The New York Knicks lost to the Charlotte Hornets 114-125. This game was kept close, but Tom Thibodeau let this game go.
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The New York Knicks fell to the Charlotte Hornets 114 to 125. New York kept things close throughout the action but failed to slow down Charlotte’s offense. The Knicks shot well from three and moved the ball. The Hornets simply found more ways to score.
This loss came with salt in the wound. First, RJ Barrett had a fantastic first half but rarely saw the ball in the second. Next, Immanuel Quickley led the Knicks on a fourth-quarter comeback only to be subbed out before he could see it through. Finally, Alec Burks had the worst shooting night on the team but was left to play for the entire fourth quarter. Let’s look back at each player’s performance and see where things went wrong.
An efficient night for the Knicks’ starters upended by bad defense
Alec Burks: 12 PTS (4/15 FG, 4/13 3PT), 5 AST, 12 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 4 TO in 41 mins
Alec Burks had a brutal night shooting, which was exacerbated by the fact that he played the entire fourth quarter. A slight rotation change meant Burks ran with both the first and second units, which didn’t work out. He missed open looks, didn’t bend the defense to help IQ, and looked exhausted as the game wore on.
Burks did have more assists and rebounds because of his extra minutes. But his five assists came with an increase in turnovers, and his twelve rebounds aren’t covering for all the second-chance threes he bricked. Those numbers inform his effort but can’t make up for his struggles.
I have to bring in defense as well. The Knicks’ defense was picked on all night, and the point of attack was the problem. High pick and rolls destroyed New York, and that issue is especially prevalent with the starting backcourt. So Burks and Fournier combining for 76 minutes all but guaranteed problems for everyone. Burks picks up a 1.5 out of 5 that I blame Thibodeau for.
Evan Fournier: 30 PTS (10/16 FG, 6/8 3PT, 4/5 FT), 1 AST, 4 REB, 1 STL, 2 TO in 35 mins
Evan Fournier played a crucial role in keeping things close. Any time the Knicks needed momentum, he knocked down a big three-pointer. The French wing was lights out from deep. He showed no fear blowing by a close-out either, which led to some nice finishes inside. That gives us thirty points on sixteen attempts beauty of a scoring game.
But scoring was all Fournier brought to the table. He shot too well to get mad at for lack of playmaking, but he had one particularly ugly turnover in the third quarter. His rebounding was forgettable, and his defense was bad enough to warrant the whole next paragraph. I respect what Fournier can do as a scorer, but he can’t be a net negative everywhere else.
The fourth-quarter defense collapsed and Fournier entering the game was the first domino. The Hornets targeted him in the high pick and roll almost every play down. Help defenders overcompensated to cover for him, leaving shooters wide-open on the outside. The rest of the defense shouldn’t be hedging impossibly far from their shooters, but Fournier’s defensive struggles seemed like a leading cause. Fournier picks up a 2.5 out of 5, with his scoring managing to keep his impact neutral.
RJ Barrett: 25 PTS (9/17 FG, 1/4 3PT, 6/8 FT), 3 AST, 4 REB, 1 STL, 3 TO in 38 mins
RJ Barrett started the game looking like an absolute force for the offense. He cut through the defense like butter and repeatedly finished at the rim. His only blemishes were missed jumpers and a miscommunication with Mitch on an early lob. But for the entire first half, Barrett was a reliable bucket with 18 points to show through just two quarters.
Unfortunately, something changed at halftime. Barrett barely saw touches in the third quarter, finishing a transition dunk but not doing much else. We can blame him for not asserting himself, but he was looked off to feed other shooters on multiple occasions. Either way, the team got away from a working strategy, and even his few second-half field goals came on easy cuts and drives. Barrett finished the game with 25 points, which is impressive but disappointing considering how easily he scored all night.
Barrett was also the biggest culprit of cheating off his assignment defensively. First, miles Bridges hit a pair of late three-pointers that came as Barrett cheated into the paint prematurely. Then, to add insult to injury, he gave up a backdoor cut for a dunk on the very next play. All three plays showed a lack of defensive awareness that star players can’t afford, especially on consecutive possessions in a close match-up. As a result, RJ picks up a 2.5 out of 5 that would have been higher if he’d gotten more touches to keep producing.
