Nets 110, Knicks 98: Yuck
The Knicks finished their 80th game of the season like they have many of their 45 losses this year — with a brilliant first half and en epic, uninspired second-half collapse.
Yuck.
The Knicks lost a gut-wrenching reality check to their crosstown rivals. While the Brooklyn Nets certainly have greater aspirations than the Knicks do this season, this game was closer than the final score indicates. It was also one that, hopefully, forces the team to take a long, hard look in the mirror going forward.
The good
Boy that first half seems like a long time ago. It just happened so fast and was demonstrably enjoyable. The Garden was electric. It’s games like these, a meaningless regular season game with the Knicks long eliminated from playoff contention, when you’re reminded what a privilege it can be to root for this team.
The Knicks, as they are wont to do, started off slowly, digging themselves a quick hole. Late in the first, Immanuel Quickley, still unable to find a place in the starting lineup for whatever reason, checked into the game and the Knicks matched the energy of their raucous faithful soon after. When Quickley checked into the game the Knicks trailed 20-15; barely eight minutes later, the Knicks led 38-25, riding a wave of energy and damn near perfect execution on both ends to a 23-5 run.
Every good thing I have to say about this performance can be summed up in these eight minutes. Nothing came easy for the Nets, who came into the game sporting a top-10 offense despite missing superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving for significant time this season. The Knicks’ neophytes were up to the challenge, determined to protect their home court.
The offense wasn’t too far behind, as the Knicks got almost anything they wanted. This wasn’t a case of a flurry of shots going in. This was one team out-executing the other. The Knicks were determined not to let the Nets’ defense set, and any time they corralled a Nets miss they would take off down the court. This seemingly endless effervescence was led by the man who always seems to lead in this department: Obi Toppin.
Toppin has been nothing short of spectacular in this final chapter of the season. Everything about his evolution feels intangible, but starkly apparent nonetheless. For example, over his past 13 games, Toppin — who at one point in the season hovered around 20% from beyond the arc — is shooting 39% from three on 3.6 threes attempted per game. But it’s not that his shot is beginning to fall, it’s the obvious comfort and confidence he’s shooting with. Gone is the fear of being pulled from the game after one mistake. This Obi Toppin, one much scarier for opponents, is playing with a rhythm and comfort we have seen drastically too little of in his two seasons as a Knick. And it’s not just the shooting. He’s handling the ball, attacking the paint, seeking mismatches under the basket, looking to create openings for other, better shooters spotting up; he’s doing a little bit of everything. He’s doing so much that some may even wonder, “what took so long?”
Toppin didn’t do it alone, though. Joining him in the stat-sheet-stuffing brigade was fellow young gun Jericho Sims. If there were any doubt that Sims can play in this league, that went out the window last night. Sims dominated the paint on both ends, snatching rebounds away from Nets players and negating their path to the basket. There was one play where Durant, all 6-foot-11 of him, tried to rise above Sims, who, only 6-foot-9, met him vertically at the top and rejected him. Most impressive are his instincts. One may expect someone who has played so few NBA minutes to need some time to process events as they unfold. But when Sims grabs a board, he is immediately looking for an outlet pass or a kick-out. He was fantastic last night.
Toppin headed into halftime with 12 points (on five shots), three rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block, while Sims himself had four points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block, and a handful of game-altering plays that don’t show up in the stat sheet. Most importantly, their team held a 17-point lead over Irving, Durant, and company.
The bad
I wish I could say what happened next was a surprise, but I think even the most optimistic Knick fans knew the Nets were not going away without a fight. Unfortunately, as I’ve written before, this is a movie we have seen dozens of times already this season. This story veered from the normal narrative that has defined their season. Early on, the starters staved off a couple of momentum shifts from the Nets, and maintained their double-digit advantage most of the third quarter. But while the scoreboard told one story, the play on the court told another — the Knicks were clinging desperately to their lead.
Every Nets possession felt like an inevitable bucket, while every Knicks possession was dismal, predictable, and destined to fail. All of the energy, both from the Knicks fans in the building and the team on the floor, had completely disappeared. So had the pace. The Knicks, almost certainly by design, had no interest in getting early offense. The resulting splits were startling; after scoring 67 points in the first half, the Knicks managed just 31 in the second half. Thirty-one points in a half.
This started with Barrett, who, as he mentioned in his postgame, sometimes struggles with tunnel vision. He gets into the paint as good as anyone his age, but when he puts his head down it often stays there until he decides to launch the ball towards the basket. There was a play in the fourth quarter that stood out, when Barrett attacked a close out and drove to the basket with his off hand. Toppin stood alone in the short corner just to his right, but Barrett chose to attempt an ill-fated, well-contested layup.
