New York Knicks’ Defensive Disaster: Forward Speaks Out on “Not Good” Showing Against…
Forward Mikal Bridges of the New York Knicks was not pleased with the team’s defensive play against the Detroit Pistons during Saturday’s 120-111 defeat. Aside from their defensive lapses, the Knicks had a short-handed group as they didn’t have one key player.
The Pistons took control of the game early on and didn’t give the Lmocls a chance to recover. While defensively, they had more blocks (New York with five; Detroit with zero) and steals (New York with 11; Detroit with seven), it wasn’t enough to get back into the game.
After the game, Bridges talked about their lack of defensive tenacity giving the Pistons the win.
“Not good, not good. I think we pick and choose when,” Bridges said. “And we ain’t that good to be able to just pick when we want to play defense, I don’t think any team is that good when they just pick whenever they want to play defense. I think it starts with me as well. We just gotta be more vocal and lead by example as well. It’s [on] all of us.”
When asked if he thinks their defensive errors can be fixed, the two-way forward said this: “Yeah, for sure.”
Aside from their subpar defensive performance, the Knicks didn’t have All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns. KAT was listed as out against the Pistons due to a knee issue. Following the game, head coach Tom Thibodeau addressed their short-handed squad.
“When you’re shorthanded, your margin of error is a lot tighter. You’ve got to play with great intensity on every possession.” Thibs said. “And if you do that, you will have a good chance to win. You’re not gonna replace KAT individually, and Cam [Payne]. But collectively, we can. When you play great defense, rebound balls as a team.”
