Following the New York Knicks loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday Courtney Lee and Tim Hardaway Jr. let loose on what’s wrong.
The New York Knicks have had the same starting five in all three games. Two of those five sounded off about how bad things have been so far this season. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee spoke to reporters following the brutal Celtics loss.
The Knicks stayed winless and Tuesday’s loss to Boston keeps them in the fine company of the lowly Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls. The Knicks fall to 0-3 after a second blowout in three games. So, what’s the problem?
Well, they only scored 89 points. That happens when your two top guys are so bad. Hardaway and Kristaps Porzingis combine for 18 points on 5-of-25 shooting. According to Hardaway and Lee, it’s about more than just that.
Lee tells Ian Begley of ESPN New York that the team is struggling to execute plays. They need to pay better attention in practice
Via ESPN:
“It was a lot of possessions like a normal eye might not see it, but we messed up on a lot of plays where the ball wasn’t getting delivered on time or one or two guys not being on the same page as far as the playcalling. That’s on us. We’ve got to pay attention more in practice, make sure we execute more when we’re out there…. There’s plays that we go over in practice, if we’re messing up in practice and we’re messing up in games we got to understand these plays and get in those positions to where we’re executing and being sharp. If we miss shots, we miss shots. That’s part of the game. But not being in the right position takes away a shot for your teammates. We got to learn the plays.”
When asked what went wrong during Tuesday’s loss, the $71 million man didn’t hold back. He’s been struggling more than any other player on the team.
“Everything. Nothing – couldn’t get anything offensively. We’re all out there just running like we don’t know what’s going on. It can’t happen. It’s frustrating at the same time, but it’s still early in the season. We’ve just got to go to the drawing boards and get back to practice, just go out there knowing what we have to do offensively and defensively,” said Hardaway, who missed 9 of 11 shots after going 4-for-16 against Detroit. “…. You guys see it out there. It’s no secret. We’re turning the ball over, lackadaisical out there. Nothing seems crisp really. I mean, yeah, that comes with not really that much experience all together, like all these other teams. But at the same time we can control what we can control, that’s keeping the ball in our hands and executing properly.”