KNICKS ARE OFF AND BUMBLING
Triangle already issue in opener
The Knicks were just there on opening night. Compliant to Cleveland’s big night.
There was a championship ring ceremony, a tearful LeBron James, a party outside the arena for the start of the World Series next door.
Then there was the Knicks, who put up the resistance of a wet paper bag.
“We got our asses kicked,” Joakim Noah said.
Cleveland’s 117-88 beatdown of the Knicks was predictable under the circumstances, with the defending champs on one side and a newly-constructed roster on the other. Tuesday was the first time New York’s starting lineup ever played together, since Derrick Rose and Noah alternated absences in preseason.
And yet, the manner of the annihilation was disappointing. It served as reminders that James is the best player on the planet, the Knicks are far from ready to compete with the best team in the Eastern Conference and the triangle, even in this reduced capacity, is probably not the best offense for this personnel.
Rose, who scored 17 points while getting to the hoop consistently but also recorded just one assist and four turnovers, took the opportunity after the game to reiterate he’s more comfortable in pick and rolls.
“With me, of course, I want pick and roll every time down,” he said, “but with the triangle, with the auto, towards the end, when you saw us running it, it was just us trying to get used to it so it’s not that foreign.”
Carmelo Anthony said the Knicks should accommodate their point guard.
“We want guys to feel comfortable with kind of who they are. We don’t want to try to change anybody’s game. If Derrick feels comfortable being up there in high pick and roll, that’s his game, you can’t take him away from that,” Anthony said. “You want to utilize guys’ strengths. That’s who he is, that’s who he’s always been. We want to rely on that. We don’t want to take that away from him.”
Cleveland’s Big 3 put the hurt in New York’s growing pains. James notched a triple-double with 19 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds, dominating alongside Irving (29 points) and Kevin Love (23 points, 12 rebounds). The Knicks, meanwhile, looked every bit the part of a new roster stumbling to find its way. Jeff Hornacek’s debut as New York’s coach included 18 turnovers and a dud from the newcomers.
The two big summer signings – Noah and Courtney Lee, whose contracts are worth a combined $112 million – missed all six of their field goal attempts and went scoreless.
“Those guys will be OK. They’re good players,” Hornacek reassured. “Courtney is a great shooter, so it’s probably one of those games.”
Anthony paced the offense with 19 points in 29 minutes. The defense, which was the biggest concern during preseason, allowed Cleveland to shoot 47%, knock down 13 3-pointers and score 52 points in the paint.
Rose, who is accustomed to the hard-nose brand of defense under Tom Thibodeau, was visibly frustrated as James soared for the second of his back-to-back dunks in the third quarter.
“We got to put people down. We got to foul. Not put them down but for sure we have to foul them in the open court to make sure he doesn’t get the crowd into the game,” Rose said. “Little things like that we just have to learn. We’re building up to something. We’re building up to become a playoff team. So every game that we’re playing we have so much too learn. Even the games that we do win there’s still areas to learn. (Tuesday) left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth.”
The game was predictably sloppy and disjointed at the start, with the Knicks falling into a 13-point hole in the second quarter. They committed 10 turnovers in the opening 15 minutes, including four by Rose. But the Knicks clawed back to cut the deficit to three at halftime, before the blowout commenced in the third quarter.
James’ back-to-back dunks highlighted Cleveland’s 26-10 run to start the second half.
“Thank God this is the first game,” Rose said.