Knicks players get back to work right after dismal loss
Knicks forward Julius Randle has his shot blocked by 76ers forward Tobias Harris during the second half of an NBA game Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Nearly an hour after the game ended Saturday night Elfrid Payton worked by himself alone on one end of the court at Madison Square Garden while little-used Frank Ntilikina, Theo Pinson, Iggy Brazdeikis and Jared Harper worked as a group, running laps, conducting shooting drills.
Nearly the entire roster could have followed Payton’s lead and gotten back to work after a dismal performance in a 109-89 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers to drop the Knicks to 0-2. Payton was 0-for-6 with just one assist. RJ Barrett was 2-for-15 shooting. No one seemed able to contain Joel Embiid or slow Ben Simmons.
"It’s a team thing," Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. "It’s not any one particular person. We share in all of it. Our responsibility is to improve, every single day. Come in, put everything you have into it. The games reveal exactly where we are. And obviously they’ve shown we have a lot of work to do. We have to learn from each experience and we have to get better."
Rookie shutdown
Even if there had been fans allowed into Madison Square Garden, some of the luster of the home opener was taken away by the loss of two first-round draft picks — Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley, both sidelined by injuries after just one game.
Quickley suffered a left hip injury when he collided with Indiana’s Myles Turner Wednesday and is listed as day to day. Thibodeau said he likely will be out Sunday, too. Toppin suffered a strained right calf in the opening game and did not practice Thursday and was held out Saturday while meeting with team doctors. An MRI confirmed the calf strain and he will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days.
Toppin was 3-for-12 shooting in the opener and spent much of the night offensively on the perimeter, firing up seven three-point attempts. His best play of the night might have been when he started a break and hit RJ Barrett in stride with a perfect pass for a layup. But now he will be sidelined for at least a week.
"Yeah. But it’s part of the game," Thibodeau said. "We felt there would be some injuries due to the long layoff. It’s a strain. So what he has to do is get in, get treatment a couple times a day, study, put as much time into film work as possible, spend some time with strength and conditioning, that sort of thing. So, we’ll take advantage of it that way. You’ve got to make the best of your circumstances."
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
