The Knicks rattled off five straight wins and a 14-2 record in January once OG Anunoby arrived in a trade from the Raptors, and they similarly won the first nine in a row following the acquisition last season of Josh Hart from the Trail Blazers.
While much of their recent skid has to do with their current injury situation, the Knicks are now 2-7 since they acquired veterans Bojan Bodganovic and Alec Burks from the Pistons at the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
Both players were ineffectual in Thursday’s 110-99 loss to the Warriors at the Garden.
They combined for nine points off the bench on 2-for-13 shooting from the field, including six misses in seven attempts from 3-point range.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career on other teams, but the team needs me more,” Bogdanovic, who missed all seven field-goal attempts over 18 minutes, told The Post after the game. “I’ve gotta be better, more aggressive, especially when we are missing a lot of wide-open shots. We gotta stick together and try to get the next one [Sunday in Cleveland].”
The 10-year NBA veteran has averaged 13.3 points and 23.9 minutes in seven games with the Knicks, all with the second unit.
Before coming to the Knicks, he had started in 451 of his previous 452 games since the start of the 2017-18 season.
“I mean, it’s different, because I’ve been a starter all my career,” Bogdanovic said. “But it’s nothing new, the game is the same coming off the bench or starting. I’ve gotta adjust. I have a lot of experience. I have to be better than I’ve played.”
He’s at least been better than Burks, who is shooting 31.6 percent overall and 32.4 percent (12-for-37) from 3-point range in eight games since the trade.
Tom Thibodeau said the 32-year-old guard has improved his two-way play net rating over “the last three games.”
“I probably should have played him more minutes tonight,” Thibodeau said of Burks, who scored five points in 11 minutes. “Again, because he’s a plus when he’s on the floor, and good things are happening. So just keep working.“I think the one thing is he does give you spacing because people know that he can shoot. And that is very good in the pick-and-roll game. And so it gives you a second pick-and-roll player on the floor. Sometimes we all tend to measure on what a guy shoots, but there’s other things that he’s bringing and just being on the floor to create space. Sometimes that’s what you need is the space.”
