The New York Knicks are in a free fall, and it’s coming as a harsh reality check for head coach Jeff Hornacek.
After a 115-103 loss to the lowly Orlando Magic Monday, Hornacek wondered out loud if his team was at all capable of playing any kind of defense.
“I have to find someone to play some defense,” Hornacek said, per Al Iannazzone of Newsday. “We’ve got to have better pride in that. I don’t think our guys aren’t trying. Maybe we’re just not capable of it.”
The Knicks are now losers of five straight games and have surrendered 100-plus points in each of those defeats. They’ve sunk to 16-18 on the year and rank a woeful 25th in defensive efficiency (per ESPN).
The team made this change early on in the season in the hopes of improving their play on the defensive end, but it ultimately appears to have been futile. That’s left Hornacek scrambling for answers that may have never been there to begin with, especially given the mega-decline of former DPOY Joakim Noah and the offense-first styles of Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony.
