New York Knicks: New Coach, Same Results

The New York Knicks have a new coach leading the charge in Kurt Rambis, but against the Washington Wizards it looked eerily similar to Derek Fisher being on the sideline.

The New York Knicks fired head coach Derek Fisher on Monday less than two seasons into the job. Wins and losses were a main reason for the change, as Phil Jackson said the Knicks just were not winning enough games. It is hard to argue against that, as Fisher compiled an embarrassing 40-96 record at the helm of the team.

What really did him in was the recent stretch of games. The Knicks lost nine of the last 10 games that Fisher was the head coach for, falling behind early and coming up short in their comeback attempts. The noncompetitive start to games were too much to overcome, and was something that became too much of a trend in recent weeks for the Knicks, so Fisher was let go.

In his place, Jackson named Kurt Rambis the head coach on an interim basis. Rambis preached that the team would pick things up defensively, as they have begun slipping on that side of the ball on recent games. It is only one game, but thus far the results are the same for the Knicks; they may have a new voice, but the performance on the court was the same Tuesday against the Washington Wizards.

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In Rambis’ first game as the head coach of the Knicks, the same problems that were beginning to persist under Fisher continued. They got off to a miserable start, as the Wizards had a lead has big as 17 points in the first half, as the Knicks were listless once again in the early going.

The effort was not there defensively, as the Wizards took target practice from beyond the three-point arc. It would be difficult to do in warmups what they did in the first half, as the Wizards knocked down 10-of-12 from deep. They finished the game 16-of-26 from beyond the arc, as every player in their starting five except center Marcin Gortat made at least three three-pointers.

Rambis was hoping to impact the defense from the get-go, but that did not happen. The Knicks were crushed in the backcourt, as John Wall and Bradley Beal had their way. Wall had a monster game with 28 points and 17 assists, while Beal had 26 points with three rebounds, two assists, four steals and one block. For comparison, the Knicks gave 42 minutes to Jose Calderon and Sasha Vujacic and got zero combined points.

Langston Galloway did all he could do to pick up the slack in the backcourt, scoring 14 points with five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Why Rambis did not give minutes to the quicker, more defensive minded Jerian Grant along with Galloway makes little sense as Wall and Beal got whatever they wanted when they wanted it offensively.

Once again Kristaps Porzingis was involved very little down the stretch of the game. He had a nice block of Wall to help keep the Knicks alive, but there is no reason he should not be more involved offensively for the sometimes offensively challenged Knicks.

It was encouraging to see Rambis cut his rotation, but there is still plenty of questions to be asked about it. Against a team as explosive as the Wizards are, why did Grant and Kyle O’Quinn both get DNP-Coach’s Decision and Lance Thomas play only 11 minutes. There is an argument that can be made that those three players are among the strongest defenders the Knicks have, but barely saw the court.

It is only one game under Rambis, but it is clear that there is still plenty of work to do. This will not be a quick turnaround for the Knicks, as they are underachieving now after hitting the .500 mark on January 22nd.

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The one positive to this all is that Rambis will have 10 days to prep, game plan and implement his own schemes as the Knicks do not play again until February 19th with the All-Star Break now upon us.