When Kristaps Porzingis went down with an ACL injury, the New York Knicks turned to Michael Beasley to start at the power forward position. For a while, he was scoring in bunches and looking like the guy who was taken number two overall out of Kansas State.
But as the Knicks have continued to struggle, so has Beasley's play. In New York's last game against the Sacramento Kings, he played 25 minutes and only scored six points and grabbed six rebounds.
After the game, he was clearly frustrated with his play and opened up about his issues the last few weeks to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
“Being a four, I got to wait for people to get me involved and things like that,’’ Beasley added. “So that’s tough. But I do it.’’
One of the biggest changes in the last couple weeks was the Knicks decision not to play Jarrett Jack anymore, and to go younger.
Beasley and Jack were really on the same page, and on the court, they were a big key to the Knicks' success when they were having it.
But now without Jack, the Knicks have lost 12 of their last 13 games, and Beasley thinks the rest of the team might be forgetting to have fun.
“One thing we’re forgetting to do is have fun,’’ Beasley said. “I think the fourth quarter in Sacramento last night we started to have fun and everybody came alive. I think if we just play hard and have fun man, everything will take care of itself.”
Beasley is in a contract year, and he needs to have a strong finish to guarantee a decent deal for next year. It will be interesting to see if Beasley starts becoming selfish and rather play for his stats instead of worrying about the team first.
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