Josh Hart Sends Stern Message to Knicks

Life is good for the New York Knicks — but it could better.

The Knicks hit the midway mark of their 2024-25 season on Monday, dropping a 124-119 decision to the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden in their 41st game of the campaign.

Though the Knicks (26-15) have dropped five of their last seven, things could obviously be worse: the win total at the halfway point is tied for both their best since the famed 54-win tally in 2012-13 and best overall since 1996-97 when they had 29 triumphs at this stage.

Nonetheless, daring discontent was the them in the aftermath of the Pistons' visit, as the Knicks' headliners labeled their current standing as far from ideal.

"We're losing games I feel like we shouldn't be losing so we've got to figure it out," Josh Hart said in video from SNY. "We're halfway, I think, into this season now at this point. Nothing we can do about the first half now all we've got to do is focus on the second. But if we want to be the team that we want to be at the end of the year, we've got to start correcting these."

To Hart's point, the Knicks fell to a Pistons team that, while resurgent, is still stationed outside of the Eastern Conference's current top six on Monday. New York has yet to string together consecutive wins in the new calendar year and their struggles against the Association's elite (0-5 against Boston, Cleveland, Houston, and Oklahoma City) are well-documented.

To make matters more frustrating, the Knicks have had second half leads in all but one of their previous five losses. They overcame a defensively challenged opening period on Monday against Detroit to take a halftime lead but a third quarter outburst from Cade Cunningham gave the Pistons a permanent lead.

As point guard and captain Jalen Brunson acknowledged, efforts like Monday's are far from what's acceptable in the most legitimately hopeful season the Knicks have had in quite some time

"We've gotten better but there's still a long way to go," Brunson said in video from SNY. "We continue to have the mindset of getting better every day. It's the same, no matter what game it is. It could be game 82. Our mindset's still to get better."

The second half of the season begins on Wednesday when the Knicks briefly hit the road to face the Philadelphia 76ers (7 p.m. ET, MSG/ESPN).

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