Julius Randle: 21 PTS (7/16 FG, 4/10 3PT, 3/5 FT), 7 AST, 5 REB, 3 TO in 36 mins
Julius Randle heard a few boos in the pregame but responded with a pair of threes to start the game. His jumper gave him some confidence, which translated to a much better performance all-around. And he hit his shots which pulled defenders tight, and then he attacked off the dribble for dimes. As a result, his offense looked much closer to last season for a change.
At least it started that way. His shot began to falter as the game wore on, but he continued to find shooters off his gravity to his credit. He was a willing passer, which is a step in the right direction after this up and down season. I’m also giving him a pass on rebounding because Mile Bridges was on fire from outside, which pulled PFs away from the hoop for most rebounds.
While Randle’s defense wasn’t lazy, he still gave up a lot of baskets. It’s tough to blame him for a number of the crazy shots Bridges made, but he still had some late rotations that warrant attention. Overall this was a good step compared to his lackluster Chicago effort, but it still didn’t show cohesion with RJ Barrett. We need that one-two punch to work if both guys are going to stick around. Randle picks up a 2.5 out of 5 for a step in the right direction.
Mitchell Robinson: 6 PTS (2/4 FG, 2/4 FT), 2 AST, 10 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK in 34 mins
Mitchell Robinson beat Mason Plumlee off the dribble from above the arc and drew free throws off his drive. I have to mention that right away because it’s a rare play, but one that we’ve seen a few times post-ASB. He wouldn’t receive many dimes for easy looks throughout the game, but that’s because slashers didn’t need to pass. So Mitch had a light game as a scoring presence inside, but he still made that interior presence felt.
Robinson was all over the place on offensive boards. He chased down a long rebound and fed Fournier for his first assist. The fact that he finished this game with just two assists is a testament to the many open jumpers that shooters (particularly Burks and Barrett) missed. Mitch grabbed eight offensive boards and found players along the perimeter, but the second-chance points didn’t follow this time.
The big man was also a solid presence inside. His impact there was muted by Charlotte making extra passes. But those second passes and kick-outs were forced by Mitch waiting to block the initial action. Overall, we got a lot of the typical Mitch game but with signs of improved ball-handling and passing awareness. Robinson gets a 3 out of 5 because he really deserved more assists than he finished with.
Almost a comeback for Immanuel Quickley and New York’s second-unit
Immanuel Quickley: 16 PTS (6/12 FG, 1/6 3PT, 3/4 FT), 4 AST, 3 REB, 1 STL in 23 mins
Before I dive into the fourth quarter brilliance of Immanuel Quickley, let’s talk about his struggles earlier. IQ’s unit switched RJ Barrett out for Alec Burks. The shift in gravity and ball-handling support left Quickley out of sorts. He probed the defense, got nothing, and then swung the ball to someone else when it was too late to do anything but shoot. That was Quickley’s night for most of the first three quarters.
But the sophomore started to find seams late in the third. Then IQ would come out in the fourth quarter and hit a jumper and drive for an and-one. He just looked ready to go off, and that he did by sparking a run that eliminated a 10 point deficit to just 2 points. Sadly, Tom Thibodeau pulled him out of the game, and New York’s momentum evaporated instantly. IQ’s positive impact has never been more evident than right after getting benched.
Quickley came back out when it was too late to change the result. He finished with another efficient scoring night that included four assists without a turnover. I think his defense might be overlooked, but Quickley was better at chasing LaMelo Ball than anyone else (although no one was good at this). IQ gets a 3 out of 5 for making this a winnable game when the Knicks were almost out of it.
Miles McBride: 0 PTS (0/2 3PT), 1 REB in 9 mins
Miles McBride took and missed a couple of decent looks from three. As usual, he played aggressive defense but gave up a pair of running jumpers to LaMelo Ball inside. But I’d categorize this as a rookie game, which means it looked like things were moving a little fast for him. In his defense, he didn’t get much time to settle in for either half.
