The hot crowd in Madison Square Garden really has nothing to eat this year, and the Knicks lost tonight for the 7th time in eight home games. The balance sheet in New York is negative (10v-13d) and according to SNY.tv, management has put Tom Thibodeau under surveillance. Even if president Leon Rose is close to the Knicks coach, he must answer to the owner, and the team is clearly not playing better than last season. At this rate, the team will win less than 40 matches, and it will not find the playoffs.
Last night’s loss to the Mavericks confirmed that there was no cohesion in the group, nor consistency. The 3rd quarter is a disaster, one wonders if Thibodeau is still the man for the job.
“It’s our fault” retort Jalen Brunson. “We players don’t fight on the pitch. It’s his job to put us in a good position, and that’s what he does. »
“I think he knows where to put the pieces of the puzzle”
However, whether in attack or defense, the problem seems more tactical than technical. The team has no identity or game funds, and Thibodeau hasn’t offered much for two years.
“Coach Thibs is doing a great job” Brunson insists. “He is able to put us in situations necessary for us to succeed. I think he knows where to put the puzzle pieces. In fact, it’s just up to us to execute it. »
For the Knicks coach, his players shot themselves in the foot by losing 19 balls and letting slip 14 rebounds. To go in the direction of Brunson’s words, Thibodeau is not necessarily there for much.
“The thing that bothered me the most was the ball losses. Some are on steps, whistled more strictly, and one should be able to adapt. The others, on play actions, bother me more, like the second shots” Thibodeau analysis. “Sometimes we defend well, but we offer a second chance. When we give a 2nd, then a 3rd chance to teams like that, we pay for it, and that was the case tonight. »
“We have to be the team that wants the most”
For Brunson, these rebounds left to the Mavericks for second chances are proof of the lack of desire of the players. “As I said before, we have to be the team that wants the most. The balls that hang around, the offensive rebounds that we give them, the points on second chances… These are things that we can control, but it is clearly worrying. I think this is something that can be fixed. Our intensity, our attention to detail, all of that is something that can be corrected. It is something we can control. We just have to control what we can control, and give it our all. »
A priori, morale remains good despite its repeated defeats at home. The disaster is not for now. “Coaches are told to be optimistic… There are ways to lose games and still improve” believes Brunson. “Obviously it sucks to lose and you never want to lose, but you have to take the positive out of things, unless you’re playing really badly.” And tonight, the Knicks played really badly.
