Another slow start dooms Knicks, who drop 4th in last 5 with loss to Bulls
CHICAGO — Tom Thibodeau’s hands have to be on fire.
With a tick under 10 minutes to go in the third quarter of the Knicks’ eventual loss to the Bulls on the same court Thibodeau once coached on in the Windy City, Thibs was already running low on timeouts.
Begrudgingly, two minutes into the third quarter, he would use one more.
Miles McBride turned the ball over, and DeMar DeRozan recovered the ball and lobbed a pass up court to a streaking Alex Caruso, whose uncontested layup put the Bulls back up by 15.
In his signature fashion, Thibodeau flailed his arms in frustration before calling a timeout.
The effort. The defense. The execution. It was all unacceptable.
Only 24 hours earlier, the Knicks secured an impressive victory over a Western Conference playoff-bound Sacramento Kings team, clawing back from down 21 points to secure a double-digit win over a quality opponent.
The Knicks, however, have made a habit of slow starts, which require energy to overcome, energy the Knicks didn’t have at the end of their 108-100 loss to the Bulls on Friday.
The Knicks have now lost four of their last five games, and despite the No. 4 Orlando Magic’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets earlier in the day, the Knicks remain the East’s fifth seed because the Magic own the tiebreaker after winning the season series, 3-1.
And while they are still within reach of the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed, momentum is not on the Knicks’ side down the final stretch of the regular season.
Momentum, in particular, is missing at the beginning of games, a trickle-down effect undoubtedly impacting the result at the end.
The Knicks let the league-worst San Antonio Spurs take a 38-27 first-quarter lead and a 74-57 advantage into halftime to kick-start a three-game losing streak. They surrendered a 34-22 lead to the Miami Heat in a 10-point loss, then let the Kings go up 35-20 by the end of the first quarter on Thursday, a deficit ballooning as large as 21 before the Knicks made a mad comeback at the end.
They were not so fortunate on Friday.
The Bulls secured a wire-to-wire victory over the Knicks, who trailed by 12 in the first quarter and as much as 20 in the first half.
The Bulls outscored the Knicks, 29-17, in the first quarter and held a double-figure lead through most of the first three quarters before New York’s late attempt to rally.
Officials ejected Josh Hart for inadvertently kicking Bulls guard Javonte Green in the head on a drive to the rim, and both of Chicago’s perimeter defensive stoppers, Caruso and Coby White, left the game due to injury.
The Knicks cut the Bulls’ lead to as little as five before losing.
Jalen Brunson finished with 35 points and 11 assists, and OG Anunoby finished with 12 points and two steals in his first game back in the starting lineup after missing nine straight due to aggravating his elbow injury. McBride came off the bench and scored 19 points with four 3s, but the Bulls had three players score 20 or more, led by Green, who scored 25 points off the bench.
Thibodeau flailed his arms in defeat with 1:33 left in the fourth quarter, when Bulls center Nikola Vucevic was left uncontested at the top of the key to put the Knicks down eight.
Chicago was the first stop of a four-game road trip.
Next up, the Knicks travel to Milwaukee to face Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and the East’s No. 2-seeded Bucks on Sunday. The Knicks are 1-3 this season against the Bucks, who have not played well under replacement head coach Doc Rivers but still trump New York in available talent with two superstars on the roster.
The Knicks then return to Chicago to face the Bulls on Tuesday before traveling to Boston on Thursday to face the Celtics, who own the NBA’s best record and have beaten the Knicks four times with no losses this season.
And after a trip to Boston’s TD Garden, the Knicks return back to Madison Square Garden on the second leg of a back-to-back to face the Brooklyn Nets.
