Well how about that? The Knicks lost. That is now 16 losses in a row. But there was a silver lining. Carmelo Anthony made his return. But like LeBron James the other day. He returned to get beat despite a decent return. 25 points for Carmelo Anthony.
While I was watching the game, I noticed on glaring problem. I know, I know. They have more than one glaring problem. But one I focused on especially was their inability to rebound the basketball!
There was one play where Zaza Pachulia had 4 opportunities to score, getting seemingly endless offensive rebounds against three Knicks players who were also attempting to grab the rock. It was amazing to watch. Pachulia ended the game with 14 rebounds.
Milwaukee started the game shooting in the 50-55% range. It took New York 6 minutes to get a basket. The Bucks led by 20 for most of the game.
But New York suddenly had a pulse during the 4th quarter. They removed a 21 point deficit, shaving it down to 9. I genuinely thought “Are they actually going to steal this game?! Are the Milwaukee Bucks actually allowing this?!” but as I wrote mathematical equations on a blackboard trying to find out how the Knicks are coming back. It stopped.
They suddenly flatlined and that was the ball game. Technically, the Milwaukee Bucks were at home, and they played as if they were in the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Giannis Antetokounmpo bullied the Knicks in the first quarter dropping 9, ending the game with 16 points. Brandon Knight got a smooth 20 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds and 6 steals. OJ Mayo dropped 22 points.
I leave you with a quote from Derek Fisher. It says it all really. The 16 game losing streak. The turmoil. The whole Knicks half of a season. In one quote.
“We didn’t give ourselves much of a chance after the first few minutes of the game,“
