A loss to the Thunder sent the Knicks into a three-game spiral, with no end in sight after dispiriting defeats to the Bulls and Magic

The final week of the NFL season — tapped with inconsequential games galore — combined with the New York Knicks’ recent trio of losses to Chicago, Orlando and Oklahoma City got me thinking. About losses — the good kind and the bad. Because in a span of 96 hours, Jalen Brunson and company went from winners of nine straight to a team at very real, very much not fan-theorized risk.

After the first loss to the Thunder I berated friends and members of our Discord server here at the Strickland (which you can join here) with frustrations about other teams’ ability to trap Brunson at the top of the key, spun tales of a coach yet to adapt to his team’s greatest weakness and a team’s best player who can’t be trusted in crunchtime. Then they lost to the Bulls, a direct byproduct of their competitive loss the night before. The Bulls game I met with apathy. Were the Knicks ever really going to win that game?

One could argue this new-age New York squad should – particularly since that 13-point final deficit was not reflective of how close this one came to going the other way. I’m not sure what the right answer is. But if the Thunder loss did anything, it helped mitigate the blow of a loss to the Bulls, given the context. All five Knick starters played 40+ minutes in Oklahoma City in a game officiated quite loosely at times, making for a physical product for most of the night.

Josh Hart is the only starter who played 40+ the next night, an indication that:

A) Tom Thibodeau isn’t ignorant to the realities of a back-to-back, and

B) Hart just might be

But it showed, with the team’s engine (remember when Thibs used to relentlessly describe Julius Randle that way?) scoring only two points, his lowest mark of the season. In committing to a hard-fought game against the league-leading Thunder, now winners of 15 straight, the Knicks effectively threw away their game with the Bulls. Is that the right approach?

Probably. 

If the Knicks had won in Chicago, would I or anyone else be asking questions? Probably not. But they did, and then last night lost to an Orlando team so shorthanded it’s fairer to call them no-handed. Now the discourse has shifted from the present to what this could mean for New York’s future, albeit short-term. Reality is all we have. And what could have or should have happened was lost with all three of those games. What will happen is on the other side of more tough ones – hopefully some if not most wins. Anyways, more about the losses to the Bulls and Magic.

Notes

• After going toe-to-toe with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the fourth Friday Brunson came out firing in Chicago, with 29 of his 33 in 17 first-half minutes but just four after, an indictment either of his conditioning or the turbulence that comes with downshifting from a Finals-like atmosphere at Key Arena wherever the Seattle Supersonics were extraordinarly rendered to the terminal illness vibe that is the United Center. Chicago showed a lot of the same looks Oklahoma City deployed in the fourth, trapping Brunson at the top of the key with multiple defenders and forcing his hand. The results against the Bulls weren’t as disastrous as against the Thunder, but the tally goes in the loss column nonetheless.

This basket was a seemingly fun response to Knicks fans (myself included) who cried over Karl-Anthony Towns being iced out of the fourth quarter in Oklahoma City. 

• Brunson finished with eight assists to just one turnover against the Bulls, his 10th game with five or more assists and one or no turnovers this year. Last year he had 18. The way he’s approached his role on a retooled roster this season has been nothing short of awesome.

• The Captain left a lot to be desired against Orlando, though – on all levels. He shot just 38% from the floor and had four assists against two turnovers. There are players you worry about. Then there is Brunson. Look elsewhere, friends, if you’re setting out to plant red flags of anxiety or unease.

• After putting together one of his best games in a New York uniform in Oklahoma City, Mikal Bridges was one of the biggest culprits in Chicago, on both ends. He finished with 18 on 8-of-18 shooting. A point per shot attempt isn’t ethical hoops. Then again, this was consecutive game number 510 for Bridges. In a loss that can be most credited to workload or back-to-back fatigue, do we dare mention his name? Plus he had another tough bucket in the post, which I am a growing fan of. 

• I’m typically not the first to defend Precious Achiuwa, on any occasion. But I am also less outspoken against him. Achiuwa was bad in Chicago, slightly better against Orlando. I still think he most benefits the Knicks as an outgoing salary later this year.

• On the other side of a (very) short bench, Landry Shamet continues to impress. His 17 minutes in Chicago were the antithesis of the general NBA fan’s “cardio” diss, and 21 minutes versus the Magic netted him the only positive plus-minus in New York’s box score. Shamet’s competed on both ends since he touched down eight games ago.

• Hart had two very different nights. Against the Bulls he was everywhere, finishing with the rare 16-rebound, 10-assist double-double; that hasn’t been done by a Knick since Mark Jackson in 2001. Another fun stat in a season that won’t be appreciated enough: Hart has scored in single digits only twice. Last year, he scored double-digits 38 games out of 81, just under half the time. It seems everyone is taking some kind of leap for New York, important to remember after losses like these. Hart’s passing, above all else, has impressed the most. He re-discovered his scoring touch against the Magic, but in a sea of sloppy play all-around was a non-factor. These off-the-wall shot attempts aren’t as cool when you know the outcome that follows.

• OG Anunoby’s iron man campaign has inspired this season. He’s played all 37 games, for better or worse. I had the thought that no Knick struggles more on the second night of back-to-backs, and the numbers didn’t argue. Anunoby’s four performances in such circumstances this year: 

  14 on 5-of-14 shooting (loss)

  16 on 6-of-12 shooting (28-point win over the Wizards)

  9 on 4-of-12 shooting (win)

  12 on 5-of-12 shooting (loss)

Most folks will talk about Towns limping to the locker room in the fourth quarter Saturday. But there’s nothing admirable about pushing Anunoby to the brink, either. He looked even worse against Orlando, with a day’s rest off the back-to-back. Color me concerned – not to be confused with alarmed or distressed. Anyone else pick up on the chemistry between Anunoby and Jericho Sims? Wasn’t on my bingo card.

• Oh yeah, the Towns injury. After going straight to the locker room in the game’s final minute in Chicago, he was immediately listed as questionable for Orlando with “right patellar tendinopathy,” the same injury that kept him out against Detroit in December. Towns was grimacing throughout the fourth en route to a painstaking 44-point night against the Bulls. I wasn’t surprised to see him sit against the Magic, who the Knicks already beat three times to clinch the season series.

• Riding some of the misery of the last point, can anyone in their right mind tell me why Ariel Hukporti didn’t get any run against Orlando? He was recalled in the hours leading up to tip-off and I love what we’ve seen from him in short stints. Sims is what he is at this point, a miracle self-realized to be playing on NBA courts. But this isn’t a charity organization or some non-profit. It’s the fucking Knicks. 

• New York is 2-2 on the second night of back-to-backs this year, with those losses their only real goose eggs. With 11 more two-game sets this season, all I ask is that they don’t do that again. And they’ll be tested, with an away game in Indiana and home game versus Atlanta in February, before Brunson and Towns head to All-Star Weekend.

Can a loss be good for a team fresh off cashing in a laundry list of assets and talent for a prospective title run? I’m not sure. But if it can, does the loss to the streaking Thunder fall in that category? Or would the uphill battle with the Bulls be more fitting? There’s nothing redeeming about scoring 94 against that version of the Magic. To lose all three games in consecutive fashion while exhausting your players and your fanbase isn’t quantifiably good. That much I’m sure we all can agree on.

I looked at the walls of my bedroom tonight, once definitively green, and saw shades of blue. As I watched New York these last three games, so too did my perspective of this team waver. Once bitten, twice shy. But thrice bitten and I’m loading up the trade machine.