The Knicks played Cleveland tight on the road in an attempt to snap their losing streak, but a couple costly errors by RJ Barrett eventually lost the Knicks the game down the stretch. Still, though, RJ, Immanuel Quickley, and others showed progress in this game, and so it’s a loss that can be celebrated.

The Knicks’ team age average is 23.9 years old this season.

Well, it was before they signed Taj Gibson. That geezer probably raised them up to around 24.3. But the point remains — the Knicks are young.

Friday night’s loss to the Cavs (Friday Night Knicks, we should’ve known better than to expect anything else. Curse you, Robert Randolph) was the perfect encapsulation of that, namely the play of the youngest Knick, RJ Barrett, down the stretch.

In one play, holding the world in his hands. Having to make the big shot to keep the Knicks in the game. And what does RJ do? He makes the damn shot! The Knicks are in this thing with under two minutes to go, down just a point!

Moments later. The Knicks get a defensive stop. RJ grabs the ball and starts making his way up court. Do it, RJ. Rip their heart out. End this thing. He dribbles to the left, his strong side, starts to make a move and… gets the ball poked away. Turnover. Clear path foul by Randle.

The Cavs get free throws and the ball back, and familiar face Damyean Dotson pours in four points via the free throws and a layup to put the Cavs up by five. That would pretty much be the ballgame.

Would I have preferred the Knicks won this game? Hell yeah, it was 80-80 going into the fourth quarter and I was rooting for a win, big time. Am I shocked and/or appalled and/or pissed off that they ultimately lost? Not really, no. It’s frustrating to see RJ struggle like that, especially after having such a good game overall, but that’s ultimately what Knicks fans signed up for this year — wins and losses don’t matter.

Development matters, as well as losing enough to hang around in the top 10 or so picks of a really intriguing and deep draft. So if there are some tough losses where RJ or anyone else in the “young core” is tasked with taking over in winning time and fails, that’s something I can live with, especially if the process to end up within a point late in the game was solid.

As far as this game was concerned, the process absolutely was solid. The whole game was a back-and-forth affair, with the Cavs going on their runs and the Knicks going on their own. Cleveland would lead by as many as 12, New York by as many as six.

The turning point that got the Knicks that game-high six-point lead was… guess. Go ahead, guess. Maybe read this piece by Jack Huntley and tell me if you know the answer.

OK, time’s up. Immanuel Quickley subbed in for Elfrid Payton, and suddenly, as if they had a magic wand waved over them, the Knicks weren’t facing a defense that knew they could basically play 5-on-4. This was literally the first play of the game for the Knicks:

Now, it’s not like Elfrid didn’t find a couple lanes to get inside and score some points. He ended up with nine points on 4-7 shooting in 20 minutes, actually. But he has to be one of the least respected players overall by NBA defenses at this point. Literally from tipoff, the Cavs were prepared to give Elf about 10 feet of space on the perimeter, which of course led to things like Julius Randle getting doubled and cause the offense to sputter a bit.

So to get back to the point I was making before my eyes went red with Elfrid fury, Quickley checked in and totally changed the dynamic for the Knicks. He showed the same aggressiveness and poise as the other night against the Nets, setting a new career high for the second time in as many games with 23.

(I just had the realization that I’m kind of writing this recap like one of those movies in the ’80s where they start you off at the end of the movie and then do the record scratch “I bet you’re wondering how the Knicks got here.”)

Quickley got things going, and with a few more subs, a lineup of Quickley, Austin Rivers, Kevin Knox, Obi Toppin, and Nerlens Noel eventually took the Knicks from being down four at the 4:08 mark of the first (when Quickley checked in) to up six at 6:56 left in the second. That unit delivered probably the most fun minutes of the night. Knox did his thing from the corner:

Noel… caught a lob??

Obi flashed some of his abundant passing ability:

Suffice to say, there was a lot going on!

But in addition to all that, Andre Drummond was causing as much havoc as humanly possible, as he often does against the Knicks. Drummond would finish up with 33 points, 23 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks for the night, including some of the key plays that sealed the Knicks’ fate down the stretch of the game.

I feel like I don’t really need to tell you the rest, right? The Knicks kept it tight by the half thanks to Quick & Co.’s efforts, only trailing by two. Elfrid and the rest of the starters checked back in to start the second half and the Knicks went down as much as 12. Quickley came back in and righted the ship, and while Thibs nearly caved to his worst tendencies and put Elf in down the stretch of a tight game, he ultimately took him out to let Quickley close at point. (Although I was informed in the Strickland Slack channel during the game that Elf had gotten hurt at some point after checking in and I just missed it? So in that respect I hope it’s nothing serious.) Then we get to the RJ moment, and yadda yadda yadda, Knicks lose.

