New York — When his team walked off the court after falling behind, it rained down abuses. dallas mavericks from 30 points, nix Coach Mike Brown decided that talking about the X’s and O’s in the locker room would be a waste of time.
“Lock in at halftime and do your job… there’s nothing else that could have been said other than do your job,” Brown said, catching himself as he began to use profanity during his news conference Monday.
His message may be hard to hear, anyway, over the fans at Madison Square Garden who were loudly showing how fed up they are with a team that is losing control of a season with championship aspirations.
The Knicks have gone from NBA Cup champions to not even getting out of the play-in tournament, thanks to a January freefall that saw them lose for the ninth time in 11 games. lost 114-97 To the Mavericks.
What has gone wrong since the Knicks won the Cup in Las Vegas last month?
“There are a lot of things to figure out, but I mean as a team we know what we have to do,” the captain Jalen Brunson Said. “It’s either we do it, we care enough to do it, or we don’t.”
Brunson was announced as an All-Star starter early Monday, then he and his fellow starters josh hart He was cleared to recover from his injuries. It was a festive day inside Madison Square Garden.
Instead, the Knicks trailed 16–4 minutes into the game and trailed 75–45 just before halftime. It marked only the sixth time the Knicks have given up 75 points in the opening half at MSG.
Hart said, “I’ve never seen the kind of effort that we had today. It was shameful.”
Brown read off stats that showed how embarrassing it was: 27 fast-break points for the Mavericks in the first half and 28 in the paint — against an injury-plagued opponent without a true post-up player, he noted.
Brown inherited a talented and experienced roster when the Knicks surprisingly fired Tom Thibodeau despite reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years. Brown started the Knicks 23-9, but they are now 25-18.
Brunson was asked how the team begins the soul-searching process.
“It should have started a few weeks ago, but we have to start tomorrow,” he said.
Brunson was seen trying to urge his teammates during a second-quarter timeout during the nationally televised game on NBC, but he did not say afterward what his message was. Neither he nor Brown could explain the no-show in the first half.
The momentum largely stalled in the second half, although they bounced back in the fourth quarter. carl-anthony town Was thrown out of the game. Towns said he felt the disappointment of the day when the Knicks not only did not win but “really didn’t even have a chance.”
“The fans are doing their thing and we’ve got to do ours,” Towns said.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks welcome back star rookie cooper flag. He had 18 points in his first pro game at Madison Square Garden after missing Dallas’ previous two games, both wins utah jazzDue to sprain in left ankle. The No. 1 pick also had seven rebounds.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
