julius randle

Doc Rivers on Knicks star Julius Randle: ‘He changed the narrative on him’

by
knicks, julius randle

Julius Randle earned a fan in Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers after the New York Knicks star single-handedly put them away down the stretch on Monday night.

Randle scored 10 of his game-high 31 points in the final 4:46 as the Knicks beat the Sixers for the second straight time this season, 103-96, after enduring a 15-game losing streak against them.

“He made that one runner, whatever that thing was, that was just a brutally tough shot,” said Rivers referring to Randle’s drive against Furkan Korkmaz that started the Knicks’ 14-8 closing run from a slim 89-88 lead. “He’s making the catch-and-shoot 3s. Give him credit. He’s a great kid. He’s worked his butt off, changed the narrative on him. So, give him all the credit. I’m very happy for him, except for tonight.”

The former lottery pick started to change his narrative last year when he led the Knicks to a surprising playoff run. As the Knicks leading man, Randle became a first-time All-Star, won the Most Improved Player of the Year, and made it to the All-NBA Second Team.

On Monday night, Randle flexed his muscle as he took advantage of the decimated Sixers’ frontline. Without Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris, who joined Matisse Thybulle in the health and safety protocols, Randle wreaked havoc. He shot 12 of 25 from the floor and went 5 for 10 from the three-point line.

“He made some tough shots,” Rivers added. “We were undersized. I thought a couple of them, we were gonna switch and didn’t, that would’ve put a smaller guy on him, which wouldn’t have helped. He knows how to use his body. He’s tough.”

Randle toyed around every Sixers defender thrown at him from the 6-foot-7 Korkmaz to 6-foot-6 Danny Green.

“We had Danny [Green] guarding him for the majority of the game,” said Seth Curry. “I hope he had a good matchup for him. He grinded it out. [He] forced some tough shots and still, that’s a guy you just shake his hand. Danny worked hard.”

Andre Drummond, who grabbed 25 rebounds and scored 14 points as a fill-in starter for Embiid, couldn’t think of a better defensive coverage against Randle. The Sixers just didn’t have any abled body to slow down Randle on Monday night.

“He’s a great player,” said Drummond of Randle. “He had somebody who was three or four inches shorter than him. He’s shooting over the top of him. There’s not much you can do. We played him to the best of our ability, and he made shots. He’s an NBA player.”

While Randle had an easier time against the shorthanded Sixers, it certainly won’t be the case on Wednesday when the Knicks host the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks led by two-time MVP and last Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Bucks will be playing the second night of a back-to-back schedule after beating the same shorthanded Sixers team on Tuesday night, 118-109.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

Julius Randle takes step forward as Knicks leader after talk with Derrick Rose

by

Everything New York Knicks did in the offseason revolved around Julius Randle.

They retained the core that accentuated Randle’s ascending talent. They brought in Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier to shield him from being ganged up again in a potential playoff run this season.

The Knicks eliminated any doubt by locking him up to a lucrative, four-year extension. The Knicks view Randle as their star. The team revolves around him, much like how Milwaukee Bucks built a championship team around Giannis Antetokounmpo from the ground up. Or how LeBron James’ teams have always revolved around him. And how the Brooklyn Nets are now operating with Kevin Durant.

That’s just how it works in the NBA galaxy — where a team revolves around their biggest star as their sun. In return, their stars shine a light on the players, who act as the planets in their solar system.

Randle finally acknowledged the elephant in the room after his tentative play impacted the Knicks’ uneven start to their season, which comes with heavy expectation. A week after Derrick Rose gave him unsolicited advice, Randle finally approached him.

Randle took a step forward in growing into his new role after a lengthy, heart-to-heart talk with Rose following their third straight home loss on Sunday against the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers.

“I had a long talk with Derrick [Rose] after the game because I’m an introverted person too,” Randle said after he led the Knicks to a much-needed win in Philadelphia on Monday night.

Rose, the youngest MVP in the league, was once in Randle’s shoes. During his time in Chicago, where the Bulls revolved around him, Rose, who was quiet in nature, struggled to assert himself into the leadership role.

“I’m kind of like lead by example, my actions and stuff like that,” Randle said. “And he’s telling me how it took him a long time to figure it out.”

There wasn’t an inkling that Randle is an introvert as he was always candid in interviews and always talked the walk. But if you closely paid attention to other Knicks players’ interviews, it was always Rose, Walker, and Taj Gibson who the younger players name as the veterans they talk to almost every day.

Randle is still leading the team in scoring and other important statistics. But his efficiency took a hit as he sometimes second-guessed his new teammates and accommodated RJ Barrett’s rapid growth.

Evan Mobley, Cavaliers’ rookie stud, dropped a career-high 26 points on 11 of 15 shooting, nine boards, and five assists against him. Randle struggled to score 19 points on 17 shots. He added seven assists, but he was a team-worst minus-32. In short, Randle got badly outplayed by a rookie.

Before he approached Rose, Randle owned up to his failings as a leader. Randle is the undisputed leader of the team even though coach Tom Thibodeau refuses to officially name him as the team captain, perhaps as a sign of respect to Rose and Walker.

“I’ll take accountability,” Randle said after the loss. “I’ve got to be better. As the leader of the team, I’ll be better. I gotta talk more. Play with more energy.”

Nothing new. Randle always talks the walk during interviews.

But on Monday night, there was a visible change in Randle’s demeanor that changed the Knicks’ tenor. He talked the walk then walked the talk.

Randle was visibly more vocal. He huddled the team on the court at the height of Philadelphia’s uprising. He led the way on both ends of the floor down the stretch to carry the Knicks to a gut-wrenching 103-96 win over the shorthanded Sixers.

Randle scored 10 of his game-high 31 points in the final 4:46 and was locked in defensively to avert what should have been a deflating loss. Especially against a team that is missing its top stars Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, and their ace perimeter defender Matisse Thybulle due to health and safety protocols.

“It’s just getting out of your comfort zone, growing as a person, as a leader,” Randle said. “The next step for me is just being a little bit more vocal with my teammates, talking, and making sure we’re staying together and telling each other what we see out there.”

Randle finally stopped acting like the Earth or Mercury and started embracing being the sun of this team.

