Last night, we got our first taste of Garden magic. An 0-3 Knicks team spent the majority of the game down double digits to a non-playoff team in the Bulls, but the crowd stuck it out until an unlikely hero emerged to propel the Knicks to victory 105-98. Tacko chants were replaced with Bobby chants, because Bobby Portis was nothing short of spectacular. He was aided by RJ Barrett posting a statline that no other teenager has in NBA history with one exception (Lebron James). Julius Randle turned a nightmare into a dream by unlocking the power of the kick out. And you'll never find a more lopsided impact to box score tally ratio than what Frank Ntilikina managed. The Knicks had an uphill battle, but they showed tenacity and more importantly...we got signs of chemistry and growth that were sorely lacking to close the previous 3 games they'd played.
Payton: Elfrid Payton continued to be a solid, if uninspiring point guard for the Knicks. He wasn't bad but didn't stand out for anything good either. The Knicks starting PG produced 3 points, 2 boards and 1 steal on 1/3 shooting over a 21 minute run. Payton does what he does, he pushes the pace and gets the ball to our offensive focal points. But that's about all you can expect when he's locked into a line-up with mostly isolation players and piss poor spacing. None of the Knicks PG's have found consistent productivity in an offense that runs through the SG and PF more often than not. This is all to say, I'm not mad at the pedestrian numbers or performance. Payton has been steady and isn't the reason the Knicks struggle. He left the game with a hamstring issue.
Barrett: On opening night RJ Barrett became the second youngest player to score 20 points in his debut. Only Lebron beat him to the achievement. In his fourth game, the Maple Mamba became the second teenage ever to post 19 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists or better...Lebron again being the only other player to match it at such a young age. They are not the same player by any means, but what works for both young Bron and RJ is high IQ play, a workman's motor and strength beyond their years. The Bulls did not have a guard that could keep Barrett out of the lane thanks to his overwhelming strength (at 19 years old). Barrett was forcing double teams onto himself and had the patience to find rolling bigs whenever those doubles came. He was one FG away from a 50% shooting night (7/15) and ran the offense in the game deciding portion of the fourth quarter.
The Knicks offense needs to run through this kid, but there is one worrisome trait. He's missing his free throws like a prime Ben Wallace right now. You assume that'll clean up in a larger sample, but his jumper might also come back to Earth in that span. He was 0/2 from three last night. The good news is that he's not reliant on the long ball and finds his places on the floor with or without it. On top of that, even if his offense is stifled, the kid is years ahead of a typical rookie defender and gets boards like a big man when he's locked in. It's way too soon to call him a more promising rookie than young KP, but when you've hit achievements that only rookie Lebron could match...and you haven't even played 5 games...can you blame me?
Morris: Marcus Morris' scoring has come back down to Earth, but he's still forcing too much. He went 4/13 last night and only produced 10 points and 5 boards with those 13 looks. Over 31 minutes the Knicks free agent (literal) steal gave them 0 assists and 1 turnover while shooting 1/4 from three. Morris isn't spacing the floor, his isolations have lost efficiency and he's not moving the ball well. Right now the former Celtic is bringing value defensively but struggling to score in mostly poor spaced units. He looked better in the second half when there were some actual three point threats out there, but he seems like the most obvious candidate to take on a sixth man scoring role so that the starters can add a true shooter to open lanes.
Randle: For 11 straight quarters, Knicks fans had been subjected to Julius Randle driving into traffic for inefficient shots and ugly turnovers. The Bulls hard double team and quick collapsing of the lane pushed Randle into an extremely inefficient night. Randle tallied 13 points, 14 boards and 5 assists to 8 turnovers on 5/13 shooting. But the statline doesn't tell you about how Randle responded in his 12th quarter after 11 straight periods of torture. The Knicks biggest Free Agency acquisition finally decided to go into the collapsing defense with a mind to pass. The big man's performance will be most remembered for back to back baseline kick outs to Bobby Portis for three pointers. But he also picked up an assist to Kevin Knox and found Frank Ntilikina wide open in similar situations during that fourth quarter. Randle finally started to spot the double team motion and pick out the open man. That alone can cause his impact to explode, it already did once.
As a side note, two aspects of Randle's game are worth noting on top of the kick outs. One is that he's a work in progress on defense, but he's certainly showing signs of improvement. The Randle/Portis tandem was a disaster on defense, but last night they worked behind a Frank/RJ perimeter defense and were able to get stops. The second notable tidbit is that the fourth quarter saw Randle receiving the ball rolling and in motion. He had a top of the key isolation that ended in a turnover, like most of his perimeter isolation plays have. But when Barrett found Randle rolling to open spots on the floor, the veteran was able to survey things and make the right plays. He seems to be a willing passer but he needs the right circumstances to open up his vision.
Robinson: Mitchell Robinson put up solid numbers but got outperformed by his young counterpart Wendall Carter. Mitch was good on the glass but struggled a bit inside otherwise. The sophomore produced 10 points and 9 boards to go along with 2 blocks in 18 minutes. He wasn't kept off of the court for foul trouble though. Mitch gave up 20 and 10 to Carter, seeming overpowered at times as he found himself on the floor too often. He also had a rare "below 50%" night, going 4/9 scoring. He wasn't terrible or anything close to it, but he got out-dueled by his opponent and outperformed by his back-up.
