Thank you for reading this entire column. If you don’t have time, fast forward to the last three paragraphs.
If you’re sticking with me, you can’t blame this on the injury bug. You can’t blame it on an unkind whistle or a tiring schedule. This was terrible from the start and only got worse from there. It was sloppy from the start, and it got even uglier from there.
Please circle this. Use red permanent ink. Check back in a month to see if the Knicks’ 79-73 loss to the 76ers marked the nadir of their season and could be a turning point to get them serious about competing for a playoff spot again. let’s see.
For now, it could go either way.
But right now, it’s this terrifying performance that is freshest in my memory…
This will be unforgettable.
“Sometimes that happens,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We still have a chance. But they did a good job of never letting us go backwards.”
Are the Knicks short? Well, the Sixers were without both Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, who still score over 60 points per game. Without this combination, we would have had 0 wins and 7 losses this year. Two nights ago, they were held at home by New Orleans. They were highlighted by coach Nick Nurse for their lack of energy and focus.
They are now 1-7.
And now it’s Thibodeau who has to clear his throat and get the players’ attention. You know, strange things happen every day in the league. The Heat lost at home to the Wizards. The Cavs lost at home to the Nets. The Magic lost at home to the Pacers. But these scores create resentment, not excuses. The Knicks need to accumulate as many wins as possible. A game like this could sting even more in six weeks than it does now, and it would if it fell on the wrong side of the play-in cut line, but that possibility is still very likely.
The numbers were completely indefensible. The Knicks missed 31-of-40 from 3-point range, and while Dikembe Mutombo wasn’t sitting in the back waiting for them, he appeared to be slinging away on inside chances. The Knicks had 21 turnovers and 26 field goals, a ratio that would be a disaster every time. The Knicks surrendered a five-point lead early in the first quarter, but never regained the lead. It was as if he had been waiting all night for a 16-2 run to turn the game around.
they are still waiting.
So what about that 73 points? This is the lowest all season for the entire NBA and the lowest for the Knicks since 2018. And let’s just say the Knicks don’t want to be compared to what happened to them in 2018.
Suddenly on Tuesday night, the Knicks have their sights set on a must-win goal. At that time, the 76ers are expected to return to the Garden and Maxey will return to the lineup. OG Anunoby is expected to return soon, but even if he doesn’t return on Tuesday, the Knicks need to keep winning.
That’s because for the second time this season, the West Coast trio will be waiting for them on the other side Tuesday. It begins Thursday in Portland. It will hit Sacramento on Saturday, San Francisco on Monday, and end in Denver on Thursday. I would probably sign 2-2 now. And we can probably expect something a little worse.
It’s even more puzzling considering how well the Knicks played in dominating the Magic on Friday, but perhaps it emphasizes how dependent they are on Jalen Brunson. He came back on Friday and was great. He did worse than he did that Sunday. He was 3-for-9 and 1-for-1, and he didn’t miss a beat all night.
“We played a game of dog and dog,” he said.
“We played really well,” Josh Hart said.
Like I said, that sums it all up nicely.