The best leaders always understand the need to walk the talk. But not all people, or in this case, not all players, are wired to be inspired by that. There is power in language that is so unique to hoopers who can only understand each other.

Michael Jordan had a unique language that compelled his Bulls teammates to rise with him. Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, Randle’s mentor in his early days, was wired like Jordan. Their concept of winning is different from the rest. They were leaders that think differently about their craft and invariably talk about it differently as well.

But in these times when player empowerment and inclusivity are strong in the league, the type of sustainable leadership is the one that harnesses the power of language and emphatically uses that as a form of communication to remind everyone what really drives success.

“I want him to be vocal,” Thibodeau said. “I want everyone to use their voice. That’s a big part of leadership. But I also want them backing it up with their actions, and actions will always reflect one’s priorities. And so, when they’re doing the right things, good things are going to happen.

It didn’t matter that it was an early November win against a contender that was a shell of themselves. Yes, the Knicks needed Thibodeau’s 400th career win but what really mattered, in the end, was Randle’s gains in his leadership crash course that will help them down the road.

“I think we took a step forward today — all of us learning and figuring each other out and stuff like that,” Randle said. “It was really good. We just got to keep building on it.”

The NBA is a stars’ league. The Knicks did not have any at the start of team president Leon Rose’s reign. But they made one out of Randle, who became an All-Star and All-NBA type of player.

Randle carried the franchise to their first playoff berth in eight years. But the weight of the playoffs was too much for a first-timer like Randle. That alone should keep Randle and the Knicks on edge.

“It was kind of funny and cool to see who I was as a player and as a person coming into the league and year eight who I am now,” Randle mused. “Just being comfortable being uncomfortable, getting outside of my comfort zone, talking, and telling my teammates what I see and asking them what I see. It’s just really about communication. A lot of [undesirable] things out there defensively or in the game period, we can eliminate if we communicate.”

It’s a long season. There will be ebb and flow. But Randle took an important step that will be critical to the Knicks’ campaign this season.

When the Knicks traded for Rose, they were not only plugging a glaring hole. After all, he is a Thibodeau disciple.

As Rose stumbled and got up along the way, he finally understood what it takes to be a leader. He’s now aging like a fine wine, finding a second, third wind with Thibodeau.

In the last decade, a team revolved around Rose, and it failed spectacularly at the end that led to Thibodeau’s firing. Rose doesn’t want Randle to commit the same mistakes he did.

Rose is glad Randle approached him and is a willing listener as much as a leader.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

Myles Turner, Pacers show Knicks what they are missing

by
myles turner, knicks

After the New York Knicks lost to the Toronto Raptors, coach Tom Thibodeau talked about losing to a team playing with an edge.

Earlier, they responded to an unexpected loss to a rebuilding Orlando Magic team by playing with an edge against a hobbling Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers. He was expecting the same when they traveled to Indiana. But to his surprise, it was Myles Turner and the Indiana Pacers who showed up with an edge on Wednesday night at Gainbridge Field House.

Turner repeatedly hurt the Knicks inside and out as the Pacers buried them early in a 111-98 road loss for their first losing streak of the young season. It was another painful reminder of what the Knicks are missing.

The 5-1 start somehow swept the Knicks’ inconsistency and defensive deficiency under the rug. In Tom Thibodeau’s oft-repeated refrain, “When you feel good about yourself and let your guard down that’s when you get knocked down.”

The trade off between a supercharged offense and last season’s stout defense is rearing its ugly head.

The Knicks team that the fans fell in love with last season played with an edge and climbed their way up to the standings with a blue-collar defense anchored by a strong rim protection, perimeter closeouts and selectively allowing outside shots from weak outside shooters.

Turner fits the profile of a weak outside shooter. In three games against the Knicks last season, Turner managed to only hit 4 of 20 three-pointers. Entering Wednesday’s matchup, Turner was just 32-percent outside shooter, hitting 11 of 34 threes in the Pacers’ first eight games.

But against the Knicks, Turner turned the corner.

In what became a familiar sight to Julius Randle, Turner’s confidence notched a level higher every time the Pacers big man hit a three-pointer.

“We missed some shots. Myles got hot early. You know with him [when] he gets [his] confidence early, he’s good and he’s gonna be able to hit shots for the rest of the game,” Randle said.

Randle knows it too well having worked with Turner under the same trainer in their home state in Texas last summer.

Tyler Relph, Randle’s long-time trainer who was responsible in helping him grew into a 41-percent three-point shooter last season, is also doing the same to Turner to expand his game and become a modern big man. It’s a development that could push the Knicks to try harder in teaming him up with Randle.

Turner’s summer work with Relph was on full display against the Knicks. Turner connected on 7 of 10 threes that opened up the driving lanes for the Pacers guards and wings. He drained two triples and made a putback in the Pacers’ 11-0 start that floored the Knicks.

Indiana shot 16 of 41 from the outside and 26 of 50 inside the arc.

Turner’s backup Goga Bitadze added two threes as they dragged Mitchell Robinson and the returning Nerlens Noel out of the paint on defense. The Knicks’ woes were exacerbated by Indiana’s 18 transition points.

The Knicks know where teams are hurting them. Their transition defense is all about effort. They talked about it openly during Tuesday’s film session.

But it’s easier said than done.

The Knicks never had a chance against the Pacers whose starting unit is long, big, mobile and versatile. They came as close as three points twice later in the game but Turner and the Pacers always punched back harder. New York was a step slower on defense. And their newfound weapon — the three-point shot — betrayed them on this night. They woefully shot a conference-low 5 for 24 from deep.

If not for RJ Barrett’s 12-point third quarter explosion in another strong offensive showing, it could have been worse for the Knicks. Though Barrett had his worst performance over his last four games. He needed 20 shots to get to 23 points.

Randle finished with a monster double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds but was only 6 for 16 from the floor. Evan Fournier only hit 1 of 5 threes and Kemba Walker had his worst shooting night, going 0 for 5 from deep and 2-for-11 overall for four points.

“My thing is I don’t like to pin the blame on any one player,” Thibodeau responded when asked about Walker’s discouraring stats line. “As a group, we didn’t play well. We’re all part of it— coaches, players. And [struggle] is a part of the season. How do we navigate it?”

