Raptors 113, Knicks 103: “I think they just played harder than us, honestly”
The Knicks took their foot off the gas yet again after a hot start to a game, and this time it burned them at home against a feisty Raptors team missing their two best players.
The Knicks started off last night’s game with fantastic two-way energy and purpose that saw them absolutely blitzing an undermanned, insipid, uninspired Raptors team. They were cruising, up 50-35, in possession with 4:14 left in the second quarter.
The team had been moving fluidly, working together in harmony to find creases in the Raptors’ high-pressure defense, and hitting open threes or shots at the rim at will. Rather than continuing in the same vein, Julius Randle, the franchise player who had gone off for 18 points in the first quarter, decided to flex his iso muscles and put his signature on a dominant first half. He bricked it, Toronto got the rebound, and Malachi Flynnn, who has been nailed to the bench for most of this season, canned an open three after, what’s becoming a comically familiar pathetic transition defensive effort from the Knicks, in this case the culprit being Kemba Walker.
From there the Raptors grabbed a foothold into the game. That foothold turned into momentum, and that momentum turned into a complete sonning of the Knicks.
Blame whoever you want. I’m about to go in.
Notes
Julius Randle is the Knicks’ franchise centerpiece, and deservedly so. He was All-NBA and and All-Star last year, because he inspired and carried a team further than it had any right to go. None of that counts for shit right now. He’s fully capable of spectacular offensive play as both a scorer and passer, which has been on display at various points in the early going this season, but he’s also shown major slippage defensively from last year. He was unengaged defensively, allowing OG Anunoby to get into a comfort zone and take over the game. He failed to either close the space on numerous jumpers or cut off driving angles. More egregiously, a habit that’s becoming alarmingly consistent this year, he was found completely asleep ball watching on defense, leaving shooters open or failing to box out for rebounds. A truly dismal effort from the Knicks’ leader that took the sheen off a spectacular opening quarter.
It doesn’t end there for Julius. He was a primary culprit in the Knicks, once again, punting a comfortable lead on the cusp of halftime. After letting the lead dwindle down, the Knicks had still managed to cobble together a chance to stretch the lead back out to a more comfortable margin. Up six with the ball after a defensive stop, Julius brought the ball up and obliviously drove right into a double team and conceded possession. More egregiously, after such a blatant transgression, rather than hustling back to make amends, he just flat out gave up. Would he have been able to stop the play? Almost certainly not, but that type of miserable, negative, downright listless energy from your leader trickles down and has a way of infecting the rest of the team. This was the turning point of the game for me.
Final point on Randle is this: When you’re the leader of the team, that means every decision you make has an outsized impact, because the rest of the team takes their cues from you. What we’ve seen from him this season is a lot of grumbling when calls don’t go his way that lead to numeric advantages for opponents in transition, self-indulgent, bullshit hero-ball offense when the team would be best served continuing to work together, and a complete lack of engagement defensively off ball.
Get well soon, Taj Gibson (who sprained his ankle) or Nerlens Noel, because as fun as Jericho Sims is, he’s definitely not ready for primetime.
I don’t think Mitchell Robinson played a particularly bad game, especially in the context of the rest of the team. That said, a loud, vocal portion of the Knicks fanbase has been proclaiming him a DPOY-caliber talent simply being held back by injury. I agree he has that potential. So then hold him to that fucking standard instead of making bullshit excuses because he “tried” or that he’s “still working his way back” when you’ve got multiple examples of plays like this from him in this game.
I think Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier are value add additions to this team. Offensively, there’s no question about the boost they’ve provided, and they’re generally fine defensively in the half court. However, they’ve been fucking travesties in transition defense so far. It’s not a coincidence that the Knicks have been getting gouged when teams push the pace since their arrival. The book is out on this team. If you want to score, push the tempo and you’ll get a quality shot. The Knicks are probably lucky Scottie Barnes didn’t play last night or it might’ve been even worse.
Let’s talk a little bit about Kemba, because as a scorer he’s been pretty fucking fantastic, but the Knicks didn’t just sign him for that. He is supposed to provide stability at the point guard position and grab the offensive reins when required. Where has that control been? We have now seen multiple games where Kemba is too comfortable deferring to Julius offensively in moments where the teams needs a steady hand to direct the show. Rather than owning those moments as “Cardiac Kemba,” he has punted on the responsibility. To me, that’s unacceptable. Part of the gig is to not give Julius the ball when he’s bullshitting as he’s done on several occasions at the end of quarters, halves, and games this season. You’re Kemba fucking Walker. Start acting like it.
