Heartbreaker with a Twist

The Knicks made a valiant second half comeback before falling on a Booker game-winner, but this game was as much about how it started as how it ended.

Good morning. Wouldn’t it have been nice to follow up one fourth quarter comeback with another. Oh well…

Game 16: Knicks 113, Suns 116

At least the Butler three didn’t go in too…

In a New York minute…

Playing a Suns team missing Kevin Durant, the Knicks came out noticeably lacking the level of effort we’re used to seeing. That malaise manifested itself in countless Phoenix rebounds, open 3-point looks, and lost 50/50 balls that had New York down by as many as 15 in the first half. After a strong close to the second, they cut the lead to three early in the third, but a 10-1 Phoenix run put the road team back in control. The Knicks finally took the lead after a Julius Randle 3rd quarter rampage, but still trailed for most of the fourth. Jalen Brunson’s 15-footer tied it at 113 with 21 seconds to go, but that’s when Devin Booker got out the dagger to finish the job.

Jalen Brunson had a good look to tie it as time expired, but barely missed.

Three Things

1. Starting in neutral. There was one theme and only one theme discussed among Thibs and the players after the game, and it was that the Knicks did not come out with the requisite effort needed to win.

The numbers across the board were incredibly un-Knicks like, which is a great compliment to how consistently dogged this team has become, but also an indictment on their effort in what was a very winnable game without KD.

With all due respect to Booker’s shot, the first quarter was where this one was lost, as New York was out-rebounded 17-8 and 8-2 on the offensive glass. Over the final three quarters, they grabbed the same number of boards as the Suns and bested Phoenix on the offensive glass, but the early rebounding margin contributed heavily to a 32-18 deficit after one. It ended up being too much to overcome.

The same could be said of the Suns’ hot shooting from distance (they finished 16-for-38), but that too was partly the result of poor perimeter defense across the board.

And then of course we have old reliable, poor transition defense, which you better believe every team now has on their pre-game whiteboard when they play the Knicks:

Lots to clean up, boys.

2. The Madness of King Randle. If you went out to dinner last night and turned on the game with four and a half minutes to go in the third, you’d have thought Julius Randle was in the midst of an MVP performance. He scored 14 points in under four minutes, almost single-handedly taking the Knicks from a five-point hole to their first lead of the game. He was unstoppable, steamrolling into the post for multiple and-ones and generally having his way with whoever the Suns tried to throw on him.

If only we had that luxury - to enjoy just the good moments for Randle, and force our brains to ignore everything else. The only reasonable conclusion is that modern science has dropped the ball. Someone had a great idea 30 years ago to mindf—- Arnold Schwarzenegger into thinking he’s a secret agent on a mission to Mars. Can no one make “Only Good Julius” a reality in 2023?

On one hand, it’s unfair to single out Randle in a game where no one came out of the gate prepared to do whatever it took to win. On the other hand, it’s impossible not to single out a player who makes his miscues so painfully glaring. The first three quarters against Miami were just as bad as what we saw early on last night.

Perhaps there’s honor in laying his faults bare on so many plays - go big or go home, that sort of thing - but it sure as hell doesn’t make the viewing experience any easier.

This is who he is. And it ain’t gonna change.

3. Jalen Brilliant. He’ll get more love in Stars below, but extra attention must be paid to the brilliance of Jalen Brunson, because they needed every ounce of it to stay in this one.

In addition to Randle’s defensive issues in the first half, he was a non-factor offensively, scoring a quiet seven points before halftime. RJ Barrett was similarly cold (3-for-11 for the game), and while Immanuel Quickley was solid and DDV hit some threes, the Knicks had nothing going scoring-wise for the first 24 minutes.

Except, of course, for their MVP. Brunson’s 20 first half points were the only thing keeping the Knicks in this game. He barely cooled off after halftime, and finished with 35 points, eight assists, six boards, three steals and a block, joining Walt Frazier in 1977 as the second player in franchise history to hit all of those marks in the same game. His attempt as time expired looked good all the way.

A fifth of the way into this season, one thing hasn’t changed for New York since last year: they’ll go as far as Jalen Brunson takes them.

