Bucks 134, Knicks 101: Good ole fashioned NBA blowout
Thursday night was throwback night for the New York Knicks, who got blown out by the Milwaukee Bucks, 134-101.
Have you ever had an old friend, who you may or may not be friends with anymore, just show up unexpectedly at your front door? And they come in and then proceed to just flat out overstay their welcome?
The 2019-2020 version of Julius Randle was that “friend” on Thursday for the New York Knicks.
He can’t be blamed for a night where the Knicks gave up 134 points and 18 made 3-pointers, but he was spotted at the scene of the crime, like, all night.
Randle finished the game with seven points, eight rebounds, and six assists to go with five turnovers on 3-12 shooting from the field. It was, without a second of doubt, the worst game he’s had all season, and it would rank in the lower tiers of his games last year, too.
His lone highlight on the night was a block on Antetokounmpo.
No, not the good Antetokounmpo — it was the good one’s older brother.
Woof.
We all should have known what was coming when Alec Burks put on his best J.R. Smith impersonation in the first half, making every other batshit crazy shot attempt, hoping he’d catch fire and single handedly will the Knicks to offensive competency.
It wasn’t meant to be.
Notes
The Knicks were without Derrick Rose for the third straight game, and Mitchell Robinson for what feels like years. Get well soon, fellas.
RJ Barrett had a (kind of) good night! It’s hard to assess the only guy who had a positive performance in a game where his team lost by over 30 points, but given that it’s RJ, we’ll ignore that rule for now. The 20-year-old finished with 22 points, five rebounds, and two assists on 9-15 shooting from the field and 1-2 from deep.
He also had this vicious dunk, which was only made possible by a swagger-fueled hesi, the likes of which Khris Middleton has apparently never seen. It only would have been better if he had pulled a football maneuver and given Middleton the peace sign on his way to the rim. But he had to dunk it, and that requires hands… I digress.
Taj Gibson made his return to the floor after suffering a severe ankle sprain in their win over the Indiana Pacers two weeks ago. He missed three games in the interim, but came back on Thursday night well rested. Taj had some nice defensive moments, but to the surprise of none, wasn’t able to shoulder the load of an entire herd of stampeding deer.
New York gave up 130-plus points for the first time this season. Thibodeau won’t be happy. In fact he’ll likely be very, very mad. That’s only relevant because the Knicks gave up that many points in regulation five times last season, and one against these same Milwaukee Bucks created this transcendent moment in team history:
Elfrid Payton had arguably the worst game of the season, against the team that he also had his best game of this season. My brain has broken three times over trying to make heads and tails of this guy. He finished with 10 points on 4-14 shooting. No turnovers, though! :)
Burks led the team in assists with eight on the evening. Are we officially regressing back to point Burks territory? He also scored 17 points on 7-12 shooting. Unrelated: the trade deadline is exactly two weeks away.
Call it for what it is. A good ole fashioned NBA blowout. There’s no way around it.
Let this game be a reminder of how far this team has come — and all the same, just how far they still have to go.
We’ll learn a lot about both Tom Thibodeau and this New York Knicks team on Saturday. Coming off of their worst loss of the season, they’re slated for an afternoon matchup with the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder, who beat them, 101-89, back in January.
