New York Knicks get no respect from Houston, don’t deserve it
By Ed Stein
By the fourth quarter of the New York Knicks blowout loss to Houston on Friday, all of the Rockets starters were in the locker room. Was it disrespect or did the Knicks deserve it?
It started out as a tale of two teams, the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, headed in opposite directions. It ended with Houston’s starting five leaving their bench in the fourth quarter during another NYK blowout loss.
Those New York Knicks fans who skipped their root canal to watch the “contest” on television probably made a bad decision. This game was over when Houston took a 32-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. It got worse from there, at halftime the undermanned Knicks were down 72-43. After three quarters, they trailed 103-64. That’s a 39-point deficit three-fourths of the way through.
At one point, the Rockets led by as many as 42. It was no surprise that acting Houston coach Jeff Bzdelik (Mike D’Antoni was ill) started emptying his bench in the third quarter. The surprise was that in the fourth quarter, Houston’s starters were already in the locker room for post-game treatment and conditioning.
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There are two schools of thought on this. On one hand, Rockets players leaving their bench for the locker room while the game was in progress feels like a huge slap in the face to the Knicks. On the other hand, the abysmal performance put on by New York in addition to their terrible display all season was disrespectful to the game and the NBA. NYK had it coming.
I want it to be the former. I’m sure Knicks head coach David Fizdale didn’t tell what was left of his injury-ravaged team, to go out there and suck, during his pregame speech. There has to be some kind of unwritten code that says players should stick around till the end unless injured. In football there sure is, same with hockey. Baseball is a bit different because of dugouts and under stadium batting and pitching facilities.
As much as I want it to be the former, the latter is very possible. How professional has the Knicks organization been this year? From the start of the season, they have shown the league that their biggest priority is getting themselves in the best position possible to draft Zion Williamson. That has to really tick off players and management on other teams who are fighting for the post-season.
By walking out on the game, the Rockets starters in effect said, “we are giving you the same respect you gave us and the rest of the league. You aren’t worth our time. Good night and don’t let the bus door hit you in the butt on the way to the airport.”
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The fact that this incident came up at all shows how low the New York Knicks have sunk.