The trade looked good. But not good enough.
It didn’t result in a win, but Derrick Rose made a juice in the Knicks ’second unit in his debut Tuesday, playing alongside rookie Immanuel Quickley on the backcourt.
Coach Tom Thibodeau, however, chose not to close with Rose and the Knicks suffered a heartbreaking 98-96 defeat at the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami.
Rose’s debut in her second Knicks stage was a resounding success as she scored 14 points at home with three assists in 20 minutes. Rose recorded a blockade and a robbery after failing to practice shooting with her new club. He shot 5 of 9 – 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
At the end of 98-96, the Knicks had one last gossip, but RJ Barrett was unable to turn a driving disposition into the final seconds with Jimmy Butler everywhere.
The Knicks have yet to hit the chemistry after Rose’s trade with the Pistons. They led 82-76 after three quarters, but were unable to hold the Heat.
The Quickley minutes were not affected as much as expected, but his shot was blocked. Quickley was just 1 of 8 from the field before hitting a key float with 40 seconds left to reduce the deficit to a point.
Julius Randle, by chance or not, also never entered his All-Star groove, shooting 4 of 18 for 12 points. Barrett (13 points), put at the end of the previous game against Miami, didn’t have a particularly good game either despite having a chance to be the hero of the last second.
It was 94-94 when Randle fired an 18-foot open shot from above from the back plate. Tyler Herro of Miami, his NBA hero with the playoff bubbles, finished with a triple at 1:04. After the Quickley basket, Randle drove and missed an unbalanced jumper from the right side with six seconds to go.
Rose became a bit sloppy in the early fourth quarter, with billing and a shot deprecated blocked. This caused Thibodeau to use guard Elfrid Payton to close, even though Quickley came in at the last minute.
“I just got here today,” Thibodeau said of Rose. “So we keep working our way through things. I just felt like we needed people who knew what we were doing. I didn’t want to put him in a situation like that. “
Payton also played well, scoring 18 points with four assists.
The Knicks, who lost both home and home ends to fall to 11-15, will have to drop the chemistry.
Rose and Quickley entered the game as a tandem at 3:27 of the first quarter, making it clear that Austin Rivers, who signed in November, was no longer part of the rotation.
Going down eight points, the duo started working very quickly. Rose found Quickley for a 3-point pointer. Quickley found Rose for a triple. Rose made a steal and then headed the baseline and made a sensational pass to Burks for a 3-point corner.
He then hit rookie Obi Toppin with a pick-and-roll for the slam.
In the first 7:13 of Rose and Quickley as a spare track tandem, the Knicks made a 25-5 run. Rose and Quickley got an extra 20 and got the Knicks to earn 12 points. Overall, his game point was fantastic on Tuesday as Payton scored 12 points in the first half.
However, the Knicks were unable to maintain the lead because Miami’s big man, Kelly Olynyk, caught fire. He finished with 17 points in the first half, eliminating 5 of 6 triples when Miami led 57-55.
Before the game, Thibodeau took advantage of Rose, calling him an “elite” player, adding, “He tells me this is as healthy as it has been.”