The Knicks pull off a statement win over the 16-49 rebuilding Houston Rockets by a score of 122-97, one of the Knicks best outings all season. The Knicks improve to 36-28, meaning they can not fall under .500 this season, something that hasn’t been achieved by the Knickerbockers since 2013 when they went 54-28 with Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks went in to Houston on a mission, and oh boy, did they give Houston a problem.
The best Knick since Carmelo Anthony Julius Randle scored an efficient thirty-one points, six assists, and seven rebounds in just thirty minutes of play, easily getting my vote for MVP of the game. RJ Barrett came to play as well, scoring twenty-one points, five assists and seven rebounds all in forty minutes of action, breaking his slump for good so it seems. Derrick Rose continues his hot streak, scoring twenty-four points in thirty-one minutes of play. Immanuel Quickley had a signature performance, scoring thirteen points, four assist and grabbing two rebounds in twenty-four minutes. Reggie Bullock also had a average game, scoring eleven points. The Knicks shot an efficient 51.7% from the field, as well as shooting an incredible 51.4% from behind the arc, going 18/35 from three. The only issues I had from our Sunday night victory would be having only thirty-eight rebounds, and only six of those being offensive. I understand with the loss of Mitchell Robinson we wouldn’t be insane on the rebounds, but we need to have more productivity on the rebounding side of the ball.
For the Rockets, they had a decent night compared to how they usually perform. Rising star Kevin Porter Jr. cooled off after his fifty point night a few nights back, only scoring fourteen points in thirty seven minutes. Christian Wood was efficient in the game, scoring nineteen points and grabbing eight rebounds in thirty-nine minutes. One player who came out of nowhere was Kelly Olynyk, a player I assumed was still on the Miami Heat, who dropped seventeen points and grabbed ten rebounds, scoring his 32nd double-double of his career. The Rockets did not shoot well in any phase, missing a total of eleven rebounds, shooting only 65.6% on the night. The Knicks take on the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at 9 PM EST, thank you for reading and happy Monday, Shaney out.
TheDyspatch 