In the final tune-up game of the preseason, the Knicks had no answer for a hot-shooting, hungry Washington Wizards team falling 131-106 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Here are some takeaways…
– Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, New York sent out their expected regular season starting five of Jalen Brunson, Quentin Grimes, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson.
The rebuilding Wizards – with a new front office and in the post-Bradley Beal era – started Tyus Jones, Jordan Poole, Bilal Coulibaly, Deni Avdija and Daniel Gafford.
– After the Knicks opened the scoring with an alley-oop to Robinson, Poole – acquired in the deal that saw Chris Paul land with the Warriors – started off hot, with seven points in the first four minutes, with five coming from the line. The Knicks were a bit foul-happy; entering the penalty in under six minutes.
Randle answered with a pair of off-the-dribble threes from his spot, the elbow extended on the right side of the court. Even with Avdija’s hand in his face, it did not bother the forward who took his defender to the paint to make it eight straight points. Randle finished the quarter with 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting. Brunson and Barrett combined for six points on 3-for-9.
– Donte DiVincenzo was the first man off the bench when Grimes left after committing his third personal just five minutes in. Immanuel Quickley was out for precautionary reasons, missing his second-straight game after sitting Tuesday night in Boston.
Still working out rotations, Thibodeau went to DiVincenzo, Miles McBride, Evan Fournier, Isaiah Hartenstein and Josh Hart, who would work as the four. But despite Hart and DiVincenzo knocking down threes, that unit lost those minutes to a Wizards lineup featuring Mike Muscala and Danilo Gallinari. Knicks ended the quarter up 31-29.
– New York had no answer early for… Muscala who was 5-for-5 from three and forced a Tom Thibodeau timeout after an 8-0 Washington run opened the second quarter.
Late in the second amid a tough stretch for the home side, Brunson was whistled for a charge and assessed a technical foul. Poole pushed the Wizards’ lead to 53-42 with 3:22 to play in the half capping a 10-0 run with a three to give him 21 points and Thibs called another timeout.
Poole wasn’t done hitting three more baskets (including a circus three) to give him 29 in the half on 8-for-14 from the floor and 9-for-10 from the line. The Knicks were outscored 36-21 in the second frame with Brunson shooting 0-for-2, Barret 1-for-6 and Randle 1-for-5 to enter the half down 65-52.
– After falling behind by 18, the Knicks answered with a 14-3 run with Barrett accounting for eight points including a pair of corner threes forcing Wes Unseld Jr. to call time just three minutes into the third quarter. Randle had a run of eight points on his own to make it a two-point, game capping a 12-3 run before Poole answered with yet another three to give him 37 late in the third.
But poor ball handling, missed shots and a Wizards team that appeared to be playing with a bit more energy was the story, as after all that, the Knicks made just one basket over the final 3:44 of the frame to enter the fourth quarter down 95-82.
– The Knicks five of Barrett, Hartenstein, Hart, DiVincenzo and McBride started the fourth and opened with a pair of threes on offense, but couldn’t stop the Wizards from getting high-percentage looks and easy buckets to extend the lead to 16 before Thibs called time with 6:35 to play.
The benches began to empty soon after with former Knick Taj Gibson, who is trying to make Washington’s roster, knocked down a pair of jumpers before the visitors called timeout with just under three minutes to play up 125-102.
– Washington hit 20 threes on the night and shot 50.6 percent from the floor. Poole finished with 41 points with six threes and went 15 of 16 from the free-throw line in just 27 minutes. Muscala finished with 20 points in 25 minutes off the bench.
Randle had 20 and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes on 8-for-15 shooting (4-for-6 from beyond the arc). Barrett added 19 points on 8-for-19 with seven rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes. Brunson had a rough night (3-for-12 from the floor and 1-for-5 from three) to finish with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Highlights
Upcoming schedule
The Knicks have seven days to get in the right frame of mind before opening the 2023-24 NBA season with a 7 p.m. tip on Wednesday, Oct. 25 hosting the Boston Celtics at MSG.