Schmeelk: Knicks' Loss To Decimated Pelicans Might Be Worst of Season
By John Schmeelk
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I took three hours of my night Monday and just flushed it right down the toilet. I blame myself for this.
The Knicks' season has been really tough to watch since the end of January, and given how they are being coached, there isn't a whole lot to be gained from watching them play anymore. The roster and the coaching staff will be very different next year, making projecting to 2017 difficult. There's no first-round draft position in question.
But last week I was bored and nothing else was on TV, so I watched the Knicks beat the Bulls on the road on Wednesday night. Then I attended the game Thursday night and watched the Knicks beat the Bulls again on the second night of a home-and-home back-to-back. Kristaps Porzingis played well in both games, and the team was actually fun to watch, even if the success was more a product of the Bulls mailing it in than New York playing great basketball.
Predictably, the Knicks crashed down to earth against the Cavaliers on Saturday night, trailing by 20 at the half. But Monday night, they were playing a Pelicans team that was 26-46, two games in the loss column worse than the Knicks. They were missing Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson, Tyreke Evans, Norris Cole, Quincy Pondexter and Eric Gordon. Their roster is decimated.
This is who the Knicks had to try and beat (all of these players played 18 minutes or more besides Omer Asik): Jrue Holiday (only legit NBA starter), Asik, Dante Cunningham, Luke Babbitt, Alexis Ajinca, Alonzo Gee, Toney Douglas (yeah, that Toney Douglas), Kendrick Perkins, Tim Frazier, and Jordan Hamilton (just signed to a 10-day contract but had to play 18 minutes anyway).
There aren't many times in a season lately when you can say the Knicks are playing a team they are significantly more talented than. But Monday night was one of them. The Pelicans in their present state are awful.
Despite leading by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, the Knicks got outscored by 20 points in the final 21:46 of the game and lost by 10. The Knicks lost by 10 to that collection of D-Leaguers and bench players. In a season full of lows, this was a new depth of awful basketball.
Everything that has gone wrong for this team this year, and under interim coach Kurt Rambis, showed up Monday night. After getting an early lead, the team became complacent and stopped trying to defend. The Pelicans scored 50 points in the second half. The Knicks' offense became slow, stagnant and ineffective. According to Ian Begley, the Pelicans were 0-33 when scoring fewer than 100 points this year. Not anymore. Thanks, Knicks!
The Knicks' five guards (Jose Calderon, Sasha Vujacic, Jerian Grant, Langston Galloway, Arron Afflalo) combined to shoot 11-of-35 and score 28 points in 108 minutes. Other than Holiday, Douglas looked like the best guard on the court. After the game, Knicks fans could have said something like: "Boy, the Knicks could really use Toney Douglas and Luke Babbitt. Do you think Tim Frazier is a free agent this summer?" That's how bad it was.
Afflalo made every Knicks fan pray for the day he declines his $8 million player option. Consider what Chris Herring of The New York Times posted Monday night on Twitter:
He is absolutely right. Afflalo can be so bad at times, it makes you want to see Vujacic play, since at the very least he understands what he is capable of on offense and stays out of the way. Vujacic is not an NBA-caliber player, yet this statement was still categorically true.
Despite the team playing like garbage in the second half, Rambis declined to play Grant after an underwhelming 10-minute stint in the first half. Those minutes didn't go to Galloway, either. Instead, they went to Afflalo.
Rambis complained before the game that one reason Galloway isn't playing as well this year is because his role has been inconsistent, and it makes him nervous. Rambis does realize he controls the substitution patterns, right?
Right now, other than Carmelo Anthony, Robin Lopez and Porzingis, there isn't another player on the Knicks that would be guaranteed a rotation spot on a decent team in the NBA. Lance Thomas is their best shot. That's how sorry the roster is right now. Despite the fact the team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, Rambis proclaimed before the game that he will continue to play the veterans and not give Grant more playing time.
He obviously wants to win as many games as possible so he can keep his job. Knicks president Phil Jackson wants to be able to justify hiring him, so he wants the same thing. Sadly, both believe playing those same veterans that have showed very little motivation actually gives the team a better chance at winning.
It got so bad at the end of the Pelicans loss that a small child came out and gave Anthony a hug on the court. He just knew the Knicks star needed it. When the kid tried to leave the first time, Anthony pulled him back in for another hug. He needed the comforting, too.
That Knicks' loss might have been the most embarrassing one they have suffered all year. It was a culmination of all the bad basketball Knicks fans had been forced to watch all year. The pain is almost over with just seven games remaining. My advice: Learn from my mistake, and don't spend any more of your hours watching this team this season.
For everything Knicks, Giants and the world of sports, follow John on Twitter at @Schmeelk
