Chauncey Billups said his horrible performance last night was unacceptable and was the primary reason for the Knicks' fifth straight loss.Billups had a miserable game in the Knicks' 102-96 defeat to the Bucks at Madison Square Garden. It certainly his worst since being acquired with Carmelo Anthony a little more than a month ago. The veteran point guard shot a pitiful 3-for-11, scored just seven points and saw his opposing counterpart, Milwaukee point guard Brandon Jennings, destroy the Knicks for a game-high 37 points.
"For me personally, I know I'm disappointed in the way that I played," Billups said. "I know that I can't expect the team to win if I play like that. It was just a bad game. I'm really taking responsibility for this one.
"As the leader of the team, you can't come out and play like that."
Jennings dominated the Knicks so thoroughly that after a 23-point first half, coach Mike D'Antoni started Toney Douglas alongside Billups in the third quarter and sat Landry Fields. Douglas is a quicker defender than Billups.
Fields said D'Antoni told him Douglas was going to start at point guard in the third quarter and Billups would play two-guard.
D'Antoni said he was considering lineup changes. Presumably, the starting switch would be Douglas for Fields. Fields said he would be OK if that happens because he just wants to win.
Billups, who has now played in eight games since missing six with a bruised quadriceps, certainly needs time to learn the offense, but in his last three games, he is shooting 37 percent (14-for-38). The Knicks have scored fewer than 100 points for five straight games.
"I'm familiar with the sets and things like that," Billups said. "But it is a different system, more different than I've played in any other system. It takes time to get to know it and the ins-and-outs.
"I've always pretty much been a fast learner," he said. "But this one, it is more difficult than any other system I've played in."
Jennings said he still holds a grudge against the Knicks for passing him up in last year's NBA Draft.
"[I] never forget it," he said. "But it's OK, though."
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