“Do your f–king job.”
It’s the strongest quote on an evening filled with blame to go round within the Knicks’ 114–97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday — New York’s ninth loss in its final 11 video games — this time by the hands of a Mavericks workforce with an harm checklist stretching additional than the Manhattan Bridge.
The Knicks turned of their most embarrassing half of the season, permitting Dallas to attain 75 first-half factors in what the Mavs became a monitor meet at Madison Sq. Backyard.
“At halftime, we usually [show] the clips and talk about technical Xs and Os and all that crap that coaches do, teams do,” head coach Mike Brown defined after the loss. “There was nothing to be said at halftime except for lock in and do your f–king — excuse me on that — do your job.”
The Knicks did their job within the second half. They held the Mavericks to only 39 mixed factors within the third and fourth quarters and gained the second half by 11 — regardless of scoring solely three extra factors than they managed via the primary two durations.
But it surely was far too little, far too late towards a shorthanded Mavericks workforce that constructed a 30-point lead throughout New York’s worst defensive stretch of a season that has instantly gone off the rails.
And the followers, in a brand new low at The Backyard, let the Knicks hear it.
“I mean, I’d be booing us, too,” stated Jalen Brunson. “Straight up.”
“You’ve saved up to bring your family to this game, and for us to come here, and obviously to not only not win — which is disappointing — but to not really have a chance?” added Karl-Anthony Cities. “I’d be disappointed, too.”
“We all need to do some soul searching.” — Josh Hart
Hart’s analysis for the Knicks’ midseason points is easy: begin with the mirror. X’s and O’s can solely take a workforce up to now, and Hart says schematics are removed from the issue at MSG.
“100 percent. We all need to do some soul searching. We all have to come out here and make sure we’re focused on winning the game, winning each possession,” he stated. “Final 12 months, there have been video games that we performed [where] we didn’t shoot the ball, we couldn’t rating, however we stated ‘we’re gonna lock in and we’re gonna play protection, we’re gonna play bodily, and we’re gonna make it robust.’
“It’s the same group of guys, so how we’re playing right now is really inexcusable. We all gotta look in the mirror and do some soul searching.”
Brown hammered that time house after the loss. In spite of everything, the Knicks know find out how to shut out on deadly shooters.
Their head coach calls them “hot guys.” Within the NBA Cup Remaining, the Knicks held Harrison Barnes, De’Aaron Fox, Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama to a mixed 6-of-23 from three-point vary.
But on Monday, Max Christie joined the MSG file books with an 8-of-10 capturing efficiency from deep, and Klay Thompson — with megastar girlfriend Megan Thee Stallion cheering him courtside — shot 4-of-7 from behind the arc.
“The two guys that we labeled hot — and we know how to close out to hot guys; we know how to play hot guys — they were 9-for-11 in the first half,” Brown stated. “And most of those shots were open or we left our feet when they [pump-faked] the ball, and then they were open.”
Within the second half, Christie and Thompson mixed to shoot simply 3-of-6 from three.
“No [change to the] X’s and O’s. No. Just do your job,” Brown continued. “Play with physicality and do your job early. The entire second half, they scored 39 factors. The second quarter, they scored 44 factors.
“Again, no adjustments. Just go do your job. So it’s within our guys, but we all have to do our job for 48 minutes. And it didn’t happen tonight — and it was evident. Doesn’t matter who’s in the uniform in front of you. You’ve gotta do your [expletive] job.”
“We have a special team, and we’ve got a special opportunity, and we can’t just let it go to waste.” — Karl-Anthony Cities
On paper, that is the healthiest the Knicks have been all season. In actuality, Brunson and Hart returned early from ankle accidents in an try to provide their struggling workforce a lifeline on Monday.
The Mavericks, nevertheless, have been with out Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, facilities Daniel Gafford and Dereck Energetic II, plus function gamers D’Angelo Russell, P.J. Washington and Dante Exum.
The Knicks had no enterprise shedding to Dallas’ B-minus workforce at house, totally loaded. A month in the past, they might have cruised to a straightforward win over a lesser opponent. Two months in the past, on Nov. 19, they beat the Mavericks in Dallas — in a recreation the Mavs had extra wholesome our bodies at their disposal.
“They were doing whatever,” stated Miles McBride. “Transition. Getting to the paint. Eurostepping us. Finishing. Then kicking out when guys finally helped. We just had no cohesiveness on that end. And then we go on to the other end. Tough shots. And they get out in transition and the dominos are really falling for them.”
The Knicks’ inventory has plummeted nearly in a single day. This workforce has drifted away from the model of basketball that earned it a championship trophy — and nobody can fairly pinpoint why.
“It doesn’t matter when [we stopped playing that way],” stated Cities. “It issues that [we] did. So we’ve gotta determine it out.
“We have a special team, and we’ve got a special opportunity, and we can’t just let it go to waste.”
“Either we do it — we care enough to do it — or we don’t.” — Jalen Brunson
Perhaps the Knicks know why. They’re simply selecting to not say it out loud.
Cities’ eyes darted round earlier than answering. McBride hid frustration with a smile. Hart exhaled deeply. Brunson stored issues in-house.
“There’s been a lot of things to pinpoint,” stated Brunson. “But as a team we know what we have to do. Either we do it — we care enough to do it — or we don’t.”
The Knicks’ captain nonetheless believes. That is the strongest bout of adversity he’s confronted since arriving in New York.
“I have the utmost confidence in every person in this room, in this locker room,” he stated. “Just things haven’t gone our way. But we have the ability to do it.”
The Knicks will not be enjoying Knicks basketball. They haven’t been for fairly a while. Brown echoed Brunson’s perception. Solely a month in the past, he stood on this similar ground celebrating an NBA Cup championship.
“There’s no doubt in my mind,” Brown stated. “I believe in everybody in that locker room. You can ask them — I feel they believe in each other, too. We’re going through it. We’ve got to figure out how to get out of it.”
“Last year, no matter what we did, the effort was there.” — Josh Hart
The elephant within the room is that not a lot has modified with this roster for the reason that Knicks changed Tom Thibodeau with Brown over the summer time. New York added Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson in free company, however neither logged greater than three minutes towards Dallas. Brown ran an eight-man rotation in a must-win recreation together with his full roster out there, regardless of saying in coaching camp he hoped to play nearer to 10.
“It’s the same group,” Hart stated. “Once we determine what we’re doing by way of enjoying with urgency, enjoying with desperation, I believe that [other] stuff will come. Guys are gonna be banged up. Guys aren’t gonna be one hundred pc. It’s the canine days of the season.
“But the effort? Last year, no matter what we did, the effort was there. I haven’t seen this kind of effort that we had today. It was embarrassing.”
Hart left his teammates with one ultimate actuality test after the Knicks’ ninth loss in 11 video games.
“We have to make sure we have a professional mindset,” he stated. “We are able to’t go into apply and have issues stated a number of instances. We are able to’t come out and never execute an ATO.
“At this point, 40 games in, normally you don’t put too much into struggles. But at this point, we have to play desperate — because that’s what we are right now.”
