Someone wipe the sweat from my brow!
That was entirely too intense for a preseason contest. It certainly helps that the Garden showed up, as is a constant in this town (in this borough, at least).
The Knicks and Hawks played fairly evenly through most of this one. The Hawks took a pretty significant lead through most of the third quarter, but the Knicks managed to come back and briefly take the lead in the fourth quarter before ultimately losing, 100-96.
So who helped that along? Frank Ntilikina! Frank was trusted to close the game by David Fizdale, and although (in unfortunately true Frank fashion) he didn’t show up much in the offensive part of the box score, he D’d up Trae Young brilliantly and gave the Knicks a puncher’s chance late.
Frank Ntilikina tells Trae Young NOPE pic.twitter.com/61cd7G47Fh
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
Frank with the o-board and Bobby with the pic.twitter.com/X7HOMXWe7u
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
Frank uses that 7'+ wingspan for some serious ball denial on Trae pic.twitter.com/iaMVAwRzb7
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
Reddish definitely should've looked for someone else, but this was great transition D from Frank on a 4-on-1 pic.twitter.com/vlK5Sv8n8J
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
Frank finished with a quiet two points, three rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in the box score, but I promise there was nothing quiet about it if you watched the game.
Julius Randle put together his most Julius Randle-y game of preseason so far, posting 20 points on 6-12 shooting with eight rebounds and two assists.
Tonight has been exactly the kind of performance you signed Julius Randle for so far pic.twitter.com/3GQXAjAr6L
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
Julius Randle is nasty, man pic.twitter.com/gPz7buzqs6
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
Mitchell Robinson redeemed himself a bit after being benched for Bobby Portis, with four points, five boards and two blocks in a little under 18 minutes:
Block-ness Mon-ster
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
Clap-clap clap-clap-clap pic.twitter.com/TmvWpFnWsP
Bobby Portis actually did some stuff too! (Though I still wish he’d pass a little more.)
Ok so this was a pretty nice cut by Portis! pic.twitter.com/i8D6k4T6v4
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
RJ Barrett didn’t have his most efficient game so far, but dished a team-leading six assists and got some legitimate run at point guard for a few minutes.
RJ pick and roll with Mitch for the oop!! pic.twitter.com/yK8KRAabgl
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 17, 2019
I could go on and on, but let’s save that for the recap! In the meantime, feel free to chat along with KnicksFanTV: