Nights like the no-show the Knicks pulled in the first quarter at the Garden Sunday night happen in the NBA. The energy is not there; the shots don’t fall; the hustle seems half-hearted.
It’s an 82-game season. We get that. It’s why the Knicks will shrug off their 109-100 loss to the Timberwolves as “one of those nights” when they gave up 40 points in the first quarter, fell behind by 23 points in the second and never got it all back.
But if the Knicks are to become all they want to be this season, a team that seriously can challenge the Heat and the Bulls and reach the NBA Finals, then they can’t have many more nights like Sunday’s opening act at home.
“We can’t come out that way and expect to win,” center Tyson Chandler said. “We won every other quarter. If we start the game correct, we win the basketball game.”
Wearing their orange uniforms at home for the first time (they’re now 0-2 in those threads), the Knicks played like over-stuffed pumpkins, allowing an unthinkable 40 points in the first quarter before trailing 64-49 at halftime.
It was as if the Knicks would have rather stayed home and watched the NFL than defend their home court. They seemed flat and uninterested as Minnesota opened with a bundle of energy and hot shooting. The Timberwolves buried 66.7 percent from the field in the opening quarter, while the Knicks shot just 30.4 percent.
“That was the difference in the game,” Knick coach Mike Woodson said. “You just can’t come out on your home court and dig a hole and fight so tough to get back in the game. Give [Minnesota] credit. They played solid all the way through.”
Most of the Timberwolves’ 12 fast-break points in the first quarter came off the six turnovers by the Knicks, a sloppy start that kept them running up hill.
“We were throwing the ball away and they were scoring layups on the other end,” Chandler said. “We gave them a lot of easy buckets.”
The first time the building came alive 3:20 remained in the third quarter. That’s when rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. broke free and threw down a thunderous dunk that cut Minnesota’s lead to 82-69. Finally the Garden had hope.
The Knicks worked their deficit down to 100-98 on an Iman Shumpert 3-pointer with 4:49 to play. But that’s where the gas tank reached empty and the Timberwolves pulled out the win.
“When you dig yourself a hole like that it’s hard to get out of,” Kenyon Martin said. “I think we need to learn from this. I think guys realize that. We can’t give up 40 points in the first quarter to nobody.”
As much as Woodson preaches about protecting home this was a disappointing example of it. There was no excuse for the Knicks performance early in the game. They were coming off two straight off days. Their legs were fresh.
This is the kind of game that scares you about the Knicks: nights when they can’t find scoring; nights when their defense isn’t as tight as it needs to be; nights when they don’t bring enough intensity. They were overwhelmed at the free-throw line where Minnesota made 29-of-38 to the Knicks 11-of-13. The home team also made just 9-of-32 from 3-point range, including a 0-for-7 from Hardaway.
Whether it was trouble adjusting to the “big” starting lineup that included Andrea Bargnani and Shumpert or simply just a bad quarter, the Knicks can’t afford to have many more nights like this. Not this season. The Knicks simply aren’t good enough to bring their C-game and expect to beat anybody.