Do the Knicks have a fourth-quarter problem?
When you consider their record in games decided by single digits (11-11) — including winning five of their first six such contests and, perhaps more importantly, losing seven of their past 11 — it is worth a closer look.
Overall, the fourth quarter has not been kind to the Knicks. After Wednesday night’s lackluster, late-drama-free 116-105 loss to the Wizards, they are being outscored by 2.4 points per 100 possessions in the final 12 minutes of regulation. That might not seem like much, until you consider they are plus-2.4 overall. Their offensive rating in the fourth quarter is 108.7, meaningfully lower than their number across entire games (114.5).
And during the recent stretch of dropping seven of 11 single-digit games across the past 15 contests overall, the fourth-quarter numbers have plummeted: a net rating of minus-10.5, an offensive rating of 111.7 and a defensive rating of 122.3 (compared to 112.2 on the season). Those numbers rank 26th, 22nd and 25th in the league over that span, respectively.
