Ever since it became clear that rookie Immanuel Quickley was the real deal – in other words, many months ago – fans have begged the Knicks to move him into the starting lineup. It took half the season, some injuries and a slow start to an important game, but Tom Thibodeau finally put IQ in its rightful place with RJ Barrett and Julius Randle around the second half of Saturday’s turn starting with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The results? Pure magic. New York’s latest Big 3 crushed the Thunder as a two-point lead at halftime turned the Knicks into a 119-97 hull.
The Thunder are not a playoff battle, and they lacked their star in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but they did not make it easy at first. Frank Ntilikina started at PG with Elfrid Payton and Derrick Rose, and struggled in the first few minutes. The Knicks conceded 31 points in the first quarter and trailed by eight. They dug out of that hole in the second quarter thanks to Quickley’s hot shot (21 points on 9-16 shooting), which his driver rediscovered.
Alec Burks finishes the half as the nominal point guard, and fans are wondering if another man will man the point over Quickley. But Thibs shocked us all by giving IQ the reins to start the third. The OKC coach put his best defender, Luguentz Dort, on Quickley and RJ Barrett is gone.
Barrett finally broke the 30-point threshold after a couple of recent near-misses, dropping an effective 32 points at 12-21. I say ‘finally’ as a joke because the man is only 20 years old.
It should be noted that RJ took 6 shots more than he took in Milwaukee on Thursday when Elfrid Payton committed the offense. Either way, RJ is in full control of his game at the moment, and with the Thunder defense concerned about Quickley, he had room to get to the edge at will. He also hit 3-6 out of three because that’s just something RJ is doing now.
Oh, and Julius Randle was there too. Poor Julius is a bit overshadowed by the excellence of his young teammates, despite his own sample numbers: 26 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds. It was the second triple-double of the season for Julius, the first Knick to score several triple-doubles in a season since Mark Jackson.
Will Thibs start IK again? That’s a story for another time. Let’s just enjoy the W. Recap that’s coming.