Obi Toppin: 4 PTS (2/3 FG, 0/1 3PT), 1 AST, 1 REB, 2 BLK in 12 mins
Obi Toppin put together some nice plays en route to the basket. He hit the lane for a finish along the baseline and finished an alley-oop lob from half-court. But his best play might have been a drive and lob to Mitchell Robinson.
Toppin’s a victim of Julius Randle’s quality play. Obi didn’t get much going in his second-half stint, and Thibodeau rushed Randle back in as the game wound down. Unfortunately, that meant Toppin lost minutes, and Thibodeau didn’t utilize his skill set.
Jericho Sims: 0 PTS, 3 REB, 1 BLK in 11 mins
Jericho Sims had a tough night. Just like McBride, he had a rookie game. Everything seemed to go fast for him as he failed to keep up with the Hornets’ offense at times. However, he still managed a few nice moments, like his lone block and some face-up defense against Mason Plumlee. But Sims’ night was cut short as Mitchell Robinson earned extra time in the close affair.
Thibs swings and misses repeatedly in the Knicks’ loss
Tom Thibodeau:
I blame this loss on Tom Thibodeau. He made several questionable decisions, and they all flopped. Let’s start with the easiest to miss but also the most frustrating. He swapped RJ Barrett out of the second-unit role to start even-numbered quarters. Remember how excited we were at RJ leading all the young guys a week ago? Thibodeau got rid of it. So Barrett never got to take over the offense because he was always in a timeshare with Julius Randle this time… and Barrett vanished in the second half.
That shift also left IQ out of rhythm for a vast chunk of time. But when Quickley finally found his offense and started to bring energy, Thibodeau pulled him. We’ve seen that before, and Thibs excused it as trying to buy Quickley a short break. However, that excuse doesn’t work after Thibodeau left Burks out there for the entire second half. He could have brought Fournier’s shooting back by giving Burks a much-needed breather, but he benched the hottest scorer on the floor instead.
It’s all particularly enraging because Thibodeau turned his back on everything that worked in the four-game win streak. He changed RJ’s role, morphed his fourth-quarter rotation, pulled his recent best point-guard, and slipped back into a veteran-reliant approach. Just as that strategy has failed all season long, it completely flopped again. Thibodeau gets a 0 out of 5 because if I found out he was secretly tanking for a top-8 pick, this game would be enough evidence to make the case.
Closing Thoughts
Leave it to the Knicks to annihilate any good vibes from a winning streak by reverting back to everything we hated about this season. I didn’t mind hurting New York’s lottery odds if it came due to young players stepping up. Those wins would let us know that the youth could lead things a year from now. The team started in that direction, but it didn’t last.
Instead, we were stuck watching struggling vets play hard and play fatigued basketball. We saw a player throwing temper tantrums and hurting the team all year long become the focal point even at the expense of a young rising star playing well. Then Thibs benched the one injection of energy he’d gotten in the fourth quarter and replaced him with New York’s worst defender.
We know what happens when those decisions dominate games. It’s happened all season long, and the team collapses and loses almost every time. The fans boo the product and complain about the struggles. The media labels them toxic. I blame the toxicity on coaching decisions, on-court antics, and constant excuses in place of accountability.
I’d rather see Randle stick around and Tom Thibodeau gone than vice versa. But, I don’t think keeping both is acceptable at this stage. They’ve poisoned the well themselves, the toxins are coming from inside the house, and I’m not talking about fans.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are next in a matinee which typically means lackluster play but might be even worse with the play-in game all but out of reach. I won’t hold my breath for Thibodeau to give young players bigger shots. But maybe some youngster will leave Thibodeau no choice, or perhaps a vet will be too hungover to play and free up extra minutes. Either way, I’ll be watching for flashes of hope in the youngsters. I’ll see you after the game, Knicks fam!
Stay tuned to KnicksFanTV.com for the latest Knicks news, rumors, and recaps throughout the 2021-22 NBA season. And in case you missed it, check out the live fan reactions after the New York Knicks lost to the Charlotte Hornets.
