The Milwaukee Bucks took it to the New York Knicks from the opening tip and David Fizdale is still searching for answers.
The New York Knicks dropped a seventh-straight game in what was their worst loss of the season. The 44-point blowout at the hands of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks was over before it started according to Knicks head coach David Fizdale.
Coach Fiz disappointed in lack of confidence going into tonights game pic.twitter.com/4VMu77PwaV
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) December 3, 2019
“Whatever word you want to use for it,” Fizdale said in response to a question about the lack of defensive tenacity. “Lack of tenacity, intensity, focus, competitiveness. Like I said, I don’t think we came into this game believing that we can win this game and that’s what was the most disappointing. I felt like going into every other game we felt like we could come out and compete and beat anybody. But tonight, we didn’t come out with the idea that we could beat this team.”
“We didn’t come out with the right mindset for whatever reason,” Fiz later added. “Whatever my motivational talk was didn’t take hold I guess, but we’ll bounce back, we’ll get into the film, we’ll own it, we’ll watch it, and we’ll get ready for another good basketball team.”
Monday marks yet another double-digit loss and their sixth by 20-plus points this season. It’s been a bumpy ride for Fiz and the Knicks and there aren’t many breaks in the upcoming schedule.
Home games against the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers precede a four-game road trip that includes matchups with the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, and Denver Nuggets.
Fizdale is going to have to figure out how to motivate his team against top-tier competition to avoid another blowout loss at the hands of a playoff team.
