The New York Knicks took their most frustrating loss of the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves 101 to 102.
The team let two big leads slip, one in each half. The game had all the feel of a team that took its opponent for granted. The Knicks would get off to a big lead; then their defense would slip. They consistently lost players for open three-pointers. Ball-handlers became careless with the ball. New York had lapses in concentration that eventually led to a late-game comeback for their opponents, the NBA’s worst team.
The sad part is that the Knicks had stretches of quality play. Julius Randle scored efficiently and methodically. RJ Barrett and Elfrid Payton had good performances marred by fourth-quarter struggles. Alec Burks got back to double-digits, and Taj Gibson is still a veteran presence. But it’s impossible to enjoy the good when this obviously winnable game was given up by so much carelessness. Let’s conduct an autopsy…
Knicks’ starters strong for three quarters but vanish in the clutch
Elfrid Payton: Elfrid Payton has become the focal point of many fans’ frustrations, and while that may be exaggerated, it’s not unfounded. His inability to space the floor was evident from his first attempt of the game when Ricky Rubio went under a screen and headed straight to the free-throw line. Elfrid was such a non-threat to shoot the ball that Rubio was fine to dip until his feet found the paint and the Knicks’ point guard just dribbled into the space. It’s a problem that also presents when Payton is off the ball, meaning that teams can consistently double-team other ball handlers. That limits key players like Randle and Barrett because there’s always an extra man cheating to the middle.
Payton didn’t have a bad game on the whole. He played 28 minutes and put up 17 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers. The starting PG shot 6/13 from the field, 1/1 from three, and 4/5 from the free-throw line. For most of the game, Payton was able to get right to the rim against dropping defenders. He had a solid game in the paint. But in the fourth quarter, he gave up ugly turnovers, forced shots, and played ineffective basketball.
It’s incredible how a few tough minutes can erase an otherwise good game. Elfrid Payton was a strong contributor for the majority of his minutes. The spacing issues that come with his game are easier to overlook if he gets to the line and finishes in the paint. But that all vanished with his fourth-quarter play. He lost his man on the Wolves go-ahead three-pointer, turned the ball over for easy, fast breaks, and got bailed out on a miss by Taj Gibson. It’s enough to drop him to a 2 out of 5 for his impact score.
Reggie Bullock: It was a return to form for Reggie Bullock. He never found a rhythm against the Heat but hit a couple of midrange shots to get going early with the Wolves. Bullock was back to contributing in myriad ways, grabbing some boards and picking up some simple but important assists. It’s almost a guarantee that he’ll turn at least one of Randle’s dribble hand-offs into a three-pointer these days. Bullock was a visible presence on defense, hit his threes, and helped out across the board.
In 39 minutes of play, Reggie pumped in 10 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 turnover. He shot 4/6 from the field and 2/4 from three. He truly made the most of his touches but didn’t get as many looks as usual. That resulted from RJ and Payton scoring well early but later on; it seemed like more of an oversight. The Wolves were swarming ball-handlers, a situation tailored to the Knicks’ three and D wing. He never got so much as a kick out while teammates’ turned the ball over and missed inside.
Bullock was solid but didn’t get a chance to go beyond that. He did everything well enough, but limited touches meant few opportunities to go above and beyond. By the end of the game, his contributions felt forgettable despite the efficient manner in which they came. The wing played nearly 40 minutes, his numbers are good but not great in that context. It was a decent outing, but not much more than that. Reggie grabs a 2.5 out of 5.
RJ Barrett: Three and a half strong quarters of basketball went to waste as RJ Barrett fumbled the ball, gave up paints, then missed the Knicks’ last shot of the game. Barrett had moments of brilliance for the majority of this game. He turned steals into fast break points, broke his three-point shooting slump, and had strong takes inside. RJ had one of my favorite plays of the game in an assist to Randle in transition. But then there was the fourth quarter.
After 41 minutes of action, Barrett tallied 23 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and 4 turnovers. Both the steal and block led to fast break points, Barrett’s defense turning into offense. Then in the fourth quarter, his game collapsed. Barrett dribbled into traffic and booted the ball out of bounds on multiple possessions. He gave up deep drives from Anthony Edwards that led to points and assists for the rookie. On the game’s final play, the Wolves leaned the defense heavily toward denying Julius Randle. So RJ got an opportunity but settled for a contested pull-up jumper with more than enough time to drive.
