No Quit in Quickley
New York's precocious rookie again made his presence felt, and continues to make the case for a bigger role.
Good morning! First off, this is a free edition for everyone. As always, if you'd like to receive this newsletter every weekday instead of just Monday, click below to become a full subscriber:
Second, I’ve pushed back Part II of the offensive breakdown I began in Friday’s newsletter to later in the week. Why? Because Immanuel Quickley went off last night, and gosh darn it, that deserves a change of plans.
Lets get to it…
Game 18: Knicks 113, Blazers 116
⌚️TL;DW: The Blazers hadn’t played in a week, and came out like a team that was well rested and ready to go. They couldn’t miss for most of the first half, putting a 70-spot on the Knicks over the first 24 minutes of action, with Dame entering halftime perfect from the field. It was the most points New York allowed in a half this season, but thanks to a spark from Immanuel Quickley, the Knicks were only down 20 at the half when it felt like they should be down 40.
Portland extended the lead to 25 early in the third, but the Knicks showed some grit on defense to cut the lead in half entering the fourth, and that’s when the IQ Show took over. Quickley scored 21 of his career high 31 points in the final frame, and along with Burks (12 points in the first six minutes of the third) and a couple of late steals from Julius Randle, the Knicks cut it to four with 1:10 remaining. They couldn’t convert when it counted though, and much like Friday, their comeback effort was too little, too late.
🖼 The Big Picture: This game was over. It was beyond over. It was so over we needed a new word for over.
Third game in four nights, on the west coast, against a team that had been off for a week and against a superstar that decided he wanted to go off, NBA Jam style. There were numerous opportunities for the Knicks to throw in the towel, and yet they refused. Until New York had to resort to fouling in the final 30 seconds, they gave up just 36 points in the first 23:30 of the second half. That was about half of what they gave up over the first two quarters when Portland was simply making tough shot after tough shot. It happens. It’s how you react that matters. And New York reacted in a way we’ve not been accustomed to in a long, long time.
🐭 😎 3 Blind Mice: The refs were awful all game long, but particularly at the end of this one. After calling a few non-fouls when New York was simply trying to trap Portland when the Blazers had the ball, Julius Randle was called for a foul on a made free throw after Enes “Once a Knick, I Wish You Were Never a Knick” Kanter pushed him into Robert Covington.
Randle said afterwards the refs told him they blew the call. Wonderful.
😭 “Oh the humanity!”: The internet was ablaze with complaints after the game. Among them:
Why, oh why, does Elfrid Payton (8 points, 3-of-8 shooting, 0-for-2 from deep, 3 assists) continue to start over Immanuel Quickley?
Why was RJ Barrett, coming off consecutive buckets in the last two minutes of the third quarter after a first half in which he only took one shot, on the bench for the entire fourth?
Why was Austin Rivers, who has hit just 30 percent from the field since his heroics against Utah, the man playing in RJ’s place?
All are valid. Payton has become synonymous with the offensive stagnation that too often paralyzes this team, and while the alternative is a rookie still learning the nuances of a position he hasn’t successfully manned since high school, we are at the point of needing to wade into uncomfortable waters and give the kid a shot. As for Rivers over RJ, if Thibs was trying to get more shooting and experience on the floor, it didn’t work.
But when you are the coach of a team that was pegged to finish in last, and is instead 8-10 with a top-five defense one quarter of the way into this oddball NBA season, you buy yourself a healthy bit of currency.
⭐️ Alec Burks: In a limited sample size of six games and 168 minutes, the Knicks are scoring 114.2 points when Alec Burks is on the court and 102.4 when he is off. His shooting is blowing Reggie Bullock’s out of the water, and whatever drop off there may be in defense shouldn’t be enough to prevent Thibs from making a permanent change to the starting five even after Bullock is back.
