New York Knicks: Tim Hardaway Jr. explains third quarter woes
The New York Knicks have consistently struggled in the third quarter. Tim Hardaway Jr. explained what’s gone wrong for the Knicks.
When the New York Knicks squared off against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, Feb. 14, the 2017-18 NBA regular season was summarized by a tale of two halves. New York led Washington by as many as 27 points, yet somehow managed to lose 118-113 at The Mecca.
It was a loss that epitomized the season, as the Knicks started strong, slowed down in the second quarter, and crashed and burned in the third.
The star of the show for the Knicks was Tim Hardaway Jr., who broke out of an extended funk by scoring 37 points. 32 of those points were scored in the first half, which is both impressive and a symbol for what went wrong for the now 23-36 team in the orange and blue.
According to Marc Berman of The New York Post, Hardaway touched upon what New York has too often avoided: The topic of its dreadful third quarter play.
"“We get in those situations we can’t be tentative,’’ Hardaway said. “That’s what happens to us all year in third quarters. We’ll come out thinking we got the game won and team will put a little run together. It’s just always too late. When we come to third quarters we have to be ready. It’s frustrating. It’s embarrassing.”"
The Knicks have been one of the better first-half teams in the NBA, but they’ve been the antithesis of the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter.
Golden State is known for ending games in the third quarter and New York has been able to do the same. The difference, of course, is that the Warriors come out of halftime in top form, breaking games open and often rendering the fourth quarter meaningless.
The Knicks haven’t been quite as fortunate, as they’ve instead been coughing up halftime leads by losing sight of what put them in said position.
Thankfully, Hardaway has broken the silence and acknowledged the fact that the Knicks have become far too comfortable in a position of control.
Thus far in 2017-18, New York is being outscored by a mere 1.3 points per 100 possessions during the first half of games. Come the third quarter, that deficit increases to an overwhelming 7.3 points per 100 possessions.
It’s being outscored by just 0.8 points per 100 possessions in the fourth quarter, which provides all the evidence one needs to support the claim that the third quarter is New York’s achilles heel..
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The question is: Will the New York Knicks finally address those third quarter woes during an actual game?