The screams have been incessant recently, with fans and the media wondering when Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau will modify his starting lineup to insert debutant electrician Immanuel Quickley instead of Elfrid Payton.
Payton responded with his best game in several weeks of Wednesday night in Chicago, helping drive the Knicks to a 107-103 victory over the Bulls at United Center.
Payton added 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes, his longest playing time in seven games, and Quickley added nine points in just 13 minutes.
Julius Randle connected on five triples and finished with a maximum of 27 points, while RJ Barrett scored 17 for the Knicks (10-13). They didn’t get the 10 wins until their 34th game last season, when they started 10-29 and finished the year with a 21-45 mark.
Zach LaVine scored 24 points and Thaddeus Young added 19 off the bench for the Bulls, who shot just 6 for 36 (16.7 percent) from 3 points. Lauri Markkanen recorded just four points in the second half and nine overall in Chicago after winning 30 in a 110-102 victory over the Knicks on Monday.
The Bulls (8-12) downgraded an 18-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to three, 99-96, with 5:45 after a 20-5 run. But a key 3 from Reggie Bullock (nine points) and a short jump from Payton replenished the lead to eight.
Payton played just 18 minutes in Monday’s loss, with Quickley recording 30 off the bench. But the Knicks ’starting point has gotten half of their team’s points in a 12-4 opening partial. He finished 10th in the opening quarter in the 5-on-7 shootout, while Randle buried three straight triples at the end of the period as the Knicks won a 34-17 lead.
The 10 points during the first 12 minutes coincided with Payton’s high output in any of his previous six games.
Payton also caught seven rebounds while playing the entire quarter, and Quickley fell on a run in the first minute of the second. Novice teammate Obi Toppin also nailed a 3 when he first entered the game and then another jumper for his five points in 10 minutes.
Quickley’s recent offensive increase (20.6 points per game over its five previous appearances) placed the No. 25 draft pick in second place among all NBA rookies in scoring (12.6 pg overall) , despite playing less than 20 minutes (19.7) per outing. He only follows No. 1 overall team Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves with 13.6 points per game.
The Bulls closed out at 10 on a Lavine jumper in the middle of the second quarter. But Barrett scored eight of his 14 points in the first half of the period, though his costly billing in the final seconds resulted in a late putt by Young for a 63-52 Knicks lead at the break. Thibodeau had stressed before the game the importance of avoiding such descents.
“We need to bring energy to the whole game,” Thibodeau said. “If you have a breakdown, a guy comes back slowly, one complains to the officer, either out of frustration, to think they’ve committed a foul, you’ll end up giving up an open shot or a throw.
“We can’t afford to do that. Therefore, we must have discipline. There will be missed calls, there will be some frustration. Come back. If you have a point to make for an officer, do it during a dead ball. You can’t do this while the game continues “.
The Bulls continued to shoot from the 3-point range, losing their first six attempts to open the third quarter. Chicago bounced back inside again with 2:22 for the end of the period, but the next 3s from Quickley and Randle (their fifth) provided the Knicks with a 91-76 lead into the final quarter.