The Knicks face one of the most discouraging schedules in the NBA for the rest of the season, which only increased the importance of Saturday’s visit to Oklahoma City to help maintain their position in the playoffs.
Tom Thibodeau’s team retired to Milwaukee on Thursday for a blast loss with a 119-97 redemptive win over the unthinkable Thunder at the Chesapeake Energy Arena for their twentieth win of the season (20- 19). Their total wins represent one less victory than they recorded all last season, when they finished 21-45 under David Fizdale and then Mike Miller, now Thunder’s assistant coach.
RJ Barrett scored 32 career-highs in a 12-of-21 shootout against the Knicks, the next two games of which were in the top two in the Eastern Conference: the Nets on Monday and the 76ers the following night.
With points Elfrid Payton (hamstrings) and Derrick Rose (safety and health protocols), Frank Ntilikina got his second start to the season, but played just seven minutes (with zero points) after committing two early fouls.
Immanuel Quickley played despite being questionable for the game with a sore groin. The rookie goalkeeper finished with 21 points in a maximum run 33 minutes from the bench.
All-star striker Julius Randle endured his worst game of the season with just seven points in Thursday’s loss to the Bucks, but posted his second triple-double of the season on Saturday with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 12 rebounds. best career assists. The last Knicks player to post multiple triple doubles in a season was Mark Jackson in 1988-89.
At Horford he scored 16 to lead the Thunder (16-22), which lacked top scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (quad contusion) and veteran guard George Hill (thumb), among others.
The Knicks came off a tough start Thursday night when they returned from the All-Star break, scoring the most points of the season (134) and suffering their biggest loss margin (33) against the Bucks. But Thibodeau’s team had shown resilience after such poor starts in the first half of the season.
“It simply came to our notice then. The games keep coming and you have to analyze why you won or why you lost, make your corrections and prepare for the next game, ”Thibodeau said before Saturday’s game. “Every game has the same thing, so it’s important to understand.
“We can’t look back, we can’t look forward. We need to be locked into this team. … You have to be prepared to play and that’s an important part of that. Having a good established routine, where the right habits are built and how you prepare for each game is an important part of winning. “
Randle needed just 3:12 of the first quarter to match his total game points against the Bucks, but the Thunder shot 70.6% from the ground in the session with a 31-22 lead.
Ntilikina sat down with two fouls just five minutes into the game, but Quickley nullified three of his first four shots by six points in the fourth.
The rookie added two first triples in the second quarter to double that total, Alec Burks contributed nine (out of his 15 points overall) in the half and Randle increased his total to 14 as the Knicks cleared a 11-point deficit for a 56 -54 lead on interruption.
Thibodeau stayed with Quickley over Ntilikina to open the second half, and the Knicks defense pushed a 16-8 run to open the third quarter to extend their cushion to 10 before taking an 88-78 lead in the fourth. .