Slow starts have plagued the Knicks in recent games, even at home, and constantly overcoming those early deficits is a lot to ask of any NBA team.
The Knicks fell behind by eight points early in the first quarter Tuesday night against the Magic and by 13 within the first six minutes two nights later against the Hornets, only to post stirring comeback victories in both of those games at the Garden.
Tom Thibodeau’s team wasn’t able to do it again Saturday night, however, after spotting an opponent another double-digit lead (16 points) in the opening session of a 120-111 loss to the Pistons.
“We lacked energy in that first quarter. Didn’t come out aggressive, physical,” said Josh Hart, who was ejected after receiving his second technical foul late in the game. “We just gotta be better.
“There’s been a couple of lulls in the first quarter that we’ve gotta fix. We can’t always try to dig ourselves out of holes.”
Or, as Jalen Brunson put it afterward: “The game starts at 7:30. We’ve gotta be ready at 7:30.”
Monday’s game in Toronto tips off at that time, and the Knicks (14-9) will look to come out stronger than they did against Detroit, whether or not starting center Karl-Anthony Towns returns after sitting Saturday with a knee issue.
“When you’re shorthanded, your margin of error is a lot tighter,” Thibodeau said. “You’ve got to play with great intensity on every possession, and if you do that, you’re going to have a chance to win.”
The Knicks had won their previous four games — and nine of 11 — but they missed 23 of 34 attempts from 3-point range and 11 of 27 from the free-throw line.
They currently rank second and first in the NBA in those categories, respectively.
But several players noted that miscommunication on the defensive end was the biggest contributing factor to Detroit’s 39-point first quarter.
Mikal Bridges said the Knicks “ain’t that good that we can just pick and choose when to play defense.”
“I think communication is the biggest thing. A lot of transition, just no communication, just not talking to each other,” Bridges said. “And it’s not like we don’t like each other or anything. It’s just that sense of urgency, trying to help each other out.
“And we ain’t trying to do it on purpose or be a bad person. We’ve just gotta be better. We’ve just gotta be able to talk. We’ve gotta build that.”
OG Anunoby, who will play in Toronto for the first time since last year’s midseason trade from the Raptors, had four steals and two blocked shots Saturday night.
But the defensive standout also thought there was “too much miscommunication in transition early” and the Knicks were “letting shooters get too many open shots.”
The Pistons nailed 50 percent (18 of 36) from beyond the arc, including 12 combined makes by Malik Beasley (seven) and Cade Cunningham (five).
“All we can do is watch the film and adjust and go from there,” Anunoby said. “I think we’re gonna keep getting better and better as the year goes on. That’s the goal, for sure.”
And it all starts with the starts.
“We always talk on defense, but I think we can always be better. And [Saturday] we lacked it real early.” Bridges said. “It just tends, when things don’t go well offensively, we tend to not talk, get back, and we kind of just jog back and just pick up, probably, the man that you’re probably gonna guard.
“[But] in transition, you’ve got no man. You’ve got to guard the person that’s closest to you. I think we’ve gotta learn that while we play.”
