On Tuesday in the first half, Austin Rivers was unable to stop the Utah killer. The Knicks guard, who had previously fallen, dropped a maximum of 25 points in the run in the 12th minute of the first half and made his first 10 shots, five of them three.
And the Knicks premiered the Jazz as they did earlier this month, when Rivers scored the final 14 points of the game.
But the magic stopped for Doc Rivers ’son. Rivers went ahead and took his third foul with 4:30 left in the half. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau decided to take Rivers out and destroy his perfect game.
The night was never the same. Rivers did not return until he was left at 4:11 of the third quarter and had lost his warmest hands.
The Jazz rose from 15 points with a strong defense and Rudy Gobert’s dominance to take revenge on the Knicks, 108-94, at the Salt Lake City Living Arena.
Rivers finished 25th, while the Knicks (8-11) finished the four-game trip west by 1-3. Rivers missed all four shots in the second half as the Jazz increased by 3 and the Knicks dropped the last three games of the trip after scoring the opening against Golden State.
“They did a good job in the second half [on Rivers], that we knew they would do it in terms of catching him and getting the ball out of his hands, “Thibodeau said.” And then it’s important for us to attack the bombing in the right way. That’s something we usually do. pretty good “.
When asked if he planned to keep Rivers with three fouls considering he was on his way to history, Thibodeau said, “I felt on this stretch, the way we were going offensively, I thought we would do what we did. But it occurred to me to leave it out.
Rivers said it was “understandable” Thibodeau ripped it off.
“He was definitely not the coach,” he said.
Instead, Rivers caused the team to fatigue before the game. Utah started the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run to finish it off.
“Maybe the boys are dead,” Rivers later said. “Looking at the ground with five minutes left, it didn’t look like we were ourselves as a unit.”
The Knicks still led by 13 until the collapse of the second half. Jazz was challenged by Mike Conley in the third quarter (he scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half) and Gobert was excellent with 19 points and 18 rebounds.
The Jazz attacked the Knicks for 17 offensive rebounds with Knicks center Mitchell Robinson not even the strength he needed to be against one of the NBA’s elite centers.
Robinson played 31 minutes, but after the game tweeted, he deleted, “One day, they’ll let me play.”
The center of Knicks could have been referring to his minutes, the lack of offensive opportunities he gets more than alley-oops or referees. Robinson had just seven points on four shooting attempts and committed just two fouls.
Meanwhile, Rivers was chased when he returned late to third.
“The second half was different: every pick-and-roll was shot,” Rivers said. “It simply came to our notice then. I’m not going to force shots to increase my numbers. Maybe I should have looked back. ”
Rivers said the Young Knicks were unprepared for Utah’s second-half attack.
“I knew how they came out,” Rivers said.
“The initial part of [our] the defense was pretty good, “Thibodeau said.” But when we gave them a second and third crack, it’s hard to beat a team like that on the road. It was probably the biggest disappointment. “
It was a strange day for Rivers, who spoke to the media after the morning shooting and addressed two issues: Kobe Bryant’s tutelage on the anniversary of his death and the state of “fatigue” of the club.
The Knicks have played 13 of their first 19 on the road.
“Oh, we’re definitely tired,” Rivers said Tuesday morning. “Our schedule would challenge anyone to put their schedule compared to ours. I don’t know how a calendar can be tougher than what we’ve played. “
Rivers came into the game fighting, having scored just seven points in the previous four games.
As the game unfolded, Rivers looked like Bryant during the first half. Then, the whole team looked worn out in the final two quarters, as the Jazz won their ninth straight game to go 13-4.
“It has helped me in times of doubt and failure,” Rivers said of Bryant. “He used to come to me and talk to me about all my games, especially at the beginning [in New Orleans] when I was young and fighting ”.
Rivers ’25-point performance at least surpassed his father’s 24 Knicks points in 1993. Rivers only needed to tie a Knicks record of 11 of 11 shots to start a game.
In the third quarter, the disputed dispute of Rivers jumped of the edge in his eleventh attempt, without being able to tie the record of equipment shared by Johnny Newman, Bernard King and Robinson.
The rivers had no help. Rookie striker Immanuel Quickley, the star of Sunday’s Portland defeat, finished 1 of 11 from the field. Alec Burks, facing his old team, was worse, with a 3 of 14.
“We learn from that,” Rivers said. “How many times have we climbed 13 in half? Not too much. “