The Knicks are sixth in the Eastern Conference, but have shown alarming futility against the league’s best teams, writes Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post. The trend continued Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden when a 19-point loss to the Bucks dropped New York to a combined 0-7 against Milwaukee, Boston and Minnesota. They are 16-5 when facing anyone else.
Vaccaro points out that the schedule gives the Knicks several upcoming chances to prove they can beat an elite team. There’s a rematch on Christmas Day with the Bucks, followed by a visit from the Timberwolves on Jan. 1 and a trip to Philadelphia four days later for the first meeting of the season with the Sixers.
Coach Tom Thibodeau found today’s loss particularly frustrating because Milwaukee controlled the game from the start.
“They have a lot of weapons, so you have to fly around, and there were times when we did that and times when we didn’t do as well as we should have,” Thibodeau said. “We were a step behind in every aspect of the game, a low-energy game. We have to recover, we didn’t move without the ball, we didn’t run on the pitch like we usually do. We need those hustle points.”