New Year, New Start
the Knicks get back on the winning track
Happy New Year! To celebrate, I’m sending out the Monday edition a day early. Hope you enjoy!
Game Recap: Knicks 108, Rockets 88
⌚️30 Seconds or Less: This one started off a lot like the Spurs game and most of the outings over their five-game losing streak, with the Knicks defense showing little resistance. They gave up 35 first quarter points, mostly on 3-pointers that have been falling all too often of late. After briefly falling behind by nine, New York got things going though, giving up as many points in the second and third quarter combined as they did in the opening frame. They took a 12-point lead into the fourth behind a barrage of turnovers (an astounding 25, leading to 37 Knick points) and free throws (32 trips in total, half by Julius Randle, in full bully mode). This one was never in doubt down the stretch.
📆 What a Month! Have the Knicks ever had a month like this in their history? As a reminder, they:
Started with arguably the worst loss of the season vs Dallas, giving up a 29-6 third quarter run. Coming off two days of rest, to let go of the rope that dramatically, they seemed like a group already planning their offseason trips to Cancun. It was also their sixth loss in eight games, dropping them to a season-low three games under .500. Worse yet, the surrounding data suggested they were cooked. A 12th ranked offense was negated by a 26th ranked defense, resulting in a 25th ranked net rating. One reason for hope: they were closer in average point differential to the 9th ranked Sixers than the team immediately behind them, the 26th ranked Hornets. Still, the talk was of firings and trades, and there were little reason to believe in miracles.
Beginning with an unexpected win over the Cavs at home, barely more than 24 ours after the Dallas disaster, New York began an eight-game winning streak that tied their third longest such run since 1994. More impressively, they were pummeling teams over that stretch, outscoring teams by 17.3 points per 100 possessions thanks mostly to a smothering 98.9 defensive rating. And then, just like that…
The defense disappeared. Over five straight losses, the Knicks went from sporting the best defense in the league to the worst, giving up 125.6 points per 100 possessions. The interesting thing though is that they didn’t fall apart on both ends. In the five losses, New York still had the 6th best offense in the league. It was little consolation though, as the Knicks suffered two of the worst defeats you could ever imagine witnessing. A loss to the bottom-dwelling Spurs added insult to injury.
It all culminated in New Year’s Eve in Houston. The Knicks scored only 108 points, but also gave up just 88, both of which were lows since the Cavs game that started their streak.
Put it all together, and for the month as a whole, the Knicks had the third best net rating in the NBA, trailing only the red hot Nets and the perpetually solid Grizzlies. They finished December 7th in offense and third in defense, bringing their season-long resume to a fairly impressive spot. Through 37 total games, New York:
Has the league’s 10th best offense…
Boasts the 9th best defense, and…
Is one of four teams, along with Brooklyn, Boston and New Orleans, to be top-10 in both.
Quite a rise from the ashes considering how dire things looked a month ago.
A December to remember, indeed.
📸 Plays of the Game: I could pick from any number of plays last night in which Julius Randle bulldozed his way over, around and through the young Rockets, either for field goals or foul shots, but I’d rather go a different route instead:
With his starting point guard on the shelf, Julius Randle posted his first back to back games of the season in which he had at least a half dozen assists in each one. The coaching staff has done a really nice job going back to a Randle-centric offense in Brunson’s absence, designing plays that take full advantage of the attention he draws.
In the play above, watch the weak-side action, where Quentin Grimes at first heads to the corner and then slowly starts to shade up towards the foul line extended. As he’s doing that, Isaiah Hartenstein sets a perfect back screen on his man to spring Q for the shot.
But this play is dependent on Randle in every way. For one, Grimes’ defender, Tari Eason, moves all the way under the basket the second Julius starts backing his man down into the post. Randle’s gravity forces that reaction. Then, Julius throws the pass to Grimes as the back-screen is happening. This level of timing and anticipation is not always something we’ve seen from the burly power forward, even when he was averaging six dimes a night en route to MVP consideration two years ago.
A similar play unfolded just a few minutes later:
This is a play that would have led to a bad shot or a turnover in past games, but credit to Julius for maintaining his composure. Is it risky? Yeah, and against someone other than the Rockets, the passing lane might have been played well enough to prevent the eventual result. But he got it done, as he’s been doing a whole lot of lately.
💫 Stars of the Weekend 💫
⭐️ Evan Fournier: In his 27 months as Knicks head coach, the way Tom Thibodeau speaks about players outside of his rotation has come to resemble the “It’s not you; it’s me” routine from Seinfeld. Turns of phrase like “he’s situational,” “we need everybody” and “be ready when your number is called” are meant to soften the blow for those on the outside looking in, but really, seem only to add insult to injury. We know who Thibs’ guys are, and if you’re on the outs, you’re on the outs.
This has to be a tough pill to swallow for just about any NBA player, all of whom have been the man on their respective teams at one time or another1. For a guy who was a borderline 20 point per game scorer not long ago and more than held his own in going toe to toe with Team USA, it has to be a particularly tough pill to swallow.
But instead of going full Costanza on his coach, Evan Fournier did exactly what he was told, staying ready, waiting until the time when his services might be needed, and when that time came, stepping in and helping his team.
I’m not sure what I love more here: the two-man game between Randle and Fournier - a throwback to last season, if you will - or the primordial scream Evan lets out after the shot goes down. This gave New York its biggest lead of the game and was the first moment of the night you could exhale a little bit after a positively brutal previous 10 days.
