Brunson, Baby

New York's new point guard continues to acclimate himself wonderfully as the Knicks win a close one to get to 3-1

Good morning! I still haven’t quite caught my breath after that one. How about you? Let’s relive together as we try to regain our bearings…

Game Recap: Knicks 134, Hornets 131

⌚️30 Seconds or Less: It was evident from the start that this game would not be easy, as undermanned Charlotte, playing without LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, brought some heat to the Garden. Spurred by excellent offensive execution, shot-making and some less than crisp Knicks defense, New York found itself in a track meet, leading 69-62 at halftime. The defense improved for a bit and the Knicks seemed on the verge of pulling away with a few 12-point leads late in the third, but the Hornets scored 43 points over the last 15 minutes of regulation, including six straight to take a five-point lead with under three to go as New York struggled with their own execution issues down the stretch. Thankfully, Jalen Brunson wore the home jersey. Largely behind his efforts and a few key Randle buckets, the Knicks got the game to overtime and made just enough plays to pull this one out.

📸 Photo Finish: After the Knicks took a 3-point lead with under 20 seconds to go in OT, the Hornets had a baseline inbounds and managed to spring PJ Washington for a good look that went down. The only problem: his shoe was about a half-size too large.

The refs called this a two in the moment and confirmed as much on review. Still, this was the most nerve-wracking moment in this game that was too close for comfort throughout.

✨ Play of the Game (Non-Brunson Division): As we’ll get to below, the Knicks starting point guard somewhat cornered the market on plays of this game, so I’m using this spot to shed love on the final defensive possession of regulation, which was executed pretty flawlessly given the stakes:

RJ and Julius have a moment of confusion on the initial switch, but it doesn’t hurt them as Barrett does a nice job recovering to Washington behind the arc and then walling off any potential drive. Hayward gets the step on Randle, but Mitch is there waiting to make sure the floater is as tough a shot as Gordon Hayward attempted all night.

🥃 Glass Half Full: RJ Barrett was not good last night. I know, I’m a hater because he got his 22 & 8. But he missed six of his seven attempts in the last six minutes of regulation and overtime and had another costly turnover to boot. The situational awareness I called for yesterday was again lacking throughout the evening, not to mention his continued difficulty consistently hitting relatively open short range looks. And that doesn’t even get into his defensive struggles containing Gordon Hayward in the first half¹.

But to RJ’s credit, he went to the line in two absolutely vital situations in this game - first with the Knicks reeling, down five with just over two minutes to go in the fourth, and again in overtime with 3.8 second to go and New York clinging to a one-point lead. He made all four.

Barrett needs to be better for the Knicks to be a good team this season. But to show improvement in a key area of struggle, in two big spots, has to count as a massive silver lining in an otherwise poor outing.

🤔Rotation Reflections: I’m going to stop writing about Obi Toppin’s minutes totals because this just is what it is at this point. Toppin nailed 3-of-4 from deep, including a big fourth quarter bucket to double the lead from three to six. It was a solid outing, and it netted him 13 minutes. This is going to remain the reality as long as we’re getting a good version of Julius Randle who is commanding the attention of defenses and (for the most part) making them pay.

✍️ News & Notes: A formality, but the Knicks picked up fourth year options on Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley and the third year option on Quentin Grimes.

💫 Stars of the Game 💫

⭐️ Julius Randle: I struggled immensely with this, to the point that I need to spend a decent chunk of this section talking about the two players Julius edged out.

Derrick Rose had maybe his best game of the young season, going 5-for-7 for 12 points and a couple dimes. He’s a made field goal away from a 50/40/100 slash line this year, and both of his fourth quarter buckets felt big in the moment.

But Rose saw just 12 minutes of action, which is what he’s been averaging. Whether his minutes will go down even more after Grimes returns or go up as the stakes get higher deeper into the season is anyone’s guess. For our purposes here though, his limited playing time was fatal to his chances.

Cam Reddish, on the other hand, played more than double Rose’s minutes, including the last three and a half of regulation and all of overtime. He had some unfortunate moments, including a fourth quarter turnover that led to a fast break, but overall it was a strong performance that contained several nice defensive plays, including this key strip of a driving Kelly Oubre Jr that gave the ball back to the home team:

Even so, I had to give the last star to Randle.

Did he have a great game? Not really, no. Julius was 7-for-19 for 17 points, six boards, two dimes, two steals and one turnover. In the last 10 minutes of action, he took six shots and missed four, plus a lost ball after he initially grabbed an offensive rebound on an RJ miss. His processing at both ends, as always, left a bit to be desired. He could have been better.

But as last season devolved past frustration and into self-flagellation for fans, it wasn’t the missed shots that had us so beaten down. It was everything else…shot selection, commandeering the offense, effort, attitude…you name it.

Randle didn’t make shots last night but his process was sound all the way. Every shot was either behind the arc or in the paint, and most were hard drives to the rim. It never felt like he was shooting outside the flow of the game, at least not overtly so. He tried. And most of all, he cared.

This offensive rebound and putback on one of Jalen’s few misses was the margin by which the Knicks ended up getting to overtime. After it went down, Randle let out a scream that seemed like a year in the making.

He more than earned it. And when you factor in his driving layup with 19.2 seconds left in OT to give New York a three-point lead they wouldn’t relinquish, he more than earned this star as well.

⭐️ ⭐️ Mitchell Robinson: Just a beast on the defensive end. Feels like there’s a Mitch-centric newsletter coming tomorrow, so I’ll save my extended thoughts on him for then. Just appreciate the force he’s become in his fifth season, notching six blocks in this game and making his presence felt on several more shot attempts. The 37 minutes he played is tied for the third highest mark of his career, and the Knicks needed every single one, as this game showed the drop off in rim protection between Robinson and the spirited but physically inferior Isaiah Hartenstein.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jalen Brunson: What, you were expecting Ryan Arcidiacono?