Injuries to Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, David Lee and, finally, Marbury, sent the Knicks into a 3-13 free fall over the last four weeks. Only a month ago, they were firmly in contention for the playoffs.
“We were going to the playoffs, no question about it,” Crawford said.
Instead, the Knicks will sit out the postseason for a third straight year and the fifth time in the last six seasons. Even before the injuries struck, the Knicks were on a pace for a sixth consecutive losing record. The closest they got to .500 after the All-Star Game break was 29-34, on March 10.
By any objective definition, this is not “evident and significant progress” — although that’s what the Madison Square Garden chairman, James L. Dolan, declared he had seen when he gave Coach Isiah Thomas a multiyear contract extension on March 12.
For long stretches of the season, the Knicks were inept on defense and prone to turnovers. They gave away games with poor free-throw shooting, and sometimes with inexperience.
And sometimes, they seemed not to grasp the importance of each missed opportunity.