Barrett had a good enough performance by the numbers. If he makes that last-second bucket, I’d probably forgive the awful turnovers. But his bad fourth-quarter never let up. He never snapped out of it. Barrett let Anthony Edwards steal his thunder with a tantalizing fourth quarter. So a nice night turned into a bitter disappointment. Barrett gets a 2 out of 5.
Julius Randle: Any time that Julius Randle wanted to score, it seemed like he could. Randle was efficient and productive through the first half, but it seemed like he drifted in and out of the action. Clyde called Randle’s scoring quiet, even as the Knicks’ star was fast approaching twenty points. In the second half, Randle took his game up a notch. He turned defensive rebounds into transition buckets for teammates. Then RJ Barrett repaid him with an assist. Randle wouldn’t let up, but the Wolves would work harder and harder to deny him opportunities as the game approached its conclusion.
Randle picked up 26 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 TO’s on 11/20 from the field, 2/5 from three, and 2/2 from the free-throw line. It felt like he was the only player to have positive possessions during the final five minutes of action. But Randle could only do so much as the Wolves defense tilted entirely in his direction. Even though his pace felt deliberate throughout the night, he was steadily building to a quality game. Defenses are now taking on an “anyone but him” mentality late in games, nobody else capitalized, and Randle could only do so much as the lead dwindled.
This wasn’t a perfect performance by any means. Randle’s turnover mark makes that obvious. His defensive play this season has been good, but his three-point defense hasn’t always been consistent. Jaden McDaniels was able to get going early because of lackadaisical closeouts, and he never slowed down. But Randle was still the best Knick on the floor by a comfortable margin. He nets a 3 out of 5 for the performance.
Nerlens Noel: I jockeyed between hype for Nerlens Noel’s defense and absolute frustration with his offense. Noel picked up some highlight-reel blocks and generally gave Karl Anthony Towns a difficult night. He battled on the block and didn’t let Towns off easy along the perimeter. But then he got to the other end of the floor, where it felt like a comedy of errors. Noel didn’t fumble passes out of bounds, but he took long enough to collect them that open dunks became contested lay-ups instead. Noel was still right under the rim, but his point-blank hook shots bricked from a foot away. That wasn’t the only way that he struggled in traffic either.
Noel played for 24 minutes and tallied 2 points, 3 boards, 1 steal, 2 blocks, and 3 turnovers. He shot just 1/4 on the game, all attempts from right at the rim. Noel’s turnovers weren’t the “bad screen” types. He threw passes away or let players pick his pocket if he faced pressure. Towns pulled him far enough out of the paint that he wasn’t great on the boards either. It took away from his otherwise great defensive effort against the Wolves’ best player.
This was a strange one for Noel. I marveled at some of his sequences against KAT but cringed whenever he touched the ball at the other end. I found myself screaming at him to “dunk the damned ball” when he missed his second hook shot of the night. Despite his quality play against Towns, I was completely fine with Taj Gibson eating into Noel’s time. He gets a 2 out of 5.
New York’s second just decent against a subpar foe
Immanuel Quickley: Immanuel Quickley had an ugly first half, followed by a quiet second half. His most visible mistakes were miscommunications on defense. He seemed to miss rotations. Offensively, the past couple of games have seen him use the floater when a basic lay-up would be easier. The rookie’s struggles made it easy for Thibodeau to focus on his vets.
IQ played just 13 minutes and went scoreless. He shot 0/4 from the field, 0/2 from three, but did contribute 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 turnover. It’s a dubious statistic, but he led the team in +/- by a wide margin. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. The spacing is better any time that he’s on the floor. But his decision-making was a little off on both ends of the floor for this one.
Alec Burks: Alec Burks has been one of the Knicks’ most potent scorers, especially in the fourth quarter. But he rushed a fourth-quarter shot when the Knicks should have been killing time, and I think it got him benched. The result was Burks sat while the Knicks lost the game without many offensive contributions. The rest of Burks’ night was not bad but not particularly good either.
Burks put up 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 turnover in 24 minutes. He shot 5/12 from the field, 2/5 from three, and 1/2 from the line. Despite the solid numbers, something felt off about his game to me. I can’t put my finger on it, but he just never got going. Burks can do damage in bursts, but this game saw more scattered contributions. That’s not to call this a bad game, but it might explain how Thibodeau was able to cut Burks’ time down.
The generally solid performance might not have been special, but I think benching Burks was Tom Thibodeau’s biggest error of the night. The rushed jumper I mentioned above was a three-pointer through a screen when his defender went under. That’s a shot that the defense knows Elfrid Payton won’t take. The Knicks finished the game with three ball-handlers who work best inside. Burks would have added a perimeter threat. He gets a 2.5 out of 5 on the night.
