Knicks Notes: Fournier, Slump, Noel, Robinson

The Knicks held a lead early in the fourth quarter on Sunday vs. Philadelphia, but ultimately lost by 16 points, prompting Evan Fournier to try to diagnose the cause of the club’s late-game struggles, per Greg Joyce of The New York Post.

“Our togetherness down the stretch is not good enough,” Fournier said. “By togetherness I mean we are not tied together enough. Down the stretch, like I said, we have no confidence, so we are second-guessing at times. It should be second nature — boom, boom, boom, this is what we’re doing. As long as we are not doing that, it’s going to be hard to close out games against teams that are good. It keeps happening and that’s what’s so frustrating.”

As Joyce points out, the Knicks’ fourth-quarter net rating in their last 10 games is an abysmal -34.9, easily the worst mark in the NBA. The offense, which has a fourth-quarter rating of 85.9 in those 10 games, has been especially bad — Portland has the league’s next-worst fourth-quarter offensive rating during that stretch, at 100.0. Joyce believes having a veteran point guard like Derrick Rose running the show would help.

“I feel like we’re in a position right now where we are down two or down three, teams get on a run, it’s like, ‘Oh s–t, again,'” Fournier said. “Maybe just a good win would help us more, more confidence would help.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

  • While Nerlens Noel has technically been active for the Knicks’ last couple games and could theoretically have played, he’s “far from 100% healthy,” a source tells Ian Begley of SNY.tv, who provides some additional info on Noel’s plantar fasciitis. The injury first flared up on February 7, Begley adds, noting that it’s unclear whether the big man will get back to 100% before the end of the regular season.
  • The Knicks have had talks throughout the season with Mitchell Robinson‘s agent Thad Foucher about a possible contract extension for the young center, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said during a TV appearance on Sunday (video link). A source tells Begley that in one of those conversations prior to last month’s trade deadline, the two sides were “not close” on the proposed terms. New York can offer up to about $55MM on a four-year extension, but presumably hasn’t gotten nearly that high.
  • Robinson, who griped earlier in the season about “literally running for cardio,” still appears dissatisfied with his limited involvement on offense. Replying to a tweet from a fan on Monday night, Robinson wrote, Everyone knows when everybody gets involved and the ball moving and everyone touching the ball, the energy and effort goes to another level. Let me ask you this and be 100% with your answer: How would you feel just running up and down the court for 48 or even for 20 minutes?”
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