KNICKS BETTER GET USED TO BLOWOUTS
New York wants to be a tough, gritty team, but results tell a different story
It was easy to see the frustration and disappointment from the Knicks on Monday night when they discussed what had just transpired on the court.
No one pays much attention to preseason statistics or scores, but the Houston Rockets had come into Madison Square Garden and not only ran up a one-sided victory but also had done it with the starters, including James Harden, inserted back into the game for the final minutes. Harden, as is his way, followed a series of dagger shots with his choice of histrionics. Nothing new there.
But the Knicks didn’t like it. Asked if he were surprised Harden was still in the game in the final moments, Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek replied, “No.” Then asked if he was fine with it, he said, “I’m not surprised.”
But he accurately added, “That’s all right, we’ve got to stop them. That’s the name of the game, try to stop someone on the defensive end.”
You can quibble with the reasons why, but the Rockets can prepare how they’d like for the season. Chris Paul didn’t play. Harden was on the floor for 37 minutes, piling up 36 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. If D’Antoni wants to prep his star for the season by actually playing him the sort of minutes he could play next week, that’s up to him. It’s up to the Knicks to stop him.
The Knicks can mouth their own platitudes about their rebuilding plan and youth movement, talking about putting a hardworking team on the floor every night and competing. But actually doing it is a harder task and, frankly, with all but a few exceptions, the Knicks didn’t do it Monday.
And if they are upset with a preseason blowout, they’d better either get used to it when the regular season begins and teams are really playing to win or they’d better come up with a new plan quickly. The Knicks front office has talked up this rebuild since taking over in the summer, convincing themselves that New York fans will be fine with it as long as they compete hard every night. It’s not an unreasonable assumption. It’s just that this iteration of the roster hasn’t shown a propensity for that hard work.
Around the time the executives were touting that work ethic and Hornacek was talking about building around defense, they were also signing Tim Hardaway Jr. and then readying to move out Carmelo Anthony and bringing back Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott. You can say what you want about those deals, but you really can’t say they are known as tenacious defenders.
When the Knicks scroll the game film — if they really want to watch — they’ll see Hardaway giving up on a few Rockets buckets and they’ll see Hornacek’s favorite hard worker, Ron Baker, helpless in trying to stop Harden.
There were no hard fouls, which might be the quickest way to stop the Rockets from playfully creating a preseason highlight reel. The Knicks were beaten by the Brooklyn Nets by 34 points the night before. But beyond a hard foul, there is a simpler way to prevent these exclamation points in blowouts — be better.
The Knicks don’t talk much about that. Steve Mills, the Knicks president, stood on a stage with Doc O’Connor, the Madison Square Garden CEO, Tuesday morning and spoke about the similarities between their team and the newly minted jersey sponsor, Squarespace.
“It’s a partnership that we think is important for you guys to be the first patch to be on our uniform,” Mills said. “Because I think we believe in the same sort of things, just as your company gives grinding entrepreneurs an opportunity to express their vision of where they’d like to see their vision go, their companies go, that’s what we try to provide for the young men that play for our team, to give them a foundation, give them a culture, give them a support system that al- lows them to develop into great basketball players and a winning organization.”
The Knicks like to talk this talk right now about grinding and representing the city. Whining about teams blowing you out isn’t exactly the sound of the city. The show on display Tuesday morning might just have been a kind way to present that the uniforms, like many other NBA teams, are now going to be adorned with advertising logos. But presenting the Web service that was started up in a college dorm room with $30,000 in backing as kindred spirits with the Knicks, a franchise that has been mismanaged for decades and, in particular, for the last three years, was a tough comparison.
Charles Oakley is a memory around the Garden — except for being dragged out by security. Anthony Mason has died. John Starks was the undrafted overachiever back in the 1990s.
If a Web service isn’t going to be mixed up with this Knicks team, neither are the Knicks who actually did have the grit and grind to avoid embarrassing themselves.
The Knicks didn’t fall into this situation. They planned for it. Now, they need to stop whining about it.
Popper writes for The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record, part of the USA TODAY Network.