Fournier might never play a prominent role again for this team once they get fully healthy, but this dude can still help a team win games. And on Saturday night, he did just that for the one he’s currently on.
⭐️ ⭐️ Immanuel Quickley: Exactly two weeks ago at this time, I was feeling pretty ridiculous.
On December 6, I wrote an impassioned plea that the Knicks should not, under almost any circumstances, trade Immanuel Quickley. After that newsletter posted, IQ rewarded my faith with a six game stretch of 48 total points on 28 percent shooting and 26 percent on threes. Oof.
Now I don’t feel so ridiculous. This weekend, Quickley had two of the five best scoring games of his career, putting up 36 against the Spurs and following it up with 27 in Houston. Given the lack of creation with both Brunson and RJ sidelines, the Knicks needed every bit of his scoring and then some.
Going back to the Dallas games, when New York was first without two of its main cogs, IQ is averaging 25.3 points, 9.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds. It’s the smallest of small sample sizes, but still, pretty cool that the only other players matching or exceeding all of these numbers over the same time frame are Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic. No one in the entire league has played more minutes over their last three games.
The efficiency, well…the efficiency still isn’t there, as Quick’s total field goal attempts and total points over this three-game stretch is about equal. But it’s one thing to get on IQ for his inefficiency when he’s playing a 6th man role and instant offense is supposed to be part of his job description. It’s quite another to have to be a co-star in what has essentially become a two-man show. And in that role, he has had some undeniable flashes of brilliance.
On the surface, there’s nothing much too this play…just a savvy screen rejection that catches Eric Gordon flat footed and splits the defense with a timely burst. IQ recognizes the personnel and knows rookie (and fellow Wildcat) TyTy Washington is no match. Most of the action happens above the neck.
But that shouldn’t make it any less impressive, first, because if it was so easy, everyone would do it, and second because its emblematic of why Quickley remains so valuable even as his shot has largely eluded him this season: he thinks the game at a higher level than just about anyone.
Case in point: Quickley had three steals against the Rockets, simply by playing with his head up and remaining engaged throughout the entire play:
The Knicks need Brunson and RJ back ASAP if they’re going to make a real run at a playoff spot. Even so, these few games have been a nice reminder that there might be more to Immanuel Quickley than he’s let on through the first two and a half years of his career.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Julius Randle: While it has happened somewhat quietly, Julius Randle is starting to put together one of the great offensive seasons in Knicks history.
Hyperbole? The numbers say otherwise.
Let’s start with these last two games, in which Randle followed up 41, 11 & 7 in San Antonio with 35, 12 & 6 in Houston. This is the first time in franchise history a player has topped 35 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in consecutive games. It also makes five games where Randle has hit the 35, 10 & 5 threshold as a Knick, tying him with Bob McAdoo for second all time behind Richie Guerin’s nine. That’s more than Ewing, more than Reed and more than Melo, all of whom had four each.
For the season, Randle’s last two games also brought his scoring average up above 24 points per game. When you factor in his efficiency from the field (a 54.6 effective field goal percentage) and his penchant for getting to the line (5.3 made free throws per game), it puts him in the following company over the previous 75 years of Knick history:
Patrick Ewing, 1989-90 - 28.6 points, 55.1 eFG%, 6.1 FT: Arguably Ewing’s best statistical season, this represented his lone time on the All-NBA 1st Team. He finished 5th in MVP voting and led the team to the East semis, losing to the eventual world champion Pistons. He also won Player of the Month in November, averaging 28, 10 & 2 on 54 percent shooting en route to a 9-5 record.
Bernard King, 1983-84 - 26.3 points, 57.2 eFG%, 5.7 FT: This was the first of King’s consecutive All-NBA 1st Team appearances and the year he finished second to Larry Bird for MVP. He won Player of the Month in February, averaging 33, 6 & 2 on 57.7 percent from the field and leading New York to a 10-6 record.
Bob McAdoo, 1978-79 - 26.9 points, 54.1 eFG%, 5.5 FT: This line comes with an asterisk because McAdoo was traded to Boston after 40 games played, with the Knicks at 25-33 and going nowhere. Still, the former MVP and two-time runner up was coming off five straight All-Star appearances and might have made it again had it not been for an early season injury that knocked him out for a month.
In the month of December, Randle put up 28 a night on 47.8 percent shooting an 36.8 percent from deep while making the seventh most free throws in the league. He also chipped in 11 rebounds and four assists a night, all going towards a 9-6 record for a team that began the month in crisis.
Factoring in his scoring, efficiency and penchant for getting to the line, here is the company he’s keeping in this NBA season:
That would be your six legitimate MVP candidates, Zion (who might force himself into the MVP conversation if New Orleans keeps winning), AD (who was nudging himself into the MVP race pre-injury), Dame…and Randle.
The All-Star conversation is very, very real. More thoughts on his chances coming later this week.
🏙 Game Day 🏙
Who: Suns
Where: MSG
When: 3 pm on Monday
Injury Report: Jalen Brunson is likely to be questionable again, while it seems like RJ will miss his third straight. For the Suns, Devin Booker is out.
TV: MSG
Halftime Zoom: Click here to enter.
🏀
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
Oh to be a fly on the wall inside the head of one Cam Reddish.
Randle is the family heirloom that half of the family hates...
There's not much written at this point about RJ's injury. How the hell did it happen? Do we need to check fingernails before the games? Hate to think about the potential for eye injuries if a fingernail was the villain.