Mitchell Robinson and Quentin Grimes. Of the 14 players mobilized by Tom Thibodeau last night against the Wizards, these are the only two players to have finished with a positive “+/-”. This is an idea of the level of collective underperformance of the Knicks against a Washington team led by a Jordan Poole on fire.
Behind their 41 points, the visitors won by 25 points (106-131). “ Disappointment would be the right word “, Tom Thibodeau formula to describe this rout: “ We clearly have a lot of work to do. »
Among the projects to start, that of defense. 121 points conceded against the Wolves, 123 against the Celtics, 131 last night… These three defeats in preseason do not really go in the direction of an expected progression in this sector, after finishing in a modest 19th place in the ranking of the best defenses in the league (115 points on 100 possessions) last year.
Last night, the former Warriors player took a walk. “ I think he didn’t feel any resistance from us in defense. He is clearly a player who can score and score a lot. This is not just a problem coming from behind us, we all need to help each other. From the start, he was in the rhythm. We cannot let this happen. We need to realize this sooner », Judge Julius Randle, the most productive Knick in this match (20 points and 10 rebounds).
“ There’s no worry, but are we where we want to be right now? No. We expected to be better off. The coach too. He makes us understand that he wants us to be better. And we will answer it. The coach challenges us to be better than we currently are “, reports Jalen Brunson.
” To start over “
The latter is directly concerned. Against the Wizards, he shone with his clumsiness (12 points at 3/12, 6 rebounds, 5 assists but 5 lost balls). A benefit ” horrible » in his words: “ I have to do better. »
Julius Randle thus believes that he is “ time to go. The serious things begin now. We clearly don’t like the way we finished this preseason and we will have to take steps forward in the days to come. But we will. We have already found ourselves in situations where we had to get things done. We don’t want to rest on that, but we are aware that we need to be more urgent. »
THE ” hazard », according to their coach, would be to rest on the achievements of last season, ended after a good run until the conference semi-final. “ We cannot assume that we are starting again where we left off. You need to make sure you start from scratch and work hard, without taking shortcuts or thinking you’ll get the same results if you don’t put in the same amount of work. “, warns Tom Thibodeau.
His team will meet the Celtics to open the regular season on October 25 at home, before continuing a series of trips to Atlanta, New Orleans and Cleveland.
