As the losing streak for the New York Knicks increases, players are starting to get frustrated. JR Smith is opting to take his frustrations out on social media while others are taking it out on their teammates. Over the past week, several Knicks players have been caught getting into yelling matches either on the bench or in the locker room, forcing them to downplay drama to the media.
Recently, television cameras caught Carmelo Anthony and Iman Shumpert having a shouting match. Shumpert was on the court while yelling at Anthony who was sitting on the bench. Then both were seen getting into another verbal scuffle during a team huddle in the third quarter. It is unclear what the fight was over, but it appeared to be caused by a lack of defense by Anthony.
"We had a miscommunication defensively," Shumpert said, via the New York Post.
There seems to be a lot of "miscommunication" lately. Kenyon Martin and Metta World Peace also worked out a "miscommunication" during a Sunday workout that brought on a very heated argument between the two. One source told ESPNNewYork.com that while the two did not actually come to blows, the argument got very heated, but the two were able to smooth things out prior to the Sunday loss against New Orleans.
Nine losing in a row will certainly cause friction on the court and in the locker room. Head coach Mike Woodson is concerned there is no end in sight to the team struggles. With Tyson Chandler out, the Knicks have no identity on defense. JR Smith is struggling with his shot, leaving the scoring up to Anthony.
"It's hard to just find answers right now," Anthony said. "We have to do something, just figure it out as a team. I don't know if we've got to sit here for hours and talk and get it all out but we've got to do something. I think right now we have a couple days off and we just need to get our mental right. Everybody just needs to fix their mental status."
The Knicks are preparing for a battle of the losers come Thursday night. In the preseason, this matchup of both the Knicks and the Nets looked like an exciting battle of New York. However, both have severely bad losing records. For the Nets, losing to the Knicks might only hurt pride. If the Knicks lose to the Nets, the team will be at rock bottom.
