Austin Rivers, killer, Austin Rivers, could not stop in the first half on Tuesday. The previously sinking Knicks guard dropped a career-high 25 points in 12 minutes of the first half and made his first ten shots, including five three-pointers.
And the Knicks bump the Jazz like earlier this month when Rivers scored the final 14 points of the game.
But the magic stops for Doc Rivers’ son. Rivers scored on the ride and picked up his third offense with 4:30 left in the first half. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau decided to pull Rivers and it destroyed his perfect game.
The night was never the same. Rivers only came back until 4:11 left in the third quarter and lost his hottest hands.
The Jazz came from 15 points with a robust defense and Rudy Gobert’s dominance to take revenge on the Knicks, 108-94, at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.
Rivers finished with the 25 when the Knicks (8-11) ended the Western game with four games at 1-3. Rivers missed all four of its shots in the second half when the Jazz warmed up from 3 and the Knicks dropped the last three games of the trip after beating the opening game against Golden State.
‘They did well in the second half [on Rivers], ‘we knew they would catch him and get the ball out of his hands,’ ‘Thibodeau said. ‘And then it becomes important for us to attack the lightning in the right way. This is something we are usually pretty good at. ‘
Asked if he’s thinking of keeping Rivers on three offense as he’s on the road to history, Thibodeau said: ‘I just felt like that piece, as it’s offensive to us, I thought we will do what we do. But it occurred to me to leave him out there. ‘
Rivers said it was “understandable,” Thibodeau told him.
“It was definitely not the coach,” he said.
Instead, it was perhaps team fatigue that Rivers raised before the game. Utah started the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run to end it.
“Maybe guys are dead,” Rivers said afterwards. “When we looked at the floor for five minutes, it did not seem like we were a unit.”
The Knicks were still leading by 13 until the collapse of the second half. The Jazz were fueled by Mike Conley in the third quarter – he scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half – and Gobert was excellent with 19 points and 18 rebounds.
The Jazz hit the Knicks for 17 offensive setbacks, with Knicks center Mitchell Robinson not nearly the strength he needed to be against one of the NBA’s elite centers.
Robinson played 31 minutes, but after the game tweeted, he deleted: “One day they will let me play.”
The Knicks center could have referred to his minutes, the lack of offensive opportunities he gets besides alley-oops or the referees. Robinson had just seven points on four shot attempts and made just two errors.
Meanwhile, Rivers was hunted down when he returned late in the third time.
“The second half was different – every choice was a flash,” Rivers said. “They loaded. I’m not going to force shots to increase my numbers. Maybe I should have looked back on it. ‘
Rivers said the young Knicks were unprepared for the Utah onslaught in the second half.
“I knew how they would come out,” Rivers said.
‘The initial part of [our] defense was pretty good, ” Thibodeau said. ‘But when we give it a second, third crack at it, it’s hard to beat such a team on the road. This was probably the biggest disappointment. ‘
It was a strange day for Rivers, who spoke to the media after the morning break and touched on two topics – the mentorship of Kobe Bryant on the anniversary of his death and the club’s “fatigue”.
The Knicks played 13 of their first 19 on the game.
“Oh, we’m definitely tired,” Rivers said Tuesday morning. ‘Our schedule, I’ll challenge someone to draw up their schedule for us. I do not know how a schedule can be more difficult than what we played. ‘
Rivers struggled to enter the game after scoring just seven points in the previous four games.
As the game unfolded, Rivers looked to Bryant for the first half. Then the whole team looked in the last two quarters with a short break as the Jazz won their ninth consecutive game to move to 13-4.
“He helped me in times of doubt and in times of failure,” Rivers said of Bryant. ‘He came to me earlier and talked to me about all my games [in New Orleans] when I was young and struggling. ”
Rivers’ 25-point performance was at least the pinnacle of his father’s Knicks high of 24 points in 1993. Rivers just failed to break an 11-of-11 Knicks record to start a game. .
In the third quarter, Rivers’ disputed march bounced off the edge with his 11th attempt, failing to equal the team record shared by Johnny Newman, Bernard King and Robinson.
Rivers had no help. Newcomer point guard Immanuel Quickley, the star in Portland’s loss on Sunday, finished 1 of 11 off the field. Alec Burks, who faces his old team, was worse and won 3 of 14.
“We learn from this,” Rivers said. ‘How many times have we contracted half 13? Not too much. ‘