Knicks 125, Pistons 81: Aberration or revelation?
The Knicks’ three-game losing streak is dead, and in a big way — they annihilated the Pistons on Detroit’s own home floor, behind a masterful Julius Randle and Reggie Bullock performance.
The Knicks rolled into Detroit in the midst of a three-game losing streak. In those three games, they failed to crack the hundred-point margin twice. RJ Barrett and Julius Randle combined to have a paltry 47.3% true shooting, and they were — forgive my use of small sample size plus-minus — -72 in that stretch. Those two, and the team as a whole, looked tired throughout the three-game stretch.
All of this raised a question: was the Knicks’ recent futility an aberration or a revelation? Were the prognosticators who said the Knicks had benefited more from luck and from an easier schedule correct, or were the Knicks just going through one of the natural lows of an NBA season?
New York showed up to Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit and provided an answer with their emphatic evisceration of the Pistons. The Knicks did what good teams are supposed to do — beat up on teams worse than them. And after dropping three winnable games in a row and heading into a tougher stretch of their schedule, they needed this game.
The Knicks shot out of the gate, looking like the Knicks of old, and left the bumbling Pistons in their wake. The Knicks scored the first fourteen points of the game, and it took a Saddiq Bey free throw at the 8:30 mark for the Pistons to record their first point. It took the Pistons over five minutes to make a field goal against the tough Knicks defense. On offense, the ball was moving, and the open man was being found, and on defense, the Knicks left the Pistons wishing they were swishing.
At the end of the first, Detroit had 15 points, and Randle had 20. The Knicks exited that frame with a 26-point lead, and the Pistons would never get closer than 15 points to the Knicks for the rest of the game. After looking lethargic for the past few games, Randle was electric in the first - 7-10 from the field, including 4-6 from deep, six boards, and two assists. Reggie Bullock was swishing as well, matching Randle’s shooting from three for 14 first quarter points.
The outrageous shooting came from contagious ball movement — 11 assists and no turnovers. The Knicks were finding the open man, and when you do that, the offense takes care of itself. The Pistons, on the other hand, made just six of their 20 attempted shots, and part of that was luck, variance, and the Pistons being a bad team; but a lot of it was outstanding, swarming defense from the Knicks. Their length and constant movement prevented the Pistons from moving the ball well, and Nerlens Noel’s excellent rim defense continued, with three blocks in the first.
The second quarter was not more of the same, unfortunately. The Knicks never let the Pistons back in this game, but they also didn’t keep eviscerating them — Detroit outscored New York 26-19, largely thanks to the Knicks committing seven personal fouls, sending Detroit to the charity stripe 12 times in the quarter. After arguably his best quarter as a Knick, Randle went scoreless in his six second quarter minutes. After leading by 26 at the start of the second, the Knicks went into half up by 19.
The Knicks reasserted their dominance over Detroit in the third, holding the Pistons to 20 points on 22 shot attempts. Randle and Bullock, too, re-emerged — 2-3 from deep for Reg, and nine points on just four shot attempts for Randle. After a largely quiet first half, Barrett had nine points while shooting 3-4, and added a pair of steals.
By the fourth, it seemed like the Pistons had given up. None of the Knicks starters played a second of the final quarter, and we even got to see bench cheerleader Theo Pinson play close to three minutes. Garbage time stats don’t matter, but it seemed to my eye that Thibs was using the opportunity to get Immanuel Quickley extra touches in the pick-and-roll, and Quickley responded well with some nice dimes, and even got both feet in the paint for some layups at one point.
Notes
While most of his damage was done in the first, Randle was absolutely fantastic tonight. One of my favorite games he’s had this season, and I hope he has many more like it over the next few seasons.
Bullock and Randle have what Clyde describes as “good ESP.” Their two-man game is legit. And while Randle’s transformation this season has been more dramatic, Bullock has improved from last season as well. In 29 games last season, Bullock shot 33% from deep on 111 attempts. This season, that’s up to 39% on over 200 attempts. He’s often taking on the best perimeter player the Knicks’ opponent has, too. Bullock has been an exemplary 3-and-D player for the Knicks this season, and, in my opinion, has become underrated by Knicks fans. Bullock’s skillset isn’t flashy, but as the Knicks continue to improve, having players who understand their role and play it well is important. I hope Leon Rose and the rest of the Knicks’ front office bring the Bull back this off-season.
Derrick Rose took an elbow to the face and had to come out of the game with a pretty nasty looking gash above his left eye. Despite the Knicks not needing him to, Rose elected to return to the game anyway.
Quiet night for Alec Burks. He shot 0-2 from the field for zero points.
Nerlens Noel didn’t take a single shot tonight, but he again did a great job manning the pivot for the Knicks, with two steals, four blocks, and six boards.
Recently signed Knick Norvel Pelle played just 2:44 tonight, but he dislocated (and then relocated) his finger. He recorded two blocks, three boards, and a made free throw with a dislocated finger.
Frank Ntilikina sightings have become rare these days, but Frank did get off the bench tonight, and had the most Frank stat line: no points, a steal, an assist, and a rebound.
Quickley’s stat line is unimpressive, but he showed legitimate signs of growth tonight. He displayed some good passing vision and got some layups. He took just one floater tonight, too.
In my last recap, I said the game the Knicks played (a win over Indiana) was important because it returned their record to .500. The Knicks have hovered around that mark ever since. Breaking this losing streak was important too, I think.
This is the largest margin of victory the Knicks have had since April 15, 1996, a game where the Knicks defeated the expansion Raptors, 125-79. Patrick Ewing had 23 points on 11-19 shooting. He added three blocks and nine rebounds. John Starks had 19 points and five steals.
How teams respond to natural low points is a really big part of how good, or great, they can be. It’s my inclination that this team never let it bother them too much, and instead used it for motivation. How many Knicks teams of the past two decades had such emphatic victories after such difficult stretches?
Just before tip-off, Clyde wondered aloud whether the losing streak was aberration or revelation. I wonder now if this game an aberration or a revelation. I think it was likely both. But the Knicks broke the funk of a frustrating three-game losing streak, and that’s what matters. The Knicks return on Monday, to take on the best of the Eastern Conference, the Brooklyn Nets, in Barclays Center.
