The Knicks couldn’t beat the 17-39 Oklahoma City Thunder at Madison Square Garden, even with Oklahoma missing their two leading scorers, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (22.7 ppg) and Luquentz Dort. (17.2 ppg). Instead, Josh Giddey — whom Oklahoma picked #6 overall in last June’s draft — had a triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists — and point guard Tre Mann — whom Oklahoma picked #18 in last June’s draft — had 30 points — to lead the Thunder to the overtime victory.
Julius Randle had a triple-double for the Knicks with 30 points, 13 rebounds, and 1o assists, but missed the potential game-winner at the buzzer in regulation, and had a key turnover in overtime. The Knicks were without RJ Barrett (sprained ankle) and of course Derrick Rose (still out after ankle surgery).
NY held a 4 point lead several times in the last 2 minutes of regulation but in the end, a Darius Bazley bucket with 5 seconds left tied the game — Randle’s jumper at the buzzer in regulation bounced out, and Oklahoma took command in OT.
1. Giddey Great
Josh Giddey — the 19-year old Australian — looked great all game — a heady 6’8 shooting guard who scored from all over the court, grabbed rebounds, and passed with efficiency.
“This was the place I was most excited when I got drafted to come in to play,” said Giddey afterwards about Madison Square Garden. “You hear so many things, so many stories about the Garden, and I had circled it on my calendar for a long time.”
“It was everything I expected,” added Giddey. “The fans are awesome. They’re into the game; a packed house. It’s everything I’ve seen on TV, being told about.”
2. Randle and Fournier Led NY in Scoring
Randle played like an all star all evening — moving the ball up the court quickly and penetrating into the lane for scores or passing — enlivening the Knicks offense.
Evan Fournier was his able sidekick — on fire most of the evening, going 10-18 from the floor (6-13 from 3) for 29 points.
.@EvanFourmizz beats the buzzer to close the third
Knicks up 94-91 pic.twitter.com/a5RFVlrICd
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) February 15, 2022
Randle made a key turnover with 2:50 left in OT and NY down 118-115, when he flipped a pass to Fournier from top of the key but threw it out of bounds. Tre Mann then came down for a drive and Oklahoma was up 120-115.
Fournier then hit a 3 to pull NY to within 120-118 but NY was never able to tie it after that.
3. Robinson MONSTER Game
Mitchell Robinson had a MONSTER game with 14 points (on 6-9 shooting), 17 rebounds, 4 steals, and 4 blocks in 41 minutes.
Mitch swatted this to Times Square 👋 pic.twitter.com/7CharnCxBZ
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) February 15, 2022
MITCH ROBINSON STEAL & SLAM 👏 pic.twitter.com/iRWr3JNJ1g
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) February 15, 2022
Robinson came into the game with a vengeance — having publicly apologized on Twitter for his sub-par previous performance.
4th block of the night for @23savage____ 🚫🚫🚫🚫 pic.twitter.com/KVpdn11bzD
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) February 15, 2022
4. Grimes Great
Quentin Grimes started at shooting guard and did well — 7-18 shooting (5-14 from 3) for 19 points and 7 rebounds.
.@qdotgrimes 🚫 pic.twitter.com/4Pt5bZdS6V
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) February 15, 2022
RJ Barrett missed his 3rd straight game with the sprained ankle.
Immanuel Quickley set up Obi Toppin (7 pts) a few times for dunks but was 0-7 himself for 0 points, 5 assists.
Kemba Walker had 9 points and Alec Burks 11.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360679
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