It took Kyrie Irving reliving the most important shot of his career for Brooklyn to put away the Knicks last night 113-109. The Knicks were a mess at times, brilliant at others but refused to go away. Make no mistake about it, the Nets' lead ballooned to the high teens on multiple occasions; the Knicks could have easily gone into a full meltdown or quit...they didn't do that. Maybe the best part of that comment is that while the vets worked hard, it was the kids that made this game a 12 round fight. RJ Barrett and Allonzo Trier took over the third quarter and Kevin Knox took over from long range in the fourth to get the Knicks within striking range. It was that trio, along with a barrage from Wayne Ellington, that brought life back to the many Knicks fans at the Barclays.
Did they let this opportunity slip away? Kyrie kinda snatched it to be honest. That's what stars do and the Knicks haven't got one yet. But New York's favorite team has shown enough in these first two losses to have optimism. Let's get into why...
Payton: Elfrid Payton was solid in a 10 point, 2 assist and 4 rebound performance. He wasn't bad, especially considering the first half struggles whenever he left the floor. But he was matched up with Kyrie Irving and overshadowed by RJ Barrett's performance in the same role. Right now, the Knicks are isolation and post-up heavy, that's going to limit just about any Point Guard's impact. In game one, Payton really took over the reins of the offense and the entire team looked better for it. Not so much last night and if it's just post passes and clear outs, then any guard can run this offense. A better floor spacer makes sense in that case, although Payton did go 2/3 from range last night.
Barrett: RJ Barrett was the best player on the Knicks last night. He was their second highest scorer, best perimeter defender and a force with the ball in his hands. Barrett put together a 16 point, 3 assist, 3 rebound and 6 steal night. It was flawless by any means though. Barrett had 5 TO's and missed all 3 of his free throw attempts on the night. In the first half, his impact was as muted as Payton's. Barrett's potential wasn't truly unlocked until he was paired with Shooting Guards and given more ball handling duty. With the ball in hand, Barrett attacked and drew fouls, broke down the defense and was able to take advantage of better spaced line-ups. It was as promising as can be, especially considering he went 2/4 from three point land. He needed more chances to attack late in the fourth, the offense could run through this rookie sooner than later.
Barrett's defense needs a shout out too. The Maple Mamba had a truly challenging task at times with Kyrie and Dinwiddie as his match-ups in the second half. But Barrett didn't back down and it took an NBA finals replay from Irving to get space and hit a game winner against Barrett late. The Knicks have found themselves a two-way stud.
Morris: Marcus Morris finally came down to Earth from a brilliant offensive start to his Knicks career. Mook couldn't get it going in isolation or in the post, finding all of his effectiveness on catch and shoot three point opportunities. Morris went 3/9 and 3/3 from three, tallying 11 points and 2 rebounds. The Nets seemed content to make the Knicks beat them at range and Morris was one of the players to see his efficiency dip in that poor spaced crowd on the inside. To his credit though, Morris' intensity and defensive play gives him value even on poor shooting nights despite the low output on the box score.
Randle: It still feels like the Knicks do their best when Julius Randle is setting screens rather than being tasked with running the offense...but we got a whole lot of the ball running through Randle's hands at the top of the key or in post-up clear outs. Randle's impact was muted to the point of frustration in this high usage, low efficiency situation. The big free agent acquisition provided 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists...but that came at the backdrop of 5/15 shooting and 6 turnovers committed including a TO on the Knicks' final possession down 2 points (another isolation play). It was a rough one.
Defensively, Randle is respectable enough when paired with another solid defender and was especially solid at the 5 spot. But he does not provide any kind of rim protection which means Mitchell Robinson is a key front court partner for him. The lane is too open paired with any other big on the roster in spite of the Knicks acquiring three other bigs this offseason. That puts Fizdale in a rough spot.
Mitch: It was another night with mental lapses and foul trouble keeping Mitchell Robinson off of the floor. But it was also another night where the Knicks interior defense only made appearances when the Knicks' sophomore Center was on the floor. Robinson put up 6 points, 7 boards, 1 assist, 4 steals and 1 block over the course of 17 minutes. In those 17 minutes he picked up 5 fouls and 3 turnovers. The up and comer hasn't been as good as last year, but he's still been essential. Robinson is the Knicks rim protection, full stop. It's also easy to picture Mitch grabbing a few offensive rebounds or putbacks if he stays out there and this is on a night where one possession was the difference. So this is as much a compliment as an indictment; Mitch has looked like he's in a sophomore slump...but he's still a crucial contributor to this team even regressing from his stellar performances in the post-Deandre Jordan acquisition period of last year.
Smith: Dennis Smith Jr only got five minutes and played poorly enough to warrant a benching the rest of the game. But I want to caution everyone from giving up on the kid. The third year PG is a marvel to watch fly when he's healthy, few players get so much lift with such ease. That athleticism and mobility is missing right now and I think it's related to the back injury that cut his preseason in half. I'm not going to bury him right now, but I will say that he needs to sit. Let DSJ rest, recover and work back into shape on off days.
Trier: Let's cut the crap with this "I'm not Iso-Zo anymore" nonsense, Allonzo Trier is a scorer. The undrafted sophomore discovery needs the ball in his hands and he will fill it up. He doesn't pass particularly well, his vision is limited and his off ball movement is shoddy; but with the ball in his hands, the kid is incredibly effective! So when he's on the floor, he needs touches. Last night Iso-Zo showed up and gave the Knicks 22 points, 2 assists and 3 rebounds in 23 minutes. Not only did he score just about a point per minute, but he did it on 6/7 shooting and 3/4 from three.
