The Knicks were on the road tonight and lost 97-110 to the Lakers, who were shorthanded without LeBron James tonight. Despite that, the Knicks managed to get dominated throughout the game as they never took the lead in the whole night.
After the game, a frustrated Mike Brown spoke to the media and addressed the Knicks’ self-inflicted problems tonight.
“The bottom line is they kicked their behind on the glass. We did not box out their second-chance opportunities in terms of 15 points, which was something that you know we don’t give up. We can’t get beat in that area. And it was due to our inability to put bodies on bodies in boxing out. It’s the first thing,” said Brown during his opening remarks.
“And the second thing is, we fouled them. We got beat off the dribble often. We got beat middle and being really lazy about it, we’d reach at the last second and send them to the free throw line.”
“And then lastly, we didn’t take care of the basketball. That’s a recipe to get your behind kicked, especially on the road if you’re going to if you’re going to get beaten second chance points the way we did. Okay, without boxing out, if you’re going to reach because you can’t contain the basketball,” the Knicks’ head coach further added.
“All right, for the 30 free throws and then uh having uh 18 turnovers, that’s a recipe for disaster on the road, no matter who you play. So, you’ve got to give the Lakers credit.”
Subsequently, near the end of the press conference, Brown summarized the frustration such losses have caused him and the players.
“If we did those things, those self-inflicted things, uh, I would be frustrated, you know, whenever it is. And again, I just when they had something to do with it. They’re a good team. And I don’t want to take anything away from uh JJ and the rest of his staff and all their players. They earned that win.”
“But I thought we had some controllables that we didn’t do a good job of… And that’s the frustrating part. We didn’t give ourselves much of a chance to win this ball game. Not at any point, you know, and that’s what’s frustrating,” concluded Brown.
Instead of pointing towards players like Mikal Bridges for having an off-night on the offensive end (0 points, 0/6 from the field), Brown blamed the collective effort of the team for this loss to the Lakers.
Bridges has averaged 15.3 points per game this season, and the Knicks lost by 13 tonight; his contributions could easily have become the center of blame. However, Brown sees a bigger problem than just his individual shots not falling.
The Knicks have fallen to 41-24 for the season, are third in the Eastern Conference, and will now move on to face the Clippers at the Intuit Dome tomorrow night. Hopefully, they will not repeat the same mistakes against them.
Meanwhile, the Lakers have improved to 39-25, are fifth in the Western Conference, and are set to host the Timberwolves the day after tomorrow (Tuesday, March 10).
