Wizards 115, Knicks 99: Scenes from a preseason poop-fest

The Knicks had their first stinker of the 2019 preseason Friday night, losing to the Washington Wizards by a score of 115-99.

The home squad actually started out pretty well in their MSG debut, racing out to a 30-15 lead with some primo ball movement and defense. Then it all went to poo. A 36-6 Wizards run, punctuated by a deluge of DC three-balls and some gross New York iso-ball, put the game out of the reach by the end of the second quarter.

The Knicks seemed to find some mojo late in the third when a small-ball trio of Frank Ntilikina, Allonzo Trier and Wayne Ellington opened things up a bit.

Trier didn’t play until late in the game, but saw some time at point guard due to a wretched performance by starter Elfrid Payton (0 points on 0-9 shooting, 2 assists, 2 turnovers). Trier did some Trier things, scoring efficiently (14 points on 4-7 shooting) and brain-farting in equal measure (5 turnovers in 16 minutes).

Ellington and Taj Gibson did some good things, but didn’t see much playing time together for some reason.

Bobby Portis was absolute butt in his Knicks debut. Julius Randle wasn’t much better. Mitchell Robinson was in foul trouble most of the night. It was a bad evening for the most of the Knick bigs.

OK, let’s all enjoy our Friday night doing something else. But be sure to come back here and catch the recap from newcomer Andrew Claudio.