Julius Randle scored 40 points and the Knicks made 19 3-point shots en route to a 137-127 OT win over the Hawks Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. It was the eighth-straight win for the Knicks and with the victory they leapfrogged the Hawks in the standings and now sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
It was an 80s throwback game with physical play from both sides. Taj Gibson was knocked out of the game early and Nerlens Noel sat out eight minutes after taking a shot to the mouth. But the biggest play was Trae Young hurting his ankle. Young and Clint Capela were playing the two-man game to perfection and the Knicks had no answer. In a game the Hawks lost by 10, Young ended up with a +13 for the night.
The Knicks took over once Young left but the Hawks made a nice comeback to force overtime. But the Knicks scored the first eight points in the extra session and escaped with the win. Randle finished with 40 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Reggie Bullock tied Randle with six 3-pointers and finished with 18 points. Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley came off the bench to score 20 apiece. Quickley finished with a +29 in 30 minutes of action.
Oh, you wanted a Mets recap?
If you like pitching and/or defense, this was not the game for you, as the Mets booted the ball time and time again and the pitchers allowed 11 ER in a 16-4 loss that was not as close as the score indicated.
There were too many lowlights to list. The good news was a 3-hit game for Francisco Lindor, including his first homer as a Met. Pete Alonso also hit a monster home run. Luis Guillorme, who entered the game in the eighth inning as a pitcher, came to bat in the ninth and had another hit, raising his average to .462 for the season.
If you missed this one, be glad.
Thanks for the Knicks recap. First thing that I checked after work was the nypost.com to see if the Knicks won.
For the second night in a row, I turned on the game to see the starter cruising, and within a half inning, the starter fell apart. I’m not turning it on tomorrow; Luccheci is on his own.
What is Knicks?
Anyway, does anyone else sense irony/terror that the most anemic offense in MLB (prior to this game) scored 16 runs against them there Mets?
Good one Brian.
I’d file this under some days you’re the dog some days you’re the hydrant. And to be fair, the Cubs always find a way to come to the Mets party late, piss in the punch bowl, and leave before the cops come (except for the anomalous 2015 NLCS).
The simplest thing is to forget this ever happened and move on as one of “those” games that happen to all teams save the Dodgers. But the calling card for concern is at the doorstep. Before the regular season began, I still carried 3 major questions about the team: starting pitching depth, relief pitching, and defense. So far 2 of those are living “down” to expectations; I’m less worried about starting pitching, but not by a ton. But we can now exchange starting pitching for offensive anemia.
As the famous old commercial goes: is it live or is it memorex?
Two games in Chicago had the exact same pattern: SP blow through the Cubs’ order first time. Defensive lapses extend 4th inning, starter breaks down.
It happens.
I believe both Taijuan and Peterson will be good middle-of-the-order pitchers. Defense can’t remain this bad, though.
Gut Reaction: if JD turns the potential DP ball then the inning is over and Peterson is still in and on the bench with a 2-1 lead.
It happens but it will be concerning if it keeps happening. Likewise the limited range of Smith in left field and his positioning and throwing after the catch to prevent the runner from advancing is also a concern. This game exposed the poor Mets defense, which everyone was aware of, but there isn’t readily good solutions available without sacrificing the already anemic offense. It’s way too early and it is only one game.