NEW YORK _ Doc Rivers stood outside the visitors' locker room early Sunday morning _ even earlier if, like Rivers, you were tracking the clock on West Coast time _ and bemoaned his team having to take the court so early at Madison Square Garden. And then his team took the court and promptly scored the first eight points.
That two-minute span painted a pretty clear picture of the difference between the Knicks and Clippers, not just on the court on this day, but in the more important matchup: free agency this summer.
While the Knicks' rebuilding plans will hinge on their success in luring free-agent talent with the salary-cap space they created with the Kristaps Porzingis trade and the hope of lottery luck for the NBA draft, the price they have paid in the rebuild is another dismal season on the floor. The Knicks dropped their 60th game, falling to 14-60 with a 124-113 loss to the Clippers.
