NEW YORK _ The Knicks lost their eighth straight game Thursday night and it was about as mortifying as the previous outing.
It's still the first week of December and the Knicks season has flatlined. Rock bottom is hard to identify but the 129-92 defeat to the Nuggets was near the foundation. They are the worst team in the Eastern Conference at 4-18, one season after tying the franchise record with 65 defeats.
Team president Steve Mills can fire David Fizdale, but will it change anything? Probably not. The Knicks should be better than 4-18, but not exponentially better. They're not constructed as a playoff team, despite Mills doling out over $70 million in cap space over the summer.
Before Mills hijacked a postgame press conference last month _ at the urging of owner James Dolan _ Fizdale was unaware it was happening. A source said Fizdale thought he was about to be fired. But he survived. And the Knicks have gone 2-10 since.
Nuggets coach Mike Malone, who once upon a time was a Knicks assistant, backed his brethren.
"I give Fiz credit. His job is a tough job. We all know that. That comes with this job and that comes with this city. But he has them playing hard," Malone said. "He has them fighting. And that's something that I think he deserves credit for. Very tough, very physical, very hard playing team. And if we don't rebound for the third game in a row we're going to have a very hard time winning tonight."
Still, Mills can sell that the players stopped responding to Fizdale. He set a mandate of progress and the Knicks have just gotten worse. There was no excuse for their no-show Thursday. The Knicks had two off days leading up to the game. They had a fully healthy roster for the first time since the fourth game of the season because Elfrid Payton, who missed a month with a strained groin, returned to the rotation.
It didn't matter.
The Knicks trailed by 22 at the break and gave up. It followed another embarrassing 44-point defeat to the Bucks three nights prior in Milwaukee. The Garden crowd was apathetic even after paying top dollar for a seat. This has been going on for years.
On Thursday, the Knicks gave up 21 3-pointers and only made 9 of them. The Nuggets shot 21-of-38 from beyond the arc.
Another day at MSG. A Knicks interim coach, while inevitable this season, isn't going to make much of a difference.
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