New York Knicks star forward Julius Randle said after Saturday’s 122-115 loss to the Brooklyn Nets that they “weren’t ready,” and the effort that New York displayed on the court will back that up.
“I just think we weren’t ready for some reason,” Randle said. “No sense of urgency on both ends of the floor, defensively closing out the shooters, and offensively our spacing wasn’t good from the beginning.”
Julius Randle via Zach Braziller of NY Post
The Knicks allowed the Nets, who were playing without superstar Kevin Durant, to shoot a staggering 55% (22-40) from long distance in Saturday’s contest. Six different Nets players knocked down multiple threes, and eight total Nets players hit at least one three-pointer.
New York struggled to contest shots from the perimeter, which allowed the Nets to basically do whatever they pleased offensively.
Their struggles throughout the game bit them hard towards the end of the game, as the Knicks’ comeback was thwarted by Kyrie Irving’s 21-point fourth quarter, a quarter in which Irving could not miss no matter the contest.
Randle highlighted the issue of spacing the Knicks had offensively, and the numbers will tell that same story. The Knicks had 10 turnovers on Saturday compared to the Nets’ eight. New York also made just 10 three-pointers, which is more than half of what Brooklyn had.
The Knicks were unable to keep up with the Nets on offense thanks to their lackadaisical defense and poor ball control, and sloppy play on both sides results in losses more often than not.
New York needed to be ready for a game like Saturday’s, as this was a game they easily could have taken given that Brooklyn was missing both Durant and Ben Simmons and had also lost to the bottom-tier Detroit Pistons the game prior.
Even though the Knicks dropped this game, they are still in good position thanks to their back-to-back upset victories against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, respectively.
The Knicks will look to get back on track and be more prepared when they head back home to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday to take on the Los Angeles Lakers.
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