Knicks Lose Late to Nets

By | 2016-10-28T19:32:20-08:00 December 3rd, 2014|News|Comments Off on Knicks Lose Late to Nets

It was another night and another narrow defeat for Derek Fisher and the New York Knicks.

Fish’s squad played host to their crosstown rival, the Brooklyn Nets, at Madison Square Garden, and Nets escaped across the Hudson River with a 98-93 win, marking now 11 single-digit losses for New York, including four in its last five games.

Afterward, Derek talked about the frustrating defeat, and told the media that his team simply needs to relax and slow down in late-game scenarios, and these close losses will turn to close wins.

“I think we have a lot of guys who want this badly,” Derek said. “At times we’re getting a little quick in some late-game situations, where our shot selection is a little hurried, as opposed to playing through it, playing with composure and poise and trusting that, if we do this one game at a time, we can still figure it out. Hopefully that will come with more success.”

Brooklyn Nets v New York Knicks

D-Fish tried to slow his squad down while it trailed by three with the ball and less than 15 seconds to go. The first-year coach called for a 20-second timeout as Carmelo Anthony took the ball upcourt, but it wasn’t granted. Meanwhile, Anthony kept playing and took an open jumper that would’ve tied the game, but it fell off the mark, and Brooklyn gathered the rebound and closed the game at the free-throw line.

Fish was visibly upset that he wasn’t given the timeout in hopes of keeping his squad poised ahead of that vital possession, but he revealed afterward that, the official said he didn’t see the timeout request.

“He said he didn’t see it,” Fish told the media. “I thought he was looking right at me. I was signaling, he said he didn’t see it though.”

Despite the outcome of the incident and the play, Fish wasn’t too distraught over the situation or the decision by Anthony to take his shot. He said that the play he would have drawn up in the huddle would’ve given his star shooter a similar look anyway.

“In terms of the last possession, the shot wasn’t the worst shot,” Coach Fisher said. “I did try to signal for a 20 to get something drawn up, but Carmelo taking a pull-up three isn’t the worst shot we can get. Something we would have drawn up probably would have included that in some way anyway.”

Coach Fish continued, talking about Melo’s decision to put the game on his shoulders and shoot the trifecta in isolation with time winding down.

“That’s who he is. I’ve played with guys who think the same way, and that’s what makes them great,” Derek said of Anthony. “They’re going to bet on themselves every time in those situations. That’s why they’re the special players, the guys who everybody pays to see…I have no problem with Carmelo believing in his ability to help us get a win down the stretch.”

Brooklyn Nets v New York Knicks

Fish and company fell behind early in the first quarter, but kept it close with the help of a solid rebounding night from Cole Aldrich, who picked up five rebounds in limited time off the bench.

Down 17-10, Aldrich quickly snapped up a missed shot attempt from Joe Johnson and flicked the ball to Jose Calderon. Calderon appeared to have been a lone traveler going down court, but he somehow found Melo streaking between several defenders, and threw it down with authority.

Melo didn’t have his best shooting night from deep, but the N.Y. star continues to impress in his return from a lower back injury. No. 7 posted twenty points, nine rebounds and six assists. Although he continues to perform at a high level, Fish’s team can’t seem to avoid playing from behind after the first quarter.

Veteran Amar’e Stoudemire said the team cannot afford to play from behind if they expect to win games going forward.

“You’ve got to be mentally ready to go,” Stoudemire said. “We’ve got to be mentally into it and ready from the start. We can’t have any lapse at this point because we’re not a team that can give opposing teams a head start. So we’ve got to stay ready.”

Brooklyn Nets v New York Knicks

After a rough first, the Knicks battled back in the second. They forced six Brooklyn turnovers, which led to 12 easy points. Calderon went 3-of-3 from the floor and 2-of-2 from deep for eight points in the third, and he also had a key setup late in the frame. The Knicks point man tossed to Anthony in the post, who drove in for a layup to make it a two-point game—New York trailed by four at the half.

However, after the break, the scales tipped back in the favor of Brooklyn. Joe Johnson and Deron Williams combined to hit three times from downtown to put the Nets ahead 13, 77-64, going into the fourth.

“In that third quarter, we gave them that 10, 12-point lead in the first two or three minutes, and we were just fighting back,” Anthony said. “There were certain parts of the game where we just gave them the game, and then we decided to fight back.”

Melo started that charge back by hitting mid-range jumper on the first shot of the final frame. The Knicks also got two big triples from Shane Larkin and another from Pablo Prigioni to cut the deficit to just four.

Brooklyn Nets v New York Knicks

Later in the fourth, Calderon—who finished with 19 points thanks to 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and 5-of-6 shooting from three—hit from deep to make it just a three-point game.

Calderon hit another big shot to again cut it to three, and the Knicks then forced a missed shot inside from Kevin Garnett, setting up the key possession with under 20 seconds to go. Fish attempted to call timeout as his team crossed midcourt, but instead, the Nets ended up with possession and a three-point lead. Johnson then iced the game with a pair of free throws, saddling New York with its fifth straight loss.

A 4-15 record does not feel good for Derek and his team, but he said he isn’t alarmed by the struggle, and expects to improve greatly going forward.

“If we were 4-15, and every time you watch us play and we couldn’t beat the other team, then I’d be concerned,” he said. “But we’re seeing enough to know that if we can control what we can control, then we can win some of these games. Am I happy about it? No, none of those players in the locker room are happy about it. But concerned is a defeated word, that’s a word of believing that you can’t figure things out, and we still believe that.”

UP NEXT

Derek and his crew will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers (9-7) Thursday night, as Lebron and Company travel out to Madison Square Garden hoping for revenge.

The Knicks notoriously spoiled King James’ homecoming to Cleveland at the beginning of the year, which marked D-Fish’s signature first win as a head coach.

Cleveland is coming off a narrow victory Tuesday over the Milwaukee Bucks and will be hitting MSG at the start of a three-game road trip.

Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. ET, and the game will be nationally broadcast on TNT.

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