Going Streaking (Again)

The Knicks conquer some demons in Toronto, as only they can.

Good morning! I swear, this Knicks season should come with a warning label: “Do not watch if you are pregnant, have high blood pressure, heart disease, or have been exposed to previous basketball-induced trauma.” Mr. Thibs Wild Ride continues. But hey, nobody ever said it was supposed to be easy. What would be the fun in watching if it was?

In any case, I’m sending out the Monday newsletter two days early to capture the spirit of last night while it’s still germane. Happy Saturday, everyone.

Game Recap: Knicks 112, Raptors 108

⌚️60 Seconds or Less: New York started this game by getting on the wide shoulders of Julius Randle and riding him for yet another scintillating first quarter. He briefly held the Knicks’ record for most first quarter threes with six, but one got changed to a two after further review. Still, his 19 points in the opening 12 minutes gave the road team the early edge they needed, and a 17-4 second quarter run capped by two Brunson triples saw the Knicks briefly go up by 17.

That’s when Toronto’s defense started to put the clamps down, briefly cutting the lead to one late in the third, but thanks to big shots from almost everyone in the rotation, New York never wilted, getting the lead back up to 16 with under four to go in the fourth.

That’s when the real fun began, because of course it did. Toronto has been a House of Horrors for the Knicks since their last win there in 2015, and like any good horror movie, the killer sprang to life one last time. After Mitchell Robinson fouled Gary Trent Jr behind the arc and Trent’s three free throws cut the lead to 13, the Raptors pressed the Knicks in the backcourt, leading to a bobbled pass off the inbounds and a Fred VanVleet triple. The lead went from 16 to 10 in the span of 10 seconds, and with three minutes to go, we had a game.

From there, New York had a few stagnant possessions and gave up a couple threes, but thanks to two key buckets and two made free throws from Jalen Brunson, the Knicks broke their Canadian curse.

🤢 Late Game Woes? It was hard to watch the end of this game, with last week’s Dallas disaster still fresh in everyone’s mind, and not wonder if the Knicks have some late game issues they need to sort out. Giving up a 16-3 run in under two and a half minutes will make you ask all sorts of questions, and like the Mavs game, it can overshadow a ton of great basketball that led up to that point.

Thankfully though, New York escaped with the win, and hopefully, some lessons were learned as well. I picked five.

• Lesson 1: Don’t forget how to guard the arc!

  

  Mitch was clearly caught in no-man’s land behind the Siakam screen before he fouled GTJ and gave the Raptors life. By the time he realized what was happening, he jumped to contest but tried to pull back at the last moment, realizing where his momentum was taking him. Robinson knows better. The real lesson: stay fully engaged until the final buzzer sounds.

• Lesson 2: Keep your eye on the ball!

  

  I find it hard to fully fault Brunson here, because Randle rocketed this pass to him from a short distance away, and not exactly on target. But a softer pass in this situation seems like an equally risky proposition, what with so many black jerseys nearby. They also don’t win this game without Brunson’s heroics down the stretch, so any blame should be tempered. Still, lesson learned (by who exactly I’m less sure).

• Lesson 3: Don’t hunt fouls when up late (and don’t commit silly ones!)

  

  This wasn’t a bad possession, ending with IQ getting a solid look from the corner, but instead of resetting for the best attempt possible after a pump fake duped Barnes (or putting the ball on the floor for a running floater), Quick tries to sell the foul with an exaggerated shooting motion. Was it a foul? Probably. But New York should know better by now than to put the game in the ref’s hands. Making matters worse, Robinson commits a silly sixth foul with a swipe at VanVleet that put him on the line for two shots he made.

• Lesson 4: Keep the ball moving!

  

  On this possession, the Knicks did a good job inbounding and getting the ball up the court, with Julius passing to Jalen with 17 on the clock. At that point, Brunson holds the rock for 10 seconds before going into his move. Normally, this would be fine, because Brunson is a wizard and he’s as good at generating something from nothing as almost anyone in the league. The issues is that the Raps had his number inside the arc all day long, smothering and frustrating him anytime he penetrated.

  Sure enough, they brought a hard double on the drive. By the time he gets the ball to Randle, even thought VanVleet is guarding him on the the switch, the best Ju can do is attempt a contested three because the clock had almost expired. 20 or 30 second deeper into the game and this wouldn’t have been a huge deal, but with this much time remaining, a poor possession like this could have really hurt them.

• Lesson 5: Be situationally aware!

  

  This is probably the least egregious of the errors, because with this much time remaining, it’s not like two points doesn’t hurt you, and without the Hartenstein help, it might have been a layup for VanVleet. If anything, I blame Mitch for fouling out and not being in the game in this situation. Still, given that Randle was also in the vicinity, Hartenstein has to respect the corner J from Siakam, who is hitting over 43 percent on corner threes over the last two seasons.

• Lesson 6: Hit your free throws! Randle missed one of two after this three, on top of missing another freebie earlier in the period. No bueno!

