Westchester Knicks Week 2 wrap-up: W-Knicks win three in a row
The Westchester Knicks are back in the playoff picture in Orlando, winners of three straight heading into this weekend. Can they keep their hot play going behind Iggy Brazdeikis and Jared Harper?
It was a busy week for the Westchester Knicks, losing a key player to an NBA team and playing in four games.
Last Friday, Justin Patton was signed to a two-way contract by the Houston Rockets. Patton played four games for Westchester before being signed by Houston. As a result, the W-Knicks signed JJ Moore, a four-year G League veteran who played 23 minutes per game for Westchester last season.
On Saturday, Westchester lost to the Austin Spurs, 118-125. With Patton gone, Simi Shittu got the starting nod and capitalized on his opportunity — 26 points on 13-14 shooting, eight rebounds, three steals, and three blocks. While Jared Harper and Ignas Brazdeikis struggled from the field — 53.3% and 46.4% eFG, respectively — both contributed in other ways — seven assists and nine boards for Brazdeikis and 11 assists for Harper. Louis King continued his hot shooting from his game against the Ignite, hitting 4-7 from deep. But once again, Westchester’s poor defense reared its head — Austin scored 125, the fourth time this season Westchester’s opponent had dropped 120 or more on them, and after a strong first half offensively — 63% eFG paired with 19 assists to just eight turnovers — Westchester struggled in the second half, shooting a paltry 51.2% eFG and getting just 10 assists while turning It over eight times.
Westchester followed up their loss to Austin with a 100-91 victory over the Canton Charge on Monday. In their previous games, Westchester’s opponents had a 55.9% eFG, one of the worst marks in the G League. Canton, however, had just a 45.6% eFG against the W-Knicks. King again shot the leather off the ball, 83.3% eFG for a team-leading 20 points. Brazdeikis and Shittu kept up their strong rebounding, bringing down 12 and 13 rebounds each. The two shortest W-Knicks, 5-foot-10 Harper and 6-foot-2 Myles Powell, were the only W-Knicks to record a block. Despite his block, Powell struggled, scoring 11 points on 16 shots and recording just two assists.
The W-Knicks got a game over .500 after defeating the Lakeland Magic, 123-113. Iggy was fantastic, burning Lakeland for 31 on 61.1% eFG and bringing down 13 rebounds. Harper had a strong performance, scoring 20 (53.3% eFG) and recording eight assists. Tyler Hall also had a good game, shooting a blistering 87.5% eFG for 15 points. All but one of Hall’s field goals came from behind the arc. Powell had another weak performance, 15 points on 46.9% eFG. King’s shooting cooled down somewhat, shooting 45.8% eFG for 12 points and making one of his two attempted threes, while Shittu had one of his weaker games, scoring just 10 points on 12 shots.
Westchester made it three wins in a row with a fantastic game against the Salt Lake City Stars on Thursday night. Westchester jumped out to a 7-point lead after the first quarter, and held onto it for the whole game thanks to strong performances from Harper and Powell. Harper scored 22 on 90.9% eFG, while Powell poured in 20 (62.5% eFG) in 21 minutes off the bench. Shittu had another strong game, 10 points on 4-6 shooting while wrangling 11 boards and adding two blocks, two assists, and a steal. Brazdeikis had a quiet night by his standards — the third-ranked scorer in the G League had just 18 points on 50% eFG, while grabbing nine rebounds and recording four assists.
Westchester Player of the Week: Jared Harper
Harper was the driving force behind Westchester’s three-game winning streak, coming second in points per game (only half a point behind Brazdeikis) while leading the team by far in assists with 7.75 dimes per game. While his efficiency wasn’t elite (57.1% eFG), he was still one of Westchester’s best shooters while handling a large scoring and playmaking load. The W-Knicks are 5-2 in the games Harper plays, and 1-3 in the games Harper’s missed.
Harper’s recent percolation, combined with the much better team defense, has the W-Knicks sitting two games above .500, good for the eighth record in the G League. With just five games to go, the W-Knicks are slotted in as the last playoff team and just two games back of the No. 1-seed Erie Bayhawks (who they face in their last game of the season). Westchester hasn’t clinched anything yet, however — they’re up just a game and half on three other teams. They’ll need more timely hooping from their best players to get to the single-game-elimination playoffs.
