Wolves Wallop Declawed Knicks

Is the plan to play the starters 38 minutes a night for six months and expect them to handle the same workload during an arduous, demanding playoff run?

Final Score: Knicks 99 - Wolves 116
Record: 27-16

Playing without starting center Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks' offense was stuck in neutral for most of Friday evening, and New York's defense couldn't hold up their end of the bargain either.

Early on, it seemed the Knicks would put themselves in position to win back-to-back games for the first time since the calendar flipped to 2025. Wolves superstar shooting guard Anthony Edwards was ice cold to start the game (missing seven of his first eight shots), and Julius Randle, making his first return to MSG since an offseason trade, was not looking to put up points.

The Knicks hung close in the first quarter and then jumped out in front courtesy of an all-time heater from Cam Payne, who scored his team's first 13 points of the second quarter. Payne would finish the first half with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

However, Cam was yanked with 6:17 remaining in the second quarter. He didn't check back in until there were less than two minutes left in the third. By then, AntMan and Minny's backup big, Naz Reid, had caught fire from behind the arc.

New York trailed by only three points entering the fourth quarter but looked exhausted in the final frame as the Wolves raced past them and cruised to an easy victory.

Edwards finished with 36 points, a season-high 13 rebounds and seven assists. Reid had 23 points in 24 minutes off the bench and was a perfect 6-of-6 from downtown.

As a team, Minnesota was 22 for 40 from three-point range, exploiting a weakness that has plagued the Knicks much of the season. Opponents are shooting 37.7% from downtown against New York in 2024-25, the fifth-worst mark in the NBA.

Last night, according to NBA Tracking Data, the Wolves were wide open (no defender within six feet) on 25 of the team's 40 three-point attempts. Whether it is poor rotations, poor communications and/or weak closeouts, this is an issue that the Knicks need to address. The vaunted "WingStop" defenders have not lived up to the hype of late.