The World’s Most Famous Arena has proven again to be a tougher place for the Knicks to post victories than road venues in Detroit and Boston have been so far in the playoffs.
Tom Thibodeau’s team is a sparkling 5-0 in the postseason this spring away from New York — including two 20-point comeback wins at TD Garden to open this series — but they fell to 1-3 at Madison Square Garden with Saturday’s 115-93 spanking by the Celtics.
“I don’t know [why]. I can’t pinpoint one thing,” Josh Hart said after the game. “The fans are coming out and supporting and showing love, and we’ve got to make sure that’s not wasted.“We’ve just got to watch the film, we’ve got to get better, and we know that they’ll come out again Monday.”
Indeed, the normal passel of celebrities and rabid fans were into the game from the outset, especially welcoming the Knicks back to MSG after the two thrilling come-from-behind wins swiped against the defending champs in Beantown.
But with the Celtics racing out to a 36-20 lead in the first quarter and outscoring the Knicks 48-6 from beyond the 3-point arc through three — and by 60-15 overall — the home crowd was taken out of the game early and barely was a factor.
“I mean, it’s disappointing to lose, in general. Doesn’t matter if it’s home or away,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “Obviously you want to win in front of your fans, but regardless, wherever we could get a win, we’ll take those W’s. We just didn’t do enough tonight to come out with a win.”
The Knicks will try to be better on their home court Monday night in Game 4. They were 27-14 at MSG during the regular season and 24-17 on the road, tied for the fourth-best away record in the NBA.
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“I think you look at each game by itself. You say, ‘OK, we didn’t lose the game because we were at home. We lost the game because we didn’t do enough things to win the game,’ ” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “So look at those things. What do you need to do to win that particular game — whether it’s home or road? And really, that shouldn’t matter. Understand what you have to put into winning.”
While Mikal Bridges noted that “the fans deserve better” from their team and “it should be easier for us at home,” Brunson pointed out that this marked their first true clunker at the Garden in the playoffs after losing two close games against the Pistons.
“I want to say this is our first loss that wasn’t a one-possession game,” Brunson said. “I don’t think it’s us not playing well here. This is obviously our home, the best place to play. Tonight, it just wasn’t there. Simple as that.”
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