Six Indiana players finished in double figures led by Turner’s 25 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks. Malcolm Brogdon was solid in his return from sickbay as he thoroughly outplayed Walker. Brogdon produced 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

“The East is loaded. So every night you got to bring it. And an important part of winning is playing with an edge,” Thibodeau said.

The Knicks simply did not have it in the past two games. They lost to two teams who were beset with COVID-19-related issues and injuries last year. Even in their wins save for their off-the-charts shooting in Orlando, there were signs of cracks in their defense as they could not hold on to  double-digit leads.

With the Raptors now back in Toronto after an uninspiring wandering in Tampa Bay, they are off to an impressive start. Their current five-game winning streak is something special as they played with their star Pascal Siakam on the sideline and rookie stud Scottie Barnes joining him in the last two games. The Pacers are starting to round off the edges as they get healthier under a chammpionship-level coach Rick Carlisle.

These two teams are part of the second tier where the Knicks would be competing for a spot in the playoffs and avoid the play-in tournament. Miami Heat’s 6-1 start may have catapulted them to the first tier along with the Sixers, Brooklyn Nets and defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, who are on deck for the Knicks on Friday night.

The Knicks may have reloaded with better talent but it will not matter if they don’t get their acts together on the other side of the ball. Shooting will come and go. But as the cliche goes, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. The Knicks need to return to outworking and outhustling everybody.

“We got to pick ourselves up and have a determination about it. I always say, you have to be mentally tough when you’re facing adversity, and that’s where we are right now,” Thibodeau said.

They are in the same exact spot (5-3) through the first eights games as last season. What followed next was a five-game losing streak.

We’ll see what this new iteration of Knicks are made of after next week.

It only gets tougher from here as their next five games include the Bucks on Friday, the rejuvenated Cleveland Cavaliers and the Sixers on a back-to-back home-and-away schedule on Sunday and Monday. A rematch with the Bucks and a faceoff against the high-flying Charlotte Hornets complete a trechearous next week for the Knicks.

It’s still early in the season. But adversities like this is something Thibodeau would want to have now rather than later when the stakes are higher.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

Knicks: Derrick Rose gives Julius Randle a piece of advice to counter double teams

by
knicks, julius randle

Despite the addition of Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, teams are still loading up on New York Knicks‘ All-Star Julius Randle.

They are testing his patience and maturity to determine whether he’s ready to lead a team with talent around him.

Randle has embraced being the Knicks’ central figure on offense. According to Cleaning The Glass, Randle leads the Knicks with a 28.9 usage rate in the 87th percentile. It’s just a slight drop to his 30.4 usage rate last season, which was in the 98th percentile.

Through seven games this season, Randle is tied for fifth with Giannis Antetokoumnpo in isolation points with 5.4 per game behind Spencer Dinwiddie (5.5), Kevin Durant (8.0), James Harden (8.3), and surprise leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (9.4). Randle is seventh in isolation possessions with 5.1 per game, and he’s shooting 46.2 percent, which is in the 64.6 percentile, per NBA advanced stats.

Last season, Randle averaged 5.0 isolation points on 5.5 possessions per game.

Old habits die hard. Randle is still struggling to give up isolation plays despite the Knicks adding more talent to ease his burden.

For the first time in his career, Randle is the No.1 option in a playoff-contending team. This is new to him, like it was last season when he led a so-so Knicks team to a surprising playoff run. He’s learning on the fly.

Derrick Rose had been there, done that.

Content as the sixth man of a deep New York Knicks team, Rose is happy to pass on some wisdom to Randle.

“Just play his game,” Rose said after Wednesday’s shootaround in Indianapolis before they take on the Pacers. “I feel like if he just goes out there and plays his game everything is going to be good. We know that we’ve got more scoring on the team. He’s got to find ways to get lost. Right now they’re double-teaming from different spots on the court.”

In their recent loss to the Toronto Raptors, their downfall started with two consecutive Randle isolation plays that went awry after the Knicks built a 15-point lead. He followed that up with another two isolation plays where he got doubled, which led to turnovers and easy points for the Raptors.

“That’s why we’ve got Kemba and Evan on the floor with him so that when you’ve got that type of person on that side of the ball, offensively, it’s easy to just get lost,’ Rose said. “Being that No. 1 option you want that opportunity to get lost in the offense.”

It’s unsolicited advice that Randle should take because Rose is talking from his experience as the youngest MVP in the league, who led a young Chicago Bulls team to their best stretch in the post-Michael Jordan era.

“I played where I had to do everything, bring the ball up, set up the offense, score the ball, and if it was up to me, I wouldn’t want to do all that. But I was kind of forced to do it, so I had to figure it out,” Rose said. “Ju (Randle), he’s a great guy, and he’s all about figuring things out. So it’s about just letting him learn and letting him adjust, playing with three new starters.”

Randle’s ability to adapt to this new situation will tell how far this reloaded Knicks team can go.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

 

Do the New York Knicks have a problem playing lesser teams?

by
knicks

There isn’t much to be upset about with the Knicks’ performance to start the season. They sit at 5-2 and own victories over the likes of the 6-1 Bulls, the Celtics, and the 76ers. They’ve also suffered horrific losses to both the Magic and the Raptors.

The reason for both of these losses: simply getting outplayed. This doesn’t seem like just a fluke.

A Tale of Two Types of Performances

Last year, the Knicks thrived against teams below .500, going 24-10. Their efforts against these teams ended up being the reason they eventually sat 4th place in the Eastern Conference at the end of the season.

This year, they’re much improved, and their play against opponents they are more talented than should reflect that. However, this is not what we have seen.

Last night, the Raptors came into MSG without Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes and completely outplayed the Knicks. They started out hot and were up as many as 15, but in the final minutes of the second quarter and the entire second half, they looked lost.

New York turned the ball over 17 times, was outrebounded offensively by 6, and was outscored in transition 21-3. Additionally, there was little-to-no effort on defense as almost every Toronto possession ended with a great look. This all combined screams a lack of hustle on behalf of the Orange & Blue.

