When Jason Kidd retired and broke his 3-year deal to become Nets head coach, many Knicks fans celebrated. They were down on Kidd, who couldn’t make a basket in the playoffs.
But they clearly forgot the effect he had during the 54-28 regular season, which included a 6-0 start: ball movement and reduction in turnovers.
After the Nets beat the Heat on Friday night, Dwyane Wade said, “It’s the Jason Kidd effect. They move the ball. Everywhere he has been, his team has moved the ball.’’
This Knicks edition is so far are nothing like the 2012-13 Knicks, who from Day 1 led the NBA in fewest turnovers. The biggest takeaway from Sunday’s alarming 109-100 loss to the Timberwolves was their continued sloppiness with the ball.
In the first quarter, when the Knicks fell behind 40-19, the T’wolves scored 12 fast-break points — off six turnovers. Carmelo Anthony had five turnovers. The passing is lazy and lacking purpose.
Anthony said the turnovers woes are occurring because the Knicks are “thinking too much.’’
“We’re out there thinking too much and second-guessing ourselves,’’ Anthony said. “When you do that, you’re going to make mistakes and turn the basketball over. It’s different when we’re just having fun and playing basketball out there, going with our gut and first instinct. It’s night and day out there.’’
The Knicks have committed a whopping 53 turnovers in the first three games, contributing to their 1-2 start. These aren’t Kidd’s Knicks. Not even close.
Two other elements out of the Minnesota debacle that were raised after Thursday’s loss in Chicago:
— Woodson is putting too much trust into Tim Hardaway Jr. and not enough in Andrea Bargnani. Again it was Hardaway on the court down the stretch, and he was 0-for-7 from the 3-point line. Woodson has acknowledged Hardaway has to mix up his game, use his “escape dribble” and not settle for the 3-pointer.
Hardaway’s big minutes are coming at the expense of Bargnani, who settled in for a nice shooting game, going 6-for-10, including 2-for-4 from beyond the 3-point line. But he played just 19 minutes and didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
— Anthony’s efficiency is way down. He scored 22 points on 21 shots. He’s rebounding excellently and playing good defense, but he’s a max contract guy because of his offense. Compare Anthony’s night to Kevin Martin’s: The shooting guard scored 30 points on 12 shots. Wow, what a difference.