On the night the Knicks honored the 1972-1973 championship team, New York throttled the New Orleans Pelicans, 128-106.
Here are the takeaways…
– New York wasted no time in this one, getting out to a quick 10-2 lead after Julius Randle hit his second three in the early going. Randle had it all working for him to start, shooting 6-for-9 from the field in the first quarter and 4-for-6 from deep to lead all scorers with 16 points.
– As a team, the Knicks were scorching from downtown in the first quarter, shooting 8-of-15 from three-point range. Coming off the bench, Immanuel Quickley drained two three-pointers before Obi Toppin made his first shot of the night, a corner three that capped a 21-7 Knicks run that put them up by 20.
– Jalen Brunson added eight points in the quarter and New York led 42-26 after the first quarter. It was the second most points the Knicks have scored in the first quarter this season.
– The scoring cooled off a bit in the second quarter but not by much. After the Pelicans’ Naji Marshall made both of his free throws to start the quarter, New York went on a 9-0 run, spearheaded by RJ Barrett who joined the three-point party by splashing one of his own.
– Mitchell Robinson provided the Knicks with some interior scoring, slamming down two alley-oop dunks that got the crowd on their feet. He finished the half with nine points and eight rebounds.
– The onslaught of threes kept coming in the second quarter, and from every which way. To close out the half, Brunson, Randle, Barrett and Quentin Grimes each hit a three-point shot to improve the team’s three-point shooting to 13-for-26.
– Meanwhile, New Orleans couldn’t buy a basket from deep as they finished the half 2-of-19 from three-point range. Not a single Pelican ended the half in double digits whereas New York had three in Randle (19), Barrett (13) and Brunson (12) to help the Knicks lead 73-52 at halftime on the same night the franchise honored the 50th anniversary of the 1973 championship team.
– New York stayed hot from downtown in the third quarter as Barrett drained two and Brunson and Grimes added one apiece. Grimes’ three-pointer gave the Knicks their largest lead at the time at 90-63 and it looked like this one would be over early.
– But after getting staked to their largest lead of the night, seemingly out of nowhere, the Knicks fell out of whack and allowed the Pelicans to go on a 15-4 run as New Orleans inched its way closer, 94-78
– After back-to-back alley-oop dunks by Marshall assisted by Jose Alvarado, head coach Tom Thibodeau had seen enough and called a timeout with 2:48 left in the quarter. Following the timeout, New York regrouped, thanks in part to Josh Hart, and took a 102-82 lead into the fourth quarter.
– With a commanding lead in the final frame, the Knicks moved away from the three-point shot and instead relied on driving to the lane and high percentage shots, knocking them down with ease.
– New York’s lead ballooned to a game-high 32 points after Randle’s successful and-1 gave his team a 126-94 cushion with 4:07 left to play.
– With the game all but wrapped up, the Knicks were able to empty their bench and get their starters some time off. The bench didn’t fare as well, going the final four minutes without scoring a basket until Isaiah Hartenstein scored as time expired, giving New York a 128-106 win.
– Randle led all scorers with 28 points while Barrett and Brunson added 25 and 20, respectively.
Highlights
What’s next
The Knicks have an off-day on Sunday before hosting the Boston Celtics on Monday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. inside Madison Square Garden.