Frank: How does one explain what Frank Ntilikina brings to the court? Let's try it like this. Frank put up 0 points, 2 assists and 2 boards with 3 turnovers in 22 minutes of play. He went 0/6, got blocked inside and missed open looks going 0/4 from three...Fizdale would later describe his performance as "Fantastic" and the coach was anything but sarcastic. That's because Frank "set the tone on defense" and moved the ball in a way that most players on the Knicks simply haven't. Ntilikina wasn't a playmaker, but he did push the pace and get the ball moving quickly. The rest of the Knicks responded in kind. As a matter of fact, the Knicks responded to Frank on both ends of the court, here's an anecdote.
The Knicks started the second quarter having given up another 30 point first. The defense had improved when Frank got out there, but the Bulls were knocking down contested jumpers. So Frank took his defense up another notch and on the Bulls first inbounds play; Ntilikina forced Coby White into an 8 second violation. This was the first time the Garden crowd actually showed some life. The Knicks defense took shape playing behind the pressure Frank applied. Zach LaVine was all but shut down when Frank got on him, especially in the fourth where Zach conspicuously scored the moment Frank came off. But talk about impact...there's nothing in the box score that explains what Frank injected into the Knicks last night. He was a spark and anyone denying that needs to watch what the Knicks looked like before Frank checked in for the first time in each half. You do have to cover for Frank offensively, but the Knicks have the offensive pieces to do that.
Ellington: The gunner was shooting blanks for a good chunk of the night and yet just being out there and willing to fire...the gunner made his impact felt. Wayne Ellington shot 3/8 from the field, 2/7 from three and his one finish inside the lines was on an out of bounds play where he got an easy lay-up. Ellington put up 8 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds in 22 minutes...so why did the Knicks manage to outscore the Bulls by 21 points when he was out there? Simply put, Ellington's gravity completely changed the spacing on the floor and created lanes that RJ Barrett and other ball handlers were able to take advantage of. The Bulls had a scheme built on hard doubles, but with Ellington threatening to hit anything if he got an inch, the help defenders were forced to stick by New York's top shooter.
Knox: Kevin Knox started a bit slow, but he continues to impress in a reduced role compared to last season. The young sophomore posted 14 points, 2 assists and 2 boards in just 17 minutes. Ellington is the Knicks' best shooter but Knox might be even more important for spacing because he draws the bigger defender out of the paint. Knox went 4/9 from the field and 2/5 from three. The youngster also drove past bad closeouts to get 4 free throws and knock them all down (minor for most teams, huge for this Knicks team so far as free throw shooting unit).
On top of that, Knox has had legitimately nice moments as an individual defender. Knox had to guard the guards on a number of isolation situations and held his own with Arcidiacono and LaVine when those situations happened. There was also a great help moment as young Kev picked a pocket from a ball handler that Frank was fronting, a play that led to a dunk. The sophomore's shooting stroke and strength are the stand out developments but his defensive growth is coming along and not something to sleep on.
Taj: Taj didn't have it last night. The big vet only played 7 minutes, missed a decent look from three and then passed up or mishandled the rest of his opportunities. It was uncharacteristic of the former Bull who has been looking for chemistry so far in his Knicks career. Luckily Bobby had him covered.
Portis: The Garden serenaded the floor with Bobby chants and no player deserved that love more. The Knicks offense struggled until Portis came in and abused Luke Kornet for consecutive buckets. The heir apparent to the Crazy Eyes mantle was fired up even when the Knicks struggled and became the offensive equivalent to Frank's defensive spark. In 30 minutes BP posted 28 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists. After struggling with his shot, Bobby hit 4/4 from 3 and was 10/14 on the night. The new KT also provided defense, he had 2 blocks and was respectable all night on that end of the floor. It was a coming out party after so many early struggles. What helped Portis was dedication on defense, Randle finding him on offense and better floor spacing out of the second unit. Ellington's insertion benefited Portis more than anyone else and the big man took every advantage granted.
If Portis keeps up the defensive intensity that he brought last night, he deserves a broader role. He's not Luke Kornet, but he can space the floor better than the rest of the big men on the roster. He has proven to be a more willful passer than Morris or Randle, making simple swing passes and kicking the ball back out when there's no space to attack a post up. He's a good rebounder to boot. The defense is a big "if" though. That's been his Achilles heel up until now. It's good that he showed his full potential though, because a lot of Knicks fans were turning on the guy with his early struggles. There's a lot of potential still hidden in Bobby Portis, but Fizdale will have his work cut out to unlock it.
Fizdale: This is a no-brainer, but that was David Fizdale's best coaching performance of the first four games by a mile. I liked that he tightened up the rotation in Brooklyn, but against Chicago we got defensive and offensive substitutions late. Fizdale drew up a great play to get an easy two points for Wayne Ellington out of a timeout. The Knicks made in-game strategic changes that directly addressed issues created by Chicago's defensive scheme. It was as if Fizdale treated this one like the playoffs and I'd love to see more of that. He didn't wait too long to make changes and even attempted a coach's challenge which he's been rare to do even in the preseason. That said, there is an elephant in the room that he's gotta address. The starting line-ups spacing is all out of wack and no PG change will improve that. He has to take one of the front court starters out of that line-up and either slide Barrett to the three or insert Knox with the starters. That's the only way for the spacing to work consistently. The Bulls seemed to scheme with this poor spacing directly in mind and that scheme wasn't broken until bench players mixed in with the starters.
That's a correction that is easier said than done though. Morris and Randle were the big FA acquisitions. None of the PG's can shoot to save things and RJ still needs a competent second ball handler at this point in his development. That leaves Mitch in some danger of being the odd man out; but his rim protection also feels crucial unless the perimeter defense is pushing elite levels...and here we have the quagmire that Fizdale has to deal with. The easiest solution is the most combustible with benching one of Randle or Morris. So it's locker room problems or balance on the court problems, but I'd take my chances with a new sixth man if I were him.
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