Knicks Squeak Past Pitiful Pistons

The Knicks have a Quentin Grimes problem...

Final Score: Knicks 118 - Pistons 112
Record: 11-7

Coming into Thursday night's matchup at MSG, the Pistons hadn't won a basketball game in a month. Literally. They had dropped a franchise-record 15 straight contests and were in the midst of a no-win November. They were also on the back end of a back-to-back, having played the Lakers Wednesday night in Detroit. 

The Knicks, on the other hand, had a rest advantage and were riding high after humiliating the Hornets to clinch a Wild Card berth in the In-Season Tournament.

So, New York came out and put their foot on the Pistons' throats, right? 

Wrong. 

Despite Detroit playing some of the sloppiest basketball you will see in the NBA this season (they committed five turnovers in their first 11 possessions), the Knicks (not named Jalen Brunson) sleepwalked through the first half. 

Here's the first basket of the game:

A careless pass from RJ Barrett leads to a turnover. Cade Cunningham brings the ball up the floor, and Julius Randle is in front of him the whole way. Yet, for some reason, Randle ushers Cunningham to the hoop for an uncontested dunk.

That set the tone for how the Knicks would compete on the defensive end for most of the night. It was ugly. 

But, even though they trailed heading into the fourth quarter, the Knicks eventually outscored Detroit to secure the victory. And a win is a win, even an ugly one. 

"Our defense wasn't very good tonight. Our rebounding wasn't where it needed to be," Tom Thibodeau said after the game. "In the end, though, we found a way to win, and that's the bottom line — to find a way to win. Tonight, we won with our offense. So win games in different ways, but obviously, we have to do a lot better than we did."

Brunson once again led the way offensively, racking up 42 points (13-of-24 FGs, 9-of-10 FTs), six rebounds, eight assists (vs. just one turnover), one steal, and seven 3-pointers. Many of us have become numb to Brunson's incredible play of late, but his efficiency and production over the first six weeks of the season have been jaw-dropping. 

The dude is shooting 48% from downtown on a career-high 6.9 attempts per game. He's shooting over league-leading 46% on pull-up three-pointers, which was the one weak link in his offensive games in years past. If JB becomes a consistently elite pull-up there-pointer shooter, there is just no way to defend him. 

I don't know what's more impressive, his sparkling assist-to-turnover ratio or his 3PT accuracy. 

Brunson is on pace to become the first player in NBA history to average more than 25 points and more than five assists while committing fewer than two turnovers per game. 

Oh, and Brunson is also on pace to become the first player in NBA history to average more than six three-point attempts per game and shoot above 47% from downtown.

There are still a ton of games left to play, but my god, this kid has been incredible. 

"I'd rather learn from winning than learn from losing," Brunson said after the victory over Detroit. "A win is a win, and I'm not going to discredit us from that. But we know what we have to do to be better."

Other Takeaways and Knicks Notes:

🏀 I highlighted one of Randle's defensive lapses above - and there were others - but he did help Brunson take over the game down the stretch, bullying his way to the hoop past overmatched defenders. Randle finished with 29 points (12-of-21 from the field and 3-of-6 from the foul line), ten rebounds, eight assists, one block, and two 3-pointers in 38 minutes. It's incredible that he can post such an impressive stat line when it looked like he was barely breaking a sweat. 

As an aside, Randle celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday. Per Basketball Reference, he is one of only six players in NBA history to tally at least 10,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, 2,000 assists and 500 made three-pointers before turning 29. The other five are LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Antoine Walker and Nikola Jokic. Not bad company to keep. 

🏀 Before I get to an uplifting story, we have to discuss the fact that the Knicks have a Quentin Grimes problem. 

Grimes has started five games since returning from a sprained wrist on November 20th. In those contests, he is averaging 2.4 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 20.2 minutes while shooting a putrid 16.7% from the field.  

During this stretch, he has the worst plus/minus on the team. Every other Knicks rotation player is at least +23. Grimes is -21.

He's logged a total of 372 minutes this season in the 16 games he's started and still has yet to make a single free throw. That's unacceptable from a starting shooting guard. He's the only player in the NBA to have played more than 300 minutes without at least one made FT to his credit. 

In last night's victory over the Pistons, Grimes played the first seven minutes of the third quarter before being subbed out and never returned to the contest. Donte DiVincenzo played the entire fourth quarter and nailed three huge three-pointers in the final frame to help secure the victory. 

After the game, Thibodeau said he has faith in Grimes and that QG must 'soldier on' through this nasty shooting slump, but the calls for either DiVincenzo or IQ to replace Grimes in the starting lineup will only get louder until Grimes starts knocking down shots and finding other ways to contribute. 

🏀 RJ Barrett is mired in a mini-slump of his own. He scored 15 points last night but was just 1-of-6 from downtown and 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. There's no reason to be overly concerned at the moment, but his numbers have come crashing back to earth since he returned to action following a migraine/illness that sidelined him for three straight games in mid-November.

Barrett's per-game averages over his first seven games this season:

22.6 points and 2.9 made three-pointers while shooting 49% from the floor, 50% from 3PT range and 85% from the FT line. 

Barrett's per-game averages over his last six games:

14.5 points and 1.2 made three-pointers while shooting below 35% from the floor, below 27% from 3PT range and 84% from the FT line. 

🏀 Mitchell Robinson grabbed six more offensive rebounds vs. Detroit. He's now up to 104 on the season. That's at least 25 more than every other player in the league. 

Oh, and Mitch Rob also leads the Knicks in blocks and steals. Robinson is just the third player in NBA history with 100+ offensive rebounds, 25+ steals and 25+ blocks through the first 18 games of a season.

More importantly, we got a glimpse at Mitch's life away from the court during the MSG broadcast last night. 

During the second quarter, Robinson's high school coach, Butch Stockton, was interviewed by Rebecca Harlow. Stockton explained that his wife Dawn passed away in September and that Robinson visited her every day she was in the hospital. 

At the funeral, Mitch said he'd invite Butch to live with him in New York to help take his coach's mind off the grief of losing his partner. Stockton took him up on the offer and has been Robinson's roommate since the start of the season. 

Not gonna lie; this made me emotional. What an incredible bond/friendship these two have developed. We need a reality show following Mitch and Butch as roommates. Let's make this happen - the world needs more good/beautiful things.

Video Clip here: https://x.com/TommyBeer/status/1730398838853079457?s=20

🏀 Next Up: The Knicks take on the Raptors Friday night in Toronto.

The Raps, 9-10 on the season (6-4 at home), are coming off their best win of the year. They beat Phoenix 112-105 on Wednesday to end the Suns' winning streak at seven and spoil the return of Kevin Durant. 

Scottie Barnes has been excellent all season and scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter to power Toronto past Phoenix. Pascal Siakam had 22 points, while Dennis Schroder dished out a season-high 12 assists. Precious Achiuwa chipped in 14 points and ten boards, Jakob Poeltl scored 17 points, and Gary Trent Jr. had 13.

One of the byproducts of the Knicks allowing Detroit to stay so close last night is that Brunson and Randle were forced to log almost 40 minutes each on the front end of a back-to-back. We'll see how the squad responds north of the border.