The trade looked good. But not good enough.
It did not win, but Derrick Rose sipped the Knicks’ second unit in his debut on Tuesday and played with novice guard Immanuel Quickley in the backfield.
However, coach Tom Thibodeau chose not to close with Rose and the Knicks suffered a heartbreaking 98-96 defeat at American Airlines Airlines in Miami.
Rose’s debut in his second Knicks series was a resounding success as he struck out 14 points at home three times in 20 minutes. Rose registered a block and a steal after not having as much as a shootaround practice at his new club. He shot 5 of 9 – 2 of 3 from three-point range.
The backlog is 98-96 behind, but RJ Barrett could not convert a driving force with Jimmy Butler in the final seconds.
The Knicks still need to get the chemistry right following the Rose trade with the Pistons. They led 82-76 after three quarters, but could not stop the Heat.
Quickley’s minutes were not as expected, but his shot was. Quickley was just 1 of 8 off the field before hitting a key float with 40 seconds left to reduce the deficit to one point.
Julius Randle, coincidentally or not, also never got into his All-Star groove, and he shot 4 of 18 for 12 points. Barrett (13 points), who finished late in the previous game against Miami, also did not have a very good game, despite the chance to be the last second hero.
It was 94-94 when Randle shot an open 18-foot from above from the backseat. Miami’s Tyler Herro, their NBA bubble playoff hero, tapped 1:04 over a three-pointer. After Quickley’s basket, Randle drives and misses a jumper from off balance with six seconds left.
Rose got a little sloppy early in the fourth quarter, with a turnover and a bad chance to keep up. This prompted Thibodeau to use starting point guard Elfrid Payton to lock, although Quickley entered at the last minute.
“He just came here,” Thibodeau said of Rose. “So we’re still working through things. I just felt we needed people who knew what we were doing. I did not want to put him in such a situation. ”
Payton also played well, scoring 18 points with four assistants.
The Knicks, who lost both sides of the house-and-house to fall to 11-15, will have to get the chemistry under pressure.
Rose and Quickley entered the game as a tandem in the first quarter, and it was clear that Austin Rivers, who signed in November, was no longer part of the rotation.
Under the eight points, the duo started working very quickly. Rose found Quickley for a three-pointer. Quickley found Rose for a three-pointer. Rose stole and drove the baseline and made a sensational pass to Burks for a three-point corner.
Then he hit the rookie Obi Toppin for a while.
In the first 7:13 of Rose and Quickley as a backline, the Knicks won a 25-5 run. Rose and Quickley were a plus-20 and put the Knicks ahead by 12 points. Overall, their points-guard game on Tuesday was tremendous as Payton picked up its mark for 12 points in the first half.
However, the Knicks could not gain the advantage as the great man Kelly Olynyk from Miami who shot outside caught fire. He finished with 17 points in the first half, exhausting 5 of 6 3-points as Miami led 57-55.
Before the game, Thibodeau swam over Rose, still calling himself an ‘elite’ player, adding: ‘He tells me it’s as healthy as he was.’