Quickley wasn’t much better. Despite bringing relentless energy and connectivity in the first half, he couldn’t hit the ocean from a boat on his shot attempts, and this seemed to impact his confidence. I have never seen him so clearly second-guess his own decisions in the moment of the game. But the cherry on top were two of the same culprits it’s been all season. Two people who have come to define the Knicks’ late game stagnation and futility: Alec Burks and Tom Thibodeau.
The ugly
I really hate going on this rant. I despise that I’m made to do so over and over again. But a recap article is meant to cover what I saw in last night’s game. And if all we see is, largely, the same things over and over again, the basis of my themes will be grounded in the same ideas. So stop me if you’ve heard this before, but… Tom Thibodeau’s coaching in the second half was an abomination. It was antithetical to anything that could be potentially positive about this franchise.
Let’s start with the micro. Thibodeau’s hands were all over the Knicks’ game plan in the second half. The infectious pace that had the Garden hopefuls cheering? Gone. The Knicks had one offensive strategy: create a mismatch with a screen, and then go to work. Barrett was the leader of the Knicks’ inefficiency but, as I mentioned above, his struggles are largely independent of Thibodeau. Could Thibodeau call plays to put Barrett in more advantageous positions? Absolutely. But, at this point in the season, any Barrett reps that increase his experience and comfort level are overwhelming positives for the franchise.
And then there’s Burks. It’s absolutely brutal what Thibodeau has done to this guy. Burks was, without question, one of the Knicks’ three best players last night. He was a big part of helping the Knicks build what was at one point a 21-point lead. While his defense continues to fall off as he is often asked to guard out of position, Burks, early in games, playing off of Barrett and Quickley, has largely reverted to his natural scoring role. But when the second half rolled around, Thibodeau decided that, for all intents and purposes, he was going to win or lose this game on the back of Burks. Burks was on the court for 21 minutes in the second half. During that time, the Knicks had 40 unique possessions. Sixteen of them ended in a Burks shot, free throws, turnover, or pass leading to a shot, giving him a 40% usage rate for the half. For comparison, Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic lead the NBA in USG% at 37.2% for the season.
This brings us to the macro. The Knicks gained absolutely nothing in that second half. Nothing at all. We know Alec Burks is not good enough to win games. We know he’s not someone you can just halt all pace and movement to just hand the ball and say “take us home.” Why do we know this? Because we’ve watched him try and fail to do so 50 freaking times this season. So what was the point of that game? Is “Thibodeau thought he was giving his team the best chance to win” an acceptable answer anymore? Let’s say Burks did his best William Wallace impersonation and led the charge. Let’s say I was sitting here writing about a close Knicks win led by an 18-point Alec Burks fourth quarter. Would that have changed a single thing? No. The only semblance of new information would have been the Knicks’ slightly worse draft odds. The Knicks still would have missed an opportunity to get Barrett and Quickley late game reps. Deuce McBride still would have played 53 seconds in the second half of a game in which the Knicks played eight players. And the Knicks still would continue to head down this path they’re driving at 200 miles per hour towards, where Thibodeau is tasking the front office with making serious roster decisions with no answers to some of the team’s biggest questions.
Enough is enough. It’s time for the Knicks to pick a lane. They can’t continue to try and have their cake and eat it too. The only result is serious food poisoning and morning after sickness. There are no benefits here. What we saw last night were glimpses of a young team that wants to grow together. The Knicks are stocked to the brim with young talent. They head into this off-season with, presumably, Barrett, Quickley, Toppin, Sims, McBride, Cam Reddish, Quentin Grimes, and the potential to retain Mitchell Robinson. The fork in the road is approaching, and there are two well-defined paths. Should opportunities for major consolidation arise and the Knicks find themselves with a vastly different (older) roster next year, I could understand keeping Thibodeau around. I would disagree with it, but on some level I’d get it.
But should the Knicks stay the course, and decide they want to, at least for the time being, hold onto their young talent and use next season as a year for growth and transition, Thibodeau has to go. You cannot have a head coach whose agenda juxtaposes the roster he is supposed to be optimizing. Bring someone new in, someone who will let the kids play through mistakes and who will build an offense for his players rather than forcing them to fit the box he has etched out for them. Or how about a head coach with even the slightest bit of imagination? Someone who sees the opposing team play Kevin Durant at center and doesn’t even think to adjust or adapt. Because if they don’t, I fear the Knicks may find themselves starting from scratch again far too soon. And nobody wants that.