The same can be said about their other loss this season to the Magic. Nothing on the stat sheet jumps out at you as the reason why the Knicks lost that game, but lazy defensive possessions led to their demise. Terrance Ross doesn’t score 22 in the 4th quarter of that game if New York brings their usual intensity on D.

To date, the best win of the season for the Knicks was against the Bulls. In that game, not only did they outwork them on the boards, but they also outhustled them on all ends of the court. They turned the ball over 13 times but only surrendered 10 points off those turnovers. New York also had 5 more fast-break points than a Chicago team that scores 13% of its points in that category.

This performance just doesn’t compare to their losses.

Julius Randle Needs to Lead the Way

When Julius Randle plays well, the Knicks play well. It’s that simple. The reigning Most Improved Player sets the tone for everything his team does.

Last night he started the game out with one of the best quarters of his career. He put up 18 points with 4 threes, and the Knicks led by 8 at the end of the period. After that, he went silent. Watch just one example of the lack of effort shown by Randle. This play ended up setting the tone for the rest of the game:

The Knicks need their best player to play hard night in and night out, no matter the opponent. It’s understandable that he’s probably drained from going 35+ minutes a night, but this type of laziness isn’t just seen at the end of games.

The effort needs to be there all the time, or else the Knicks will continue to struggle against younger teams with less talent, who seem hungrier to win.

Hopefully, this doesn’t continue to happen enough to become a trend this season, and it all starts with the play of Julius Randle.

Knicks blow away 15-pt lead in humbling loss on NBA’s 75th anniversary

by
knicks, julius randle

On November 1, 1946, the New York Knickerbockers fended off Toronto Huskies’ rally to win, 68-66, in the historic opener of the inaugural Basketball Association of America (BAA), the predecessor of the NBA.

The New York Knicks couldn’t hold on to their lead on Monday night like they did 75 years ago.

The surging Raptors, now representing Toronto, returned the favor and dealt the Knicks a humbling loss, 113-104, at the Madison Square Garden.

The Raptors beat the Knicks at their own game, outhustling and outshooting them in the final 29 minutes of the game.

Julius Randle had a strong start with 18 first-quarter points and three of the Knicks’ seven assists. With Randle in his element, the Knicks’ offense was humming. They connected on 8 of 13 three-pointers to start the game. Then the ball stopped moving, and the shots ceased falling.

Randle only had four points and two assists the rest of the way. The Knicks just made 13 assists and 8 of 25 from deep after that torrid start.

“We lost the lead, got back on our heels. They were the aggressors. That’s basically the story of the game,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau lamented.

Toronto charged back from a 15-point New York lead in the final 4:32 of the second quarter. A Raptors’ 18-7 closing run built around four three-pointers trimmed the Knicks’ lead to four at the half, 57-53.

“That’s where the game turned. We turned the ball over, we gave them fast breaks, and then we gave them hope. Then the third quarter we got drilled,” Thibodeau added.

In that pivotal third quarter, the defense that became Knicks’ ticket to the playoffs last season was non-existent. The Raptors outscored them, 38-22, and seized a 91-79 lead that ballooned to as many as 15. The Knicks got no closer than nine points.

It was an embarrassing second-half effort in front of some Knicks legends who were feted at halftime for making it to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team.

If Randle wants to join them soon, he certainly didn’t make a strong case on this forgettable loss.

OG Anunoby outshone him with a career-high 36 points to power the Raptors to their fourth straight win. He was also responsible for locking up Randle in the final three quarters.

Knicks’ third-year wing RJ Barrett stayed hot following his career-high 35-point performance in New Orleans. The Toronto native tried to rally New York with 27 points on 9 of 13 shooting against his hometown team. But it was simply not enough.

The loss ended the Knicks’ three-game win streak. It also marked their second home loss, which came at the hands of perceived lesser opponents.

“It’s the Garden. We try to protect the Garden at all costs, and we didn’t do that tonight,” Barrett said. “They played harder than us, and in the NBA, most of the time, the harder playing team’s gonna win.”

The undermanned Raptors entered the game as a plus-7 underdog. But they hammered out the win by outmuscling the Knicks, 48-41, in the glass.

They outhustled them too.

Toronto was plus-seven in offensive rebounds, which led to a 16-8 advantage in second-chance points.

Lazy passes led to turnovers. The Raptors picked the Knicks’ pocket a dozen times, resulting in 20-13 points off turnovers disparity. New York committed 16 turnovers against Toronto’s eight.

The Knicks entered Monday night 22nd in the league in fastbreak points allowed (14.2 per game). Their effort in getting back to transition defense only got worse in this game. The Raptors ran them to the ground, 21-3, in fastbreak points.

“Everyone’s capable of beating you. We have to play with an edge, and we have to play for 48 minutes,” Thibodeau said. “So, if we have a lead, we have to play tough with a lead. We didn’t do that, so they hurt us with second-chance points, they hurt us with steals, they hurt us with fastbreaks. So, those are things we have to correct.”

With Toronto missing key players Pascal Siakam (left shoulder injury) and rookie stud Scottie Barnes (right thumb sprain) ruled out just before the game, the Raptors played with an edge. They made the Knicks pay for their lackadaisical effort.

Gary Trent, Jr. added 22 points while Fred VanVleet played through small abrasion on the heel of his left hand to finish with 17 points and eight assists. Svi Mykhailiuk, who started for Barnes, stepped up with 15 points.

Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier fired 15 and 12 points, respectively, for the Knicks. But the Raptors scored three of the fourth three-pointers in that momentum-shifting run late in the second quarter against their token defense. Walker had a team-worst -15 plus-minus, Fournier was -11.

Randle also had a crucial turnover during that stretch that led to an Anunoby fastbreak slam. He was 0 for 3 in the second quarter and had two turnovers after his sizzling 5 of 6 shooting in the opening quarter. He ended up with a -15 plus-minus.

“Both of our losses came here at home where games we feel we shouldn’t have lost,” Randle said. It’s always disappointing. You play every game to win, but you can’t sulk on it. You gotta learn from it, keep it moving and get ready for the two-game road trip.”

