Getty Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks is held back by Julius Randle after a called foul.
Once immersed in an awe-inspiring three-game winning streak, the New York Knicks have fallen a long way from their 3-1 start to the season, as they have now dropped three straight with their latest loss coming in a demoralizing defeat at home against the Hawks.
During the early portions of their November 2 contest, it seemed as though the club was easily going to be coasting to their fourth win of the season, as they found themselves firing on all cylinders and even managed to accumulate a lead that ballooned to 23-points late into the second quarter.
Unfortunately, an NBA game consists of four periods, and it was during the latter two that things just flat-out fell apart for the Knickerbockers.
Led by the two-way menace Dejounte Murray and his 13 points, 6 assists, two steals, and a block (finished the game with 36 points, 9 assists, and 6 steals), Atlanta went on to outscore New York 55-34 from the third period on, holding New York to 30.2% shooting from the floor and 10.5% shooting from deep while also forcing a whopping 10 turnovers.
With this second-half surge, the Hawks were able to pull out a hard-fought 112-99 victory, thrusting them to 5-3 on the season while dropping the Knicks to 3-4.
Though stunned and disappointed by the outcome of game number seven, the team still addressed the media afterward in their locker room and, when asked by a reporter why the Knicks couldn’t catch their “rhythm”, Jalen Brunson cast the blame for their shortcomings on one person: himself.
“We just came out a little lackadaisical,” Brunson told the reporter. “As a point guard, as a leader, I got to take credit for that. I mean, that’s just unacceptable on my part.”
Despite accepting the blame for the Knicks’ latest loss, Brunson finished the night as arguably the team’s most productive player, posting 20 points, 5 assists, 1 rebound, and 1 block on 53.3% shooting from the field.
Knicks Fans Blast Randle
Though Jalen Brunson took it upon himself to take responsibility for the team’s upsetting loss against Atlanta, it appears that New York’s fanbase is pointing its fingers in a different direction.
After looking like his 2020-21 All-Star self to kick off the season, big man Julius Randle has slowly reverted to the version that drove fans and media pundits up a wall in 2021-22.
During this losing streak the power forward finds himself posting underwhelming averages of 14.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on a putrid 34.3% shooting from the floor overall (has missed all nine of his three-point attempts) whilst sporting a box plus-minus rating of -10.7.
Against the Hawks, he had yet another lowly performance and was nowhere to be found during their pivotal second-half demolition, as he put up just 3 points and grabbed just 3 rebounds on 1-of-4 shooting (finished the night with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists).
Directly after the final buzzer sounded, fans headed to social media to voice their frustrations over the Knicks’ brutal efforts, and couldn’t help but blast Randle’s performance, with one fan going as far as to urge the team’s front office to trade the 26-year-old away for “literally anything.”
RJ Barrett and Julius Randle cannot exist on the same team together. We’ve known this for 3 years now. Please move Randle for literally anything.
Even the Randle-apologist “Big Knick Energy” podcast tweeted out their frustrations with the big’s play, questioning his unnecessary on-ball usage.
Why did we sign Jalen Brunson if Julius Randle is going to continue to bring up the basketball?
Despite his shooting struggles on the night, Julius Randle still went on to hoist 12 shot attempts from the floor and tied for second on the team with four three-point attempts, missing each one.
Knicks Coach Sounds Off on ‘Ugly’ Game
A hot seat seemingly got even hotter with this loss to the Atlanta Hawks, as Tom Thibodeau has received a large chunk of the blame from the media for their recent demise.
Having said that, the veteran head coach is not outwardly focusing on his job status at the moment but, rather, his team’s play. During a post-game media session, Thibodeau sounded off on New York’s production, and chalked the loss up to several different reasons.
“It’s probably a compilation of things. We missed some shots. We didn’t protect the basket as well as we should have. We turned it over, [we] had a lot of live ball turnovers,” Thibodeau said.
He would continue by stating that the team “can make a mistake,” so long as they get back and hustle to make up for it. Unfortunately, against Atlanta, they simply made too many mistakes that hustle alone could not save.