Knicks captain Jalen Brunson didn’t mince words.
After back-to-back blowout losses on national television to both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, Brunson said his team should be “embarrassed” and needs to “wake the hell up” if they expect to compete for a championship.
“The frustrating part about all this is we have what it takes, we have the personnel, we have everything we need in that locker room. We’ve just gotta put it together,” Brunson said on the Feb. 27 episode of his Roommates Podcast with Josh Hart. “The X’s and O’s and all that stuff. That’s an easy fix. But the amount of times we’ve been embarrassed on national television, that should ring a bell.
“That should be a wake-up call in itself, not just for those games, but for the rest of the season. We’ve gotta wake the hell up.”
The Knicks fell to 0-7 against the NBA’s top three teams over the weekend, and the way they’ve lost is just as troubling as the record itself.
These aren’t nail-biters. They are blowouts — the kind that suggest an inevitable second-round clash between the No. 3 Knicks and No. 2 Celtics would be more formality than fight, barring a major shift in performance.
With the Cavaliers (48-10) six-and-a-half games ahead of Boston for the top seed and the Knicks (38-20) four-and-a-half games clear of Indiana for the No. 3 spot, New York is on a direct collision course with the reigning champions in Round 2.
And right now? That’s looking like a matchup they’re not ready for, though Brunson pointed out the Knicks had momentum in a handful of the losses.
“I’ve got a lot to say but I think the main focus that we should have is obviously use [the 0-7 record] to push ourselves — but it sucks because the first time we played Cleveland at The Garden, we were up 14. Lost. We played OKC. We were up [14]. Lost. So we’ve shown that we’ve competed, right?” he said on the Feb. 27 episode. “Boston, we cut it to four last time, and then obviously s–t the bed the rest of the game. But I see where we have opportunities to where we can be aggressive and pounce on them and win.”
More concerning than the 0-7 record itself has been the margin of defeat against the top teams.
The Knicks lost to:
- Boston by 13 on Feb. 23, but trailed by as much as 27, then cut the lead to four before the Celtics went on a game-sealing run
- Cleveland by 37 on Feb. 21. A no-contest
- Boston by 27 on Feb. 8. Another no-contest.
- Cleveland by six on Oct. 28 in a game they led by double digits
- Boston by 23 in the season opener on a night the Celtics tied the NBA record for threes made in a game and led by as much as 37
There are also the disappointing losses to the Thunder: by 25 on Jan. 10 and a blown 14-point lead turning into a 10-point loss a week earlier on Jan. 3.
Hart suggested the 0-7 record gave each player an opportunity to look themselves in the mirror.
“For a team to see that stat and to recognize it, I think it could be taken two ways. It could be taken extremely beneficial because it could put you in a position of being humbled and realizing where we have a lot of room to go if we want to compete with these guys and these teams,” he said. “Or it could kind of break a team and you think you’re not as good as these teams.
“I think with the mentality that we have and the character of the team that we have, I think it would be the first one. I think it would be more of a humbling statistic for us and shows us that we have great players and good talent.”
The Knicks (38-20) will have a shot at redemption, though not until the final weeks of the regular season.
They will play the Cavaliers (48-10) in Cleveland on April 2 and at MSG on April 11 and have one more matchup at home against the Celtics on April 8.
“We’ve gotta go out there, and we’ve gotta put forth the effort every game and every possession and not concede easy baskets or start the game off slow or anything like that,” said Hart. “We’ve gotta start pushing ourselves to the limit on both ends of the floor, which is why I’m not really panicking with that stat. It will open our eyes to realizing we have to get to another level individually and as a team obviously. But I think we’ll do that.”
