Knicks' Josh Hart says 'our effort was embarrassing' in loss to Kings
Sacramento Kings center Dylan Cardwell, center, battles for the rebound against New York Knicks guard Josh Hart on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Sara Nevis
SAN FRANCISCO
The moment that might have been focused on occurred early in the first quarter on Wednesday when Jalen Brunson turned his right ankle, ending his night and taking away the leader of the Knicks. But when the game was over, that wasn’t what they were blaming for what they called their worst loss of the season.
That moment came late in the first half. Karl-Anthony Towns attempted to drive to the basket, Knicks discard Precious Achiuwa reached in and stole the ball, and Towns went to the floor, sliding across the free-throw line as the Kings raced the ball up the other way. But when Russell Westbrook misfired on a three-pointer and Josh Hart tipped the ball out toward midcourt, Towns was still watching from the other end of the court, allowing Achiuwa to recover the ball. Westbrook wound up hitting a three-pointer that gave Sacramento a 17-point lead.
Injuries happen, and the Knicks preach next man up. But mental and physical lapses — and a lack of hustle and effort on a night when they already were reeling — were what the Knicks saw as an issue after a 112-101 loss in which they fell behind the last-place Kings by as many as 25 points.
“We didn’t do enough to win,” Towns said. “And they took advantage of our lackadaisicalness.”
“When you fall down, you got to get up and got to sprint down the floor,” coach Mike Brown said. “And even when you’re the last guy down the floor, you got to get down there just in case there’s a long rebound. But there was no urgency.
“That wasn’t the only play. There were a handful of plays that we did that. But there was no sense of urgency on that particular play to get back. And it was a five-point swing. If he at least gets down the floor, long rebound, he’s going to get it because he’s trailing the play. We watched the play at halftime and he didn’t even cross halfcourt. That sums up what our night was.”
Maybe it sums up more than just the night. The Knicks left the Golden 1 Center and boarded a bus for San Francisco with Brunson sidelined for the final game of the four-game road trip with a sprained right ankle — he’s listed as day-to-day — and Mitchell Robinson sitting out the second night of a back-to-back. But it’s bigger than one player or one tweaked ankle.
The Knicks have lost six of their last eight games. Towns still does not seem comfortable in the new system, sometimes looking lost in the offense. The Knicks pointed to the absence of Hart for eight games as a missing source of energy when they had nights like the 31-point loss in Detroit or when they started this four-game road trip by getting outworked by Phoenix.
But Hart was back and was despondent after this effort — or more accurately, lack of effort.
“Our effort. The intensity. We were dead,” he said. “We played them with their record, whatever that is. I put that on myself . . . It was embarrassing. Can’t dwell on it . . . We always talk about next man up. It doesn’t matter. Our defense was embarrassing. Our effort was embarrassing. It didn’t matter who was out there.”
It’s crazy that the coaches have to run a video at halftime showing the All-NBA center not even crossing the opposing free-throw line, much less midcourt. With Brunson back in the locker room, someone had to step up, and instead the Knicks stepped aside.
They shot terribly, misfiring on 22 of their first 24 attempts from three-point range. And maybe, as they have in the past, they let the offensive struggles bleed over into the defensive end of the floor. But what they were angry about afterward, maybe more passionate than the emotion they’d shown on the floor, was that the effort should never waver — and it has.
“Honestly, it’s a concern,” Hart said. “It’s something that’s been continuous. We have to play harder. We have to play with more intensity, more competitiveness. It starts with me. Like I said, I have to bring that and we have to fix it.”
“I feel like it’s never really X’s-and-O’s,” Deuce McBride said. “Coaches can drop any game plan, but we’re the ones out there playing . . . I think we have to come together, understanding that we’re a unit. It’s not on a single guy. They have talented scorers every night in the NBA. And it’s not one shutdown guy every single night. It has to be a full unit, a full team effort. And right now we’re just not on a string.
“Sometimes it’s just different challenges throughout the season. Different stretches that you just have to figure out. I’ve never seen a perfect season before. So it’s just one of those times when we have to figure it out and get through it, however we can. And it flips quick. Things can be going really good quickly, and they can go bad really quickly and turn back around. So we just have to have a positivity, a belief in us that we can change it.”
Notes & quotes: Landry Shamet, sidelined since Nov. 22 with a dislocated shoulder, was cleared to play against Golden State. He hit a three-pointer as the Knicks went 6-for-7 from beyond the arc and took a 31-14 lead before Golden State tied it at 40-40. “He worked his tail off,’’ Brown said. “Landry, he’s a worker, man . . . He was getting after it. It means a lot for him to play. He was in a great rhythm before he [got hurt]. He’s been out a while. It’s going to take some time for him to get back. But it’s exciting for him to be back and we’re going to be patient with him while he’s fighting to get back to where he was.”
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.
