NETS, WITH FANS, TOP KINGS FOR 7TH STRAIGHT WIN
The fans returned to see something more familiar: a Knicks loss.
Steph Curry dropped 37 points in front of the COVID-tested MSG crowd, but the Knicks blamed the referees for their 114-106 loss to the Warriors on Tuesday, with Derrick Rose treading closely to a fine.
But the guard clearly wanted to get his point across.
“To be honest, we weren’t getting the calls,” he said. “It felt like guys were going into the lane and we weren’t getting the same calls. It makes it hard when it’s that lopsided.”
Asked if the Knicks don’t have the officials’ respect as a young team, Rose said the bias went beyond the normal.
“We’re pros,” he said. “It just makes it hard when you’re already struggling on the offensive end. You’re driving and not getting the same call. It makes it seem something else is going on.”
Tom Thibodeau also griped to the officials during and after the game, but was more diplomatic in his postgame interview. Their issue was mostly non-calls when the Knicks drove to the basket, but the Warriors only took two more free throws overall.
“It just seemed like there was a lot of contact on our drives and we didn’t get the calls,” Thibodeau said. “We have to deal with that.”
The larger problem Tuesday for the Knicks (15-17), who failed to get to .500 for the second time in the last week, was their offense went into the freezer. The struggling RJ Barrett was again the culprit, scoring just four points with three turnovers while missing eight of his nine shots. Barrett also bricked a free throw that would’ve cut the Knick deficit to one with 1:26 left.
Curry, meanwhile, scored 11 in the fourth quarter and hit an and-1 runner with 1:21 left that became the game’s biggest bucket.
“Obviously we didn’t play well tonight,” Thibodeau said. “I thought they played really well. they got guys back that had been out. They’re coming off a two-day layoff, so I knew it would be a
high-energy game for them. And we have to match that intensity. I thought second quarter we played really well. I thought to start the third we didn’t match the intensity of the game. That can’t happen.”
The fans were back at limited capacity, with some seated as close as 10 feet from the court. The virus certainly isn’t dead but New York has now allowed fans for such indoor gatherings and MSG took full advantage. The sold-out crowd of 1,981 cheered at volumes greater than its numbers in the beginning, as if trying to make up for the lost time. It had been nearly a year since fans were allowed at MSG, with NYC suffering almost 30,000 documented COVID-related deaths since March.
“It means a lot,” Julius Randle said. “It’s been a rough year since the last time we had fans. It’s been tough on the city. We know how important the fans are to the city of New York. We understand what we mean to the city. For them to be a part of what we’re doing and what we’re experiencing as a team, and what we’re building would be amazing.”
Randle, fresh off being named to the All-Star game, was greeted with “MVP” chants. He finished with 25 points, 10 boards and seven assists but was ejected at the end following two technicals.
“I think it was really uncalled for (getting ejected). But I just leave it at that,” he said. “It was definitely tough. But I’m not going to let him dictate how the night goes. I’m more upset how we lost the game. I feel like I could’ve done better, we could’ve done better as a team.”