What is worse…being the worst team in the NBA? Or losing to the worst team in the NBA? (Wait…if you lose to the worst team doesn’t that make you the worst team?) This is a question you could ask the entirety of the New York Knicks organization. From Mr. Dolan to Mr. Thomas, and all the way down to each player on the roster, there has to be a level of accountability for what went on last night. How can you as an organization allow the worst (by far) team in the National Basketball Association go into last nights game, and after twenty-four minutes of play have a twenty point lead? This is simply inexcusable. I blame everyone.
First let me start by saying I cannot understand how as professional athletes you do not come to play every night. Think about it, you have the one of the most desired jobs on the planet, and are living out every ones childhood fantasy. If that is not enough to get you motivated to play hard every night from the opening tip, then how about the millions upon millions of dollars you are being paid to play. I simply do not understand how the Knicks can continuously start out so bad against the worst teams in the league. To make matters worse they always make a comeback in the second half that falls just short. Not only are you showing the fans that you are capable of playing good basketball, you are also showing them that you do not give a rats ass about showing effort until your coach yells at you at half time. Which brings me to my next point...
Why is coach Thomas not telling them what he does at halftime before the game starts? This is not an aberration folks, this happens time and time again. The coach has a responsibility to make sure that his players are ready to play. Isiah is failing miserably in this respect. It is one thing to be outmatched by talent, but to lose because of lack of intensity and effort is just not acceptable from the players and the coach. This is the main if not the only reason why the Knicks have lost three games against the Celtics! That represents twenty percent of the Celtics total wins for the season. I am not even going to get into how bad the Celtics are because they have beaten the Knicks three times!
My time would be better spent trying to explain why the Knicks are so bad, and why they should be considered the worse team in the NBA. Sure, they have more talent that the young Celtics with an injured Paul Pierce, but to not be ready to play against a team with such a lack of talent makes the Knicks look even worse. It makes the Knicks look like the worse team, both in how they play, and how they are run. Losing Jamal Crawford is obviously a big blow to the team, also is not having David Lee in the lineup. However, even without those two it is not excuse to lose to the Celtics who have injury problems of their own, not to mention their “sharp shooter” is Brian Scalabrine. Everyone knows how good Pierce is, even injured he can put up twenty points, but the only other person on their roster that should even score a point is Al Jefferson. If you do not believe me, check out the Celtics record thus far, fifteen wins because of a high lack of shot making ability and huge deficiency is defense. So what do the Knicks do…they allow 57 points in the first half and can not even muster 40 points in the first half. Now look at the second half. The Knicks start to play a little defense (I will not even say they were playing great defense) and the Celtics magically are not hitting as many jumpers when a hand is in their face. Coincidence? I think not.
The Knicks talk in the locker room after wins about the push to the playoffs but they are just kidding themselves. There are certain games that playoff teams win, last night was one of them. Playoff teams win back-to-back games, the Knicks do not. The Knicks are not a playoff team, they cannot be a playoff team, because the last time I checked the worst team in the league does not make the playoffs.
