Knicks Suffer Another Blowout Loss
The Knicks are now victims of back to back blowout losses, after a 44 point loss in Milwaukee on Monday night, and a 37 point defeat tonight at Madison Square Garden.
After a relatively close first quarter with Denver leading by six, the Knicks offense started quiet down as the Nuggets one lit up. This resulted in the Knicks going into the locker room with a 22 point deficit at the half, and after that New York could not find a way to get back into the game.
One of the biggest issues for the Knicks tonight was defending the three-point line. It was the first thing David Fizdale address in his postgame press conference, stating, “The three point line killed us again. Until we figure that out, we are going to keep feeling this pain.” Denver had a total of 21 three balls in the game. “We’re a good defensive team in the paint, so they were kicking out. They made a lot of shots,” rookie RJ Barrett said postgame. “Getting out to the perimeter is one thing that we have to fix. Once we get that our defense will be even better.” The Knicks offense could not keep up with the Nuggets hot shooting, especially from three-point range, going 9-34 as a team from deep. For New York, they know they have to get defensive stops to create more efficient offensive possessions. “We want to play faster, we want to get the ball up and down,” said Julius Randle. “If we’re not getting stops and have to take it out the net they can set their defense and that makes it extremely tough to play fast if we have to play against a set defense every time.”
So how much of an effect does two blowout losses have on the Knicks? “When you’re going through your tough times and you're trying to overcome, it’s hard to sometimes block out the previous games before. So, when you get hit a little bit, or similar shots happened before, and those same runs happen it’s like a bad memory comes back, you got to overcome it,” Taj Gibson told the media. “Especially with a young team you have to learn to overcome together, you have to learn to be tough and push through.” As we know this Knicks team is a young one and having a veteran like Taj Gibson during a skid like this is important.
“Learn to overcome together” as Gibson said is going to be a key for the future of this young Knicks core.
The Knicks look to snap their losing streak Saturday night vs the Pacers at the Garden. Tip-off is at 7:30.
