Trey Burke’s absence a head-scratcher in another Knicks flameout
MILWAUKEE – Five observations from the Knicks’ 92-90 deflating loss Friday in Milwaukee. that ended a 20-game stretch in which 16 were away from the Garden. The Knicks fell to 6-14 during that stretch and into a 10th-place tie in the Eastern Conference with the Hornets, mostly because Tim Hardaway Jr. couldn’t tie his shoelaces and chew gum at the same time against the Bucks.
1. Trey Burke recently had back-to-back 18-point games, but he was nowhere to be found with a DNP against the Bucks. Jarrett Jack was solid and Frank Ntilikina looked smooth, until the fourth quarter. But on a night they scored 90 points and shot 40.4 percent, Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek needed a creative way to get Burke onto the court – even if it was in a pairing with Ntilikina. Hornacek was thinking eventually Hardaway would snap out of his funk but it looked as the fourth quarter wore on, his confidence was only getting worse in all aspects. Yanking Hardaway was a move Hornacek should’ve pulled off. Instead, Burke sat, sat and sat. Ntilikina got to the rim for a bucket, hit a few jumpers but he, too, froze in the fourth quarter, committing two straight turnovers and missing his final three shots, leading to his exit midway through the quarter. Jack closed and didn’t do much. He put up a nice line – 11 points, seven assists, seven rebounds — but he also committed three turnovers and shot 3 of 8. Hornacek needed to trust Burke and put him in cold.
2. Good thing Hardaway shot 1 of 14 because it overshadowed Kristaps Porzingis’ less-than-stellar night. On the final play with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Enes Kanter got caught with the “Greek Freak’’ on a switch up top. Antetokounmpo dribbled down the shotclock and the 7-foot-3 Latvian had plenty of time to anticipate he was going to take it to the rack on Kanter. Porzingis got there way too late. Had he anticipated better, the league’s leading shotblocker could have been in position to collect his season’s most important block. Too bad because he defended Antetokounmpo well for stretches late in the fourth. Porzingis didn’t shoot the ball very well (6 of 15), sometimes with bad shot selection. His zero-assist night is mind-numbing. Of the 10 Knicks who played, Lance Thomas was the only other player who didn’t have an assist.
3. Kanter has registered an 18-stitch week, but not all were in his lip in Milwaukee. Kanter is keeping track. He had three stitches sewn into his mouth after practice Monday. Seven more were added after Brooklyn. Then he got hit in the mouth again agasint Boston, forcing several stitches to be removed and another eight to be added. So in the last three games, Kanter’s line is a perfect symmetry – 18 stitches, 18.0 points per game and 18.3 rebounds. Because of Kanter’s eight offensive boards, the Knicks held a 56-36 bulge over Milwaukee in rebounding.
4. In the post-game locker room, Michael Beasley, wearing a green Kevin Durant Seattle Supersonics throwback jersey, hummed loudly for several minutes with his locker nearest to Kanter’s. The Knicks center attempted to conduct his post-game interview through the obnoxious noise. It seemed Beasley was trying to drown out the interview – perhaps a sign of protest for getting pulled with 10:13 left. The Knicks limped along to score 16 final-period points in his return to Milwaukee, Beasley launched up a couple of bad shots – including a one-footed off-balance heave that had Hornacek in pain on the sidelines. It wasn’t surprising he got the hook after going 3 of 8.
5. Hardaway is in the worst form to face his former club, the Hawks, Sunday at noon after going 2 of 24 in the past two games. The Hawks reportedly weren’t willing to come close to matching a 4-year, $71 million contract. According to a source, however, they would’ve matched something shorter term.