The Knicks didn’t get their sixth win last season until their 26th game, four competitions after head coach David Fizdale was blown away in early December after a 4-18 record.
Sure it’s not the time to bite, but new coach Tom Thibodeau’s improved team shot just 35.8 percent from the ground and 60 percent from the free throw line Friday night in a 101-89 defeat against the Thunder at the Garden, ending their treble. streak of party victories.
The Knicks (5-4) failed to earn a sixth win after nine games for the first time since they started an 8-1 win in 2012-13, when they finished a 54-win season under current assistant coach Mike Woodson.
“I think it’s been fantastic, very important,” RJ Barrett said before the Knicks ’good start to the game. “It shows us that our work is bearing fruit and that our work is good, so we need to keep doing what we are doing and keep improving every day and trusting the process.”
Barrett led the Knicks with 19 points in 44 minutes, but missed 14 of 21 shots from the ground, including 4 of 5 from a 3-point distance.
Top scorer Julius Randle had early foul problems and failed to score in the first half, but finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in 31 minutes.
“Winning is always good, but I think it’s more what we do every day,” Thibodeau said before the game. “There are ups and downs in a season. If we do the right things every day, we will get better and better.
“This is what you strive for. Every day this improvement. It’s a long season and we need to keep growing. There are many areas where we need to do much better. “
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder (4-4) with 25 points, and Queens product Hamidou Diallo scored 23 points of the season with 11 rebounds.
The Knicks, who on Sunday will host the Nuggets, run for up to 11 people in the first quarter. The Thunder got the first eight points of the second quarter, however, to close in on one, 24-23. Kenrich Williams ’throw gave Oklahoma City their first lead, 28-26 nearly halfway through the period, and Al Horford’s 14- and 15-point midfield put the Thunder 39-38 with two points to go. minutes to the end.
A late Barrett float and a Mitchell Robinson mess led the Knicks to a break with a 42-42 tie. Ten changes in the third-quarter lead put Oklahoma City up 57-56 midway through the period, before a goal and two free throws from Diallo extended the Thunder’s lead to nine.
Wednesday’s fourth-quarter hero Austin Rivers wore a 3-pointer on the buzzer and an early bucket on the fourth to take the Knicks back in four, but a steal and a mess from Diallo and a triple from Gilgeous-Alexander they pushed the Knicks deficit to 13, the biggest of the game, with 4:21 left.
“We said from the beginning that the first step for us was to become a quality practice team and that’s what you have to keep doing,” Thibodeau said. “It simply came to our notice then. You can’t start making shortcuts. Once you start doing this, you will see in the results. Put in the work every day and keep improving. There are usually many small steps. They are incremental. And you want to be playing your best in the end. “