Notes

— I mentioned youth, and process, and all that shit, right? Well I won’t ultimately remember this game for RJ’s gaffe down the stretch. I’ll remember it for the efficient 20 points he poured in for the second straight game (hopefully as the start of a long and prosperous streak of great play to end the season).

RJ pulled out a little bit of everything in this one. He made all four of his attempts around the rim (a big step for him this season):

He made two of four attempts from deep:

And then of course there was that awesome long two buzzer-beater I cited above. RJ left very little to be desired as far as having a balanced, patient offensive game in this one. I’d take 0-59 the rest of the way out if RJ played every game the way he did the first 98% of this one.

— Things really just run so much better with Quickley on the floor than Elf. It’s not just that Quickley is a better shooter, though that’s a huge part. But Quickley just seems to play with more of an open mind. Elf seems to always know if he plans on passing or shooting for any given possession, and rarely seems to deviate. Quickley’s gears never stop turning, on the other hand. He always has his head up and is always looking for teammates just as much as his own look (though he hasn’t been afraid at all to call his own number lately, which has led to his recent two-game hot streak).

Basically, start Quickley ASAP. He notably closed the game with the starters minus Elf (Bullock/RJ/Randle/Mitch), so hopefully that was a tryout of sorts.

— Mitch got banged up early in the third quarter and never looked comfortable from that point forward.

Even hobbled like that, Mitch gritted his teeth and worked through a tough game. The injury didn’t help him one bit against Drummond, a guy who has already had his number this season. But even beaten up, Mitch managed a tidy four points, six rebounds, three steals, and one block. Four stocks on a bum leg is nothing to sneeze at.

— In 17 minutes, Nerlens Noel played probably the best stretch of ball I’ve seen from him yet this year. Four points, four rebounds, one steal, and SIX BLOCKS for Noel, none of which was more impressive than this one, where I was pretty sure he had died:

Luckily, he was OK. Nerlens has maybe some of the worst hands in the entire league on offense, as we’ve found out, but his defensive ability is game-changing sometimes. Putting him in situations where he doesn’t have to face dudes like Drummond mano y mano is key, though.

— Obi played 10 minutes in this game, a big step up from his blind-and-you’d-miss-it 57 seconds the other night. In that time, he did some good stuff. He was bringing the ball down the floor in transition in a Randle-esque manner, and even made some Randle-esque passes. One thing that’s becoming mildly concerning, though, is that it seems like Thibs views him more or less as a spot-up shooter on offense. Hopefully that’s just an experiment of sorts and not something that sticks around in the long-term.

— Kevin Knox only played 18 minutes and canned two threes in that time, and I really wish he had played more. I’m starting to enjoy his minutes on the court more than almost anyone on the team, which I guess is just further proof that he’s becoming Super Steve Novak.

— Speaking of threes, I was surprised to see the Cavs only shot 33% (9-27) from there in this game. I guess it was just the gusto with which Cedi Osman (5-9) and Nance (2-4) were making the shots, plus that they were coming at key moments, that made me think the Cavs had shot like 45% from deep.

— Oh shit, I haven’t even mentioned Julius Randle yet. Perhaps that’s because Randle just went about his star business once again, doing what he had to do to buoy the Knicks in this game. Another near-30-point effort (28), another night shooting over 50% (11-20), another good performance from three (2-4, but OK, yeah, that’s not always a given), and another night being the Knicks’ leading assist man (six). The fact that he’s making this level of play look as routine as he is right now makes me think that what we’ve seen from Randle in the first 13 games of 2020-21 is probably the player that he is now, until proven otherwise.

Oh yeah, and he posterized the shit out of Drummond, about the only W the Knicks got on him in this game:

— Not a super eventful Clyde game, but I swear I heard Breen say that Andre Drummond used to play all three major sports in high school. Drummond, as far as I know, was a somewhat early bloomer and was big throughout most of high school. All I could think of was 1) his poor knees in football and 2) that poor ump in baseball trying to establish a strike zone for a dude that’s nearly seven feet tall. That said, I tried googling to find some old photos of Drummond playing other sports and couldn’t find any. Maybe I’m just spoiled by the internet, but I’m almost willing to call Mike Breen a liar over not being able to find any proof. Pics or it didn’t happen.

That aside, Breen had the funniest line of the night, when Drummond had like 25 points and 15 boards already in the third quarter and dished his first assist to Larry Nance Jr.: “He’s now nine assists away from a triple double.” That gave me a good chuckle, and Clyde too.

And that’s all I’ve got for this game. Remember, folks, process. Trust it. The Knicks are playing better and the young guys are showing progress. No use getting worked up over wins and losses when most people expected this team to lose 52 or more games coming into this year. Next up is two straight matinees: at Boston on Sunday at 1 pm, and the traditional nooner on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday against the Magic. Can the Knicks snap their skid then? Maybe, but if they don’t, I’ll just be happy with the kids playing well.