NBA Global Games London 2015: Knicks vs. Bucks Score and Twitter Reaction
The NBA continued its series of Global Games on Thursday with the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks squaring off at The O2 Arena in London. Unfortunately for the fans in attendance, the outcome was basically decided in the first quarter, as the Bucks cruised to a 95-79 win.
It's not an exaggeration to say that Milwaukee's victory was in the bag halfway into the first quarter. The Bucks jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first six minutes and were up 31-13 heading into the second quarter. They took their foot off the gas after that before getting their 21st victory of the season.
Before the game, NBA commissioner Adam Silver told Bill Wilson of BBC News that his hope was to bring more regular-season games overseas but there were a lot of factors at play before that decision could be made.
"For many the next step is to have more regular-season games," Silver said. "But [development is] as long as we are making progress in terms of young people playing basketball, number of people watching on TV, number of people following the game on social media in the UK."
The loss drops New York to 5-36 on the season, including 16 consecutive losses.
Before the loss, ESPN's John Buccigross posted on Twitter how bad the Knicks' 40-game start this season has been:
There was some humor mined from the Knicks' woeful performance. Sam Borden of The New York Times joked that the Queens Park Rangers of the English Premier League would like Derek Fisher's team to stick around for a few more days:
Neil Best of Newsday got in some comedic jabs, noting the Knicks were on the verge of being deported for their early performance:
Carmelo Anthony, who has become the only reason to watch the Knicks, didn't even put together a strong game. His scoring stats look good, as per usual, with 25 points, but he turned the ball over eight times before sitting out the fourth quarter.
Things were so bad for the Knicks in this game that three of their starters—Jason Smith, Amar'e Stoudemire, Shane Larkin—combined for zero points on nine shot attempts. Stoudemire only played eight minutes and was returning from a knee injury, so his performance is somewhat defensible.
On the winning side, the Bucks are quietly turning in a solid season under Jason Kidd. They certainly aren't a threat to win an NBA title, but at 21-19 they are on their way to a winning season for the first time since 2009-10.
Speaking of Kidd, Borden wrote on Twitter that a reporter in London asked him a very important question regarding the Knicks:
Give Kidd credit for humility, even if he probably wouldn't be worse than the players New York has used at point guard this season.
Steve Fifer of 105.7 The Fan in Milwaukee summed up the effort of both teams on Twitter:
O.J. Mayo was Milwaukee's star, coming off the bench to score 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, includeing 4-of-6 from three-point range. Brandon Knight's breakout season continued with an impressive 20 points, five rebounds, six assists and six steals in the win.
The Bucks are building something, it seems, for the first time in years. Their quick start this season has been more impressive when you consider that Jabari Parker only played in 25 games before tearing up his knee. Kidd may not have had a graceful exit from Brooklyn, but he's made a difference in Milwaukee.
There's not much left to be said about the Knicks at this juncture. The depths this team has sunk to keep getting lower, even though you wonder how that's possible. Whatever Phil Jackson thought was going to happen this season, he couldn't have imagined it would get this bad. This roster needs a lot of work.
The Bucks will look to ride this wave of momentum into a huge showdown with one of the East's best teams, Toronto, in a home matchup on Monday.
