The Knicks agree — no one tried hard in Monday's loss to the Lakers
It’s a bad time to be associated with the New York Knicks. The NBA’s champions of media-friendly dysfunction find new ways to lose every week, have seen team president Phil Jackson and star Carmelo Anthony respond to each other in public over a potential trade, and have lost whatever joy permeated the first weeks of the season to fall into the lottery (which, to be fair, is probably a good thing in the long run). A team of veterans looks to have little to play for, budding star Kristaps Porzingis has put together a run of poor games (likely due to a nagging Achilles injury), and few other reasons for hope exist.
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The Knicks reached a new nadir on Monday by losing to the woeful Los Angeles Lakers 121-107 at Madison Square Garden. Los Angeles led by 16 points at the half and by 24 through three quarters before New York made a cosmetic comeback in the final minutes. The Lakers took advantage of the Knicks’ lack of energy all night with 20 offensive rebounds, 16 forced turnovers (against only seven of their own), and plenty of buckets inside.
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Whatever cohesiveness the Knicks lacked on the court gave way to a spirit of togetherness in the locker room. Everyone agreed on one thing — they gave a sorry-ass effort. From Mike Vorkunov for The New York Times:
“That’s the worst we’ve ever looked all season,” Brandon Jennings said. […]
As each Knick offered his own analysis for the loss, the comments laid bare a team that seemed to be experiencing a systemic breakdown, not simply a one-night lull.
“You’ve got to play for some pride,” [head coach Jeff] Hornacek said. “If you’re just going to come out and just play basketball, then you’re in the wrong level.” […]
“You can’t coach effort and energy,” Jennings said. “That’s something we should all have. I mean, we all make millions of dollars playing this game, so the least we can do is go out there and play hard every night.” […]
“It’s kind of everybody for himself a lot of times,” [Porzingis] said. […]
“Pride, effort, however you want to put it, it just wasn’t there,” Anthony said. “My word is effort. Coach’s word is pride. It just wasn’t there tonight.”
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It’s hard to respond to these points, because the Knicks got it entirely right. Watching this team is a chore — the pieces don’t fit, the defense doesn’t function, several key players are well past their primes, and everyone seems to realize it would take a titanic effort to make it work. Hornacek hasn’t done a terrific job with the squad, but it’s not his fault. These problems were identifiable over the summer and have played out as expected.
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As Vorkunov suggests elsewhere in his article, it’s probably not going to get better until the Knicks commit to a rebuild. Until that happens, the lack of hope will continue to express itself in new ways. It’s not worth waiting to find bottom — the Knicks already live there, even if they don’t know it yet.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
