Derek Fisher has preached defense to his team all season long and in the New York Knicks’ first benchmark game of the season against their rival, the Brooklyn Nets, that defense faltered.
D-Fish’s defense had held its four previous opponents under 100 points, but it didn’t fare as well in the Barclays Center. After the 110-99 loss, Coach Fish talked about how, once his Knicks began to struggle offensively, the let it impact their defense—a condition he labeled as an epidemic in the league.
“Unfortunately it’s been an epidemic in the NBA for a long time,” Derek told the media after the game. “If shots aren’t falling, or if things aren’t going your way offensively, it seems to impact your ability to bring the right mindset and mentality to the defensive end.”
New York had no answer for Brooklyn point guard Deron Williams, who tallied a season-high 29 points, alongside six assists and a steal.
Williams was hot from the start, as he tallied four assists and seven points in the first frame, helping the Nets out to a 30-20 lead at the end of one. While Brooklyn shot 61.1 percent from the floor, New York hit just 32 percent of its shots in the first.
The second was better defensively for the Knicks, who held the Nets below 30 percent shooting from the floor, but 10 personal fouls led to 17 free-throw attempts for the Nets. The heavy foul total allowed Brooklyn to add three points to its lead and head to the break up 55-42.
The Knicks had to approach their comeback situation without some of their offensive firepower. Injuries have slowed the New York team all season, and it once again played without Pablo Prigioni, Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon. However, D-Fish won’t use injuries as an excuse for the rough night.
“We have enough (players). Would we be better in terms of having Andrea’s versatility and Jose? Those are good players,” Fish said. “We missed Pablo tonight (and) he’s a tough, gritty, energy guy, but it’s not about having more players. If you’re in the NBA, you can play. So that’s another thing we can’t do is feel sorry for ourselves and think that because we have some injuries, we can’t win.”
In the second half, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire took it on their shoulders to power the rally. The two combined for 17 points in the third quarter, but they did it off 6-of-19 shooting.
It was in the third where things got out of hand for the Knicks as they scrapped for every point they could muster. While the Knicks fired at will to a shooting percentage below 40, the Nets were ultra-efficient, hitting 12-of-18 shots, paced by 12 points from Williams. Fish paid compliments to Williams and his great night, but he gave more credit to a Nets team that came ready to play.
“Deron is an all-star player, (and) he’s healthy now,” Derek said. “It’s not so much about not shutting out Deron Williams, but it was a team game and their team won.”
Williams put the finishing touches on the game in the third frame. With 11:50 remaining in the third, Deron Williams dished the ball out to Mason Plumlee, which created enough space for Williams to work his way to the outside. Plumlee pushed it right back to the open Williams, who was less than two feet away from turning his deep two pointer into a triple.
The Knicks failed to respond to the bucket, and gave the ball back to the opportunistic Nets as they charged down the court. Once again, the dangerous Williams took the ball down court and used Teletovic as an obstacle to escape Tim Hardaway Jr. It worked to perfection, and he scurried into the paint for an easy finger roll, spiking the Brooklyn lead to 88-66, proving insurmountable for Fish and the Knickerbockers.
Stoudemire finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, Hardaway added 16 points, four boards and three assists, while Anthony led the way with 19 points, four assists and four boards. Even despite the team-high in scoring, Melo is confident he can make even more noise as he becomes more comfortable in Fish’s system.
“I’m still getting there, man. I’m still trying to find that comfort zone, still trying to find a way to get it going and just play better,” Anthony said. “We’re not playing well, I’m not playing well and it starts with me on this team so I’ve got to get myself going and I think that will trickle down to everyone else.”
Although this losing streak has been frustrating for Melo, he said he is optimistic that he and his squad will find their rhythm soon enough in D-Fish’s triangle scheme.
“Without a doubt, just as far as me shooting the ball and scoring the ball, tomorrow will be a new day. But as a group, as a whole, it’s something we really have to kind of get our heads together and figure this thing out,” Anthony said.