Knicks Star Kemba Walker Addresses Major Concern: ‘We Got to Fix It’

kemba walker blow late lead new york knicks

Getty Kemba Walker defends Svi Mykhailiuk.

The New York Knicks have gotten off to a great start this season, sitting at a nice 5-2 record through seven games, but there’s been a worrisome trend popping up a lot despite the early success.

First rearing its ugly head in the double overtime win over the Boston Celtics to start the season, the Knicks blew a late double digit lead, but still managed to come away with a win.

However, they blew a 15 point lead over the Toronto Raptors, who were without their star player Pascal Siakam, and in ended up in a loss.

Obviously, this isn’t a recipe for a ton of success going forward, despite the fact that the Knicks have gotten pretty lucky so far.

Starting point guard Kemba walker is well aware of this and he has pointed to this area and something that needs to be cleaned up going forward.


Walker Takes Blame

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GettyKemba Walker celebrating.

As one of the leaders on the team, Walker believes it’s on him to stop this from happening.

“I think at times, we just get a little bit complacent,” Walker said via the New York Post. “We’ve gotten big leads and we just kind of cough them up. We got to be better. Myself, I got to be better controlling the team, just making sure the pace is staying the same. We have to be better in our huddles, we got to talk about it more and understand what’s been hurting us and figure out what’s been going on during these big leads. We got to fix it.”

While the offense mostly runs through Julius Randle, Walker still plays a big role in the pace of the game. Of course, big leads being lost is nothing new in the NBA in this age. All it takes is one team to get hot from three and a 20 point lead is wiped away just like that.

Coach Tom Thibodeau pointed that fact out and said it’s important to understand that.

“Leads disappear … just because of the way teams are shooting 3s,” he said. “You can make up ground quickly. You let your guard down and you give up three 3s in transition in a minute, that’s 10 points. It can go quickly. So no lead is safe.”


Can the Knicks Clean it Up?

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GettyJulius Randle drives against the Raptors.

A well coached team like the New York Knicks will likely be able to right these wrongs and wipe them out going forward.

Strong veteran leadership is a big part of being successful in the NBA, and the Knicks have a bunch of that with Thibs, Derrick Rose, Walker and even Julius Randle who is coming off his first All-Star appearance.

It’s still early in the season, so whatever the Knicks have to get worked out can still happen, and it’s a good thing that dominoes have fallen their way so far. Despite this clear weakness, the Knicks have proven they can hang with anybody in the NBA, so the future does seem bright if the issues can get cleaned up.

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