People think Immanuel Quickley played poorly because he shot poorly. Am I annoyed that he bricked multiple open shots? Yes, absolutely I’m fucking annoyed by it. I also see him as the lone perimeter player aside from RJ who defended with energy and the only point guard who got teammates involved as a playmaker. If you want to say the missed shots means he played badly, fine — just know the Knicks were up 10 when he went out in the second quarter and down 14 when he came in at the very end of the 3rd quarter. Over the course of the season, if he doesn’t make shots then he definitely will not have played well. He certainly hasn’t so far this season. But in a single game, where he didn’t have it going from the field, in which he contributed defensively and led the team in assists — five with zero turnovers in just 19 minutes — I can’t understand the idea that he played poorly when he was the only person for long stretches who just simply tried to get others involved when he had the ball instead of chucking. If you’re more about judging process versus results, then you should be encouraged by a performance like Quickley’s tonight where he made positive impact plays without being on fire from the field.
RJ Barrett scored 27 points on 13 shots. On a night like yesterday, that’s something Thibs has to get a handle on and dictate.
Similarly, while Randle was sleeping on defense, why did RJ not get a shot as Anunoby’s primary defender until late in the fourth?
I don’t think Obi Toppin was particularly spectacular tonight, but he really hasn’t gotten a fair shake from Thibs. His last involvement before being subbed out in the first half involved finally being used as a roll man in a double drag screen for an easy alley-oop. He wasn’t anything special, but he desperately needs to play more and the team needs to make it a priority to involve him more offensively.
The Knicks have blown double digit leads against Orlando, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, and Toronto. They’re extremely fortunate to have only lost two of those games. At some point you either fix the trend or it’s part of who you are. The Knicks need to answer that for themselves, because their own arrogance and selfishness has been the catalyst which allows teams to rise like Lazarus against them. This team has immense offensive talent that makes it tempting to take the foot off the gas rather than continuing to do the things that got you the lead in the first place. When that happens, you’re leaving yourself open to a team catching fire from the field like Toronto did yesterday.
Tom Thibodeau’s entire ethos as a coach is about accountability. In what world is he currently holding players accountable?
Derrick Rose has been complete garbage the last three games. He’s neither scoring well nor getting others involved. Not worried about it long-term, but in the here and now it’s been problematic.
The defense has been poor. Particularly in transition, but also in the half court. Way too often we’re seeing guys rotate to the same player leaving somebody else wide open, fall asleep ball watching and/or not making second and third effort rotations to shooters. These are hallmarks of bad defensive teams. Habits become habits because they’re allowed to persist and fester. This team is starting to flash disturbing tendencies, but it’s still early. The margins between success and mediocrity will be defined by whether the Knicks can break their tendencies or get bogged down by them.
The cliche is that the best teams close out quarters and halves well. If there’s truth to that, then the Knicks should be very concerned with their inability to control the game in closing minutes, seemingly regardless of the level of opposition they’re facing.
The Knicks are 2-2 at home with both losses playing out in extremely similar fashion. If these games lasted 20 minutes, the Knicks would be undefeated. Unfortunately, NBA games are 48 minutes, and the Knicks don’t seem interested in competing for that long far too often.
Final takeaway from this game is that the Knicks’ identity last season was forged around making the game a nightmare for 48 minutes and not giving their opponents any moment to rest. Watching last night’s game resembled that in many ways, except with the roles reversed, as the Raptors’ hustle, determination, and drive overcame the Knicks’ superior talent. Talent helps you win games when combined with the requisite effort. Without that, it’s a formula for frustrating disappointment, as we saw against Toronto.
The Knicks came out with fire and desire, but took their foot off the pedal and paid the price. Again. This was arguably the single worst and most disappointing performance in Thibs’ time in New York. RJ said it best:
A concerning trend in the early season that needs to be squashed before it derails a promising season. The Knicks get a chance to bounce back against the Pacers on the road on Wednesday. We’ll see if this wake up call actually does wake them up.
