Much Better

The Summer Knicks got their first win.

Good morning! Thanks for not minding the slightly later release today. After getting home last night, it was good to spend a few hours with the fam after a weekend away. Best of all, we finally got something good to enjoy from our young Knicks…

Vegas Game 3: Knicks 86, Pistons 75

I guess all the Knicks needed was for me to get out of Vegas.

When I stepped off the plane after five hours with no wifi (thanks Jet Blue) and checked Twitter for an update on yesterday’s game, everything I saw was about Jack Kayil. Highlights of the 39th pick in last month’s draft were everywhere, showcasing his outside shooting, off-the-dribble game and defensive chutzpah. The kid looked good.

So naturally, when I finally got around to watching the full game late last night, I expected Kayil to be the one Knick who popped off the screen. Boy was I happy to be wrong.

Let me say at the outset that this win against the Pistons was night and day from the two games I watched in person in the Thomas and Mack center. Yes, it helps when you make shots, and part of the ugliness of their losses to the Nets and Spurs can be chalked up to a combined 16-for-75 shooting line from distance.

But it was more than that. For starters, it’s not like they shot the lights out yesterday either (41 percent overall; 11-of-33 from deep). More importantly, the quality of play was on another level. On Sunday I watched the Pistons beat the Cavs in very impressive fashion, so it wasn’t like the caliber of competition was poor, especially with Chaz Lanier pouring in eight 3-pointers despite solid Knicks defense. The Knicks simply put together a quality two-way effort, and they did so despite the absence of Mohamed Diawara (left ring finger injury) and Pacome Dadiet (right foot soreness).

Could their improved play have been because they were missing the only two players on the roster with guaranteed NBA contracts? Given how Mo and Pac had been performing, I think that’s part of it. The bigger part for me was that no Diawara and Dadiet allowed others to step into more prominent roles, and for as good as Jack Kayil was, I think two other Knicks deserve at least as many flowers.

Let’s start with Liam Robbins.