Celtics 99, Knicks 75: “Not our night”
Just two days after putting them away in a near-historic fashion, the New York Knicks dropped their finale against the Boston Celtics this season, 99-75.
Thursday night represented the brightest moment of this New York Knicks season.
RJ Barrett hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Boston Celtics home on the Madison Square Garden floor, completing a 25-point comeback victory.
Saturday night represented quite possibly the lowest point of this New York Knicks season.
And for a game that they had to play without Derrick Rose, Evan Fournier, Kemba Walker, and Nerlens Noel, that’s saying something.
Following the feel-good, game-winning buzzer-beater from Barrett in their last game against Boston, head coach Tom Thibodeau elected to ride the high vibes on Saturday night, starting Immanuel Quickley at point guard for the rematch.
The result? Unsurprisingly, a Knicks lead early on. Quickley helped guide the offense to a 26-point first quarter, and 26-21 lead over the Celtics through the first 12 minutes.
He finished with three makes from deep and two assists in the first quarter.
Pretty good for a guy so often called “not a point guard.”
Barrett also came out firing, behind a much-deserved confidence that he can convert 3-point shots against the Celtics defense.
Unfortunately, this is where the good portion of the Knicks’ night came to a close. And such a shame too, because the vibes were goddamn immaculate to start this off.
New York only scored 49 points over the subsequent three quarters, which, for all of you mathematicians at home keeping track, is just short of double their point total from the first.
As has so often been the case this season, when called upon to be the All-NBA talent we saw last season, Julius Randle failed to rise to the occasion. He finished with as many shots made (six) as turnovers.
And for as much as Knicks fans will complain about the officials’ free-throw delegation from this one, the team failed to capitalize on their 15 attempts at the line, making just six of them.
Boston, like New York, is a team that’s fallen well short of the expectations this season.
But on Saturday, you’d have had a hard time telling an unbiased third party that these two teams are in the same boat. And they are now, tied for the Eastern Conference’s 10th seed.
Notes
The Knicks’ 75-point total is their lowest mark this season, and the lowest mark since an April 2018 loss to the Orlando Magic. New York’s starting five that night: Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., Frank Ntilikina, Lance Thomas, and Kyle O’Quinn.
Ironically enough, Knicks legend Mario Hezonja was the leading scorer from that game — just from the opposite bench. He had 19 points and six rebounds for the Magic.
Robert Williams III owns this team. His four performances against New York this season:
16 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks, three steals
15 points, eight rebounds, one block
Six points, nine rebounds, seven blocks, two steals
12 points, seven rebounds, four blocks, one steal
I’m officially switching my stance on Mitchell Robinson’s outlook to pessimistic. The highs have been fun, but there have been so many low points (including this loss to Boston) in a season where the Knicks were so reliant on his return to form.
Myles Turner, anyone? That sounds damn good right about now.
Shit, I’m half interested to see what a rested Nerlens Noel looks like. We are down bad.
Single-game samples are tricky, but I thought it was important to note that Immanuel Quickley finished with the team’s best offensive rating (161), and Alec Burks finished with the team’s best defensive rating (112) in this one.
Think it should also be noted that Burks was putrid on offense again in Boston — his offensive rating for the night was 79, and that’s probably generous. Since his 34-point explosion against the Detroit Pistons, he’s gone 15-52 from the field. Sounds like a guy who could use a role adjustment. Yes, Tom, I’m glaring at you.
Obi Toppin is in lockup once again, having played just 9:04 in this one, his second-lowest mark of the season. He’s not looked like a player who deserved more time, but on nights like this one where literally nothing is going right, why not?
This team, and Toppin especially, are missing Derrick Rose like hell.
Toppin’s draft classmate, Quickley, was probably Saturday night’s best performer for New York. He finished with 18 points, four assists, and no turnovers. Perhaps there’s something to starting this kid. PERHAPS.
To my last point, when Evan Fournier comes back, it’d be nice to see what they can do together as a backcourt. According to the NBA.com lineups page, Quickley/Fournier/Randle have played just 101 minutes this season as a three-man lineup. Quickley/Fournier/Randle/Barrett have played just seven minutes together.
As the New York Knicks’ social team posted on their Twitter account, “not our night.”
And right now, it’s really not looking like our season, either.
With just 42 games remaining, this season’s purpose may swiftly shift from a “back-to-back playoff berth” to more of a “let’s figure out what we want to take into next year.”
Things can always get worse, however, and Monday night’s matchup presents Randle and company with the opportunity to find a new low.
New York will take on the 15-24 San Antonio Spurs, who will be on the second night of a back-to-back after dropping an overtime matchup against the neighboring Brooklyn Nets this afternoon.
We need this one, fellas.
We need this one, and we need the next one.
And probably the one after that.
Fuck.
