Because the Knicks haven’t done much in a decade or even 20 years, younger people find it hard to believe that Madison Square Garden is a boiling room. And yet, the New York public remains one of the hottest in the NBA, and when his team corresponds to him, it gives an incredible communion like this night for the arrival of the Cavaliers in Game 3. Even to the point of covering the anthem national.
“Both teams were on edge and it showed in attack” testifies JB Bickerstaff. “I think they found their marks a little faster than us”. What confirms Donovan Mitchell : “I think we shot ourselves in the foot on that one. I think we were a little too excited… It’s one of those games where you play fast, where you try to do a lot of things and where you try to do everything in one go”.
Clearly, the Cavaliers were invaded by the ambient excitement, and they confused speed and precipitation. ” In the end, we get caught up in this aggressiveness. We can calm her down, instead of being shy” Mitchell continues. “I think that’s the most important thing, and we’re going to fix it. I lost six balls. As a leader, you can’t have that. It’s my fault and there are other things that set the tone. »
Lowest point total of the season
That’s the Garden’s impact on opponents, and Mitchell was booed heartily: “We shot like shit. It’s a different environment. I think we were a little too excited” Cleveland fullback repeats. Result, the figures are terrible: 32 points scored at halftime; 39% on shots, including 21% from 3-pointers; 21 stray balls for 16 assists; 7 points only in counter-attack…
What Bickerstaff regrets is that this bad start has disunited the group. It’s a good lesson. “We must learn to continue to trust each other and believe that we will do the right thing” asks the Cavaliers coach. “If we make the right choice, we will get the results we want. We stopped trusting ourselves and doing the right thing and we tried to do a lot of things on our own. We got into their game.”
