After falling to the reigning champion Golden State Warriors on Friday, the Knicks lost their second game in a row to the Suns on Sunday, falling to 8-9 on the season. Obviously, the Suns are a great team and are very hard to beat, but too many Knicks players disappointed in what should have been a winnable game.
I will say it was nice to see Quentin Grimes start in place of the injured Cam Reddish, as he played very nicely on both ends of the ball. While I’d like to criticize Tom Thibodeau for not playing him, it was likely due to Grimes’ foot injury that he may have still been dealing with.
As for the rest of this game, the Knicks must be better as they will face great teams in their coming games.
3 takeaways from the Knicks’ aggravating loss to the Suns
3: Knicks continue to struggle against good teams
The Knicks have yet to obtain a win against a quality team this season. While they’ve beaten teams like the Nuggets and 76ers, the Knicks barely squeaked by when both teams were missing their best players.
It was quite obvious before the season that the Knicks were not built to compete against high-level teams, so this is not surprising to see. However, the way in which New York continuously disappoints against top teams in the league needs to be discussed.
This team does not have the star power to push them over the edge against these great teams. While players like Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson have stepped up and had great performances, they are, for the most part, just very good players and the Knicks need more than just them.
Not only do the Knicks lack an elite defensive player that can help slow down an opposing team’s best player, but they also lack the offensive juggernaut that can match the scoring output of an opposing star.
Brunson has had many moments of being an elite offensive player, but his limitations on defense and lack of help at times on offense allow him to only do so much.
With all the rumors surrounding the team’s likelihood of trading for a star, who knows, maybe a move is on the way soon.
Regardless, the Knicks must be better against the top teams in the league if they want to have a chance to make the play-in/playoffs. You can only feed off of the bottom teams in the NBA for so long before you have to suit up against some juggernauts.