Knicks failed test to break into league's top tier of teams with latest loss to Celtics
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown battles Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns for the ball during the first half of an NBA game Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Noah K. Murray
In the days leading up to Saturday night’s meeting with the Celtics, the Knicks tried to maintain that it was just the next game, Game No. 52, with no more weight than any other game.
But their actions would tell you something else.
Karl-Anthony Towns was downgraded from probable to questionable during the day, but he never believed that the medical staff was going to be able to convince him not to play.
“I wanted to play,” he said after the game. “It was a great game. I wanted to go out there and compete.”
So was he close to 100%, with the patellar tendinitis that had slowed him in recent days cleared up?
“No, but I know I can do anything I put my mind to,” he said. “I put the work in. Just wanting to play.”
It may have been game No. 52, but after another one-sided loss to Boston, it was something the Knicks had to admit was a measuring stick and a sign that they have a long way to go.
The 131-104 loss, in which they trailed by 35 points (the same deficit they faced in the 132-109 opening night loss in Boston), dropped them to 0-5 against the Celtics, Cavaliers and Thunder, the teams with the three best records in the NBA. The Knicks’ only win this season against a team that currently has a record better than their 34-18 was over Memphis last month.
And the thing is, the Knicks weren’t planning on being a tier below those teams.
“I mean, I said yesterday that playing them, it’s always to see where we are,” Jalen Brunson said. “We see where we are.”
And where is that?
“Not where we want to be,” he said.
The Knicks added Towns and Mikal Bridges in the offseason, and the two stars came with the expectations of being the pieces that would help the Knicks match up against teams such as Boston.
Towns perhaps could have the excuse of the knee trouble along with a sprained thumb as a reason he was outplayed by Luke Kornet. Kornet was a late addition to the Boston starting lineup when Kristaps Porzingis was scratched shortly before game time.
But Bridges was brought in to give the Knicks a defensive stopper at the wing. He’s a player thought to be capable of matching up against Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, but there has been no indication in the two games against Boston that he’s up to the task. He struggled badly in the season opener and appeared overmatched on both sides of the ball Saturday.
Maybe that would have changed if OG Anunoby had been in the lineup or if Towns had been healthy or if Mitchell Robinson returns to provide a rim protector. But Saturday was another test and another failure to show the Knicks have ascended beyond the level they were a year ago.
“You learn from every game, so you know the disappointment of a loss, but make sure that we learn from it,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Then, obviously, we have to take a hard look and get better.”
“We know we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Towns said. “Simple as that. There’s no sugarcoating, there’s no moral wins, nothing like that. It’s something we’ve got to work on if we expect to beat a team that y’all have expectations of us to compete for and be. If we also have those same aspirations in this locker room, which I know we do, we’ve got to find a way to beat teams like tonight.”
Brunson was the first player dressed and ready to exit after the game, calm but clearly disappointed.
“I mean, today as a whole was just unacceptable,” he said.
And it won’t just be Brunson who feels that way. After two straight seasons that ended in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Knicks were built to move beyond that. And right now, that second round figures to pit them against the Celtics, the team that they have yet to show they measure up to on the court.
There was no talk about building or growing after this one was over. It was where the Knicks are, and that is a level away from where they want to be.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
