Knicks rookie Immanuel Quickley isn’t stressing that he missed a game-tying three with 12 seconds left against the Sixers – he would take the shot again tomorrow if he could.
“I’m not happy because I missed it, obviously,” Quickley said. “I wish I could get it back but I can’t.”
Quickley’s confidence through the first 37 games of his career is stellar. It’s not easy to find a rookie willing to take big shots in crunch time, and Quickley hasn’t had many opportunities to find out himself if he’s one of them. He found out last night, though, and he’ll learn from the result.
“I’m glad I had the confidence to take the shot… A lot of people wouldn’t have wanted to take that shot,” Quickley said.
He’s not wrong. A game tying three in the final seconds of a battle against the top team in the East is a lot to take on, especially for a rookie.
“If he gets a good look you don’t want him hesitating, I can tell you that,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game.
Quickley’s not most rookies, though. He welcomes that pressure. So if coach Thibs trusts him to take the shot – Quickley’s gonna take it. And if he misses, next time he’ll just have to make it.
“Coach had trust in me to make it, I didn’t make it. But I would still shoot it again. Just shoot it to make it.”
Back-to-Back Battles
Moral victories kind of exist. The Knicks players will never use those words, but competing with the #1 and #2 seeds in the East in back-to-back away games is impressive. Win or lose.
“We never want to come out of a game losing. But for us to be right there, we know we just gotta make those extra effort plays, extra hustle plays to get over the hump,” Quickley said.
RJ Barrett also sees the light at the end of the tunnel. He knows the flashes of success are not a mirage. The tight games against top teams prove it.
“We just played one and two in the East,” Barrett said. “It was a dogfight, it came down to the end.”
Call it something else if ‘moral victory’ sounds wrong, but the significance of close losses against two title contenders is legit. It shows that they’re not far away from getting some really impressive wins. Barrett agrees.
“It’s kinda showing that, we’re there, we’re good enough. We just gotta make those key plays to get over the hump,” Barrett said.
‘I don’t believe in moral victories’
Don’t bring up moral victories around Julius Randle, though. After a dramatic ending to Monday night’s game against Brooklyn, Randle badly wanted the win in Philly.
“I don’t believe in moral victories, it’s a win or a loss for me,” Randle said after the game.
He’ll have to reset and focus on the Orlando Magic (13-26), who the Knicks (20-21) play at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
“Get a win, that’s really all that matters. Find a way to get a win and get back on the right track,” Randle said.
Knicks Mitch Injury Update
Randle took a hard fall after getting stuffed by Dwight Howard at the rim last night. Coach Thibs knows that this team is still playing shorthanded with Elfrid Payton, Derrick Rose and Mitchell Robinson sidelined. The last thing they need is their engine breaking down.
“Very concerned when you see a player go down like that,” Thibs said. “But he’s got a lot of toughness. We’re fortunate that he was able to bounce back.”
Robinson, who broke his right hand in mid-February, is getting closer to returning to action. Thibodeau said he’s been working on his conditioning and the next step is contact in practice.
“There’s a progression of what he has to go through. Everything looks good, he’s done a lot of running on the court and ball handling with the left hand. Now the next phase is for him to go through practice and take contact there. We all know the intensity of a game is a lot different than practice. So that will be the next step. Once he clears that step he’ll be ready to go.”
The upcoming schedule leaves the Knicks with little room for error with their eyes set on the playoffs. Losing Rose and Payton makes things tougher, but the Knicks continue to impress the league with strong wins and close losses. They’ve done a pretty good job of beating the teams they should beat thus far. We’ll see if they can get the job done against the Magic on Thursday.
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