Valiant Effort
The shorthanded Knicks fall short in Minnesota.
Good morning, and Merry Christmas Eve. Before we get to the newsletter, a quick note on the schedule for the rest of the week…TOMORROW there will be no newsletter, and then on Friday there will be an abbreviated recap delivered late in the morning. After that, a Hawks recap will come your way on MONDAY.
Wolves 115, Knicks 104
20-9 Overall (L1); 6-7 Away
Ahh, the holidays. Always a great time to catch up with old friends.
Unless of course those old friends mean-mug and dance their way up and down the court at your expense. That’s when you remember why they’re old friends and not friend friends.
It definitely made the loss a little tougher to swallow, but even with a Julius run in the fourth quarter that went down like spoiled egg nog, it was hard to be too mad at this result given both the players who didn’t suit up for the Knicks and the ones that did.
On that note, because I still have plenty of presents left to wrap, let’s quickly recap this game through the numbers that stood out the most, starting with…
39 combined minutes for Ariel Hukporti, Pacome Dadiet, Mohamed Diawara, Kevin McCullar Jr and Tosan Evbuoman.
It’s not that all of these minutes were bad or that the Knicks shouldn’t be capable of winning games if they have to tap into the end of their bench, but there are limits to these things, and New York decidedly crossed that limit in Minnesota. It was a necessary evil, however, thanks to…
0 combined minutes for Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Deuce McBride and Landry Shamet.
This is the first game this season that all four of these players were absent, and their loss was felt in different ways, starting on offense, where the Knicks scored…
104 points, which was a season low; committed…
19 turnovers, which was one away from a season high, and attempted…
30 threes, which was their third lowest of the season.
