If I could only use one word to describe this close win by the Knicks, it’d be ugly. Just a downright, ugly, hideous game on both parts. The Knicks played how I predicted, having a lead, blowing it in the end, but shockingly ended up winning by four points, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 103-99. Now as a Knicks fan I’ve learned to value wins, because you never know how long it will be before the next one. This is the first time since I started watching basketball the Knicks have even been in playoff contention outside of December. That being said, we should not value this win like any other. The fact that we didn’t blow out the 15th seeded, worst team in the league Timberwolves is unnerving. We played awful on defense, letting players like Naz Reid score double digits. The one key to win I used was containing Karl-Anthony Towns, something we really couldn’t do with our limited big men. KAT put up 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds all while shooting 50% from the field and going 3/7 from behind the three point arc. Minus letting KAT run through us, we also let Ricky Rubio drop 18 points on us, and let Anthony Edwards drop 12 points, both players who have been playing awfully.
Now as disappointed as I was in us, I do have to mention what we did well. RJ Barrett played in 34 minutes of action, scoring 21 points on 10/20 shooting, while also having a block and a steal. I’m really happy with how RJ played, especially with how he has recently been playing. Elfrid Payton shocked me, only taking six shots all game and scoring 11 points while also dishing out 7 assists. Julius Randle played how Julius Randle plays, in 39 minutes the human beyblade put up 25 points, 4 assists, and an amazing 14 rebounds, going tit for tat with Karl-Anthony Towns. Immanuel Quickley did fine for only playing 9 minutes, scoring 5 points, but going 1/5 was his downfall. Alec Burks came out of nowhere, scoring 13 points and being a big help for the teams win. Derrick Rose was easily the biggest disappointment of the night. In 18 minutes of action the former MVP put up 4 points on 1/8 shooting, abysmal to say the least.
On Tuesday we are back at MSG to play the 16-15 Golden State Warriors. I’m really hoping both Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin play more minutes, who played a combined 17 minutes in tonight’s game. I am nervous about how the Knicks would play against a high seed team in the playoffs, but we have months to prepare! I’m Shaney Dunn, and I hope you enjoyed reading my game recap. On Tuesday I’ll put up a pregame analysis just like I did for this game, stay tuned!
TheDyspatch 