Knicks fail to ‘do their job’ in 4th straight loss as team hits new low

TARRYTOWN, NY – The New York Knicks are in the midst of their second four-game losing streak of the season. A win can cure everything. Loss, however, tends to magnify even the smallest problems. Martin Luther King Jr. team defeat Day from the impoverished Dallas Mavericks left them without a lot to solve in practice.

Michal Bridges’ aversion to contact on the rim highlights his skill when mid-range shots fall, but leads to groans in Madison Square Garden when they don’t. Karl-Anthony Towns‘ hang up with the head coach Mike Brown bleeds onto the field and in press availability after the game.

The coach called out his entire group when addressing reporters after the embarrassment.

“The bottom line is, we have to lock in. We have to do our job for 48 minutes. They scored 75 points in the first half, and at halftime, you know, we usually do clips and talk about technical X’s and O’s and all that crap that coaches and teams do. There was nothing to say at halftime, except for what he threw in, I’m sorry, he said to me, his first … profanity of the season. ‘Do your job.’

Whatever the reason for the disconnect between the coach and his players, it will still result in unrelated losses until it is resolved. Saturday night’s loss at the hands of the Phoenix Suns came on “Alumni Day” at MSG, with Brown told reporters before the game that his group didn’t need any extra motivation win. On Monday, their 30-point halftime deficit reaffirmed that they badly needed it.

Mike Brown, the Knicks need to get in sync before this stretch defines them

The coaching staff’s job is to prepare their players for their opponents and make them work in tandem towards a common goal during the season. The The Knicks teamed up to win the NBA Cup, showing that this coach and team are capable of crawling through the sands of this losing streak.

Calculating proportional slices of the guilt pie is a waste of time, especially at this point in the season. The Knicks need to “look in the mirror,” as Brown said Saturday, and decide if they like what they see. It is clear from the frustration the coach and his players expressed in the media after the game that they do not.

Team captain Jalen Brunson his leadership will also be tested. After practice on Tuesday, he repeated his answer from the night before about the need for a change. That was it Brunson gave the same answer at the media day ahead of the regular season, when asked about adjusting to Brown’s system.

“Either you want to do it, or you don’t.”

The Knicks say they want to adjust. They say they want to play better. They say they are better than the team they have looked like in their last 11 games, of which they have won just two. Adversity fuels growth when the parties involved have the right mindset. New York’s coaches and players will find out in the coming weeks.