New York, N.Y.- The New York Knicks suffered yet another tough loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night. After losing on Tuesday to Boston, and Detroit on Thursday, the Knicks came back home hoping to get the win against the number one team in the NBA’s eastern conference. The Knicks were missing star big man Karl-Anthony Towns due to a knee injury, while the Cavaliers were without their Star Donovan Mitchell for the contest.
With a win against the Cavs the Knicks were looking to build some confidence heading into the playoffs, and it looked pretty good early on as the Knicks led by as much as 23 points with eight minutes to go in the second quarter. From that point forward, it looked like a different Knick team. The Cavs were able to put together a run to finish the quarter as they cut the lead to 12 points going into halftime.
After halftime, the Knicks just could not find rhythm as they were outscored 58-40. The Knicks did not shoot the ball well compared to the first half. They shot 27 percent from the field and 24 percent from the three point line in the second half. Not being able to score and allowing their opponent to shoot 57 percent from the field and 39 percent from three-point range is the reason the Knicks eventually lost this game 108-102.
After the Loss Head Coach Tom Thibodeau was not happy with his team’s performance on the night and the fact that the Knicks were winless against the top teams in the eastern conference this season.
” You’ve gotta have rhythm going into the playoffs… This has to be changed quickly,” said Coach Thibodeau.
The Knicks play again on Sunday in their final regular season against Brooklyn, the Knicks will look to get past this performance and potentially build confidence with a win against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.
The starters were not ruled out although the Knicks have clinched the third spot in the Eastern Conference. When asked about if his starters will be resting Sunday, Coach Thibodeau said “We will deal with Sunday, on Sunday”.
Having the third seed means that the Knicks will be facing the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
“We know who the opponent is and we know they’re good and we’re going to prepare for them,” said Thibodeau.
