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The Knicks’ frustration with the referees spilled over into the first half Thursday night at the Garden, and even briefly amongst themselves just before intermission.
An ultimately failed comeback bid only added heartbreak to their list of emotions.
The Knicks trailed by as many as 21 points in the second quarter, and despite a frantic defense-fueled run in the second half, they suffered a 119-115 home loss to the Bulls to slide to the .500 mark for the first time this season.
Erasing its 5-1 start to the season, Tom Thibodeau’s skidding team currently is tied at 11-11 with the Sixers for the 10th and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
“We started slowly. … There was frustration. So it’s hard to play when you’re frustrated,” Thibodeau said. “So we can’t get wrapped up in that. Sometimes there’s tough calls that go against you and that’s just the way it is. That’s part of the league.
“So we started slowly … but fought our way out. The third quarter, I thought we got it going and had a shot at the end and we fell short.”
One game after Thibodeau and Julius Randle had complained about the refs following Tuesday’s loss in Brooklyn, veteran forward Taj Gibson earned two technical fouls and an automatic ejection for continuing to argue after he was whistled for an offensive foul 4:14 into the first quarter on a night the Knicks already were without big men Nerlens Noel (knee) and rookie Jericho Sims (illness).
“It was unfortunate,” Thibodeau said.
“I’m so tired of talking about [the refs],” Randle added. “We just gotta keep playing.”
Randle also appeared to get into an animated discussion with teammate Evan Fournier as the Knicks walked off the court while trailing 69-51 at halftime, but he dismissed the encounter afterward as “just communicating.”
Randle finished with a team-high 30 points on 14 of 21 from the floor, but the All-Star forward missed two key free throws and he was stripped of the ball by Alex Caruso in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, one of 18 turnovers by the Knicks.
“I’ll put that one on me for sure, but honestly we still had a chance to win the game,” Randle said.
“He sometimes is his harshest critic, but he did a lot of great things to put us in that position,” added Thibodeau.
Before the game, Thibodeau had said he was “moving on” from the public gripes he and Randle had made about the officiating following Tuesday’s two-point loss to the Nets in Brooklyn.
He also said Randle must “fight through” the notion he’s been told by officials he’s not getting certain calls driving to the basket because he’s “stronger” than defenders and isn’t affected by such contact as much as other players.
Randle, Fournier (16 points) and the Knicks ramped up the defensive intensity coming out of the half and embarked on a 25-10 run early in the quarter, featuring consecutive 3s by Immanuel Quickley and a dunk by Mitchell Robinson to close within one, 79-78, barely midway through the period.
Lonzo Ball’s five late points helped Chicago carry a six-point lead into the fourth, but the Knicks forged a 102-102 tie on consecutive drives by Derrick Rose (16 points) with 6:18 remaining. Randle’s 8-foot banker put the Knicks ahead by one barely a minute later,
Alec Burks, in his third straight start in place of benched Kemba Walker, missed seven of 10 field-goal attempts but finished with 16 points in 43 minutes due to a 9-for-10 night from the free-throw line. Quickley registered 15 points with RJ Barrett unavailable for the first time in the past two seasons due to an illness (non-COVID).
DeMar DeRozan, whom the Bulls added in the offseason while the Knicks signed Fournier, netted 18 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter. Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine added 27 points apiece for the Bulls (15-8).
“They spread us out pretty good. DeRozan, LaVine, Vucevic, they put a lot of pressure on you,” Thibodeau said. “So you have to scramble. I thought we fought hard, but came up short. The thing that hurt more than anything was the turnovers.”
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