Knicks, Raptors searching for answers

When the Knicks last spoke Wednesday, their answers provided little enlightenment on their struggles — one-sided losses to shorthanded teams in two of the last three games and a record that had fallen below .500, leaving them out of the 10-team playoff picture.

Tom Thibodeau took to the microphone again before Friday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors. While he had little to add to his thoughts, he followed Raptors coach Nick Nurse to the interview room, and Nurse had similar problems and a similar lack of answers.

The Knicks entered the game at 12-13, one game ahead of the Raptors (11-14). Both were coming off a loss and each coach, with success in the past, was searching for a way to get his team together in a season that has seemed to feature inconsistency by all but a few teams.

"In some ways, it was just a challenge of our league right now," Thibodeau said. "There's so many variables, and that's why you have to stay the course, just try to keep your concentration, build the right habits. But it's a challenge for everyone. Everyone's going through the same thing.

"I just think it's a compilation of you know, what we've all been going through, it's different. And then it's how quickly can you adapt? And that's the challenge of this league. Every year it's new and different and you have different challenges and you have to be ready to respond to those challenges."

Nurse noted that he has needed to coach playing hard every night. That is something Thibodeau didn’t need to worry about last season, his first in New York. But this season the Knicks have acknowledged that there has been an inconsistent effort.

"That’s a good question," Evan Fournier said Wednesday when asked why the team has fallen victim to this. "It starts with, individually, how do you prepare for the game. It was a special setting, back-to-back, get in very late, it kind of threw you off routine, but we’ve all been there. So how do you prepare for a game like that, because we knew coming in, going to be physical, played them already. Have to get yourself ready for that kind of game regardless of the circumstances, and we didn’t do it."

The Knicks entered Friday just 1 1/2 games out of the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference. On the other hand, they were two games ahead of falling into the 13th spot, with only Detroit and Orlando far from the rest of the pack.

But finding their way anywhere close to where they were last season, when they posted a 41-31 record, remains a mystery even to Thibodeau.

"It’s a group effort," he said. "Everybody has to bring energy. You can't shortcut anything. Your offense is timing and spacing, your defense is your commitment to each other. So we’re all in it together. We just have to have the toughness to get things done. And you’re not going to feel your best every night in this league. That’s part of it. And that’s why conditioning is so important."

The Knicks took a minor step forward Friday with all of the players available after minor injuries shut down Nerlens Noel and Mitchell Robinson at times.

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

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.