If I had to guess, I’d say I’ve heard Mike Breen say “Knicks down ten” more than “bang.” That’s just a guess, though. New York tipped off the season and they look like a much more cogent team but they still have their fair share of fatal flaws. It’s becoming clearer that coaching may be chief among them. David Fizdale loves to set up huge obstacles so that he can say the right thing about it in the presser.
The Knicks got down early with some terribly disjointed basketball. It felt like old times. But they fought back before it was too late. Coming down the stretch New York was in the thick of it, and then they allowed an 18-0 run. That was that.
Inaugural bucket courtesy of Marcus Morris.
Marcus Morris gets the season going with a bucket (amongst some boos from the SA crowd) pic.twitter.com/IFqYAZvwAd
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 24, 2019
He was booed by the San Antonio crowd after spurning San Antonio in the offseason. Will the Knick faithful want to do the same by year’s end? Tune in to find out! Decent game for Marcus, scoring efficiently, but he lost the plot as the game wore on.
Anyway, RJ Barrett had it going in transition, after a horrible start for the Knicks (1-11 before this).
Ok here we go! Knicks get a steal and RJ with the transition layup pic.twitter.com/u19rwocRc3
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 24, 2019
RJ kept it rocking with a little turnover ingenuity.
RJ with the steal, and a pass you'd expect from a vet to the streaking Julius Randle pic.twitter.com/FpbzcSCq6F
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 24, 2019
That’s a special play and RJ is looking the part of a special player. Remember last year when people wouldn’t shut up about Kevin Knox being 19 years old? Well guess what? Knox is 20 and he really has a super soaker out there. Too bad he was giving it a lot of it back on the other end.
Kevin Knox has back to back threes and the New York Knicks' young core has the San Antonio mf Spurs shook pic.twitter.com/atsTpk9fTd
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 24, 2019
Luckily he seems to be in a good role, which isn’t the case for everybody. Coach Fizdale is decidedly confused about how to get the most out of people. He did press the right button in the second half by starting Elfrid Payton.
Elfrid with his 5th steal, RJ with his first regular season highlight slam of his career pic.twitter.com/9oUKf8qEwN
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 24, 2019
Expect more of that. And plenty of this...
Julius Randle with the HAMMER in transition!! pic.twitter.com/spdFJutWdY
— Posting and Toasting (@ptknicksblog) October 24, 2019
The Knicks did what they could, but ultimately haven’t figured out how to play together or how to win the tough ones. Fading late as they looked unsure who to go to for points. Full recap to come, plenty more to cover. Basketball is finally, officially back.