A Win is a Win is a Win
Even on an otherwise depressing day, that much feels good
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“It’s easier to learn lessons when you win.”
Those were Mike Miller’s words after last night’s game, a 124-122 win in Golden State. If this was a classroom and last night was a school year, the Knicks shot out of the gate with straight A’s throughout the first semester but spend the rest of the year skipping classes while doing bong hits in their dorm room, and finally managed to pull it together with a D+ on the final. It wasn’t a top to bottom banner effort by any means.
But a win is a win, and even against the worst team in the league, managing to pull one out, on the road, in overtime, after giving up a 22-point lead and falling behind both in the fourth quarter and OT, it counts. And it was necessary, both for this team’s psyche and the psyche of a fan base that has taken gut punch after gut punch all season long.
The game was important, both for the result itself and some of the positive signs we saw throughout, but it falls a clear second on yesterday’s Knicks news depth chart. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne released a story yesterday that served as an all-encompassing look at just how upside down, sideways and backwards things have been inside the Garden over the recent past. If anyone out there was still being fooled by the Emperor’s New Clothes - the ones many of us spent time marveling at over the last few years - after this, the jig was officially up.
If Woj drops bombs, this was a slow release of tear gas. There wasn’t much in here you’d count as “breaking” news. That there have been “ownership-level discussions about hiring a new coach in-season” if the team’s struggles continue is the most relevant where the present day situation is concerned. But there are also tidbits about disagreements with KP early last season regarding his rehab time frame and internal strife over whether he would be a drawing card for KD, who the article also mentioned “strongly consider the Knicks,” but never pushed them to Kyrie as much as Irving did for Durant to join him Brooklyn.
Other than that, the most significant stuff had already been reported in drips and drabs - that Steve Mills wanted to retain power back in 2017 (and that the Timmy contract was maybe a move made to retain that power as much as anything else) and that the organization was as done with KP as he was with them by the time they dealt him (although it’s still unclear which fruit turned rotten first and infected the other one) - but it was damning nonetheless.
Put together, it was a reminder that all the good stuff achieved in games like last night is ultimately secondary if the franchise can’t find its footing from the top down. Beautiful window treatments and decorative moldings are meaningless if the foundation is crumbling from within, although they may help convince the right architect to come in to perform the necessary patchwork because he feels the contents of the house are worth saving (and he gets paid enough to take on the challenge).
Maybe (as reported yesterday by SNY’s Ian Begley) the decision has already been made to not only find that fixer-upper, but give them the wherewithal to tear it all down and start anew. More welcome news, I could not imagine.
On that note, let’s talk about last night…
Knicks 124, Warriors 122
One Big Thing
Mook and Julius, Putting in Work
I caught a lot of shit for tweeting, immediately after the signing occurred in June, that Marcus Morris instantly became the Knicks best player. Last night was a reminder that I maybe wasn’t completely off my rocker.
Not that we should have needed it. Outside of Elfrid Payton, who has only appeared in eight games, Marcus Morris has been worth more wins than anyone on the team, according to Cleaning the Glass. He should absolutely, 100% be worth a first round pick to some team - maybe not unprotected, but one that will certainly convert as a first at some point.
The third best Knick this season, at least via that CTG metric? That would be everyone’s favorite punching bag, Julius Randle.
I’ve gotten on Randle a lot this year, mostly because I believe that his stubbornness to adjust his role was as big a reason for this team’s offensive struggles as any single factor outside of their lack of shooting and a real playmaker at the point.
But he has improved of late, perhaps after being called out by teammates during the players only meeting over the weekend (or so said Mike Breen on last night’s telecast), along with RJ Barrett, for not passing out of double teams consistently enough.
I went back and watched all of his shooting possessions last night, and he had only one - an 11-foot, over-dribbled turnaround fadeaway jumper in the first quarter - that was truly a “bad” shot (although he also had four turnovers, which needs to improve as well). Considering what he’s been doing for much of this year, that’s borderline miraculous.
His presence on this roster can still make life easier for the young players (he had five assists last night), so I’m all for rooting that this version of Julius is here to stay.
Stat of the Night
116
That’s how many combined points the Knicks scored last night from behind the 3-point line, in the paint, and from the free throw line. Overall, the Knicks shot chart wasn’t perfect, but just like I pointed out after last night’s game in Portland, it’s trending in the right direction (Knicks shots are on the left):
On defense, New York gave up 37 attempts from downtown and 52 points in the paint themselves, but there’s hope in both of those numbers. Many of the Warriors baskets around the rim came on the break thanks to the Knicks, umm…“cavalier” passes in the second half, which hasn’t been an issue for them since the early part of the season and (hopefully) is a one-game blip.
Behind the arc, most of Golden State’s shots were well-contested, and the Knicks seemed to be smarter about who they were content to leave open while they were helping in other areas.