Like everybody else, Zo was far from perfect offensively. He had 4 TO's and on multiple occasions leapt into the air on a drive with no where to go; once he got bailed out by finding a kickout last minute, but he also turned it over on similar behavior. His offball movement is still weak too, Trier gets caught ball watching on offense sometimes (Payton at one point had to wave for a clear out cut). Then again, he did have a nice cut to the baseline for a nice catch and shoot three, small steps are fine.
The real issue for Trier is that he's really bad defensively. I know most of the narratives last night focused on Zo's incredibly efficient offensive night, but you can't count on 22 points from 7 FGA's every night. On nights when Zo doesn't have it going, he's gotta be at least passable defensively. He hasn't been so far in his limited appearances. I still think his optimal role is to be a sixth man scorer who stays out there when he's hot or when we need buckets. But there's a reason that he got benched for Wayne Ellington late and that started because of his defense, Ellington's scoring just made the substitution easier to stick with.
Ellington: Same thing I say every post game. Wayne's a gunner and he'll shoot you into a game on 3 possessions just like he'll shoot you out of one on 3 possessions. That's what he's here for, the fire away. In the debut, Wayne had a bad night. Last night? He posted 11 points on 3/4 from the field in 11 minutes. More importantly, the three point frenzy came during the fourth quarter run and put the Knicks in a position to win the game. Ellington probably got a few too many touches, turning the ball over twice while the Knicks were clinging to a late lead. But he showed his value, rapid scoring and respectable defense.
Knox: Kevin Knox got the minutes bump that I've been begging for and gave Knicks fans reason to be optimistic. Knox was another youngster showing off efficiency, going 5/8 including 4/4 from three to post 16 points and 2 assists in 29 minutes. On a team of players that need the ball, Knox was a constant threat to do damage on Catch adn Shoot opportunities. The other forwards shot well from three because they were given space, Knox was the only forward that truly had gravity though. The Nets realized they couldn't afford to leave him open and it spaced things out for all of his teammates. On top of that, he moved the ball well with no forces, being the only player to break 5 points without a turnover.
It's two games in, this is probably premature, but no young returning player has shown the growth that Kevin Knox has. He's hitting the lane with strength and balance that were nonexistent last season. His defense is still a work in progress but his effort and focus is lightyears ahead of where he left off last season, let alone where he started. Knox always had a pure jumper but it wasn't always consistent, so far this season it feels much more reliable. Then there's the passing, I cannot laud this enough. Knox was a bit of a blackhole last season, not anymore. He's seeing the floor much better, the game has slowed down. This kid is gonna be really good and he's a PERFECT compliment for RJ Barrett's game.
Gibson: Taj Gibson had an up and down night, mainly because he tried to do too much at times that stood out. Gibson took an ill advised floater, some poor choice fouls and another turnover in just 14 minutes. That said, he did a lot of good things that are easy to overlook because of the errors standing out. There was a really nice spin move to a finish and some nice ball sharing. Taj posted 2 points, 4 boards and 2 assists on 1/2 shooting...he forced a couple of things but his presence was more beneficial than anything with the other option being Bobby Portis who had a nightmare game. Gibson's solid on defense too, but not the rim protector off the bench that the Knicks could use. I wish he could pass on his knowledge to Kenny Wooten.
Portis: It's felt like Bobby Portis was teetering on a nightmare game even though he has gotten by on staying controlled while maintaining his intensity. Last night, it boiled over. Portis went 1/2 for 2 points, 2 boards, 1 steal and 2 turnovers in 10 minutes. It's not so bad on paper. But Portis continued to struggle defensively and the offense has too many players that operate where he prefers to be offensively. Simply put, Portis didn't have it and the more I see of the Randle/Portis combo the more frustrating it gets. Fizdale may feel the same. Portis didn't see any time in the second half.
Fizdale: This is a tough one to judge. It felt like David Fizdale took a minute longer than necessary to make the right decision every time. Instead of making the adjustment or calling the timeout down 10, Fiz would wait until his boys were down 13. Does keeping faith in those players really have to be an indictment though? It's a lot harder to go full Enes Kanter when Fizdale gives you enough rope to justify your benching. On top of that, the Knicks' coach did end up making the choices that I wanted to see. He spaced the floor much better in the second half; put the ball in RJ's and Zo's hands and took it out of the post; and the worst first half performers didn't get second half opportunities.
But if we factor in last season to now, there are still red flags to keep an eye out for. The Knicks have not been able to sustain their three point defense. The Knicks defense on the whole has been shaky. There are long scoring droughts carrying over from last year as well, just not always in the third quarter. There's also a lack of playcalling, just too much freestyling out there without much off ball action if any. Finally, the Knicks are too reliant on Morris and Randle to create from an island. Everything else stagnates and when those two are getting stopped, the game gets ugly.
That said, literally every one of these issues come with new rosters and chemistry building. We've seen plenty of coaches that never get to the part where they address these problems, but it's far too early to think that Fizdale won't. He held players accountable in ways that he hasn't in the past. Mitch with two lazy third quarter fouls saw the bench the rest of the way, a potentially costly but necessary lesson. Portis and DSJ to the bench for the second half was the right choice. Trier not coming back in when the Knicks were trying to get stops makes a lot of sense too. I was frustrated with plenty of aspects from last night's performance, but after a night to sleep on it...I'm seeing reasons for cautious optimism. I just want a few more plays and bit more off ball action. Morris and Randle need to be setting some double screens and causing chaos off the ball as much as they've been tasked with causing it on the ball.
He won in that department
so he could put Portis in positions Bosh was in. Corner 3s, long range jumpers etc. Basically anywhere away from Randle and also away from RJ's and Knox's driving lanes. He was 39% from deep last season, there should never be a play where ball is thrown to him in the post.
