CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Another dud by the Knicks starters, another failed save by their better bench.
If this sounds like a broken record, it’s because the trend is real and alarming. Friday’s 104-96 loss to the Hornets was the most obvious and disturbing instance.
The starters were awful after the first quarter, then watched as the reserves — led by Obi Toppin and Alec Burks — sparked a comeback to take a fourth-quarter lead.
Unlike Wednesday’s loss to the Bucks, coach Tom Thibodeau reinserted most of the starters to close the game. And then they blew it.
From the moment Kemba Walker came back with about five minutes left, the Knicks were outscored 13-3. Walker, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett combined for one point in the fourth quarter and Evan Fournier, the $78 million signing, remained benched for that final period. He had just five points.
The Knicks (7-6) have dropped five of their last seven games.
The starters were already under fire following a string of duds and an agitated Thibodeau remark calling excuses for their struggles “bull----.”
They were responsible for Wednesday’s loss to the Bucks, but, at first, appeared to recover in Charlotte. Behind a Walker revival, the starters led 25-11 after just seven minutes.
Walker was arguably the greatest Hornet ever and certainly the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. He was a beloved All-Star but enough on the downside in 2019 for the Hornets to bid adieu in free agency.
His knee pain became a hindrance at his next stop in Boston, and the Knicks took an $18 million gamble on the Bronx-bred point guard. It has looked problematic to start this season.
Walker clearly lost his All-Star explosiveness, leaving Thibodeau to rely more on backup Derrick Rose. But it clicked for Walker in familiar territory in that first quarter. Walker’s 19 points at the half matched his combined output of the four previous games combined.
So call it throwback week in Carolina. Walker went off at the Spectrum Center and Cam Newton signed with the Panthers.
Then it fell apart. Walker became a nonfactor despite finishing with 26 points, and his night ended by getting rejected embarrassingly at the rim by LaMelo Ball (12 points, 17 rebounds, nine assists, five steals) near the final buzzer. The Knicks starters were outscored in the third quarter, 31-11.
Randle, meanwhile, continued to force the issue and struggle. After Wednesday morning’s shootaround, Fournier declared the root of the problem as a stagnant offense.
“Are we playing not as well because we are missing shots or are we missing shots because we aren’t sharing the ball? It’s always that question that you’ve got to ask yourself,” Fournier said. “In my opinion, it’s because we aren’t getting good shots and we aren’t working the defense well enough.”
Randle (10 points, eight rebounds, five assists), who is probably the biggest culprit of ball-stopping, responded with more isolations. He appeared willing to give up the rock in the first quarter, when Randle took just two shots and picked up four assists.
But he shot a miserable 4 for 15 on Friday. It might’ve been his worst game of thus far. With the way this is going, it probably won’t be his worst of the month.
