talking about Noah is avoidance at it's best.
Berman 's column mentioned a few more salient points. like defense. like lack of a assists.
dismiss him all you want.
however you can't dismiss the fact his team does not play like a team.
we however getting closer to Zion territory which is a good thing.
Berman
OKLAHOMA CITY — Five observations from Wednesday’s 128-103 loss to the Thunder.
1. Bill Parcells’ fabled line is: You are what your record says you are. It now holds true for the Knicks. They are as bad as 4-11 suggests following three straight blowout losses in which they were outscored by a combined 67 points. The Knicks haven’t owned a lead in 10 straight quarters. No longer can coach David Fizdale talk about the club never being out of a game. In seven of their first eight losses, the Knicks were at least tied in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks have to figure out the reasons behind the regression, especially on defense. Lance Thomas’ knee surgery last week is one reason. Another theory is Fizdale’s experimentation with starting lineups. There have been two major shakeups through 15 games and three different starting point guards. There is more tinkering on the way, according to Fizdale. Of the Knicks’ four victories, none have come against an above-.500 club. Two have been against Atlanta and one apiece against the Nets and Mavericks.
The Knicks have played three of their past four games on the road and the schedule is not letting up. Starting with Friday’s game in New Orleans, six of the next eight contests are away from the Garden. The other reason the Knicks’ losses could mount is the three rookies in their rotation — Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson and Allonzo Trier — are strong candidates to hit the first-year wall. The bit of a silver lining is Kristaps Porzingis making hints all over the place his rehab is nearly complete.
2. Demoted point guard Frank Ntilikina will never use injuries as an excuse, but he admitted he has shoulder issues. His right shoulder was taped in Oklahoma City. In the locker room after the game, the Frenchman was getting ice treatment to the left shoulder. Ntilikina confirmed he’s got two strained shoulders. That could be why Fizdale declined to use Ntilikina’s length to attempt to stop Paul George, who torched Tim Hardaway Jr. for 35 points.
3. Fizdale’s lineup change to trigger more ball movement with Emmanuel Mudiay at the point worked early, but ultimately the Knicks’ offense devolved. The Knicks are last in the league in assists — a stat that gnaws at the coach. The Knicks registered 17 assists to the Thunder’s 32. Hardaway, like Carmelo Anthony before him, is a major culprit. The Knicks were 7-of-26 from 3-point range, bringing their percentage down to 31.6, ranking them 28th out of 30.
Modal TriggerKevin Knox
Kevin KnoxNBAE/Getty Images
4. In his first career NBA start, rookie Kevin Knox scored 15 points but was just 5-of-16 from the field, including missing badly on a couple of wild runners. He had one assist and three turnovers in 29:20. Knox’s shooting percentage is 32.5 percent, though his 3-point percentage is a tad higher at 34.3 percent. He shot 35 percent in summer league, despite showing flashes of brilliance. He shot 32 percent in five preseason games, losing his starting job.
“They say he’s a very good shooter but I haven’t seen it yet,” one NBA scout said.
5. Trier, the undrafted rookie, registered 11 points, but also had four turnovers with zero assists. Besides the failed drug tests, one reason Trier went undrafted was concerns about fitting in as far as passing the ball.
It was a bad job by the public-address announcer who repeatedly mispronounced his last name despite Trier having played high-school ball in the Oklahoma City area for three years. The correct pronunciation is “Tree-er.” One of his former high-school teammates took in the game at Chesapeake Arena and laughed at Trier’s gunner style.
“He was even cocky as an eighth-grader — didn’t pass the ball,’’ he reminisced. “I knew what kind of player he’d be when he announced to the team his favorite player was Carmelo Anthony.’’
Thunder coach Billy Donovan said the club worked out Trier but indicated he wasn’t a consideration at 45 when the Thunder did well in taking native New Yorker Hamidou Diallo, who scored a career-high 11 points vs. the Knicks.
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