Knicks Fall Flat in Sacramento, Effort - Not Injuries - at the Center of Concern
SAN FRANCISCO - When Jalen Brunson turned his right ankle in the first quarter Wednesday night, it felt like the kind of moment that could define a game. Losing your floor general that early on the road is never ideal.
But when the final buzzer sounded on a 112-101 loss to the Sacramento Kings - a team sitting in the Western Conference cellar - the Knicks weren’t pointing fingers at injuries. They were pointing them at themselves.
This wasn’t about being short-handed. It was about being out-hustled, outworked, and, frankly, out of sync.
The lowlight came late in the first half, with 1:42 on the clock. Karl-Anthony Towns tried to drive to the rim, but Precious Achiuwa - a former Knick - reached in and poked the ball loose.
Towns hit the deck and slid across the free-throw line while the Kings pushed the ball the other way. They missed their initial shot, but Josh Hart tipped the ball back toward midcourt.
Still, Towns hadn’t crossed halfcourt. The Kings scooped it up, reset, and hit a three-point play.
Five points gone in a blink, and the Knicks’ effort - or lack thereof - was exposed.
“In that moment, there was just no urgency,” head coach Mike Brown said. “We watched it at halftime.
He didn’t even cross halfcourt. That kind of summed up our night.”
That play wasn’t an isolated lapse. It was emblematic of a larger issue - a team that, despite preaching “next man up,” didn’t bring the energy or focus to back it up.
The Knicks trailed by as many as 25 points to a team that’s been struggling all season. And while Brunson’s absence stung, this game was lost in the margins - in the effort plays, the hustle stats, the moments that don’t show up in the box score but define the outcome.
“We didn’t do enough to win,” Towns admitted. “They took advantage of our lackadaisicalness.”
The Knicks’ shooting woes didn’t help. They missed 22 of their first 24 attempts from beyond the arc, and when the shots didn’t fall, the defense followed suit. It’s a dangerous cycle - one the Knicks have seen before - where poor offense leads to even poorer defense.
But what had players speaking with more emotion postgame than they showed during it was the lack of fight.
“Our effort. The intensity.
We were dead,” said Josh Hart, who recently returned after missing eight games. “We played them with their record, whatever that is.
I put that on myself. It was embarrassing.”
Hart didn’t mince words. He didn’t hide behind injuries or shooting slumps.
He owned it. And he made it clear that effort - the one thing every player can control - simply wasn’t there.
“We always talk about next man up. It doesn’t matter,” Hart added.
“Our defense was embarrassing. Our effort was embarrassing.
It didn’t matter who was out there.”
The Knicks are now 7-8 since their NBA Cup triumph a month ago and have dropped six of their last eight. The momentum that once defined their early season has evaporated, replaced by inconsistency and a team still trying to find its identity on both ends of the floor.
Towns, in particular, continues to look like a square peg in a round hole within the Knicks' system. Too often, he seems unsure of where to be or what role to fill - not ideal for a player who should be anchoring the offense in Brunson’s absence.
Deuce McBride, one of the few voices of composure in the locker room, put it plainly: “It’s never really X’s and O’s. Coaches can draw up any game plan, but we’re the ones out there playing.”
He’s right. Schemes don’t mean much when there’s no communication, no cohesion, and no collective will to compete. McBride emphasized that it’s not about one guy locking down a scorer - it’s about five guys on a string, moving together, trusting each other, and playing for one another.
“Different stretches, different challenges,” McBride said. “I’ve never seen a perfect season.
We’ve got to figure it out and get through it however we can. It flips quick.
Things can go good quickly, and they can go bad quickly and turn right back around. We just have to believe that we can change it.”
That belief is going to be tested. Brunson, at least, wasn’t in a walking boot as the team headed to San Francisco, but his status for Thursday against the Warriors remains uncertain.
Whether he’s back or not, the Knicks need more than just bodies. They need urgency.
They need effort. They need to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they’re still the team that battled its way to the NBA Cup - or if that was just a fleeting moment of chemistry that’s since slipped away.
The good news? The NBA season is long.
There’s time to course-correct. But the margin for error is shrinking, and the East isn’t waiting around.
The Knicks don’t need to be perfect. They just need to care like it.