Knicks 120, Timberwolves 107: Let it rain
After drowning beneath a wave of threes vs. Boston, the Knicks bury Minnesota with a tsunami of their own.
Now that’s a win! On a day when every NBA team stepped on the court, the Knicks went into Minnesota and mopped the floor with the Timberwolves in a performance worthy of the faux NBA-themed holiday. A sign of things to come? Or just a calm before the inevitable storm? Let’s dive in.
Let It Rain
Fresh off an embarrassing home defeat to the rival Boston Celtics that saw the men in green hit a franchise-record 27 3-pointers, the Knicks came out determined not to cede the mathematical advantage once again, as 10 of their first 13 shots came from beyond the arc. Armed with his newfound smile, Julius Randle alone attempted four 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes, splashing four.
Despite the hot start, when Randle checked out of the game the Knicks held only a three-point lead. It wasn’t until the insertion of fellow third-year rising stars Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley that the Knicks really began to take off. Toppin hit a three just 28 seconds into his shift while Quickley added a floater seconds later. Quickley and Toppin played just six minutes each in their first shift, but by the time both returned to the bench the Knicks’ lead ballooned from three to 23. Not bad.
Sustainability?
As anyone who has watched this years’ Knicks knows, this team is hardly the 2016 Warriors. There is no “Splash Bros” on this team. So a win that saw the team shoot over its head from three may not sound super encouraging to any reader intelligent enough to understand they’ll likely come crashing down to earth. Fortunately, I am not convinced that is the case. The Knicks ended the night 19 of 48 from beyond the arc, good for 39.6%. In 2021-22, all 30 teams shot between 32.3% and 37.9%. The Knicks shot 35.7%. So last night was hardly an outlier performance. More importantly, the Knicks showed meaningful improvement in other areas that have hurt them previously.
For starters, the Knicks only allowed the Timberwolves to get their hands on four offensive rebounds. To watch a Knicks game, especially one without injured center Mitchell Robinson, is to watch a team that appears impervious to box-outs. You will never see a group of players more enamored with a ball soaring towards the basket than this one. But on this night, there was a commitment to rebound not for one’s self, but for the team. Unsurprisingly, rebounding totals were more democratic than usual, with seven Knicks in last night’s rotation grabbing at least four.
The second area of improvement was their defense. It would be easy to point at the results to conclude meaningful improvement was made. But if you learn one lesson from reading my articles, let it be this: process almost always trumps results. It wasn’t that the Knicks’ defense was more successful, it was the way it went about producing that success. Timberwolves’ franchise center Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the best offensive players in the entire league. He also happens to be the type of player the Knicks struggle defending the most; a big man who can stretch the floor. Yet, on this particular night, the defense was locked in, determined to prevent Towns from picking and popping the Knicks into oblivion. That he made just one 3-pointer is surprising; the fact that he only attempted three exemplifies the effort exerted by the Knicks to prevent the shots from occuring in the first place.
The Big Three
As currently constructed, the 2022-23 Knicks’ success will likely be dictated by the performances of Randle, RJ Barrett and Jalen Brunson. A glance at the box score will tell you that for the second straight game, all three of those players were statistically impressive. Randle tied a career high with eight 3-pointers, while Barrett and Brunson filled the stat sheet, each doing a little bit of everything. But box scores can be liars . . . sometimes.
Let’s start with Randle, always a divisive topic amongst Knick fans. He was on fire, yet was also, for better or for worse, the closest he has looked to his 2022 self all season. At one point Randle stood and watched as a Timberwolves player glided into the paint for an easy layup because he was more interested in yelling at the ref for missing a foul call. I think most Knick fans groaned when they saw him skip to the scorer’s table early in the fourth as the ever-anxious Tom Thibodeau tucked himself under his safety blanket after Minnesota closed the gap to 13. But give credit where credit is due: it was Randle who hit the stepback three to stop Minnesota in its tracks. Regardless of what you think about Randle’s place on the Knicks going forward, on this night he was a big part of why they won. Even if they barely won his minutes on the court.
Brunson is the ultimate stabilizer. Contrary to what some will tell you, it actually has little to do with the position he plays. This isn’t to say Brunson isn’t a damn good point guard. Still, what Brunson has brought more than anything is an ability to right the ship when the water’s getting rough. His skill set is so consistent and opponent-proof that he’s able to get the Knicks a bucket any time they need it. Brunson feels like a cheat code.