Made Me Smile
Kevin Knox has struggled perhaps more than any Knicks who has been available to play in every game this season. His early season success shooting the ball (remember he was hitting 45 percent from downtown through 12 games) has tapered off, especially from inside of the arc. He is just 9-of-34 from the field over his last five games.
And that hasn’t even been the worst part of his game. Defensively, he’s been targeted and taken advantage of repeatedly. His footwork closing out on shooters and navigation around screens could both be found in a “what not to do” instructional video on basketball (do they make these? I’d watch…)
But lately, we’ve been seeing some signs. Knox had two blocks last night on consecutive plays in the second quarter, the first of which led to a fast break and RJ Barrett dunk:
Knox has now had six swats in as many games since his one-game DNP-CD on the night after Thanksgiving. Blocks aren’t everything, but each one he’s had has required timing, anticipation, athleticism, and physical ability – all things he appears to lack when defending on the perimeter.
The easy answer is to play him more at the four. This will certainly help, and following trade season, one would think he’ll get more chances there (according to Cleaning the Glass, before last night, he had played power forward a mere 30 possessions this season).
But in the NBA, everyone has to guard the perimeter more often than not. The fact that this ability is in there somewhere should give us all hope that it can come out in a multitude of situations.
Doghouse (not Dawghouse)
Frank Ntilikina had maybe his worst game as a pro (and considering the fact that he’s put up quite a few 0/0/0 stat lines, this is saying something). Frenchie tossed the ball around like a day-old croissant, finishing with four turnovers to just two points. All of them were unforced errors.
It was out of character for Ntilikina, who is averaging only 1.3 giveaways in 24.7 minutes of action. Is he once again looking over his shoulder now that Elfrid Payton is back? Whether he is or isn’t, it’s not a valid excuse. Frank has to flat out be better. Making matters worse, there were long stretches of the game where he wasn’t only hesitant, but failed to get the team into any semblance of an offense.
It might just be a rough patch, or it might be something more. On that note…
Humble Suggestion
After the trade market opens for players signed this summer, I wonder if there might not be some value in getting Frank more time off the ball, with another point guard on the floor.
I have a lot of thoughts as to why this makes sense, but if the focus of this season is to develop guys into their eventual long-term roles as (theoretical) winning players, it might be worth a shot. Frank is never going to be a “normal” NBA point guard, at least not in the sense of what we’ve come to expect from the position, so maybe getting him more time as a secondary ball-handler in the offense (which he kind of is anyway now) has some value.
How’s this for a 10-man rotation after Marcus Morris is presumably shipped off for a tasty pick: Elf, RJ, Knox, Randle and Mitch as starters, with DSJ, Frank, Dot, Portis and Taj as backups? Ntilikina and Dotson have long made beautiful music together, and both should compliment Smith Jr., who clearly has not yet found his groove.
Speaking of which…
Final Thought
It shouldn’t go unnoticed how much better the Knicks have played since Elfrid Payton’s return. Amidst all the doom and gloom and big-picture organizational failures I discussed above, there’s a part of me that wonders how this season might have gone differently if you replaced every DSJ minute with Payton on the floor instead.
The Knicks have a minus-22 net rating with Smith on the court and are just minus-6 with him off. That’s…staggering.
Not all of the kids on this roster are going to be here long term. If DSJ is part of the problem and not the solution, maybe it’s worth considering moving on sooner rather than later.
We’re not there yet. But we might be getting close.
Player Spotlight
Since the Knicks don’t play tomorrow, I thought I’d take a brief moment to recognize the strong play of Elfrid Payton.
On PredictionStrike (remember to use code KFS when signing up for $10), Elf is currently trading at $0.59, which is actually down 5% after last night. He started the season at $2.49 and then his price cratered when he went out with an injury. You’re never going to be able to get him for cheaper than right now, and if I was a betting man, I’d wager that Payton is the team’s starting point guard before too long.
He’s always great for steals and we’ve already seen that he has a knack around the basket. If he starts getting around 25 minutes a night on a consistent basis, there’s a good chance his price shoots back up to where it was at the beginning of the season.
News & Notes
compiled by Michael Schatz (@mschatz99)
Slow news day outside of the big ESPN story, but if you’re already getting antsy for trade season, check out Tommy Beer’s early look at some young players the Knicks might want to identify in potential deals.
On This Date: Carmelo Anthony scores 37 points and Kevin Durant makes his debut in MSG
by Vivek Dadhania (@vdadhania)
Carmelo Anthony went on a hot streak and scored a season high 37 points in a 112-110 victory in Portland against the Trailblazers. Melo scored 37 on a very efficient 13-21 from the field and 9-9 from the free throw line. He also had 6 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocked shots.
That’s it for today…see everyone tomorrow!