The San Antonio Spurs came out strong and confident, while the Knicks looked like they were still depressed after Tuesday night’s shocking loss to Dallas where they blew a 9-pt lead with 30 seconds left.
The Spurs drove the ball inside, hit their 3’s, and took a lead that maxed out to 16 points in the 3rd quarter. The undermanned Knicks finally woke up in the 4th quarter but it was too little too late; final score San Antonio 122 NY 115.
“The ball was in the paint all night. 38 points first quarter,” said coach Tom Thibodeau afterwards. “They shot a high percentage, outrebounded us. Then it was too little, too late.”
The Spurs came in at 11-23 and improve to 12-23; NY falls to 18-18.
The Knicks remained short-handed as Jalen Brunson is still out with the hip pointer, and RJ Barrett is out with the lacerated finger.
Takeaways:
1. Randle & Quick Carried the Knicks
Julius Randle and Immanuel Quickley carried the Knicks. Randle came out on fire and with fire in his eyes after the horrid Dallas loss, and Quick ran the point and was hitting his shot.
Quickley had 10 points in the 1st quarter, but cooled in the 2nd and 3rd quarters — but came on again in the 4th to finish with 36 points on 12-27 shooting (5-12 from 3), 7 assists, and 7 rebounds.
Quick gets the show started 🪣 pic.twitter.com/DTOFImYiXe
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) December 30, 2022
Randle took it to the rim with fire all night, and hit his 3 — playing like an All Star. He had 41 points on 14-27 shooting (6-13 from 3), 11 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Bucket ✅ getter ✅ 4 straight for @J30_RANDLE
VOTE ➡️ https://t.co/8hMm0OqdOv pic.twitter.com/yTcDJlGBoz
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) December 30, 2022
2. Poeltl Gave Robinson Hard Time
Jakob Poeltl is back from injury and gave Mitchell Robinson a hard time in the 1st quarter, scoring inside and drawing fouls against Robinson. Poeltl finished with only 9 points in 29 minutes but most were in the 1st quarter. Poeltl had 12 rebounds.
Robinson was on his heels from the start and had 3 fouls by the half. He finished with 0 points on 0-2 shooting and only 6 rebounds and a block in 28 minutes. Robinson looked out of sorts all evening, noticed by the broadcast crew of Mike Breen and Alan Hahn.
Yet Robinson had a +9, while Isaiah Hartenstein had a -17 in 15 minutes despite 2-4 shooting for 4 points and 5 rebounds. Jericho Sims had a -4 in 11 minutes; 2 rebounds and a block.
3. Spurs Had More Energy
The Knicks didn’t play good defense, they didn’t rebound well, and they didn’t play with intensity for much of the night until the 4th quarter. San Antonio got to every loose ball and scored with confidence.
“Our defense has to be tied together,” said Thibodeau afterwards. “The ball was getting into the paint too easily. So we have to fix that.”
Keldon Johnson, the 6’5 small forward averaging 21.1 pts per game on the year, went for 30 points.
Romeo Langford, the #14 pick in the 2019 draft and San Antonio’s 6’5 shooting guard, killed NY with 23 points on 11-16 shooting. He outplayed Quentin Grimes who only had 9 points on 1-10 shooting (1-6 from 3; 6-6 in free throws).
Doug McDermott came off the San Antonio bench to torch the Knicks as he always does — 8 points on 3-6 shooting (2-4 from 3) in 16 minutes and a +18. NY traded him years ago for Emmanuel Mudiay.
4. Fournier Gave Knicks a Lift
With Brunson and Barrett out, Evan Fournier played for the first time in a month and a half — and played well. He shot 4-6 from the floor (1-3 from 3) for 11 points on 17 minutes.
Cam Reddish did Not play — he is the only prior Knick regular still glued to the bench.
Derek Rose still looked out of sorts — 3 points on 1-5 shooting and a -10 in 16 minutes.
Miles McBride played 31 minutes and played pretty well — shooting 3-8 from the floor (2-4 from 3) for 9 points and always the defense. He had a +2.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401468682
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