Finally, Barrett’s closing line may look relatively underwhelming (at least from an efficiency standpoint), but let’s not let what may have been his most important game of the season fall by the wayside, just because he missed his last seven shots. With Barrett, everything he does almost serves as an audition for a role he can’t quite fill yet, but Knick fans hope desperately he can one day. Which is why games like this, ones where he showcases his entire arsenal, are so important. He came out of the gate looking to pass and continued to show an expanding toolbag of passes. Defensively he was at his most sound, dying on fewer screens than I’d seen all season. Maybe he’s still not over the cheap shot Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards took at him after the time Barrett missed a game-winner at the buzzer in Minnesota. If you’re interested in Barrett-reaching-his-ceiling stock, the price went up after last night.
Thibs Tracker
It feels wrong to critique a coach who designed the game plan of a bludgeoning like this. But I’m not sure it’s reasonable to praise one who played Evan Fournier and Derrick Rose (1-10 from the field) more first half minutes than Quickley in the midst of his best half in at least three games. At this point, my barometer for whether Thibodeau coached a passable game will be based on two things: did Quickley play more than Fournier and Rose, and did Obi spend any time on the court with Julius Randle? If the answer to those two questions is “yes,” I can’t imagine being too upset. The bar really is in hell.
Still, it’s worth noting that Thibodeau continued his own progression. The rigid rotations appear to be gone. This was the third consecutive game he used different rotation patterns in each half. On a team with this much youth and versatility, lineup diversity is everything. It’s essential the team finds out who can play with whom, and where each player is optimized. Thibodeau seems more willing to ask those questions than he was a week ago. That point is highlighted by his usage of the Randle-Toppin frontcourt, something fans have been calling on for the better part of two years. That twosome is up to 28 minutes played together this season, with a net rating of +5.2.
Thibodeau’s increased trust in Cam Reddish is another sign that he may be loosening his grip. Reddish has played major minutes the past two games (66) despite not bringing much offensively. Being allowed to play through offensive woes is how young players gain confidence. Reddish continues to reward that trust with excellent defensive play, using his length to disrupt the opposing offense. His mere presence eases the burden on RJ. It should surprise no one that Barrett’s best offensive performances have come the past two games, when his defensive load was lightened.
Lastly, I especially liked what Thibodeau did in the fourth. There were two big moments and each time he pressed the right button. With 10:51 remaining, the Timberwolves cut the Knicks’ lead, once 27, down to 16. Thibodeau, going against his usual way, decided to mix the bench players playing well -– Quickley, Toppin and Isaiah Hartenstein — with two starters in Barrett and Brunson. Two minutes later, the lead now down to 13, Randle made his way back to the scorer’s table. At this point, Toppin, the man Randle usually replaces, had 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals in just under 18 minutes of action. He deserved more time. Once again, rather than lean on what’s comfortable, Thibodeau took the road less traveled and kept Toppin out there next to Randle. Randle immediately hit a step-back 3-pointer and the Knicks never looked back.
Some of you reading this may find this an exercise in futility. It’s been ten games; is this really worth analyzing? That could very well be a reasonable question. Maybe the Thibodeau way is the right way. Maybe he will rally the troops and surprise the entire league this season. It’s happened once before. But the wounds of last season are fresh. If one thing is apparent, it’s that nobody, even those in the organization, want to experience a season like that again. There are many words you can use to describe it, but the biggest criticism I can levy towards it is it was a season without purpose. NBA purgatory is dark and full of terrors. In today’s league, one with more parity than ever, finding yourself not good enough to compete nor bad enough to have real equity at a top pick is the worst place you can be. Yet last year’s Knicks found themselves in a worse spot. They were a team that tried to have their cake and eat it too. They wanted both. They got neither.
Which is why these questions do matter. This progress from Thibodeau, while small and still far from where most Knicks fans want him to be, is important. This year’s team probably won’t win a title, but there is a very real path to getting this franchise one step closer to putting a championship on its horizon. When the final buzzer sounded and the Knicks’ garbage time unit stepped off the court, the scoreboard read; “Knicks 120, Timberwolves 107”. Will it be looked back on as a building block? Or just a lone win in yet another lost season? Only time will tell.