The Knicks aim to bounce back and maintain their perfect 3-0 record on the road when they visit the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday (7:00 p.m.) and the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks on Friday (7:30 p.m.).

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

Bing Bong! Inside the culture behind Knicks’ early success

by

The New York Knicks are on top of the Eastern Conference.

It is expected to remain that way after Saturday’s night road game in Big Easy with no Zion Williamson as a roadblock.

“Whenever [Zion] is on the court, it makes it a lot tougher, for sure,” RJ Barrett, the hero in the Knicks’ road win in Chicago, said. “Nonetheless, they’re still a good team. They have a lot of weapons. We can’t overlook anybody.”

The Knicks have made that mistake against the Orlando Magic, and they paid dearly for it — the only blemish so far in an otherwise perfect record dating back to the preseason.

They have won in a myriad of ways and best quality teams. They have also lost to a bad team. But this team is built for overcoming adversities.

“It’s hard to win in this league,” Kemba Walker said following their tough win in Chicago where the Knicks almost blew a 13-point lead inside the final three minutes.

They have found ways to win even when their odds are stacked against them. They have risen above adversities early in the season because, as Tom Thibodeau would always say, “don’t fight pressure with pressure.”

Past Knicks teams would have folded up easily to pressure. But not this new, rejuvenated Knicks team of misfits and outcasts tied together in a string by a journeyman coach who’s been kicked out twice but found a way to get up and reinvent himself.

They all found a home in New York.

They have been winning on the court and stealing the hearts of fans in a demanding city that requires toughness and recognizes real hard work.

“I think the way we play together, you know our connection, our togetherness, it’s unreal,” said Walker who has never felt great and looked healthier than this in the last two seasons.

That cohesiveness made them survive against Boston and Chicago and made them reign over Orlando and Philadelphia.

Walker is starting to find his groove and spot in the team after early struggles to start the season. The Bronx native has racked up back-to-back 20-point games, and his backcourt partnership with Evan Fournier has juiced up the Knicks offense.

Walker and Fournier have combined for 36 three-pointers through the first five games. The Knicks are winning even when the teams are loading up on their All-Star leader Julius Randle.

“I love the way every game they get better and better. So, they’re building chemistry,” Thibodeau said of his reloaded starting unit.

“We’re gelling so well. We care for each other,” Walker added. “Nobody cares who scores the basketball or who makes the play. We just want to win. That’s what this game is about, man. It’s all about guys playing to win. And that’s going to make us special. That’s going to take us a long way.”

The selflessness had been infectious.

Derrick Rose quickly put to bed any issue between them and Walker right on the first day of training camp. The former MVP has ceded the starting role to Walker. When Rose closed out the first three games, Walker didn’t have qualms about it. Eventually, Walker’s rising play earned him minutes to close out the last two wins.

Their mutual admiration and respect have made them seamlessly fit in Thibodeau’s egalitarian system.

The Knicks have carefully constructed a balanced roster that is two-deep in each position. That keeps players on edge and makes each scrimmage competitive.

Iron sharpens iron.

Not every team can boast of that.

One example is the team they have recently beaten. Ahead of the Knicks-Bulls game, Chicago coach Billy Donovan admitted that they didn’t have anyone resembling Mitchell Robinson in practice. Donovan has staggered his starters with his bench throughout the game to compensate for their lack of depth.

On the other hand, the Knicks have one of the best second units in the league. Their bench currently ranks fifth in the league in scoring with 39.2 points per game and third in plus differential with 4.6 plus/minus.

“When we sub, there’s not a drop-off. And so whoever is going good, some nights one guy will play a little more and the other guy a little less,” Thibodeau said. “But I love the fact that everyone is sacrificing for the team and putting the team first. And that’s how you win big in this league.”

Selflessness is fueling their togetherness.

Culture is a buzzword that is thrown around often these days. That word seemed to have remained foreign to the Knicks until Leon Rose shifted from representing stars in the league to accepting the challenge of cleaning the mess in New York. When Rose handpicked Thibodeau, a few eyebrows were raised. Thibodeau, critics argued, is coaching rethread, who has quickly worn out his welcomes in his past two stops.

Rose’s first offseason quietly came and went. But Thibodeau, like in Chicago and Minnesota, made some noise right away. The challenge for him is how to sustain it longer than his past two stops.

Nobody saw this New York thing coming. Nobody thought the rebuilding would be this quick. From ping pong (balls) to bing bong, the Knicks are making the headlines now for all the right reasons.

For Thibodeau, culture isn’t just about the Knicks’ defense or how they are blitzing a pick and roll.

“Culture is what you do every day. It’s not one particular thing. It’s how you approach everything from draft, free agency, trades, player development, practice, travel, summer program,” Thibodeau explained during the training camp.

That starts by showing up in the training camp in good shape. In a nutshell, that is Thibodeau’s way or highway. The Knicks treated preseason like regular-season games. They went 4-0 with the starters playing deep in the fourth quarter.

Thibodeau defended that as his way of setting the tone for the season and keeping his players extra sharp ahead of the league.

“You have to be in shape to play for Thibs. It’s non-negotiable,” said Barrett, who dropped a season-high 20 points in Chicago on an array of drives and transition points. “That’s what we do. That’s what we practice.”

What happens when you’re not in top shape?

“You’re not going to play,” Randle said. “It’s the standard. We have a standard and a culture. That’s a part of it. It’s not just Thibs standard. It’s our standard that marks us as a team. We hold each other accountable. Everybody comes in the right shape. That’s the first thing.”

Randle earned Thibodeau’s respect when he showed up in great shape ahead of last year’s training camp. It set the tone for his breakthrough season that carried the Knicks to a surprising playoff run. That golden standard is what is driving them again to early success this season.

“How are you going to win games if you’re not in shape?,” Randle asked.

The minutes’ police keenly monitored Thibodeau’s first season with the Knicks. But Randle, who led the league in minutes, proved to be durable. He played all but one of the 72 regular-season games.

Even Walker, who did not play back-to-back games last season, has only missed one so far in a nine-game stretch dating back to the preseason. Walker revealed after the Knicks win in Chicago that taking care of his balky knees is a whole day routine, not just when he’s in the practice facility.