Play of the Day

What made the start of this game (and really, most of the first three quarters) so frustrating is that we know this team is capable of playing championship caliber defense. They proved as much on the penultimate Suns possession, which ended in a shot clock violation and gave Brunson the chance to tie it up:

Brunson in particular has been incredibly active on D all season long, and he was at it again here. RJ Barrett also deserves kudos for his solid defense down the stretch, even if he didn’t trail Booker close enough on the final game winner (where Randle also gave the Suns star way too much room considering the time left. More on that in a bit).

💫 Stars of the Game (Suns) 💫

⭐️ Isaiah Hartenstein: This is partly to make up for not being able to give him a star for the Miami game (see below), partly because he gave his usual sturdy performance (including yet another highlight block), and partly because there was no way Julius was getting rewarded after his effort to open this game.

Does Randle have a case? Absolutely! After finishing with 28, he’s one of four players averaging at least 23, 9 & 5 over his last 10 games. The other three have combined to win the last five MVP’s.

It’s never a question about the talent. It’s everything else that drives you nuts.

⭐️ ⭐️ Immanuel Quickley: Took a few shots he probably should have passed up that contributed to a 4-for-11 shooting line, but he still finished with 18 points, including a momentum-breaking three at the start of the fourth to end an 8-0 Suns run and four big free throws down the stretch.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Jalen Brunson: Missed the last one, but this baby was still cold as ice:

Over his last seven games, Brunson is averaging 28.3 points on 51.4 percent shooting overall and 50.9 percent from deep, with a tidy 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio that has stabilized after a rocky start. Only Tyrese Haliburton and LaMelo Ball have drained more triples than JB’s 28 in that span.

He’s playing at an All-NBA level, full stop.

💫 Stars of the Game (Heat) 💫

⭐️ RJ Barrett: I feel gross - legitimately gross - not getting Isaiah Hartenstein some love here, but I’m going to spin his exclusion from the pedestal into positive…

If I were grading on a curve, it would be I-Hart, because he was more of a positive in his minutes/role than RJ was, if only by a hair. But Hartenstein has elevated himself above curve status. I-Hart was awesome, but “unsung hero” is the appropriate moniker here, especially after RJ picked up the slack defending Jimmy Butler down the stretch and hitting several key buckets that led to the improbable victory.

⭐️ ⭐️ Jalen Brunson: A flip of the coin between him and Quickley, but I had to give IQ the nod for completely changing the tone of the game when he entered late in the third quarter. Still, 24 points on 16 shots ain’t too shabby.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Immanuel Quickley: In both games this weekend, there was a distinct point in both the first and third quarters where every Knick fan watching thought to themselves “we gotta get Quick in this game.”

Your 6th Man of the Year race leader through 16 games.

Tip-Ins…

🏀 Mitchell Robinson was fouled on a dunk attempt and landed hard on his lower back in the third quarter. He stayed in the games, but afterwards left his postgame media availability to meet with the training staff. According to Fred Katz, Robinson said he was still in pain.

🏀 Once again, free throws were anything but free, as the Knicks missed nine of their 32 attempts from the charity stripe against the Suns.

🏀 Neither Thibs nor the players seemed to have an issue with the defensive coverage on the Booker game winner, collectively praising it as a great shot you have to tip your cap to. It was a great shot, but as always, the devil is in the details.

🏀 A forgotten moment in the game from early in the third, just as the Knicks were gaining some momentum: RJ Barrett appeared to get fouled on a dunk attempt, but Frank Vogel challenged the call and it got overturned to a clean block. New York didn’t get anything out of the possession, and it wasn’t until late in the quarter that they finally gained a lead. At the time, it felt like taking a lead early in the third would have shifted momentum far enough in New York’s favor to give them a real change. Instead, Phoenix ended up making one more big push.

Up Next…

The Knicks host Charlotte at home in the final preliminary In-Season Tournament game tomorrow night. If they win by a bunch, they’re a good bet to make to the IST quarterfinals as a wild card.

Final Thought

Everyone said all the right things after the game, and they haven’t really had many nights like this (or even close to it) from an effort standpoint, so I’m not shooting off any flares. That said, we’re 16 games into the season and it still doesn’t feel like this group has found a consistent groove.

And yet…they’re 11th in total offense and 6th in total defense, a stone’s throw from joining Boston, OKC and Denver in the top 10 in both categories.

There’s good stuff going on here, even if the results have been a very mixed bag thus far.

🏀

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”