As fans were making their way out of the Garden following yet another ugly Knicks loss, a salesman was trying to unload the last of his Knicks gear for the night. “Get your hats, shirts and foam fingers,” he said to no one in particular.
A passing young man, who looked to be about 10 years old, shook his head and was overheard saying, “The Knicks gave me the finger tonight.”
The Lakers’ 121-107 pounding of the Knicks on Monday night at the Garden was a middle-finger salute to any notion this team really cares about earning a playoff berth. Its effort and energy against a beatable Lakers team qualified as rock bottom to a crowd that didn’t take long to go from angry to apathetic.
“This is embarrassing,” said Jose Scott of Brooklyn, who couldn’t believe what he was seeing from his sixth-level seat. “It’s just embarrassing. This is your home court and you don’t give a better effort? No defense at all. None.”
The game was even more one-sided than the final score. The Lakers were up 47-26 midway through the second quarter and 61-45 at halftime. After back-to-back dunks by Brandon Ingram and Tarik Black, the visitors enjoyed a 75-54 lead in the third quarter. By then, there were small chants of “Fire Phil,” but most of the hard-core fans were just numb.
“The fact is Luke Walton is out there, and they’re kicking our ass, and he could have been our coach,” Patrick Cooke from Freeport, Long Island, said.
It’s one thing to lose by seven to the defending champion Cavaliers after you trailed by 27. It’s another not to show up against the Lakers, who entered with a 17-36 record and happy to be in rebuilding mode following the retirement of Kobe Bryant. Their youth movement apparently was too much for the Knicks, who had nothing to offer.
Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek was as mad as he ever has been following the game and ripped into his players from the press-room podium.
“You’ve got to play for some pride,” he said. “If you’re going to come out and just play basketball, then you’re in the wrong level.”
This also might be where a coach holds himself accountable and talks about how everyone needs to do a better job, including the coach, but Hornacek pointed the finger of blame squarely on his players.
Asked what he could do to avoid the slow starts that have plagued the Knicks, Hornacek sounded like he has done all he can.
“A lot of pride is internal,” he said. “We can continue to push them and get more upset at them or use positive talk and all that. We’re just going to have to do it in practice. They won’t like it, but maybe that will get them going, a good, hard-battle practice.”
But Hornacek can’t pass the blame. He has to do more. Whether it’s harder practices, changes in the starting lineup, a new rotation or an up-tempo approach, it’s the head coach’s job to have his team ready to play every night and not just the ones when the players feel like it.
There seems to be zero accountability around the Knicks these days: not from the team president and not from the head coach, who already is pleading for his players to play for pride.
Derrick Rose was back in the starting lineup because he’s Derrick Rose. But he lacked explosiveness and lift and offered no resistance on defense. Kristaps Porzingis seems to be deteriorating as the season goes along. He somehow couldn’t prevent the Lakers from getting 20 offensive rebounds.
Carmelo Anthony blamed the Knicks’ “mentality and attitude” during the game for what he called a “bad, very bad” performance.
“They came to play and we didn’t,” he said.
As reports continue to swirl about the Cavs being interested in Anthony, the Knicks seem less interested in making something of their season. It’s a tough spot for Hornacek, but he has to do a better job than this.