The Knicks hosted the Milwaukee Bucks and their irrepressible forward Giannis Antetokounmpo last night (Wednesday) at Madison Square Garden, where they have yet to establish a conclusive home court advantage. Four of the Knicks’ next five games are at the Garden and when they play the Sacramento Kings at MSG on Dec. 11, they will have played seven of nine games at home dating back to Nov. 25.
However, the stretch will be challenging as three potent clubs, the Dallas Mavericks (Saturday), Cleveland Cavaliers (Sunday) and Atlanta Hawks (Wednesday), lie ahead. The Knicks came into the Bucks game 4-5 at the Garden and 10-11 overall. They were 10th in the Eastern Conference, still endeavoring to be more than a squad lingering around .500, which comparatively would not be good enough to be a Play-In Tournament team based on last year’s final standings. The Charlotte Hornets were 10th a season ago at 43-39, earning the East’s lowest Play-In seed.
After losing back-to-back close games at the Garden versus the Portland Trail Blazers (132-129 in overtime) and Memphis Grizzlies (127-123) last Friday and Sunday respectively, the Knicks had a favorable and welcomed matchup with the lowly Detroit Pistons on the road on Tuesday night. They opportunistically took advantage of a team with the worst record in the NBA (5-18) as of yesterday’s schedule, pounding the Pistons 140-110.
Julius Randle gifted his team 36 points on his 28th birthday to power the Knicks to a 3-0 record against the Pistons this season. Tuesday’s victory made it 11 wins in a row for the Knicks over the Pistons. They will play each other once more on Jan. 15 at Detroit.
Randle set the tone in the first quarter by draining four three-pointers and registering 17 points. By halftime the Knicks had a 70-56 lead and were up by 31 (108-77) at the end of third quarter. The blowout enabled Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau to limit his starters minutes—Randle’s 31 were the most—notably point guard Jalen Brunson, who played just 18 scoring 16 points on 6-8 from the field. As a collective the Knicks shot a sizzling 56.3% including 15-35 on three-point pointers.
“He was super aggressive, great rhythm, moved really well without the ball, his teammates searched him out, lot of movement. It was good, very good,” said Thibodeau via the MSG Network of Randle’s showing. He added that the team as a whole played soundly on the offensive end in posting a season high in points and assists (31).
“Just, you know, again, unselfishness, making plays, moving without the ball, screening off the ball, just doing a lot of good things together, helping each other find good shots and I think that is big for us.”