⭐️ ⭐️ Julius Randle: Not his best game, but even so, they wouldn’t have been in this one without him. Even though he was only 7-for-18 from the field, Randle got to the line 11 times, making 10. He’s now knocking on the door of the top 10 in the league for free throw attempts per game, and is hitting them at an 80 percent clip. His five turnovers hurt, but he’s continuing to try and make the right play on every possession, as five more dimes attest to. The march to an All-Star selection continues.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Immanuel Quickley: Much more on his 31 point, five assist outing below, but first, the Knicks played another game this weekend which deserves mention…
Game 17: Knicks 94, Kings 103
⌚️TL;DW: The Kings came out blazing from deep, and the Knicks found themselves down 23-13 with nearly five minutes remaining in the first quarter. New York didn’t cave though, and gave up just 26 points over the rest of the half. Their offense also found its groove, with Immanuel Quickley providing a spark.
The game turned in the third, when New York went four and a half minutes without a field goal, half of which came with starters and half without. The Knicks fought back again, this time on the back of Julius Randle, who almost single-handedly brought New York to within two with four minutes remaining. Unfortunately their offense stagnated from there, and the Kings scored enough to pull it out.
🐘 Elephant in the Room: Yes, Tyrese Haliburton was very good, totaling 16 points, five boards, four blocks, two dimes and two steals. More than that, he seemed to always be in the right place at the right time, making several impact plays when it mattered. He’s good, will be a helpful player for a very long time, and seemed to revel in the fact that he made every Knicks fan know it.
But Frank Ntilikina over Donovan Mitchell, this is not. Haliburton is not that caliber of player. Obi Toppin, meanwhile, may yet turn out to be a Kenny Walker-level bust, but calling him out as such before he’s played his 100th NBA minute is a bit premature. That’s especially true about someone who is clearly not close to figuring out the NBA game but is making his impact felt nonetheless:
What is something that New York has to reckon with is how Julius Randle’s rise influences their plans for Toppin moving forward, or vice versa. If they both prominent roles in this team’s core moving forward, there are a number of other dominos that could fall as a result, starting with Mitchell Robinson and his impending second contract.
They have time, but this is the NBA, where life comes at you fast.
#️⃣ Stat of the Night: RJ Barrett, who came into the night shooting 23 percent from downtown, was 2-for-2 from deep. The rest of the Knicks went 3-for 20. It gave the Knicks a 2-7 record when they don’t shoot at least league-average from three, with an average of 93 points per game, as opposed to a 6-2 record with a 110 point average when they do. #HowsItGoink
No Quit in Quickley
Immanuel Quickley has played in 14 NBA games.
Over that span of time, he has achieved a new career high not once, not twice, but six times, the latest coming in a performance against the Blazers in which he tried to out-Dame Damian Lillard. He is leading all rotation rookies in points and free throws per 36 minutes, and its starting to feel like he has very little respect for the notion of a learning curve.
Obi Toppin, his fellow first round pick in New York, is acting like a rookie is supposed to act. He looks out of sorts. He makes mistakes. Every good moment is followed by a couple not-so-good ones, and as fans, we’re merely looking for signs of positivity amidst the blunders.
That’s how it is with most rookies, after all. That’s how it was with RJ, and Mitch, and even Kristaps. That’s how its been for any rookie you care to name who’s suited up for the franchise in the last decade, save for Pablo Prigioni, who was 35 when he played his first NBA game and was thus slightly more prepared for what awaited him.
With Immanuel Quickley, rather than glimpses of hope for the future, the Knicks and their fans are relying on something much more urgent: game winning plays, right here, and right now.
And so far, that’s exactly what he’s been providing:
Hitting a step back 3-pointer when your team is desperate for offense in any shape or form is one thing; hitting it in the face of the greatest player to suit up for the Knicks this century is another.
But then again, Immanuel Quickley seems unfazed by the things that get in the way of most first-year players: rough starts, famous competitors, fan pressure, unfavorable game situations…you name it, he’s already faced it and lived to tell the tale.
With the Knicks positively dead in the water in the first half, Quick scored or assisted on 18 of 24 Knick points to close out the second quarter. Even that lofty ratio belittles his impact.
When he checked in with the Knicks having pulled to within a dozen to start the fourth, he proceeded to nearly outscore the Blazers by himself, 16-17 over the next 11 and a half minutes. He mostly did it in all the ways we’ve already become accustomed to, but it started when he pulled something brand new out of his bag of tricks:
When you have a guard on the court who can put the ball on the floor and make stuff happen, it invigorates everyone around him.
