Knicks players get Thibodeau's message: Effort can't waver
RJ Barrett of the New York Knicks dribbles against the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden on November 10, 2021. Credit: Getty Images/Al Bello
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Knicks spent time watching video and practicing Thursday and followed it with a long morning shootaround Friday, trying desperately to shake off the memory of Wednesday's performance.
While the sessions may have been conducted with different words than what coach Tom Thibodeau used after that loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the message was the same, even if the expletives were unnecessary. The message was sent from Thibodeau’s comments about the failures of the starting lineup that night and one by one the players admitted that they didn’t need anyone to tell them what was clear already.
"I would be [angry], too," Evan Fournier said. "We don’t need Tom to get mad at us. We know we did not play well last game. We’re all veterans. We all know what we’re capable of doing and it doesn’t feel good when we don’t play well. We definitely lost a game and we all feel responsible for it because the bench did a great job."
Asked what it felt like to be stuck on the bench — all five starters — in the fourth quarter Wednesday, Fournier said, "We had no business being on the court."
While they may know what the problem is, Thibodeau had little patience for the notion that getting acquainted with the new roster was a reasonable excuse. The Knicks entered Friday’s game against Charlotte with a 7-5 record, hard to criticize as they managed to stay above water while acclimating to the additions of Fournier and Kemba Walker. But Thibodeau’s point was that effort is something that can’t waver from game to game.
It’s a point that the team didn’t need 10 games or 20 games to get the hint.
"it's all about effort," RJ Barrett said. "We can't dwell on games we lost. We watched the film. We're onto the next game and have to figure it out."
The Knicks may be trying to keep things in perspective -- the small sample size and the winning record -- but there are issues that have been clear to the players and the coach that are not so easily answered.
The Knicks' defense has been a disaster — surrendering a league-high 15.7 three-point field goals per game and ranking 26th in the NBA in defending the three, allowing 37.6% conversions. They are 26th in defensive rating after ranking fourth last season. But there are flaws with their offense, too, after the 5-1 start to the season. On the season, the Knicks rank fifth in offensive rating but have dipped to 17th over the last six games.
Whether it is the lack of familiarity, a lack of effort or energy, or the offense dragging down the defense or defense dragging down the offense, something has been wrong.
"Ball movement, body movement. At times it feels like we’re very stagnant," Fournier said. "And we have to find that rhythm that we had early on – those first five games of the season. So just make sure we share the ball. Sometimes you pass the ball just to pass the ball and the rhythm is going to come back. Once we all touch the ball, you get a good rhythm, you get better shots. And then we all feel good. I think that’s the main thing going forward."
Walker has struggled the most to find his place, trying to lead an offense that already has a clear leader in Julius Randle. But he was hardly alone Wednesday. Fournier shot just 1-for-5, and Barrett, after a stretch of five straight 20-point games, has shot just 12-for-39 overall and 3-for-17 from beyond the arc in the last three games.
"Every night is different," Fournier said. "Some games are different depending on who is hot or what we’re doing. If you just look at Milwaukee, it’s just that we were stagnant. But you can’t just look at one game and say this is the problem. Every night is something different. We have to focus on sharing the ball. Make sure we run. Make sure we have good pace. We execute well. And we’re going to be all right. The start of the game against Philly was actually decent, it was pretty good. We had a bad third quarter but the start was good. So we’re capable of doing it, we just have to sustain it."
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.
