NEW YORK — That sickening noise Knicks fans heard late Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden was a double crash: Kristaps Porzingis smashed into the rookie wall, and the Knicks’ slim playoff hopes took a direct, and perhaps, fatal hit.
Derek Fisher’s team lost for the sixth time in its last seven games to fall a season-worst five games under .500. Worse yet, the Knicks dropped to 3 1/2 games out of eighth place in the rejuvenated East. This year, in a twist, it’s looking as though teams in the East will need to be above .500 to make the playoffs.
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But for the Knicks to finish with even a 41-41 mark, they’d have to go 18-13, a long-shot considering their underwhelming roster, with its glaring lack of a front-line point guard. As Carmelo Anthony conceded, “We have to turn this around quickly."
It’s difficult to see that happening, with 17 games left against teams that are currently positioned to make the playoffs and 12 of their last 21 games on the road, where they’ve lost 16 of 25 already.
The trouble is, another lottery finish is not going to help the Knicks. After coming up with Porzingis at No. 4 in the draft last June, they don’t own their first-round pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, having given it away to Toronto for the departed Andrea Bargnani. What were they thinking with that move? That’s not for Phil Jackson to explain because he didn’t make the deal. Glen Grunwald, long gone from the Garden, threw away the asset when he ran things.
Let’s assume the worst because, well, that’s the way we do things around here with the Knicks, who have done a lot more losing than winning since Anthony’s arrival.
How will this season impact ‘Melo, the Knicks and Kevin Durant this July?
Anthony holds all the cards here. He shows no signs that he’s ready to call it quits and waive his no-trade clause to chase a title, a la David West. He still has three years left on a five-year, $124-million deal. Coming back from a franchise-worst 17-win season and having a chance to perhaps double that total won’t do anything for his quest to win a ring. But he still loves living in New York and being the big cheese around the Garden, and all of the trappings sufficiently dull whatever pain he might suffers from all of this losing.
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The Knicks are also happy with Anthony’s all-around play, something he last showed in 2013 when the team won 54 games, finished second in the Eastern Conference’s regular-season, and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Porzingis might be the new hero among fans, but Anthony’s importance to the team can’t be underscored. He’s still a box office draw and as Jackson knows, they’re 0-6 without Anthony this season.
As for Durant coming to New York, don’t count on it. Sure, he will take his visit to the Big Apple because, as Anthony did in 2014 when he criss-crossed America and dominated the headlines, it’ll be KD’s time to have his fun on the recruiting trail. Who turns down a free trip to New York, anyway?
Anthony will take a rejection from Durant with his usual “oh, well," but the hope for a new point guard is not all lost. Durant came to New York last week and gushed about Porzingis, even dubbing him “The Unicorn" for his unique skills at 7-3.
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Then Tuesday, respected Celtics coach Brad Stevens was next in line to sing the rookie’s praises, even after Boston did what a lot of teams do now to slow down Porzingis. Just as the Warriors did with Draymond Green, they got up in his grill with smaller, tough guys and banged him around, then were pleased to watch as Fisher made the coaching mistake of not riding his rookie throughout the fourth quarter.
“The crazy part about him is how good he is now and how much he can still grow and improve," Stevens said of Porzingis, who is in a two-man race for Rookie of the Year with Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns. “He’s going to be special."
That’s the message Jackson needs to relay to Mike Conley, and all other free agents in July. Come to New York. Get your big money. Play with the Unicorn, the next big deal.
Even ‘Melo can buy into that.
Slam dunks
• You have to admire the Pistons’ Reggie Jackson for saying that he wants to be the best point guard who ever lived and for admitting he’s “extremely far" from being mentioned in the same breath as Magic Johnson. For now, Jackson just needs to give Stan Van Gundy better shooting and defense, while seeing the floor better, and just go prove that he can run a team, night in and night out, as a starting point guard. As Van Gundy told Sporting News, “The rigors of being ‘the guy’ in an NBA season for 82 games is a lot different than coming off the bench."
• The Rockets have talked to the Celtics about Dwight Howard, according to NBA sources, but it’s unlikely that the Celtics are going to give up anything substantial, including either of the two unprotected No. 1 picks they’re getting from the Nets, this summer and 2018.
• Can we see Durant taking a serious look at Golden State in July? Sure, because he’s said to be intrigued by playing with Stephen Curry, who is regarded by some GM’s as the greatest free-agent magnet in the league now. Take that, LeBron.
• That “free and open" system that Frank Vogel sold to Paul George and his Pacers teammates has turned into the Monta Ellis show, and that isn’t sitting well with George. Ellis is back to his old ways, dominating the ball.