“I think guys know when they’re coming here to the Knicks, they’re coming here to play for Thibs. That’s what it is,” Randle said. “When you sign up to play here, you expect that of yourself. You expect that other guys to come in [with the same mindset].”

Thibodeau loves being around this team because they have embraced the culture of hard work, accountability, and togetherness.

It’s becoming a norm to see Knicks players working on their game outside their schedule in their practice facility. Randle’s road game routine of having extra work in the gym rather than checking out bars — something that he’s learned from the late Kobe Bryant — has caught on with the whole team.

But all work and no fun is no fun at all.

Thibodeau has learned that the hard way from his previous stops. There is still his gruffness and toughness on the court. But off the court, he’s now socializing and opening himself up a little bit.

The report coming out in Chicago is another reminder of that. The Knicks reportedly have stayed the night after their grueling win. Usually, they fly out to their next destination after games. Instead, they went out for dinner as a whole team.

“I don’t think I’ve seen that all my years in the NBA,” NBA analyst Brian Scalabrine, who played for Thibodeau in Chicago and Boston, said on SiriusXM’s NBA Radio.

Thibodeau still yells and yanks his players out of the game when he sees them repeatedly committing mistakes. But you will never hear Thibodeau throwing any of his players under the bus in postgame pressers, unlike other coaches around the league.

He still runs brutal practices. But he also throws around occasional jokes and cut short scrimmages when he feels his team needs a break.

“[Culture] is how you do everything and approach each day. If you have an organization putting everything they have and teaching every day, good things come out of that,” Thibodeau said.

From top to bottom, the Knicks have a synergy never before seen in James Dolan’s era. And to Dolan’s credit, he has given everything the team asked for — from robust analytics department to installing the league’s most comprehensive Noah Basketball system at their practice facility, from keeping out of any PR mess to letting Rose and the Thibodeau run the organization and the team.

“You couldn’t ask anything more [from Dolan]. Leon (Rose), Wes (Wiliam Wesley), and Scott (Perry) have been terrific,” Thibodeau said.

“Our players have been very committed. It’s a hardworking group but we don’t have it all figured out and there’s a long way to go. And it doesn’t go away. You have to do it every day. You can’t let up. There’s no shortcut to this. So everyone has to be willing to pay that price.”

Not everyone is built to play in New York. In the same way, not everyone is fit to play for Thibodeau. You have to be mentally tough and always ready for the grind — the price of sustainable success.

The Knicks are not the same old Knicks. Even with a large salary cap space in the offseason, they did not go after the flashy names. Instead, they signed role players to team-friendly contracts. They are keen to continue developing their own young players into stars with flexibility to trade for one who fits their culture.

Even if devoid of superstars, the Knicks are winning. They are thriving because of their culture.

“It’s still early, but we just want to continue to fight for each other and play the right way,” Walker said.

The Knicks are on top. And they don’t have any plan to come down.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

Julius Randle holds the key to unlocking Kemba Walker, Knicks offense

by
knicks, kemba walker

With six seconds left on the shot clock and 4:41 to go in the second quarter, New York Knicks‘ All-Star forward Julius Randle posted up Philadelphia 76ers’ swingman Tobias Harris and demanded the ball. From the top of the right-wing, Evan Fournier acknowledged Randle and gave him the entry pass.

Randle faced Harris with one motion, then did the side-to-side before dribbling to his favorite spot on the floor– the right corner.

It was a classic isolation play that the Knicks heavily relied on last season.

But as the shot clock ticked away to three seconds, Seth Curry abandoned Fournier and went to help Harris. The double team blurred Randle’s vision and forced him to settle for a tough fadeaway that fell short.

The ball didn’t even graze the rim. Airball. A shot-clock violation against the Knicks.

It was Randle’s lone attempt at the basket in the second quarter. He had a rough offensive start, going 2-for-9 from the floor, but the Knicks went on to sit on a 20-point halftime cushion.

Why and how did the Knicks do it with Randle laying an egg in the second quarter?

After the Orlando Magic pulled a shocking 110-104 upset of the Knicks on Sunday night, Randle was up until the wee hours of Monday.

“I was sick, man! Like I didn’t go to sleep ‘till like 4 o’clock because I was sick, everybody else was sick that we let that slip. But you know we need those games like that. Like last year, we had a game like that earlier in the season versus Oklahoma City,” said Randle.

He referenced last January’s 101-89 loss to a young, tanking Thunder team following a three-game win streak capped by a 112-100 pummeling of the Utah Jazz two nights earlier.

He felt they let that slip away on their homecourt just like they did Sunday night against Orlando, where they lacked the energy to finish the game after racing to a 13-point lead in the first half and another nine-point lead in the second half.

“We just respond and that’s the thing about this league, thinking about the high-character teams. It’s okay to have adversity. [It’s okay] to have slip-ups. It’s about how you respond,” Randle said.

Randle responded to the challenge after bricking that shot against two Sixers defenders midway. He switched gears.

In the next play, after crossing the midcourt following a defensive rebound, Randle did something that threw off the Sixers’ defense. He passed the ball to Kemba Walker and set a screen to free his point guard from Danny Green. Walker darted to the left wing inside the arc and met Joel Embiid, who sagged down, anticipating a drive. But instead of falling to the trap, Walker went to his pet move — a 16-foot pull-up jumper. It was his first basket after missing all his three shots in the opening quarter.

Randle unlocked Walker.

Walker suddenly regained his All-Star form. He unloaded 10 straight points in a two-and-a-half-minute stretch, and the Knicks blew the game away with a commanding 17-point lead.

Walker would finish with 19 points on 15 shots, five three-pointers and five assists — all season-high. Randle assisted on Walker’s three shots and set several screens that did not reflect on the box score.

Randle would finish with seven assists, 16 points on 17 shots, and 11 rebounds.

In their heartbreaking home loss to Orlando, Randle had a monster night — 30 points and 16 rebounds. But it took him 24 shots to take there, and he had his fewest assists of the young season with only three. As a whole, the Knicks issued a season-low 20 assists.

It was not just a mere coincidence that they lost. It was the culprit. The ball stopped moving.

