Even with their roster suffering and their available players dwindling even further, the Knicks closed what was a 23-point gap and climbed to seven points during Sunday’s third quarter.
They were essentially defeated by turnovers on three straight possessions in the period, two by Miles McBride sandwiched around one by Jalen Brunson just before he left with a fractured left hand in their late 130-109 loss season against the Pacers in Game 7.
“That’s the thing. Our margin for error is really tight,” Tom Thibodeau said. “The defense, the rebounds, the turnovers… obviously the defense wasn’t there. The rebounding, we failed.
“The turnovers were low (with eight for the game), but we had the most costly ones in the third quarter. We had a small window to get back there. It was seven o’clock and then you have two bad possessions and it changes things. …Sometimes that’s how it goes.
Donte DiVincenzo’s 3-pointer had tied the Knicks at 77-70 with 6:43 left in the period, but errant passes from McBride and Brunson, then a five-second call against McBride on an inside pass led to a triple from Myles Turner, a layup from Tyrese Haliburton and another bucket from Aaron Nesmith to help push the lead back to 19.
“Huge. For a team that runs on passes/fails, turnovers, that gave them a boost and we just couldn’t fight back,” McBride said.
New York Post
