4. Consistency is key
Consistency is something that all teams struggle with at times during the season, whether it’s a dominant team that hits a lull in a long season or a young team learning the ropes. For the Knicks, it is a combination of both, and it was on full display during the road trip.
There are a lot of new faces on the Knicks this season and players in new roles. They have shown better cohesion at times, but there are also times they fail to put together full games.
Multiple times this road trip the Knicks were unable to put together a full four quarters. The games against the Memphis Grizzlies and Nuggets stick out.
The Knicks received no help from the referees against the Grizzlies, but had they played the first three quarters as they did the fourth quarter, it would not have mattered. Against Denver, the Knicks gave up 130 points, allowing the Nuggets to shoot 60 percent from the field. They put forth effort on the defensive side of the ball for maybe one quarter, putting themselves in too big a hole to climb out of.
Some nights, a team just doesn’t have it. No one has ever gone undefeated in the NBA, and it is unlikely to ever happen. However, effort is something that every player can bring on a nightly basis. Had the Knicks done that more consistently, they could have come away from this road trip with a winning record.