The final dress rehearsal left the impression the Knicks should rework the script.
Especially on defense.
“Disappointed would be the perfect word,” a sullen Tom Thibodeau said. “Obviously we have a lot to work on.”
With the regular-season opener a week away against mighty Boston, the Knicks fell in Wednesday night’s preseason finale to the lowly Wizards, 131-106, succumbing to their own malaise and a barrage of 3-pointers from Jordan Poole.
Poole, the Golden State castaway, finished with 41 points in just 27 minutes, mostly against the Knicks starters, who were summoned for extended duty for the first and only time in the preseason.
They have a lot to clean up, and Thibodeau is concerned the players are taking for granted that they can simply flip on a switch.
“That’s the danger,” Thibodeau said. “That’s the danger in it. I think if you get into the mindset that I’m going to pace myself through this you’re making a huge mistake. We open with Boston a week from [Wednesday night]. I already saw the intensity level that’s going to be required. … We’ve got to put as much as we can into this.”
Jalen Brunson struggled through his 25 minutes, missing nine of his 12 shots with five turnovers and even picking up an uncharacteristic technical foul.
Julius Randle was better with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting with 10 rebounds, but the All-Star was part of the defense that allowed Washington free rein.
Told that Thibodeau was down on the team’s performance, Brunson said that message was also relayed to the team.
“There’s no level of concern but I think for us, are we where we want to be right now? No,” Brunson said. “So we expected to be at a better place than we are. Our coach thought that, too. He’s sending us a message that he wants us to be better. And we’re going to respond to that. … We expected to be at a certain place at this time. And our coach is challenging us to be better than we are right now.”
Poole carved up the Knicks with 29 points in the first half, and the Wizards, playing without Kyle Kuzma, hit 20 treys overall.
Guarding the 3-point line was an issue for the Knicks the last two seasons.
Wednesday left the impression they were still vulnerable there.
Unlike the first three preseason games, the Wizards matchup was worth watching.
Thibodeau pledged to utilize a regular rotation — or at least something resembling it — and this is how it unfolded: The starters, as expected, were Brunson, Quentin Grimes, RJ Barrett, Randle and Mitchell Robinson.
They won the opening eight minutes, 23-17, with Randle’s dunk over Mike Muscala serving as the highlight.
But then it went downhill. The Knicks’ bench — with Donte DiVincenzo, Miles McBride, Evan Fournier, Isaiah Hartenstein and Josh Hart (Immanuel Quickley sat with a small injury) — was also outplayed.
“We can’t make the assumption that we’re picking up where we left off,” Thibodeau said. “We have to make sure that we start all over again and put the work into it and don’t shortcut it or think that we’re going to get the same results if we don’t put the same amount of work into it. We’re fooling ourselves if we think that’s what we can do.”
The Wizards are arguably the worst team in the East, or at least in the same category as the Hornets.
They traded Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis for rebuilding pieces.
They took on the $128 million remaining on Poole’s contract because it was attached with draft assets.
They have the presence and posture of a long rebuild.
But they also ran the Knicks out of MSG with Poole as the catalyst.
“I just think he didn’t feel any type of resistance from us on the defensive end as a team,” Randle said. “He’s obviously a player that can score the ball and score in bunches. And I just don’t think as a team — it’s not just on our guards, we all got to help each other out. From the beginning he was in rhythm. We can’t let that happen. We have to recognize that sooner.”
