It's too early for Knicks to panic, but there is some cause for concern
The Knicks react on the bench in the second half against the Pistons on Jan. 5 in Detroit, Michigan. Credit: Getty Images/Gregory Shamus
DETROIT — While Mike Brown was seated at a table insisting — despite admitting that “It’s pretty simple. They just physically kicked our ass” — that he wasn’t panicking, it seemed as if in the quiet Knicks locker room some panic was seeping in.
The players would not discuss the details, but spoke about talks that took place after the game and before the media was allowed in. They were trying to solve the sudden downturn in the franchise’s fortunes, punctuated by a one-sided loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons.
Maybe the most important thing for either Brown or the players is to note that it was Jan. 5 and it’s a long way to the postseason when the story of this team will be told.
This 121-90 loss in Detroit was the worst performance of the season and the most lopsided defeat since a 37-point loss at Cleveland last season. This time the ugly effort came as a fourth straight loss and a particularly untimely showing since Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan had gone on the radio shortly before tipoff and spoke of big expectations. “Getting to the Finals we’ve absolutely got to do," Dolan said Monday. "Winning the Finals, we should win.”
That loss last season only signaled a lesson learned, the team regrouped and forged deeper into the postseason than the franchise had in a quarter-century. Should panic set in now?
Well, the answer is maybe.
Last season there was no doubt the importance of every game with Tom Thibodeau at the helm and a mantra that, “everything matters.” After the Knicks pushed him out and replaced him with Brown, another accomplished head coach, they find themselves nearly halfway into the season still searching for an identity.
Consider some of the comments that did come out of the locker room after the game.
“If we want to be the team we say we want to be then we’ve got to be better,” Jalen Brunson said. “Simple as that . . . I think it’s a testament to where we are as a team and where we need to go. Not necessarily a wake-up call or anything about playoff basketball.
"I just think that they were ready to go tonight," he said about the Pistons. "They wanted to play, they truly wanted to win and we didn’t.”
“it’s cool to be in a funk. That [stuff] happens,” Karl-Anthony Towns offered. “Ups and down, ebbs and flows of a season. But it’s a bad, bad time. We can’t have it be this bad.”
Asked about the defensive effort, Deuce McBride said, “Man, did we play defense tonight?”
A day later at the Knicks' practice facility in Greenburgh, Brunson was back at his captain’s role, trying to calm the waters.
“Our mindset is having short-term memory,” Brunson said. “I’ve said in the past, even if we’re playing well, we’ve got to move on to the next one. Obviously, it’s the opposite.
"We haven’t been playing our best. We always have room for improvement. It’s on to the next one, got to figure out things, how we can be the best team we can be.”
The figuring that the Knicks are searching for now is exactly who they are. Brown has cautioned that the season would be a series of ups and downs, hoping to limit the downturns. But there still seems to be some confusion or hesitance with Towns fighting his role and opportunities and OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges still inconsistent.
And when the Knicks last were at Madison Square Garden they were booed by the home crowd. They return to the Garden to face the Clippers Wednesday night.
“It’s difficult,” Brown said. “But it’s a process. I’ve said before that it's not always going to be smooth sailing, especially this part of the year. These are the dog days of the year.
"Trying to find the right focus and energy and time to work on the different things so you don’t have slippage in a lot of different areas is a challenge. But, it’s something we embrace. And we are going to constantly try to find ways to get better so we don’t slip too much.”
Through these first 36 games the Knicks have shown glimpses of being the team they believe they are — that Dolan believes can win a title in this window. And they have shown glimpses of a team that looks on the verge of falling apart, defensively lost and too reliant on Brunson to bail them out.
Will they take this four-game losing streak, this one-sided loss, and drive from it? The history of these players tells you yes. They are veterans and they’ve been through it and done it before. It’s January and the story of this team is still to be told.
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.
