The Knicks just didn’t have it on Wednesday against the Mavericks.
Just two days after scoring a season-high 145 points vs. the Denver Nuggets, the Knicks went into Dallas and had one of their worst offensive games of the young season en route to a lop-sided 129-114 loss.
“The way we started we got in such a big hole,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “By the time we got a rhythm in the second half, we were in too big of a hole.”
How big of a hole are we talking? Well, the Knicks scored just 15 points in the first quarter — on 4-of-21 shooting — and did not make a three-point shot on eight attempts. It didn’t improve much in the second frame.
At halftime, the Knicks scored just 38 points on 26 percent shooting (11-of-42) including 2-of-16 from beyond the arc.
“They came out hot, obviously, 60-38 at halftime,” Jalen Brunson said of his team’s loss. “We couldn’t buy a basket to start the game. Defenisvley we just weren’t there.”
Brunson was one of the lone bright spots offensively for the Knicks. The New York guard tied a season-high 37 points on 14-of-21 shooting with seven assists and three rebounds. Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges combined to score 45 points but the rest of the team just didn’t have it, including OG Anunoby.
After Anunoby scored a career-high 40 points against the Nuggets on Monday he was limited to eight points on 3-of-15 shooting including 0-for-8 from three against the Mavericks.
“Everything went in for him in Denver and tonight it didn’t. He’s such a good player and can impact the game in other ways,” Thibodeau said of Anunoby’s shooting. “No one shoots well for 82 games. When you’re not shooting well, do other things. Play defense, move, screen. And for the most part, he tried to do that in the second half and made great effort. Some nights that’s just the way it is.”
“It’s a long season. Honestly, just gotta limit the highs and lows and be as steady as we can be,” Brunson said of the difference between the Knicks’ games this week. “It’s the NBA. Some nights you can look ridiculous and other nights you can look ridiculous the other way. It can’t be a rollercoaster, you have to stay steady.”
A big part of that “steady” gameplay is defense and rebounding. In seasons past, the Knicks could overcome poor shooting by dominating those two aspects of the game. That hasn’t been the case this year consistently enough. On Wednesday, they were outrebounded 43-33 and allowed the Suns to shoot 57 percent from the field. On this current West Coast road trip, opponents have scored 120-plus points in three of the last four games, which has resulted in a 2-2 record in that stretch. The Knicks are also a mediocre 10-8 after 18 games this season.
Thibodeau believes the poor shooting early in Wednesday’s game crept into the team’s defense and rebounding, which he says is unacceptable.
“Sometimes you have to work your way through things. Make sure you keep fighting,” he said. “In the second half, we had a couple of cracks but we couldn’t get it under 10. We just have to do better.
“We gotta challenge shots. We’re there but there’s gotta be a better challenge. A couple of times we got it there and we fouled jump shooters, those are things we have to eliminate.”
Brunson echoed his coach’s sentiments, saying they need to learn how to respond to poor shooting and find other ways to win.
“It shouldn’t stop us from being able to lock in and trying to find ways to win the game. It’s a part of basketball,” Brunson said. “Sometimes your shot isn’t going to fall but how are you going to respond?”
The Knicks had a letdown game last Saturday in their loss to the lowly Jazz before bouncing back in their offensive explosion against the Nuggets. How will they respond this time? They’ll have to do it early Friday when they conclude their road trip in Charlotte against the Hornets.
