Knicks Wax Wack Wizards

The effort and energy Quickley and Brunson played with all night seemed to jump off the screen...

Final Score: Knicks 120 - Wizards 99
Record: 7-5

Look, a win is a win. And come April, when playoff seedings are set, they'll only factor in wins and losses, but a victory over this embarrassment of a Wizards club should probably only count for half a dub.  

The Knicks raced out to a 20-point lead in the second quarter Friday night but then took their foot off the gas pedal, allowing Washington to hang around. By the start of the final frame, New York's lead had shrunk to just five. Fortunately for the Knicks, Jalen Brunson and Immanuel Quickley were wearing orange and blue, and they dominated down the stretch. 

Jalen Brunson poured in a game-high 32 points (10-of-23 FGs, 6-of-6 FTs) to go along with seven rebounds, seven assists, and six 3-pointers. He became just the third player in Knicks franchise history with at least 32/7/7/6 in a single game. 

After an uneven start to the season, Brunson is finding his rhythm. Over New York's past five contests, he is averaging 25.4 PPG, 5.2 APG, and 4.4 made triples, while shooting 45.7% from the floor, 56.4% from downtown and 90.5% from the free-throw stripe. 

The key to Brunson's increased offensive production has been his remarkable efficiency from behind the arc. JB has converted 38 of his 80 three-point attempts. Among all players that have more than 80 3PAs this season, Brunson has been the most accurate. 

Here's the highest three-point percentage among all players with 80+ 3PT attempts:
1. Jalen Brunson: 47.5%
2. Steph Curry: 44.6%
3. Tyrese Maxey: 43.3%
4. Luka Doncic: 42.0%

Friday was the fourth time this season Brunson has knocked down at least five three-pointers in a game. Over his first four seasons in the NBA with Dallas (277 total appearances), Brunson made five or more treys just once. 

As for Quickley, who was playing in front of his hometown friends and family (his mom was sitting in the front row), he saved his best for last. In the final quarter, IQ outscored the WIzards by himself. 

Fourth quarter stats:
Immanuel Quickley: 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting
Entire Wizards team: 15 points on 4-of-19 shooting

IQ finished the evening with 27 points, six rebounds, four assists, one steal, and three 3-pointers in 33 minutes. He shot 10-of-18 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. I jokinglingly tweeted last night that Leon Rose and company may have been hoping Quick didn't play quite so well in DC as the Wizards, who are in desperate need of a point guard (or anyone, really, to take the ball out of Jordan Poole's hands), are one of the few teams with an abundance of cap space to splurge on free agents next summer.

On the season, Quickley is now averaging a career-high 16.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.1 made three-pointers, while shooting a career-best 39.7% from long range. 

To quote the great Fat Joe, "Yesterday's price is not today's price!"

In addition to their impressive point totals, it is evident to anyone watching the game that Quickley and Brunson wanted it more than anyone else on the court. On separate occasions in the fourth quarter, both JB and IQ dove on the floor for loose balls. (Brunson also drew his league-leading 11th charge in the contest.) Maybe it was because it was in such sharp contrast to Wizards players such as Poole mailing it in, but the effort and energy both Knicks played with all night seemed to jump off the screen. 

And that's incredibly valuable to a team building a culture of sustainable success. 

Other Takeaways and Knicks Notes:

🏀 RJ Barrett missed his third straight game with what the Knicks have been listing as "migraines." However, speaking with reporters last night, coach Tom Thibodeau intimated there was more to it. "I don't know if they were able to find out specifically what it was, but he was very sick," This explained. 

"That's all I'll say. And if he's not ready, he's not ready. You trust the medical people and him, and you go from there. He warmed up. He said he wasn't quite there. We'll see where he is tomorrow, but each day has been a lot better," he added. "Just probably getting back and getting his wind. He's still, he's feeling fatigued. So there's stuff you normally feel when you're sick. … When he's ready to go, he's ready to go." 

The good news is the beat guys in DC last night all reported that Barrett was in good spirits and working out with the team during pre-game shootaround. Some speculated that New York may have been erring on the side of caution to give RJ one more night off against the lowly Wizards, as it was the front end of a back-to-back. 

🏀 Quentin Grimes was also sidelined on Friday due to a sprained wrist suffered in Wednesday's victory over Atlanta. Encouragingly, the Knicks listed Grimes as questionable for the contest. That qualifies as good news, as it would certainly seem to indicate the x-ray/MRI came back clean, and he avoided serious injury.

According to Stefan Bondy of the NY Post, "The expectation, according to a source, is Grimes misses at least one more game, maybe two, although Thibodeau classified it as a "pain tolerance thing" and "day-to-day." 

🏀 With Grimes and Barrett unable to suit up, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo slid into the starting lineup, meaning three-fifths of New York's first five were former Villanova Wildcats. Per the MSG broadcast, it's the first time in 30+ years that three players from the same school all started for the same team in an NBA game. DiVincenzo, making his first start as a Knick, tallied 14 points, four rebounds and one assist. Hart finished with nine points, five boards and two dimes. He was game-high plus-27. 

🏀 Julius Randle racked up 22 points (9-of-18 FGs, 3-of-6 FTs), seven rebounds, eight assists, one steal, two blocks, one 3-pointer, and six turnovers in 35 minutes. Randle did commit six turnovers, as he was overly aggressive at times, trying to attack Kyle Kuzma. Still, it speaks to Randle's talent that he can post 22/8/7 on a relatively quiet night. 

🏀 With five minutes remaining in the third quarter, Wizards center Daniel Gafford was assessed a technical foul. Julius Randle stepped to the FT line and missed. That has happened far too often over the past two seasons. 

Here's the issue: Randle is shooting 69.3% from the charity stripe this season. Jalen Brunson is shooting 84.2%. For their careers, Randle is a 74% shooter. Brunson is north of 81%. JB should shoot every technical any time he is on the floor. Period. If JB is out of the game, IQ should step to the line. It should not be Randle.

🏀 Good stat via Sam Quinn of CBS Friday afternoon: The Knicks are currently the best offensive rebounding team since the 2011-12 Bulls (35.4% offensive rebound rate). The Wizards are currently the worst defensive rebounding team since the 2008-09 Warriors (65.7% defensive rebounding rate).

Thus, no one was surprised NY crushed the Wiz on the glass Friday night (49-32) and grabbed twice as many offensive rebounds (14-7): 

🏀 On the season, the Knicks now rank fourth in the NBA in Net Rating (+5.), behind only the Celtics, Nuggets and Sixers (the three teams with the best records in the league). 

🏀 Friday's win was New York's first In-Season Tournament victory. They are now 1-1 in group play. Their next IST game is Friday vs. Miami. 

When asked about the importance of evening their IST record, Thibs replied: "In season, out of season, any season, I love winning. That's all that matters. Get the win. They're keeping score. Try to win the game… I just want to make sure we have one more point than they do."

🏀 Next Up: New York travels to Charlotte to take on the Hornets on Saturday night—the game tips off at 6:00 pm EST. 

Charlotte is 3-8 on the season and is coming off a 130-99 beatdown by the Bucks Friday night. So, both teams will be on the back end of a back-to-back, but the Hornets will be home. Lonzo Ball stuffed the stat sheet once again in the loss to the Bucks (35/7/7). The game also featured the debut of Miles Bridges, who missed all of last season and served a 10-game suspension to start this year as a result of domestic violence incidents. It was his first appearance on an NBA court in 583 days. Bridges finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting in 33 minutes.

New York beat the Hornets by 22 last week and are 7-point favorites in Saturday's showdown. The Knicks should continue to nail down victories against the NBA's worst teams.