Taj Gibson: I’d characterize Taj Gibson’s performance as not quite as good as Noel’s on defense but lightyears better on offense. Lightyears is 7 points in this case, but beggars can’t be choosers. Gibson had his own set of highlight-reel blocks, was better on the boards, and finished his opportunities at the basket. He was the better big by a decent margin.
Taj played 24 minutes and hit for 7 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 blocks. He went 3/3 from the floor and 1/2 from the free-throw line. During the fourth-quarter collapse, he turned a bad take from Elfrid Payton into 2 putback points. That was a clutch play that stands out because of how awful or invisible everybody else was…everyone besides Randle, at least. Add his defensive play and blocked shots to the equation, and Taj is pulling his weight.
We’re not looking to Taj for massive scoring. A 7 and 8 outing is as much as we could reasonably ask for. Beyond the raw numbers, Taj is a leader out there. He made clutch plays and has developed a nice rapport with RJ Barrett, who assisted on one of Gibson’s scores. The big man has been a pleasant surprise, and even in this disappointing loss, he did his job. Gibson gets a 2.5 out of 5.
Obi Toppin: Every time Obi Toppin hits a three, I smile and pray to the basketball gods that it’s a sign of his development. Toppin played just 9 minutes, and his first few touches came in the post. Unfortunately, he hardly looked to attack his post defender. Obi barely took a dribble before looking to kick the ball back out. He did get to take a pair of three’s though, and he knocked one down
Toppin’s 9 minutes mean no performance score. He put up 3 points and 2 assists in that time. He didn’t have bad minutes, but some bad defense in the fourth quarter got him a quick hook. As much as his game looks raw, I’m curious what he’d look like if he were strong enough to hold his own inside. Big men and wings have powered him out of position and off-balance. I think his face-up game will take time to develop; a good strength training program in the offseason could be more important to his immediate growth.
Tom Thibodeau: The Knicks’ fanbase is collectively pulling out their hair with the Elfrid Payton saga. I do believe that the issue is slightly overstated. If Derrick Rose were healthy, I have no doubt that he would have been the closer. As poorly as Payton closed, he did have a great three quarters beforehand. It’s not a shock that Thibodeau rewarded Eflrid’s good play with a late opportunity…it’s just also completely unsurprising that the Wolves doubled off him.
My bigger complaint is that Burks didn’t get too close. He’s earned a closing role over the past couple of weeks and wasn’t playing poorly. Even if Thibs wanted to reward Payton, Reggie Bullock’s had plenty of rough moments in the clutch. With the offense stagnant and sloppy, I don’t think there’s a good excuse to leave New York’s best scoring guard on the bench.
It’s not just the fourth quarter execution that bothers me. The Knicks gave up two big runs right after getting out to big leads. This team doesn’t have a killer instinct. We’ve seen them blow leads on plenty of occasions. They get away with it because the defense comes through and saves wins, but this is what happens when you play with fire. Thibodeau needs to put more accountability on his best players when they start to play lazy defense. He gets a 1.5 out of 5.
Closing Thoughts
This one hurts…worst loss of the season just a few games after my favorite win of the season. Something felt off all game long. It was visible when RJ Barrett scored an and-one, then tried to hype up his team, and teammates didn’t seem to react. At one point, Barrett took a hard foul, and hardly anyone came over to help him up (shout out to Reggie Bullock). Clyde and Breen saw that in Randle’s play despite his quality numbers. This game just felt like a team got caught sleeping.
What does it mean? For starters, it shows us how important Derrick Rose is. He’s a steady hand that’s more effective inside and more willing to shoot than Payton. We also got a reminder of Mitchell Robinson’s importance. He provides Noel’s rim protection with more mobility and much better finishing. The Knicks stood pat at the trade deadline. They didn’t bring in help. But now, injuries are magnifying the moves they chose not to make.
The good news is that this dizzy spell ought to pass. The offense had legitimate moments of brilliance. We’re starting to see more signs of life in transition as well. New York’s defense is reliably strong every night out. The slip-ups in the clutch are as much a sign of this team being among the youngest in the league as they are a bad omen.
These players need to learn how to finish a team off and keep composure late. I trust the team to grow and reach that point, but we’ll need to see it sooner than later if we want to watch playoff basketball. We visit KP and the Mavericks next. I trust Thibs and Reggie Bullock to give Luka hell. It’s perfect timing for the Knicks to snap out of a doldrum…or the point in the season where everyone panics. Let’s gear up, and I’ll see you there Knicks fam!
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