Is any of this above correction? Of course not. Is it indicative of deeper issues within the roster or coaching staff? I doubt it. The Knicks have a minus-3.3 net rating in 83 “clutch” minutes this season - not great but also not in the bottom-10 league wide. This stuff happens to good teams (see: both 2021 Finals participants in the bottom six).

If anything, one number should stand out: a 37.3 assist percentage in the last five minutes of close games, which is comfortably last in the NBA. New York isn’t a great passing team as it is and still succeeds on offense, but when defenses tighten up at the end of games, it’s as good a time as any to trust your teammates more and don’t try to do everything yourself.

📸 Play of the Game: I was pretty harsh on Jalen Brunson above, but that’s only because I knew I’d be singing his praises here. After draining a step-back 15-footer to give the Knicks a 16-point lead with 4:03 to go, and then sinking a tough driving floater over the outstretched arm of Scottie Barnes to put them up 10 two minutes later, the ball was yet again in Jalen’s hands with the distinct feeling that New York needed one more basket to keep the streak going. He delivered:

Brunson also sank the free throw to give the Knicks an extra cushion, and when he was fouled 10 seconds later with New York clinging to a three-point lead, he made the first of two to essentially put the game out of reach. Even after missing the second, hopefully his recent free throw woes are now officially behind him.

💫 Stars of the Game 💫

There were no shortage of heroes on Friday night.

Quentin Grimes, who was not really in contention for a star, guarded Pascal Siakam for long stretches of this game after missing Siakam’s 52-point explosion at the Garden. That Toronto’s All-Star scored just 18 points on 4-of-14 shooting was no coincidence. Grimes also hit two third quarter threes that felt massive in the moment, as the Raps were seemingly ready to take control of the game.

Similarly, Deuce McBride sank back to back triples early in the fourth to grow New York’s lead from seven to 13. His threes feel like they’re worth an extra point with the defense he provides at the other end.

And with the toughest cut, Mitchell Robinson gets no hardware despite pulling down 18 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass. In fairness, against a team that doesn’t play a traditional five, he should dominate the glass like he did. Even so, I’d have given him the last star had it not been for the two silly fouls late that contributed to New York needing to sweat this one out.

⭐️ Immanuel Quickley: I know I’ve been promising a Stars Standings update for months, but at this point, I’m just going to do it at the halfway mark. That’s in just one game! I swear I haven’t looked back through the winners yet, but my prediction is that Quickley ends up third, by a hair over Quentin Grimes and Mitchell Robinson. We’ll see how good my memory is in a few days at the midway point.

The reason I bring up the stars standings is because this is yet another game (there have been many) in which Quickley does so many little things that help add up to a win. At the 40-game mark, IQ is third on the team with an on/off differential of plus-9.2 per Cleaning the Glass. That trails Deuce McBride by a hair (+9.6), but Quick has played almost triple his non-garbage time minutes. Mitch is in the lead at +13.8, and while that’s incredibly impressive¹, Robinson has had the luxury of playing almost exclusively with the starters. Quickley has shared the court for at least 250 minutes with 10 different players, and yet doesn't have over 600 minutes of shared court time with any one player. He is the walking definition of malleability.

He also continues to be a bucket inside the arc at moments the team needs just the sort of pick-me-up he can provide.

What a nice season for New York’s unsung here. #DontTradeQuick

⭐️ ⭐️ Jalen Brunson

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Julius Randle

Like I’ve done quite a few times over the last several weeks, I wrestled with which one of these two to give top honors. I don’t think there’s one right answer. Brunson obviously came up with the big plays late, and fourth quarter buckets are almost always worth more than ones earlier in the game. Randle, meanwhile, missed two free throws in the final five minutes and made just one basket in the fourth quarter after only two in the third.

But one of his second-half makes took on outsized importance in the flow of the game:

Other than an early 5-3 deficit, the Knicks led wire to wire in this game. The closest the score ever got was 73-32 following a Christian Koloko dunk. The above step-back gave the Knicks a four-point advantage and stemmed a tide that seemed inevitable in the moment.

Speaking of inevitability, Toronto hadn’t just been a place the Knicks have lost in; they’ve routinely gotten killed anytime they’ve crossed the border. Their 11 consecutive losses came by 15, 3, 17, 28, 36, 16, 25, 23, 15, 11 and 10 points, respectively. So while first quarter baskets may normally matter a little less than ones that come late, in this game, that script arguably got flipped, and Randle’s 19 first quarter points were exactly what New York needed.

Regardless of who should get most of the credit, the fightin’ Knicks continue to surprise us, in ways both good and bad. For the moment, things are very good indeed, and with the season nearly halfway over, they’ve given us something to look forward to as the stretch run nears.

🏀

That’s it for today! If you enjoy this newsletter and like the Mets, don’t forget to subscribe to JB’s Metropolitan, or his hockey newsletter, Isles Fix. See y’all soon! #BlackLivesMatter

1. Seriously…per Cleaning the Glass, the only players in the league who have played more minutes than Robinson and have a better on/off differential are Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Domantas Sabonis, Nikola Jokic, and two of Joker’s teammates, Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.