New coach, same old Knicks? Not quite.
Sure the New Yorkers fell to the Indiana Pacers, 104-103. Yes, they experienced the collective tight booty cheeks we’ve seen from them all season, shooting like 1-15 over the final few minutes. They were fortunate that the Pacers matched them in late-game ineptitude. Look at this shit.
The Pacers didn’t score in the final 5:17 minutes of play, on the road, and they beat the Knicks
— Knicks Film School (@NYKFilmSchool) December 8, 2019
This is the funniest stat graphic I have ever seen pic.twitter.com/CB4zYtMB2b
— B. W. Carlin (@BaileyCarlin) December 8, 2019
Pacers big man Myles Turner morphed into prime Hakeem Olajuwon late, blocking Mitchell Robinson on a late drive. Julius Randle got the offensive rebound and was fouled down 2 with 0.1 seconds remaining. He sank the first and then, remembering that he is Julius Randle, horribly bricked the second. Ball game.
Pacers 104, Knicks 103
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) December 8, 2019
Knicks now 4-19 — NBA's worst record
Julius Randle misses a potential game-tying FT with 0.1 seconds left. The Knicks are the worst FT shooting team in NBA and lose Mike Miller's debut as interim coach.
Marcus Morris with 25 points.https://t.co/0Pz97qoywT pic.twitter.com/sAHpuT9cLk
But the Knicks made some strides in their first game under new head coach Mike Miller. The switch-everything defense was gone, replace by sensible drop coverage on the pick-and-roll. Randle didn’t bring the ball up the court nearly as much as he did under David Fizdale, though he did start to revert to his iso-ball ways a bit more in the second half. Elfrid Payton played perhaps the best game of his injury-plagued season, with 9 points and 7 assists. In fact, Payton played pretty much the entire fourth quarter.
Oh well, it was better than losing by 40. Recap to come.