The Knicks lost a sluggish 26-point result in San Antonio on Tuesday night, and the Knicks decisively defeated the injury-plagued Detroit Pistons Thursday night, improving the New York record to more than 500.
On Tuesday against the Spurs, the Knicks looked like they were ready to start their free week early, but Tom Thibodeau is not one to accept the feeble attempts. New York had Elfrid Payton in the starting lineup, but no Derrick Rose (for health and safety protocol). Taj Gibson stays out after recently spraining his ankle and leaving the Knicks light in midfield.
The Pistons, meanwhile, are last in the East and second worst in the NBA. They were without their two of their best scorers (Jerami Grant and Josh Jackson). The Knicks could not afford to let this one slip away. Especially with the tough second half of the season.
With the win, the Knicks are now 19-18 at the center of the 2020-21 season, good for fifth place in the Eastern Conference and only half a game back from fourth place Boston Celtics. They are 8-3 in their last 11, are led by a bonafide All-Star in Julius Randle, and are hiring a coaching candidate in Thibs.
The outcome of the game has been called into question several times over the course of the night, although truth be told, the Knicks took control from the start and kept Detroit mostly at a distance. RJ Barrett, who has scored 18 points and 4 rebounds on 55% shooting over the past four games, was determined to keep up the good work.
He had three assistants in the first few minutes, including some nice passes to Payton. By the time Randle got his first bucket about halfway through the period, which forced Dwane Casey to call a timeout, the Knicks were 6-8 off the floor and 14-8.
Randle, who was one of his weaker efforts this season against the Spurs (14 points on 6-16 shooting, 11 rebounds and 5 assists), ripped off a remarkable first quarter to get himself back on track. He put up 10 points on 4-6 off the field, plus 4 boards and 1 assist. He was assisted by Elf, who drove aggressively to the edge all night and threw in 8 first quarter points, as well as RJ, who had 6 points and 3 assistants in the first time.
At one point, the Pistons hit six consecutive shots to get inside one, and soon it was 26-26. But Alec Burks put in a bucket with two minutes left in the period to make it 28-26, followed by a three-pointer from Frank Ntilikina, assisted with love by Randle, to put the Knicks back on six .
The start of the second quarter was perhaps the best moment in franchise history since Walt Clyde Frazier and Willis Reed brought home the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship trophy nearly five decades ago. Frank drops back to back tries, receives what Clyde calls an “accidental” refusal on one and gets contaminated on the next. The Pistons, because they were party poopers, challenged the dirty call and won. The three counted, but Frank would not get that free throw.
The Knicks maintained a lead for the next few minutes, thanks to Randle, who still had 8 points, 6 boards and 1 assist in the second quarter to clinch a double-double at halftime (18 points and 10 boards). Not to mention Barrett, who rounded out the half with 10 points, 3 boards and 3 cents. By the end of the second half, the Knicks had an 11-0 run that included the next smart stroke of RJ, and at halftime, New York led 13, 59-46.
Payton opened the second half and drained a corner three, by none other than Dennis Smith Jr. but the possibility was that they might stagger suddenly and spectacularly.
Collectively, however, the Knicks kept it together, with seven ‘Bockers’ climbing the board in the third period, led by 7 points each from Elf and Reggie Bullock and 5 each from Randle and Burks.
In the end, it was 77-66 Knicks, which was just a cool view. Then it was 82-66. Sighing could be heard throughout the metropolitan area of New York. These sighs were premature, even though Randle’s last draft to end the period increased the Knicks by 19.
The bank failed to score points during the first few minutes of the fourth, while the Pistons put five points together to bring the game within 14 points. the ship.
Side note: The jerk of Frank, who sank three tries in the first nine minutes while playing his usual stingy defense, was odd. But Thibs was afraid the Knicks might never score again. Ntilikina was a victim of overall poor performance of the banking unit.
The Thibodeau move paid off, as the beginners maintained a lead of about 10 points for most of the rest of the quarter. Detroit never gave up, but New York never gave up.
At the last minute, the crowd sang for Thibs to put in Theo Pinson, but he, like his team in the match, refused to concede. When it’s all over, the Knicks were the winners, 114-104. They beat a team they had to beat, and did so in a mostly convincing way.
Notes:
> Thursday was Obi Toppin’s 23rd birthday. Happy birthday, Obi! Toppin had some clever layups against the Pistons, but he will have to do away with authority on Sunday if he wants a chance to win the dunk game. Go Obi!
> The win is the 10th time the Knicks have defeated an opponent by ten or more this season; they did so just seven times in 66 games last year and four times in a standard 2018-19 season with 82 total games.
> Nerlens Noel again deserves his own point. He had 12 points, 11 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks. After one of the blocks, he did the Dikembe Mutombo finger waving.
> RJ also earns a point, but no more free points after that! Barrett has 21 points with 9-13 shooting), 4 boards and 5 assistants. The 5 assistants tied his season high.
> If you have not already done so, read Julius Randle’s piece on the Player’s Tribune. He’s off to stay in New York, and New York must be off to keep him.
> The next Knicks game is played on March 11 against the Milwaukee Bucks, exactly one year after the day the Knicks played their last game last season against the Atlanta Hawks.
Herbert Pollack was absolutely unnoticed in the comments when he said the following about the Knicks tonight: “nice bounce, much better energy.”
Indeed, much better energy, Herbert. Nice All-Star breaks everyone. The second half of the season may be tough, but the Knicks are in the hunt.