy, and we couldn’t get anything going,” he said following the defeat to the Magic.
“We have to get our energy back and that’s a big part of this league…Sometimes you have to dig down and find a way to win the game and we fell short in that area today. Tomorrow, we have a chance to look at some things and that’s where our focus has to be.”
Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who along with forward Mikal Bridges each scored a team-high 24 points, was reluctant to attribute the setback to their bodies being depleted.
“You can say that, but like I said it’s not an excuse why we lost tonight,” Brunson said. “We just don’t say we were tired, that’s just not who we are.”
A sign of the Knicks being worn down lately is their three-point shooting. Poor perimeter shooting is often a manifestation of shaky legs. They were 4-22 on three-point attempts (18.2%), on Monday, 9-32 versus the Thunder (28.1%) and 8-30 (26.7%) against the Bulls. Even with this poor stretch, they were tied for third in the league in three-point percentage at 37.9% going into last night’s game.
Knicks forward Josh Hart asserted that shooting deficiencies should not divert the Knicks from sustaining their core principles.
“There’s going to be games where we shoot the lights out and there’s going to be games we can’t buy a shot. We got to make sure we are focused, and we give off the right energy.” he said. “We can’t have our own individual agendas, can’t do any of that we got to make sure we are locked in on this team, make sacrifices for this team and go out there and play.”
The Knicks will have a rematch with the Thunder at MSG tomorrow, face the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, meet the Detroit Pistons on Monday, and play the Philadelphia 76ers on the road next Wednesday.