The Knicks blew a 28-point lead at The Garden on Wednesday night against what’s left of the shorthanded Nets, an improbable choke job that has actually become painfully familiar.
Wednesday’s collapse was the third time in the last 11 days that New York has blown a lead of at least 20 points, as the team has shown an unprecedented tendency to take its foot off the gas instead of smelling blood.
“We just talked about that,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said after Wednesday’s loss to the Nets. “Obviously we did a lot of good things to build those leads, and then how do we play with a lead? You have to play tough with a lead. We didn’t do that.”
The Knicks led by 18 points in the opening minute of the fourth quarter after a Mitchell Robinson dunk, and the all-too familiar collapse began from there. It was the continuation of terrible offensive execution in the fourth quarter, as New York entered the contest shooting just 29 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3-point range in the fourth quarter over the last five games, and on Wednesday, shot 31 percent from the field in the final period while finishing an abysmal 1-for-11 from downtown.
“The lead kind of gets down, we get boggled down a little bit, and you can see it. It’s a noticeable thing,” Taj Gibson said. “Until we rectify it, come together as a team and learn from it, and figure out a way to bounce out of these circumstances - every team is talented. It’s really hard to win just like that. We had a 28-point lead, and you give up a couple threes nowadays, and it can get ugly real fast, and go from 28 to 15 real quick.
“It's just a mental thing. It's not Xs and Os, it's having the resiliency to overcome. Lately, we haven't been able to do that. Last year, we were able to do that.”
The Knicks were once again left answering questions about their inability to close out teams when they have big leads, and once again, they weren’t able to offer much. They were in as much disbelief as the Madison Square Garden crowd.
“I wish I had an answer for you, man,” Julius Randle said. “I don’t know. We’re just not closing games out. It’s unfortunate…it’s tough right now.”
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