Navigating key absences, the Knicks persevere on the road
With absences from regular starters RJ Barrett and shooting guard Quentin Grimes, the Knicks’ depth revealed itself on their recently completed eight-day, five-game road trip in which they were a buoyant 3-2.
They opened the stretch with a 114-98 loss to the Boston Celtics on November 13 and ended it on Monday by falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves 117-100.
Sandwiched between the defeats were victories over the Atlanta Hawks (116-114), Washington Wizards (120-99) last Friday in the second of the Knicks’ four Eastern Conference Group C In-Season Tournament games, and the Charlotte Hornets (122-108). The Knicks are 8-6 overall and 5-4 away from the Garden, and were No. 8 in the Eastern Conference standings heading into last night’s slate of NBA games.
New York will play their first game since Monday and first at Madison Square Garden since November 12 when they host the Miami Heat in their third In-Season Tournament game. The Knicks are 1-1, losing to the Milwaukee Bucks 110-105 on November 3 in Game 1. They will conclude group play at MSG next Tuesday versus the Hornets.
The Knicks are currently in third place in their five-team group. Eight teams each from the Eastern and Western Conferences will advance to the quarterfinals The Indiana Pacers (3-0, East, Group A) and Los Angeles Lakers (4-0, West, Group A) became the first teams to clinch winning their respective groups with victories on Tuesday night.
With Barrett and Grimes back, the Knicks will need all hands on deck when they meet the surging Miami Heat, who were 9-5 and No. 4 in the East having won eight of their previous 10 games going into last night facing the Cavaliers in Cleveland.
Barrett, the Knicks starting small forward, returned on Saturday against the Hornets after missing the three prior games due to migraine headaches. Grimes came back on Monday after sitting against the Wizards and Hornets with a sprained left wrist. The voids in the Knicks’ lineup were filled by Immanuel Quickley and Donte DiVincenzo.
The reserves played productively on both ends of the court in the Knicks’ wins, including DiVincenzo, scoring a career-high 25 points against Charlotte, going 7-10 on 3-pointers starting in place of Grimes. Quickley, last season’s runner up for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, posted 20 points in Atlanta and 27 in Washington.
DiVincenzo and Quickley augmented the impactful play of point guard Jalen Brunson, power forward Julius Randle, and center Mitchell Robinson. Brunson led the Knicks in scoring in four of the five road games, putting up 32 points in back-to-back wins over the Wizards and Hornets.
Randle topped the Knicks with 29 against the Hawks and for the season is averaging 19.5 points per game although shooting a low 37.8%. However, he leads the team at 5.3 assists per game and is second in rebounding at 10 per outing.
Dominant rebounding has been Robinson’s forte. The 25-year-old, sixth-year veteran was fifth in the league at 11.6 per game going in last night’s schedule and the leader at 6.1 offensive rebounds.
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