Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau is calling out his starters after an ugly loss to the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night.
Early in the fourth quarter, Thibodeau pulled the entire starting lineup in the final 14:01 of the game after a poor performance from the starters. The reserves put up a spirited effort, but the Bucks' bevy of three-pointers ultimately put the game out of reach. Thibs talked with the media after the game about why the teams’ current trend of alternating wins and losses is not going to get it done.
"You know what they say. When it’s 10 games, you say we need 20,” Thibodeau said, when asked how long it should take for his starters to find cohesion. “When it’s 20, you say 30, When it’s 30, you say it’s 40. Before you know it, the season’s over. It’s a bunch of bull—t.”
The first unit dug the Knicks into a 24-point hole. Julius Randle was minus-26 and Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier managed just two points apiece. They settled for a lot of low percentage jumpers and spent too much time watching Randle in iso situations. The defense wasn't any better allowing the Bucks to shoot 52 percent (26 of 50) from downtown. Bucks reserve Pat Connaughton hit eight of them and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo had a double-double dropping 15 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists.
"We didn’t play well. That’s it,” Thibodeau said. “We got to figure it out.”
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The loss to the defending NBA champions may not be a cause to pause for Knicks fans, but the team is now 2-4 at the Garden and 5-1 on the road, and Knicks fans made their frustrations known last night, booing after a terrible third quarter, forcing Thibs to pull his starters. Derrick Rose lead the team with 22 points and seven assists and called out the rest of the squad for playing ‘lackadaisical’ and ‘nonchalant.’
“We try to ease into games, we try to get a feel instead of being aggressive,” Rose said. “A lot of times you have to be the aggressor, let people know you’re there. That’s not only the starting five, that’s the bench coming in playing lackadaisical, like nonchalant. We picked it up late, but that’s everybody. We’re not that good to give people confidence. We got to come out and be the hardest-working team. We got to learn soon.”
The backups led a furious comeback effort in the fourth quarter. Alec Burks’ three-pointer cut the lead down to four. A couple of possessions later, Immanuel Quickley got the Knicks all the way even at 89, hitting a step-back 3-pointer with 5:06 left. The Bucks answered right back answering from deep and built their lead back into double digits.
“I’m still trying to process it. It’s hard losing games, period,” Rose said. “When you’re that close, it makes it even harder. It sucks.
It really sucks. We got to be able to learn from our mistakes and that’s coming with [more] urgency.”
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