The Knicks lost their ninth straight game last night to the Pelicans, 103-99, and they’re now tied for the worst record in the Eastern Conference at 3-13 on the year. Tyson Chandler is still out with a fractured fibula, and Iman Shumpert is getting shopped to perspective trade partners. All is not right in New York City right now, so it makes sense Knicks totem Carmelo Anthony believes the Knicks are “playing to lose.”
Anthony sounded off on his team after the tight loss to the Pellies:
“I think we’re playing to lose rather than playing to win right now,” Anthony said after the Knicks’ 103-99 loss to New Orleans on Sunday. “When you lose games the way we’ve been losing them at home, on the road, you start thinking a lot. You start playing a little tense. You start playing on your heels.
“We just can’t seem to get it together. […] We can’t seem to figure it out.”
If there was one play on Sunday that serves as a microcosm for New York’s defensive breakdowns, miscommunication and roiling tension between teammates, it was when Iman Shumpert got into a shouting match with Anthony in the third quarter. The squabble followed a Ryan Anderson three-pointer where Anthony switched onto Jrue Holiday and Shump was left scrambling back to Anderson.
Shump did not play after the verbal volley with Anthony on the bench, and told told the New York Post the spat came after “a miscommunication” on defense. Following the altercation, Shumpert did not play for the rest of the game.
“Of course I wanted to play,” Shumpert said. “Tim [Hardaway Jr.] was making shots. J.R. [Smith] had it rolling. We were just trying to get a win.”
Anthony declined to talk about Shumpert with the NY Post following the loss.
(video courtesy of PBT)
Hardaway’s excellent play in his rookie season, combined with this little shouting match directed at New York’s star player, and Shumpert isn’t long for New York. While coach Mike Woodson has downplayed the acrimony between him and Shump, owner James Dolan already tried to deal him this summer despite Shumpert’s respectful soundbites, and the Knicks have actively tried to acquire Rajon Rondo in a package that included Shumpert.
Nobody seems to have the answer for what’s ailing the Knicks (and Nets for that matter), and the interpersonal dynamics with the lame duck Shumpert on the roster shrouds the team in a bubble of in-fighting. ‘Melo is right, though, the Knicks can’t seem to figure it out as they try and dig themselves out of the hole they’ve created in the first month of the 2013-14 season.
[vid via beyondthebuzzercom]
Are the Knicks playing to lose?
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