In the Knicks’ three wins, Randle averaged 7.7 assists, and the team shared 28.3 dimes that would have tied the unbeaten Golden State Warriors for the second-best mark in the league.

Despite the Knicks’ 2-1 start, Walker looked lost on offense, averaging just 10.3 points across 25.7 minutes, with a team-worst -17 plus-minus rating. During that span, Walker’s usage rate had not reached past 19 percent. That changed dramatically against the Sixers. Walker ended up with a team-high 27.1 percent usage rate. In contrast, Randle posted his lowest usage rate of the season at 23.8 percent. In the Knicks’ first three games, Randle’s usage rate did not go lower than 30 percent.

Randle flipped the script and went out of his way to involve Walker more on offense.

Randle made a total of 25 passes to Walker that resulted in three assists. In the previous three games, Randle only had one assist to Walker out of 54 passes.

“I thought the way Kemba played helped set the tone. Julius was unbelievable in terms of making plays early. That made us unselfish and we all got into a rhythm and we played hard,” Thibodeau praised.

Walker came home to New York with the intention to blend in and play off Randle’s game the same way he did in Boston, acknowledging that it’s Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s team.

In his first signature game in Knicks uniform, Walker carried the Knicks’ offense as much as his teammates carried him.

“I was just trying to take whatever the [Sixers] defense kind of gave me. My teammates did an unbelievable job — just setting screens for me, you know, Taj and Mitch even Julius. They always had some great screens for me, I was able to get to my pull-ups and they were just dropping,” Walker said.

Randle remains the hub of the Knicks’ offense. Walker and Fournier were brought in to ease his burden and avoid the pitfalls of their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks that came back to haunt him and the Knicks in their first loss of the season at the hands of the Magic.

Once he realized that, everything clicked for the Knicks and his brand new point guard.

“We’re a team, man,” Randle said after the emphatic win over the Sixers. “Like any night, anybody can get hot. Everybody can score and make plays. That’s what this team was built to do. It’s great, man! I don’t have to go and get 30 to feel like we got a chance to win. As long as we defend, we have a shot to win every game.”

It finally dawned on him. He holds the key to unlocking the real potential of this new-look Knicks team. It was always in his pocket.

When Randle rammed into the Sixers’ defensive wall, he finally reached down his pocket.

Walker and the Knicks’ offense got unlocked. It was a beautiful sight to see. The ball movement led to easy baskets. And they feed off that energy playing for each other like a puppet on strings, moving in one direction. The puppet master, Thibodeau, pumped his fist in the air as the Knicks act had the Garden rocking.

“It’s just a great weapon. When we’re sharing the ball like that, it makes it hard for anybody to defend us. It just makes the game a lot easier. It just takes a lot of pressure off the guys especially guys like Julius who kind of has to do a lot sometimes,” Walker said. “That’s what we’re here for. We want to take the pressure off him. Get him some easy opportunities and then play off him as well.”

After that airball in the second quarter and letting Walker do his thing, Randle would knock down five of his next nine shots, and the Knicks cruised to an easy win against a team picked to go deep in the playoffs.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

Cole Anthony displays New York toughness in Magic’s stunner over Knicks

by
knicks

New York Knicks basketball under Tom Thibodeau is all about toughness and resiliency. But it was Cole Anthony, an Archbishop Molloy High School product, who displayed those traits to rally a young Orlando Magic team against them.

Anthony scored a season-high 29 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds for his first career double-double to help the Magic stun his hometown Knicks, 110-104, Sunday night in the Garden.

Anthony grew up in New York, where his father, Greg Anthony, played his first four seasons in the NBA.

“I was happy to be home. Hostile environment. I came in and I got the dub,” Anthony said after leading the Magic to their first win of the season, exacting revenge of their embarrassing 121-96 beatdown in Orlando at the hands of the Knicks last Friday. “Good times!”

Good times indeed for the Anthony family.

Anthony played an inspired game in front of his family and friends. He gifted his mother, Crystal McCrary, who celebrated her 52nd birthday, with one of the finest performances in his young NBA career.

When he was not busy scoring, Anthony was a daredevil attacking the teeth of the Knicks defense and kept on finding his open teammates. He added eight assists and led the Magic’s comeback from 13 points down in the first half.

The 21-year old Anthony and the 30-year old veteran Terrence Ross dealt the biggest blows that knocked the Knicks out.

Anthony torched the Knicks in the first half with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and five threes. Ross caught fire in the fourth quarter, scoring all of his 22 points as the Magic outscored the Knicks, 36-24.

The once-vaunted Knicks’ defense was nowhere to be found with their cold shooting night zapping out their energy.

After making nine of their first 17 three-point attempts, the Knicks missed 27 of their next 31. The shots that buried the Magic in Orlando did not fall in New York. It was the exact opposite of the Knicks’ franchise-record setting 24-of-54 threes two nights ago.

They lived and died with the three-point shot.

“We picked up the ball pressure a little bit understanding who are the [Knicks] shooters, and non-shooters,” said Magic rookie coach Jamahl Mosley. “Our guys did a good job recognizing who was where and we flew around the court. We had multiple efforts making sure we contested shots.”

Julius Randle stuffed the stats sheet with monster numbers (30 points and 16 rebounds). But he only shot 8-for-24 from the field. The Magic baited him to beat them one on one. The ploy worked, which kept the rest of the Knicks’ starting unit out of rhythm.

Evan Fournier missed eight of 11 shots. RJ Barrett misfired a dozen of his 17 attempts.

Their usual gunners — Randle, Barrett, Fournier, Walker, Immanuel Quickley, and Alec Burks — were a combined 8-for-37 from downtown.

Only Derrick Rose waxed hot from the outside, hitting 5-of-8 threes. He had 23 points off the bench as the closer again while Walker watched from the bench down the stretch.

After a season-high 34 assists in Orlando, the Knicks did not move the ball well enough to get rhythm shots. They dished out only 20 assists on 37 field goals. They missed a total of 73 attempts overall that doomed them in their first loss of the season.

The Knicks seemed to have just settled after grabbing a 13-point lead, 47-34, on a 15-0 run. They allowed the Magic to creep back into the game and cut their lead down to five, 57-52, at the half.

