It was an awfully dark Black Friday for the New York Knicks. The Knicks weren’t supposed to shoot to the top of the league just because Phil Jackson came to town and brought along an acolyte as head coach, Derek Fisher. But they weren’t supposed to be an embarrassment either. At 4-13, coming off that Black Friday 105-78 shellacking in Oklahoma City, the Knicks are exactly that: embarrassing. One reason is pretty simple: they don’t try very hard. “Teams want it more than us,” Amar’e Stoudemire said after the game. It doesn’t take someone with Stoudemire’s high basketball IQ to identify that problem either–a five year old could see it.
The OKC Thunder that the Knicks couldn’t stay close to is a mere 5-12–and yet they managed to embarrass the Knicks without injured NBA MVP Kevin Durant. On Sunday at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks are home to face the Miami Heat. The Heat are 8-7 playing their first season in five years without superstar LeBron James. The Heat, however, still play with pride, which sometimes carries them. The Knicks may lose again, but maybe they can learn something? Since they mostly stand around and watch anyway, Phil Jackson could have them take notes.
