Knicks fall to Wizards as games taking a backseat to coronavirus concerns
Knicks center Taj Gibson dunks against the Magic at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
WASHINGTON — Frank Ntilikina took his seat along a wall in Georgetown University’s practice court, smiled and eyed the media members who were placed in chairs a measured six feet away from him and asked, “How are you feeling?”
The question was posed right back to him. And that is the big question facing Ntilikina, the Knicks and the rest of the NBA as they try to figure out exactly what the next steps are in trying to finish out a season as they face a new opponent in the growing fear over the, COVID-19 virus.
The Knicks were in Washington to face the Wizards, falling, 122-115, in a roller-coaster game in which they fell behind by 14 in the opening minutes, benched the starters and came back to take an 18-point lead and then fell apart again. But for now, as with so many other things around the world, the thoughts of defensive schemes on the court were taking a backseat to defensive measures against the novel coronavirus.
The NBA issued a directive to teams Monday ordering teams to begin a new and temporary policy in their dealings with media to remove players and coaches from the crowds of reporters. But that may be just the beginning with team owners and governors set for a conference call Wednesday which will discuss next steps. While the NBA has not speculated yet on clearing arenas of fans or even canceling games, it has already taken hold overseas and even in other sports.
“It’s for the safety of everyone,” said Ntilikina, who led the Knicks first-half comeback, finishing with 20 points and 10 assists. He is the first Knicks player 21 or younger with 20 points and 10 assists in a game.
Ntilikina has been in contact with family and friends back home in France, hearing stories of more serious outbreaks and steps to avoid crowds. “It’s more than sports at the end of the day. It’s like health, your life, so we’ve got to be careful.
“The league, other leagues, I’ve seen soccer — all over the world they’re doing it. If they’re doing it it’s because they feel it’s smart. I know in my case I will do everything to be clean, to take care of my body, extend that message to my people, to my team. So what happens happens.”
The Knicks (20-45) still took their flight on a team plane to get to this first game of a three-game road trip and took their rooms in the team hotel. The bus rides to the arena remain in place and the fans will still crowd into the arena — seated next to and all around the players.
An hour before game time tickets were available for $6 for the game on StubHub and there were huge swaths of empty seats at Capital One Arena — which could be attributed to fears of the virus or the level of play these two teams have put on the floor.
To help as much as they can the Knicks have had their medical personnel try to educate the team on how to conduct themselves — washing hands more, slathering on hand sanitizer and stopping the handshakes and high-fives that are almost an unconscious movement for them.
“They keep us informed on a day-to-day basis,” Taj Gibson said. “Just trying to keep guys healthy, keep guys out of harm’s way. They just try to give us the basic tools to stay cleansed with our hands. No hand-to-hand contact. Just being safe.
“It’s tough. You deal with a lot of kids. Family. It’s part of the job. No fist-bumps. Always do it with your elbow. Any little movement, you’re touching the ball, you got to cleanse, you got to wash your hands Ran out of hand sanitizer. It’s insane. But you do what you got to do.
Gibson, the oldest player on the Knicks, is far from the age where health risks accelerate, but he said he is still taking note and trying to be as careful as he can. Asked how many times a day he is putting on hand sanitizer, he said, “I lost count. As soon as I wake up. You got to get the door and you don’t know about the doorknob. There’s so many times. You know it’s crazy when you can’t even get any hand sanitizer. You got to ration it out. Like literally yesterday, we had to ration out hand sanitizer.
“I tried to get a bunch of hand sanitizer they were like, nah, we need I, it was like we need to pick through the guys and make sure everybody gets a good amount. Wow.”
Gibson is hopeful that it won’t come to playing in empty arenas, but he agreed with Ntilikina that whatever is necessary they will be on board with right now.
“Of course you want the fans to be there, but it’s for the safety of the children, for the fans, for the safety of everyone,” he said. “This virus has put down a few people . . . Of course I want to play in front of fans, in front of people, but it’s important that we’re safe and get over this thing quickly.”
Ntilikina spoke about all of the options and added the obvious, saying, “I can’t wait to be done with this virus.”
Notes & quotes: The Knicks have postponed the celebration to honor the 50th anniversary of the 1969-70 championship team scheduled for March 21 after some of the players from that team who were scheduled to attend expressed concern over flying due to the CDC warnings. It’s hard to imagine that the game can be rescheduled with just three weeks and six home games remaining for the Knicks after that date . . . Bobby Portis also led the Knicks with 20 points. Bradley Beal scored 40 for the Wizards (24-40) and Shabazz Napier added 21 points.
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.