“We knew (Magic) would play with intensity but we didn’t play with great urgency. We have to have great intensity. In this league, the players are too good. So, if you allow someone to beat you to loose balls, make hustle plays, you’re playing with fire,” Thibodeau lamented.”

The Knicks paid dearly for their lackadaisical effort losing to the third-youngest team in the league. As a consolation, they avoided a double whammy after surviving another Mitchell Robinson injury scare.

Robinson seemed hurt after colliding with Magic rookie Jalen Suggs for a rebound in the third quarter. After the brief scare, Robinson returned to finish the game. He had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks, but he fouled out for the first time since January 26, 2020.

Taj Gibson returned from a two-game paternity leave but hardly impacted the game in 12 minutes as Robinson’s backup. The only impact he did was cut down into Toppin’s minutes. Thibodeau abandoned the small-ball lineup, which worked well in their first two games when Robinson was resting.

Toppin was held to only one field goal — a left-handed alley-oop slam and got abused in the paint. The Brooklyn native only played 12 minutes, his lowest playing time in three games. Toppin, the toast of New York in the last two games, missed his next three shots and ended the game with a whimper.

Instead, the other New Yorker from the opposing team stole the thunder with a homecoming party.

Anthony, selected seven picks later after Toppin in the 2020 NBA Draft, showed out with his game made in New York playgrounds.

Aside from his mother’s birthday, Anthony also drew inspiration from Mosley’s pep talk in their film session Sunday morning.

“It’s more about the resilience that you have to have in these games,” Mosley said. “There was a point when we got down 10, then I think it was Cole [Anthony] who referenced the fact that ‘hey, we talked about that this morning. Down 10, we can’t hang our heads. We got to keep fighting back.’ That’s what we’ve talked about this morning.”

Fight back, they did.

The Magic wiped out a Knicks’ nine-point lead in the second half. In the fourth quarter, their defense held Randle and Barrett to an identical but brutal 2-for-7 shooting.

“All of us were disappointed and we have to do better,” Thibodeau said. “When you lose, the most important thing is to learn and to move it forward.”

So, when the Knicks have their film session on Monday, the view of Anthony, the undersized Magic point guard, outrebounding them would be a painful reminder of their lack of fight in this game.

“Cole (Anthony) came back home and played with that toughness, that confidence, that resilience,” Mosley said. “The one thing that stands out most is his ability to rebound the basketball, and he made the right plays.”

When a reporter asked how a 6-foot-2 guard grabbed 16 rebounds against a big and physical team like the Knicks, Anthony contested that he’s 6-foot-3 before answering the question.

“Rebounding is all about effort. It’s about who wants it,” said a feisty Anthony.

In a game they were not supposed to win, Anthony stood tallest and played with a big heart, usually displayed by his hometown Knicks.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo

Knicks cast 3-point spell on Magic on historic night

by
knicks

After teasing a new-look offense tailored to the pace and space era in the preseason, it only took two games into the new season before the New York Knicks shattered their three-point record.

The Knicks hit a franchise-record 24 three-pointers en route to a 121-96 rout of a young Orlando Magic team Friday night at the Amway Center.

Eight different players made at least one three-pointer as the Knicks are off to a 2-0 start for the first time in nine years. The Knicks’ first five field goals came from downtown, setting the tone for the record-breaking night.

The 24 three-point shots made broke their previous record of 20, which they did thrice (2011, 2013, and 2018), while the 54 attempts also eclipsed the 51 they threw up in a quadruple overtime loss to Atlanta Hawks on January 29, 2017.

They also made 24 3s in a preseason win against the Washington Wizards two weeks ago. This time, the Knicks made it official.

“I think it’s a reflection of the team playing for each other and just making the right play,” Thibodeau said. “We talked about it a lot of wanting to shoot more 3s, but we want them to be the right 3s. When the second defender comes, guys are making the right read.”

The Magic had no answer to the Knicks’ vaunted offense, which kept on poking holes in their porous defense.

The Knicks had a smooth sailing save for a Mitchell Robinson injury scare and a Julius Randle technical foul.

Robinson clutched his hamstring before Kemba Walker replaced him with 4:19 to go in the third quarter. But the 23-year old Knicks center, who was playing in his third game back from a fractured foot injury, returned to play five more minutes in the fourth quarter.

“It should be fine,” Thibodeau’s curt reply when asked about Robinson’s hamstring.

Randle flirted with a triple-double (21 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals) before a technical foul forced Thibodeau to take him out with 4:28 left and the Knicks leading by 32.

Randle shoved Orlando’s Wendell Carter, Jr. after the Magic forward knocked him down in a fastbreak play.

“The one thing that I could assure you is that if I play [Randle] too much, you’ll gonna let me know. If I don’t play him enough, you’ll gonna let me know. And the one thing I know for certain it’s never the right amount,” said a smiling Thibodeau eliciting laughter from the reporters.

Walker went 3-for-3 from downtown in the first stanza, where the Knicks seized a 20-point lead that swelled to as large as 34 in the second half. He wound up with 11 points while his fellow newcomer and former Magic Evan Fournier continued his red-hot shooting with four three-pointers and 18 points.

Obi Toppin picked up from where he left off. The sophomore forward scored 13 points — from fastbreak slams to corner three-pointers — in 24 minutes that electrified the large Knicks crowd who showed up in Orlando.

Veteran guards Derrick Rose and Alec Burks also came off the bench and kept the ball moving. They produced identical numbers — 12 points and seven assists off the bench. The Knicks recorded 34 assists on a staggering 50 percent (44-of-88) shooting from the field.

They will aim to keep their perfect start when the Magic visit them at the Garden on Sunday for a rematch at 7 p.m.

After a quiet season opener, Immanuel Quickley came off the bench and joined the three-point party. Quickley finished with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, including 4-for-8 from beyond the arc.

“Everybody loves playing for each other,” Quickley said. “Everybody can make plays. We can all shoot, dribble, pass and we play for each other. That’s the Knicks culture. — play for each other, play hard every night and that’s gonna get the job done.”

So far, job well done.

Welcome to the new era of Knicks basketball.

Follow this writer on Twitter: @alderalmo