New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale discusses what went wrong in his team’s loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Chris Iseman, Staff Writer, @chrisiseman
WASHINGTON — The Knicks had tied the Washington Wizards with just less than 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday, putting themselves in position to pull off a win against a team that had gotten off to an awful start to the season.
But something that's affected the Knicks at times through their previous nine games had occurred once again: They couldn't close out the final minutes of the game and it ended up costing them in a 108-95 loss to one of the worst teams in the NBA.
Here are three things that went wrong for the Knicks:
1. Mitchell Robinson's frustration gets the best of him
Robinson plays with a lot of emotion. He's intense, but he's still young. Sometimes those emotions get the best of him, and they did on Sunday night.
It happened during what turned out to be a pivotal sequence with just less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
First Robinson was blocked by Bradley Beal as he went for a basket. Then on the ensuing play on the other end, Robinson fouled Jeff Green. Green sank both free throws.
Because he continued to argue with the officials, Robinson was assessed a technical foul.
Beal made the foul shot. The Wizards took a nine-point lead and it grew from there.
After the game, coach David Fizdale didn't necessarily have a problem with Robinson's emotion. He likes that the young center plays with some fire. Earlier in the game, Allonzo Trier and John Wall were assessed double technicals for jawing back and forth.
The emotion isn't the problem for Robinson. He just can't let it cost the Knicks.
"Yeah I think we all had some frustration," Fizdale said. "But we gotta be able to control our emotions. That’s a good lesson for him. In the moment. He has to be able to play through that stuff and move on to the next play. But again, that’s all part of his education."
2. Bad offense
For the game, the Knicks shot just 39-of-93 (41.9 percent) from the field and a paltry 5-of-27 (18.5) percent from the perimeter.
That wasn't good enough against a bad Wizards team that was last in the NBA in points allowed per game.
The Knicks' offense just stalled at times, especially late in the game.
Fizdale said some breakdowns on defense led the Knicks to lose their organization on the other end of the floor.
"So when you see me over there losing my hat about getting organized, that’s really what it’s about," Fizdale said. "Because once we get organized we really understand our jobs. But there’s pockets of the game where we drift mentally and all it takes is one or two guys to be in the wrong place and your sets are broken down."
The Knicks actually shot well in the third quarter, going 12-of-21 (57.1 percent) from the field, but then they were just 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) in the final period, during which they were outscored, 27-17.
"These are the things I’m trying to teach them," Fizdale said. "How to play through runs, how to weather getting punched on the road, things like that. How to deal with when you don’t agree with officiating. All of those things are lessons I’m trying to work with these young bucks on."
Losing Tim Hardaway Jr. for a stretch in the first half didn't help things.
Hardaway was kneed in the back by John Wall as he went for a basket. He came back into the game but was far from 100 percent and finished with just seven points on 2-of-10 shooting.
3. Too many turnovers
The Knicks entered Sunday committing about 13 turnovers per game, but committed 18 against the Wizards, which led to 22 points for Washington.
The Wizards pressured the Knicks, who didn't do a good enough job taking care of the basketball.
Frank Ntilikina had four turnovers on his own.
"I thought defensively they did an overall good job," Fizdale said. "They definitely affected us because we were turning the ball over. Very careless with the ball tonight and they deserve a lot of credit for that."
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