The New York Knicks lacked energy and grit to compete with the Brooklyn Nets, and would lose 85-112. Just a lousy performance.
Make sure to catch the whole Knicks Fan TV Postgame show on all major podcast platforms below:
• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Stitcher
The New York Knicks barely offered resistance against the Brooklyn Nets, losing 85 to 112. New York struggled on the perimeter at both ends. The Nets dared players to shoot, disrupting any rhythm a ball-handler might find. The Nets, meanwhile, found consistent, clean looks and knocked down three-pointers in bunches.
The game was out of reach by halftime. New York made a small run in the third quarter but followed it with almost 5 minutes without a field goal. The team looked defeated early, and the results reflect that.
We may not have as much to discuss, thanks to team-wide woes. But there were plenty of issues that could be addressed in short order. So let’s look at the key players in this tough loss.
No sparks for the Knicks’ starting unit
Jalen Brunson: 14 PTS (4/14 FG, 1/5 3PT, 5/5 FT), 2 AST, 4 REB, 3 TO in 31 mins
I’m comfortable calling this Jalen Brunson’s worst game as a Knick. The Nets went under screens and cheated off players to close driving lanes for Brunson. He responded by swinging the ball and leaving the offense in other hands (mostly Julius Randle’s). Unfortunately, that left New York’s point guard in a passive role for most of this ugly game.
It wasn’t just that Brunson failed to assert himself on offense. He gave up 18 points on 75 percent shooting to Edmond Sumner. The Knicks’ diminutive point guard would wander too close to the middle and fail to close out effectively.
The Knicks brought Jalen Brunson in to be the point guard. He has to set the tone for the offense because we know it flails without that guidance. Brunson pounded the ball aimlessly, took bad shots, and forced others to create too often here. As a result, he gets a 1 out of 5 for his worst game of the season.
RJ Barrett: 16 PTS (5/14 FG, 2/4 3PT, 4/8 FT), 3 AST, 6 REB, 1 STL, 3 TO in 30 mins
RJ Barrett knocked down his three-pointers at a respectable clip, and that’s the only positive I have for his performance. He had a few moments of heady passing to teammates but offset those with brutal turnovers. The newly minted 100 million dollar player forced too many of his looks at the basket and was inefficient.
Barrett didn’t provide much on defense, either. The team was collectively bad, and Barrett benefited from not having to guard Kevin Durant. So he was more invisible than outright detrimental there.
To his credit, RJ did give the Knicks a boost with nine points in the third. He’s had a few strong third-quarters recently. I wish we could get that effort more consistently from him. Instead, Barrett picks up a 2 out of 5 simply for not being as bad as some of his peers.
Cam Reddish: 0 PTS (0/7 FG, 0/4 3PT), 1 AST in 18 mins
Cam Reddish started this game with the tall order of guarding Kevin Durant. I’ll give him credit for trying, but that’s all I’ve got. Cam didn’t slow Durant down. He didn’t produce anything else. I mean that literally.
This wasn’t a case of being ignored on offense. Cam got some shots off but failed to convert any. To be fair, he had to chase some passes down before he could attack. But there’s nothing positive to point to from his night. Reddish gets a 0.5 out of 5 for an inability to produce.
Julius Randle: 24 PTS (7/15 FG, 4/8 3PT, 6/9 FT), 3 AST, 11 REB, 4 TO in 31 mins
Fans rode the roller coaster of Julius Randle expectations and frustrations with this performance. Randle came out the gate firing, missing a couple of threes before heating up and burying jumpers to keep New York afloat in the first quarter. The Nets continued a trend of teams ignoring Randle’s jumper, and he responded by shooting efficiently and finishing the game with 24 points at a time when nobody else could score. So, why was this still a frustrating performance?
Randle’s scoring came at the expense of ball movement. The space he was given demanded action. Translation: that meant a lot of possessions where Randle shot or drove into the traffic. And when he did that, he accumulated some ugly turnovers from dribbling into packs, jumping, and then trying to pass out of the shot attempt. That left the big man with more turnovers than assists, and everyone else was out of rhythm.
But the larger concern for Randle comes down to his defensive rotations. His defense has been a mounting issue for a while because he’s slow to spot his rotation and doesn’t sprint at closeouts. The big man had to switch to man defense on Kevin Durant because his off-ball work was detrimental. Now, Randle’s man-to-man defense was solid, but that’s not enough against a star scorer. Randle picks up a 1.5 out of 5 despite his scoring.
Jericho Sims: 7 PTS (3/3 FG, 1/2 FT), 6 REB, 1 STL, 3 BLK in 26 mins
Jericho Sims started the game with a block again, pinning a fast break lay-up against the glass. The high-flying center managed some rebounds and interior scoring along the way. But his mobility didn’t help the Knicks’ rotations this time.
Sims was active, at least. He chased after the ball, and his four stocks were hard-earned. Maybe that’s why his +/- doesn’t look as disastrous as the rest of the starters. But being the least lousy starter is barely worth 2.5 out of 5.
No help from New York’s second-unit
Derrick Rose: 0 PTS (0/4 FG, 0/3 3PT), 2 AST, 2 REB in 11 mins
I understand Rose is working his way back from injury, but I’m starting to worry. Rose didn’t have anything going in this game, and that’s been true for all of November. In his last five games, Rose is averaging 4 points and 1 assist in 13 minutes per game while shooting 29 percent from the field.
The bench can’t survive without a second ball-handler to help when IQ is off. Unfortunately, Derrick Rose hasn’t found the rhythm to be that guy.
