Following Monday night's 124-119 loss to the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks' recent inconsistencies are becoming a concern for their veteran players.
"We're losing games I feel like we shouldn't be losing," Knicks wing Josh Hart said after the loss, per ESPN's Chris Herring. "We've got to start figuring it out. We're halfway through. There's nothing we can do about the first half now. But if we want to be the team we're trying to be at the end of the season, we need to start correcting stuff now."
At 26-15, New York still ranks third in the Eastern Conference, and Herring noted that it's the best record the team has posted at the halfway mark in any of the last five years under head coach Tom Thibodeau. However, the Knicks have lost five of their last seven outings, with three of those losses coming in front of their home fans at MSG.
New York has typically been known as a grind-it-out team that wins with its defense under Thibodeau. This year's squad hasn't lived up to that reputation, as the Knicks have been involved in back-and-forth shootouts that sometimes don't work out in their favor.
Against Detroit, New York allowed star guard Cade Cunningham to score 29 of his 36 points in the second half. The Pistons shot 50.0 percent from the field and 44.1 percent from three-point range.
"Defensively, we've got to be better," Hart said. "We've just got to be better there."
The Knicks will try to bounce back when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers (15-22) on Wednesday.
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