When that same player is a threat to pull up from 30 feet and its not considered a bad shot? It also scares the shit out of the opposition.
This was one of Quickley’s five makes - on just eight attempts - from deep last night. ESPN’s play by play tracker had the distances on those shots listed as 26, 25, 31, 34 and 27 feet. Cheapies, they ain’t.
It’s easy to look at shots like this and feel it is unwise to make too much of them here in New York. After all, just because we treat outside shooting like the spotted owl doesn’t necessarily mean that fans should be falling all over ourselves when someone can do it with a commensurate level of accuracy and regularity.
But then you look at how and when Quickley is doing what he’s doing - in the biggest moments, when they’re needed the most - and you also remember that it isn’t just the shooting that’s impressive:
When you turn two former Knicks into burnt chicken without even the assistance of an automatic lighter, well…that gets you some kudos.
So does appearing on this list, made up of all the NBA players 21 and under currently averaging at least 22 points per 36 minutes (min. 100 minutes played):
Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta.
Of course, no discussion of Quickley would be complete without touching on his ability to draw fouls at a prodigious rate, which he did yet again in Portland:
Eight more trips to the line, eight makes.
Even before last night, according to Cleaning the Glass, Immanuel Quickley was literally the very best in the NBA when it came to drawing non-shooting fouls and among the top-10 percent when it came to drawing and-ones:
There is just so much to like about this kid, and his impact is monumentally important to New York’s future plans.
The Knicks needed to hit on one of their rookie-contract in a big way this season. It appears that they are making fantastic progress with RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox has taken baby steps, and Mitchell Robinson has continued to improve in the areas he needed to.
But Quickley has become the lotto ticket to clench tightly, lest anyone else try to force it from their steely grasp. We are early enough in this thing that talk of ceilings is premature. Does he top out as a sixth man? Is he really a point guard? Or is he best suited as a combo? How will he adjust if and when the league begins to learn his tricks and tendencies? And of course, when the hell will he start, and what will it look like?
These are all questions for another day. For right now though, the Knicks can take solace in their loss. They have found something with this team, and the young man from Kentucky is the shiniest of their uncovered gems.
How much of his game remains beneath the surface is yet to be seen. Six career highs in 14 games brings a certain sense of wonder, after all.
What awaits for Game 15? We’ll find out soon enough, but for now, let’s enjoy the latest career high, secure in the knowledge that it certainly won’t be his last.
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That’s it for today! Thanks to Ernie Parada for the awesome IQ art. Also, if you enjoy this newsletter and like the Mets, don’t forget to subscribe for free to JB’s Metropolitan and check out their new website, MetsFix.com. See everyone tomorrow! #BlackLivesMatter
Not to sound like you sounded on RJ not too long ago, but I am so out on Obi. He looks like 3 children piled on each others' shoulders dressed up like an adult. He looks like a tiny alien trying to operate a giant human body - without a training manual. He's literally the exact opposite of what we thought we drafted. At this rate, we just need to hope he comes back next season having worked on his body, his balance, his ball handling, his footwork, his post moves, his [trails off]
I will say this though. If you squint your eyes, turn your head to the side, and just imagine that we took Quickley at 8 and Obi at 25, everything looks just fine.
Does that currency spend anywhere besides your house? I sure don't see anyone else buying Elf as anything but a stubborn mistake.
I wonder if Quickley would have made it off the bench yet if injuries and monumental incompetence hadn't forced him onto the floor and if he hadn't looked like a HOF player almost every time out?
How do we laud Thibs for his coaching when he's the last one on the planet to see the obvious?
The better record is because we have better players with much better coaching and one key players playing for a contract but also playing with the perfect coach to develop him into a better player.
That isn't Thibs BTW and quite frankly Thibs is screwing up the good work done by the real heros while getting all of the credit from the media for everything.
When your offense gets more shots for Payton than Burks and RJ combined you don't know WTF you're doing. That's what the starters did for us in the first quarter and that's how Thibs has the team set up.