Immanuel Quickley: 2 PTS (1/8 FG, 0/6 3PT), 4 AST, 4 REB, 1 STL, 1 TO in 20 mins
This marks Immanuel Quickley’s sixth game shooting below 40 percent from the field out of 11 games in the season. He made his first floater and proceeded to miss every attempt after. That included a bunch of threes, with his shot selection as a mixed bag.
To his credit, IQ did a lot of the rest well. He picked up some nice dimes, picking out Obi and others for good looks. He chased a few rebounds, as usual. But, most importantly, Quickley showed heart on defense. The sixth man only registered one steal but deflected the ball off Nets’ players on multiple occasions.
With all of that said, Quickley can’t afford to shoot so poorly. He led the second unit in field goal attempts, and the inefficiency erased the goodwill from his dimes and defense. That locks IQ into a 1.5 out of 5 for impact.
Evan Fournier: 6 PTS (2/7 FG, 2/5 3PT), 2 AST, 2 REB, 1 BLK, 1 TO in 20 mins
Evan Fournier knocked down a pair of threes early into his first stint off the bench. Then, he added a nice alley-oop to Jericho Sims for his best stretch of basketball in this game. And because of Fournier’s solid start, that earned him extended playing time which turned into fools gold because he failed to produce after those few nice plays.
Fournier often forces the issues off the dribble, searching for a rhythm that he hasn’t formed with the second unit, yet. His defense included some brutal mistakes in the third quarter as well. That leaves Fournier with a 1.5 out of 5 and an early candidacy for leaving the rotation when Grimes returns.
Obi Toppin: 5 PTS (2/7 FG, 0/2 3PT, 1/1 FT), 1 AST, 4 REB, 1 STL in 21 mins
When passing and ball movement breaks down, Obi Toppin will struggle. That’s an adage of past years and remained valid for this game. Obi had a few fleeting moments of burst, scoring on a fast break and a clever cut. But he missed the couple of three-pointers he took and never did much to create for himself.
Obi tried to post up a smaller player at one point, but it ended with a fadeaway jumper. His passing was as innocuous as everyone else’s, and his rebounding was forgettable. All of this is to say that Obi’s impact was extremely limited despite getting extra minutes. That’s a rare occurrence this season, but it still leaves Obi at a 1 out of 5 for his performance.
Isaiah Hartenstein: 2 PTS (1/2 FG), 5 REB, 1 TO in 15 mins
This might have been the most invisible Isaiah Hartenstein game of the year. We’ve drifted away from the times when Hartenstein would take the ball at the top of the key and try to create. Now he’s relegated to setting screens and rolling softly to the basket, knowing he won’t receive a pass.
There’s not much to say about Hart’s performance. He was out there, and he didn’t do much. But at least that means he didn’t shoot as poorly as everyone else. So Hart gets a 1.5 out of 5 for being present but not doing much.
The losses feel worse than the record says for Tom Thibodeau
I’ll start by giving Tom Thibodeau some credit for recently trying many new rotations. Unfortunately, he can’t will his players to shoot better or sell out on their rotations. But every double-digit loss to a quality opponent is a reminder that this team is disappointingly average. A coach can only elevate his team so much, but this squad feels stuck in the mud, and Thibodeau hasn’t figured out how to change that.
The criticisms are much easier to find. For all of his experiments with line-ups, it still feels like Thibs fails to hold certain players accountable. For example, there’s no chance that Obi Toppin could get away with the quality of defense that Julius Randle has provided for the past five games without his minutes cut. We also got the patented “I’m so mad” timeouts that Thibodeau will call without making meaningful substitutions.
The Knicks’ coach also seems to miss out on opportunities to get players going. The starters sometimes clash, and RJ Barrett had found success playing extended time with the second unit in early games, but Thibodeau has gone away from that. IQ seemed to be settling in before losing his “first guard off the bench” role to Derrick Rose, and Quick’s shot miserably ever since. It often feels like Thibodeau sets more obstacles than creates helpful paths to success for the players we root for the most.
Thibodeau gets a 1 out of 5 despite trying some new looks. His team is floundering, and we can blame the front office or the players as much as we want, but the coach hasn’t helped the situation either.
Closing Thoughts
New York might be flirting with a .500 record, but this season feels like an exercise in futility. I might blame last season for the carryover of bad energy and impatience from the fan base, but I think that’s justified. This team didn’t make massive shifts, they retained four starters, and kept it’s core intact despite opportunities to trade for Donovan Mitchell or Dejounte Murray.
The front office bet on their current roster taking a leap when a point guard arrived. They closed on Jalen Brunson,, which was the end of their offseason maneuvering. I don’t want readers to take that as yearning for a star either. I’d have been just as happy with Leon Rose using accumulated assets to move players and make more space for youth.
The team has had issues fitting together for years, and there are no silver bullets to fix it. So, the fanbase gets to watch a team that’s not good enough to chase a championship and not bad enough to chase a Jaden Ivey, let alone a Victor Wembanyama or a Scoot Henderson. Instead, we’re watching a team in no man’s land until the next star becomes available, and we have no idea if Leon Rose will make a move or remain gun-shy.
On the bright side, the Pistons are next, and New York is well-equipped to beat losing teams. They’re an excellent match-up because they don’t shoot the three well. This is an opportunity for the Knicks to get some momentum back and hopefully, sustain it for a while. We’ll talk about which trends turn and who steps up in the next one, Knicks fam!
Stay tuned to KnicksFanTV.com for the latest Knicks news, rumors, and recaps throughout the NBA season. And in case you missed it, check out Jose’s SPICY call and thoughts on the Knicks!
