After winning five of their first eight games, the New York Knicks find themselves in a bit of a rut with a 3-game losing streak. Knicks fans are already used to losing, but found a glimmer of hope when their team got off to a promising start to the 2020-21 season. The fear of sliding back down into the abyss certainly kicked in with this current skid.
Knicks guard Austin Rivers, however, urged New York die-hards hold their horses and not fret their 3-game slide. The 28-year old believes they are just fine and argued that they just went through a relatively tough schedule to begin the season.
Via Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic:
Austin Rivers is urging calm for Knicks:
"You gotta ask yourself as a Knicks fan, or if you're covering us, would you take a 5-6 start considering we had one of the toughest schedules in the league?…Everybody just take a deep breath. We got a lot of games left. We'll be OK."
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) January 12, 2021
"We’re going through a little stretch right now," Austin Rivers says of the struggling Knicks, who have lost 3 straight games.
"We’re 5-6, we’ve had one of the hardest schedules in the NBA, we’ve played most of the best teams in the NB, everybody needs to take a deep breath."— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) January 12, 2021
To be fair, this has been one of the more promising starts to a Knicks season in recent memory. Nonetheless, it's hard to fault New York fans for overreacting given how horrible the last two decades have been for the franchise.
As for Rivers' reasons, majority of their opponents through the first 11 games were projected playoff teams. They pulled off upsets over three teams that made the playoffs last year in the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, and Utah Jazz. They also defeated a team expected to make the postseason this year in the Atlanta Hawks.
Nonetheless, their current slide shouldn't discourage Knicks fans too much. They look like a different team this year and have turned into a scrappy and gritty squad under the tutelage of new head coach Tom Thibodeau.
The Knicks certainly got themselves a bargain with Rivers when they signed him to a 3-year, $10-million deal. The former Duke Blue Devil has provides New York with a nice scoring punch and a solid veteran presence off the bench. Through 11 games, Rivers is averaging 12.0 points while shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 45.0 percent from three.
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