KNICKS BEGIN BRAND NEW SKID
Knicks’ 1-game streak is over
PHIL JACKSON’S vaunted triangle, the system that inspired a made-for-MSG Network Spike Lee documentar y, suddenly morphed into a more standard pick-and-roll, isolation offense on Sunday night . . . much to Derek Fisher’s dismay.
“It cost us,” Fisher said following a 95-90 overtime loss to the Toronto Raptors at the Garden.
Whether it was by design or perhaps a subtle protest from a frustrated group of players, the Knicks ran sets that they prefer while rallying from seven points down in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we ran it a couple of times and it worked,” Carmelo Anthony said. “At the end of the regulation we stuck with it. We were very productive. . . . Down the stretch and regulation that’s what we were running that was working.”
Ultimately, the results were the same, as the hybrid offense faltered and the head coach said point blank that getting away from the triangle proved to be the Knicks’ undoing.
“We have several things we do to start possessions that is still inside of our offense,” Fisher said after the Knicks fell to 5-21. “We have to continue to add things as our guys have become more comfortable with our basic stuff. Once you open that box it is hard to get guys back to our basic things. That is what cost us in that overtime. We didn’t get back to our basic things in overtime.”
The Knicks produced one field goal in overtime against the Atlantic Division leaders. Overall, the Knicks went 1-for-8 in the final five minutes, including six straight misses to open OT. The Knicks failed to win their first game against a team with a winning record and failed to produce back-to-back victories for the first time since they beat Cleveland and Charlotte during the first week of the season.
Toronto improved to 18-6 without playing its best game. In fact, neither team was very sharp as the Knicks and Raptors combined for 65 field goals and 49 turnovers.
The Knicks played without both Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith, who were both sidelined with injuries, and played most of the fourth quarter and overtime with three guards — Jose Calderon, Pablo Prigioni and Tim Hardaway Jr. Calderon is much better in a pick-and-roll offense, and in the fourth quarter the Knicks produced a dunk from Amar’e Stoudemire and an Anthony 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions by running pick and rolls.
Anthony, who led all scorers with 34 points, tied the game in regulation on a lefty layup but missed all three shots in overtime while Calderon went 0-for-2.
Several players have privately complained about the triangle, which Jackson ran in Chicago and Los Angeles when he had Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, respectively, in their primes. Jackson believes Anthony will excel in the offense, but Anthony mostly seems frustrated playing a new system.
On Sunday, Anthony was careful not to endorse running more pick-and-roll and isolation sets, saying, “I don’t know, today was just one of those days that it was working.
“So I don’t kind of want to get away from the system and what they have been implementing and what we have been taught to do out there. Tonight was one of the nights where it worked, it was productive, we got some things that we were happy about and satisfied about so to answer your question, I really don’t know what’s the mind-set when it comes down to kind of implementing that.”
Perhaps the more encouraging sign is that the Knicks competed and played better defensively. Kyle Lowry, Toronto’s best player, scored 21 points on 19 shots and also committed nine turnovers. Lou Williams, who has played as well as any sixth man this season, scored 15 points on 15 shots. But in overtime the Raptors were more efficient, making four of six shots while the Knicks struggled with or without the triangle.
“We had five minutes of basketball to play and we didn’t just get back to some execution things that we talked about between the fourth quarter and overtime,” Fisher said. “We talked about being able to execute in that overtime and we didn’t do it.”