Summer Jazz 90, Summer Knicks 85: Scenes from a character building loss

Well that was a stinky fizzle. Allonzo Trier just didn’t want to let go of the ball. I don’t even want to talk about it. In fact let’s start this article over.

Despite a tough summer loss, Frank Ntilikina showed that he can weave and wiggle around the paint and score by bumping defenders off their spots and finishing up and over them. He also did a good job connecting with Mitchell Robinson near the cup and Kevin Knox on pick and pops. The Knicks clearly asked Frank to make a concerted effort looking to score. It helped buoy them throughout the game. Unfortunately the Summer Knicks just couldn’t squeeze out the win despite being in it all the way to the finish.

The attention Frank drew by looking to score allowed him to cruise into the paint and slip some sneaky deekies to Mitchy Slick.

And for his part, Mitchell just flushes these puppies with practically no load up. Frank was deftly changing pace and pushing thru defenders’ chests to get to the hoop and his decision making was generally on point. Give this man the ball, let him work. Now hammer it the heck up on the weak side and start swinging that ball voraciously. Good things will happen!

The vertical space and tricky finishing from Robinson is super exciting. He and Knox both had some impressive makes and misses that the ground-bound Knicks of yore just could never have dreamed of.

It wasn’t all on for Mitchell. He got bumrushed several times by Tony Bradley, who just seems like another in a long line of Jazz big doofuses. Robinson struggled to bump Bradley off the paint early and the slow, hefty professional grade big man just moved through him. More than anything I saw Robinson struggling to get his lungs (which should come as no surprise), and playing to Bradley’s strengths. Run that galoot all over the floor and his head will be spinning. Mitchell, baby. Get those arms all the way up and nothing can stop you. You’re fast, and bouncy. Don’t let them make you slow and low. I don’t even wanna know what a battering ram like Isaac Haas (who is better than Tony Bradley) would have done to him.

Knox was a little quiet in the first half, letting the game take shape and fitting in where he was needed. He was decidedly more assertive in the second half and did a good job finding space and even throwing down another one of his patent-pending trapeze slams.

Hopefully it was nothing too serious but Justin Harper, who looked pretty decent in his limited Summer minutes may have broken or severely sprained his ankle. Not gonna show it. But he was playing well. My heart goes out to him. The only thing I hate about Summer League is how dangerous it seems to be. It’s a loosey goosey affair that at the same time is jammed to the gills with knife-infested potholes.

I don’t blame Troy Williams because he had nothing to do with the play but things get a little wet and wacky when he enters the game. This can also be a good thing! The camera person got pummeled several times in the second half with the athletic Knicks sprawling toward the hoop quite a bit.

Trier was just doing way too much. Getting completely reversed at the rim. Drives getting snuffed out. Missing gimmes. He missed a middy by seventeen feet and a wide open corner three nearly made a cactus wilt. He had time to google directions to the hoop and just totally clanged that sucker. Why does he hate passing?

In an effort to never talk about Allonzo Trier again, I would like to start a movement where- whenever someone mentions him- we can obliviously change the subject to The Very Cool And Fun Daniel Ochefu Basketball Fan Club. I hope you join.

Knicks lose, more to come.