If you read this whole column, thank you, dear reader. If you’re pressed for time, you are permitted to fast-forward to the last three paragraphs.
If you’re sticking with me: Can’t blame this one on the injury bug. Can’t blame it on an unfriendly whistle, or a wearying stretch of the schedule. This was dreck from the start, and it only got worse from there. It was sloppy from the start, and it only got more unsightly from there.
Circle this one. Use red, permanent ink. In a month’s time, check back, and see if the Knicks’ 79-73 loss to the 76ers marks rock bottom of the season that could become a turning point to getting serious again about fighting for playoff position.
Right now, it could go either way.
But right now, with this horrific performance freshest in the mind …
This one’s going to be hard to forget.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We still have our opportunities. But they did a good job never letting us get all the way back.”
The Knicks are short? Well, the Sixers were missing both Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, and that’s 60-plus points per game right there. They’d been 0-7 without that duo this year. They were throttled two nights earlier, at home by New Orleans. They were lit up by their coach, Nick Nurse, for a lack of energy and a lack of focus.
They’re 1-7 now.
And it’s Thibodeau who now needs to clear his throat and get his players’ attention. Look, weird stuff happens in the league every day. The Heat lost at home to the Wizards. The Cavs lost at home to the Nets. The Magic lost at home to the Pacers. Instead of an excuse, though, those scores yield exasperation. The Knicks need to stack wins where they can. This is the kind of game that can sting six weeks from now even more than it does now, and will if they wind up on the wrong side of the play-in cut line — still a very real possibility.
The numbers were indefensible all over the board. The Knicks missed 31 out of 40 shots from 3, and often seemed to be passing up interior opportunities to keep slinging, even though it wasn’t exactly like Dikembe Mutombo was sitting back there waiting for them. The Knicks had 21 turnovers and 26 field goals, which is the kind of ratio that will spell disaster every time. The Knicks surrendered an early five-point first-quarter lead and never got the lead back. It was like they were waiting all night for the 16-2 run that would turn the game upside down.
They’re waiting still.
And those 73 points? That’s the lowest in the NBA all season, lowest for the Knicks since 2018. And let’s just say the Knicks don’t want to be compared to anything that happened to them in 2018.
Suddenly the Knicks are staring at something of a must-win on Tuesday night, when the 76ers will return to the Garden and are expected to have Maxey back in the lineup. OG Anunoby is expected back soon, but even if he doesn’t return Tuesday the Knicks need to stack a win.
That’s because the second West Coast trio of the season is waiting for them on the other side of Tuesday. It starts in Portland on Thursday. It hits Sacramento on Saturday, San Francisco on Monday, capping in Denver on Thursday. You’d probably sign for 2-2 on that one right now. And will probably expect something a little worse.
If was all the more puzzling given how well the Knicks played Friday in dominating the Magic, though it probably does underline just how reliant they are on Jalen Brunson. He was magnificent in his return Friday; he was less than that Sunday: 1-for-9 from 3, a step off all night.
“I played a dogs–t game,” he said.
“We played like s–t,” Josh Hart said.
As I said: That sums it all up nicely.