Is the NBA Cup hangover real?
The Knicks have gone 5-6 since their Cup triumph, the biggest lull of the season so far. But that slide is not uncommon.
The two previous winners of the Cup — the Lakers and Bucks — went 3-7 and 5-5 in the 10 games immediately after the Cup.
Perhaps there is something real to the notion of going from high-intensity games with real stakes in a crowded schedule right back to regular-season games — with no break in between.
“I think the NBA Cup is great because it’s a different type of basketball during the season. But I don’t know, I’m not calling it a hangover, I’m not calling it anything,” Jalen Brunson said after practice Tuesday. “It’s just us not being where we need to be. So where do we go from here?”
The worrying part, though, is that the Lakers and Bucks didn’t exactly rebound from their hangover. They flamed out in the playoffs, both losing in the first round.
“It’s not always gonna be smooth sailing, especially during this part of the year. The Cup run was a little different, but these are the dog days of the year,” coach Mike Brown said. “Trying to find the right focus and energy and time to work on the different things so that you don’t have slippage in a lot of different areas is a challenge, but it’s something that we embrace and we’re gonna constantly try to find ways to get better so we don’t slip too much.”
The second batch of returns for the All-Star Game fan vote was released Tuesday.
Brunson jumped Tyrese Maxey for second in the East. Karl-Anthony Towns is seventh, OG Anunoby is 13th, Mikal Bridges is 15th and Josh Hart is 16th.
Given their packed schedule — they have not had more than one day in between games since the NBA Cup final — and constant travel of late, the Knicks have barely been able to actually practice recently.
They got a needed opportunity Tuesday.
“It was good to be able to be out there for the first time in a while,” Brown said. “We didn’t do a lot of what you dream of and want as a coach in terms of getting up and down and getting contact and going through drills, but we were able to do some things out on the court today for the first time, so it was good.”
