The New York Knicks weren’t proof against the vacation hangover that doubtless hit many individuals throughout the nation after New Yr’s Day.
The Knicks have been subjected to back-to-back miles over the weekend, leading to back-to-back losses for the primary time in virtually two full months. new York put up a decent effort in opposition to the Western Convention-leading Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder on Friday earlier than falling to the Chicago Bulls by a 139-126 closing about 24 hours later.
“Again-to-back video games are a part of the league,” head coach Tom Thibodeau mentioned Saturday. by Stefan Bondy of the New York Publish. “Add to that [the Bulls] have been off for 3 days, I knew they have been going to be very energetic. And I believe offensively we scored rather a lot. Defensively, we now have to do higher.”
This weekend marked the Knicks’ third straight streak of the season and they’re tied 1-1-1 on this trio thus far. This one, nonetheless, was little tough contemplating they performed in loud venues, celebrating a 14-game successful streak and honoring a franchise legend in Derrick Rose.
The Knicks (24-12) gamers wasted no time in eliminating fatigue issues following this newest defeat, which set a number of disastrous milestones: the 139 factors scored by Chicago are essentially the most {that a} Knicks opponent has scored made a mark this season. and the minus-24 margin the Knicks endured within the third was the worst of any interval this 12 months.
“We may make any excuse if we wished to,” Karl-Anthony Cities, who had a double-double of 44 factors and 16 rebounds, mentioned within the Bondy report. “Ultimately, OKC discovered a option to beat us. Chicago discovered a option to beat us. So simple as that. We may make excuses for each little factor. However in the long run, they discovered a option to beat us. »
Some used the losses as a referendum on Thibodeau’s continued insistence on enjoying main minutes for starters. Friday, for instance, the 5 New York starters performed at the very least 40 minutes in Oklahoma Metropolis.
Josh Hart, used to prolonged workloads, felt it was far too early within the season to start out having that dialogue.
“Drained legs? We’re not even midway via the season but, so the legs cannot be too drained,” Hart mentioned, additionally in accordance with Bondy. “We did not execute. We did not play in addition to we should always have. We do not should win [on Saturday]”.
Thankfully for the Knicks, assistance is on the way in which and loads of it: Beginning with Monday’s go to of the Orlando Magic (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG), every of the Knicks’ subsequent 14 video games will probably be on the East Coast. Solely two of them is not going to be offered underneath the roof of Madison Sq. Backyard and the outliers are destined for Philadelphia and Brooklyn.
