76ers 109, Knicks 89: Scenes from my kingdom for a point guard

The Knicks looked ragged on defense en route to a 109-89 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Would having an actual NBA point guard help? Sadly, we may never know.

If Immanuel Quickley is truly the answer at PG, we couldn’t find out Saturday night, as both he and Obi Toppin were out with injuries. To make matters worse, RJ Barrett was completely shut down by All-Star guard Ben Simmons, scoring 10 points on an embarrassing 2-15 from the field. RJ was bricking mightily from beyond the arc, shooting 0-6, and it seemed like Simmons was in his head. Ah well, Simmons is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. At least RJ hit his free throws (6-8)!

The lone highlight of this game comes courtesy of Kevin Knox.

I thought Knox played pretty well off the bench, with 7 points 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Alec Burks led all Knicks in scoring with 22, but looked a bit overwhelmed when asked to assume point guard duties. Julius Randle actually had 25, but who cares about him?

Ah yes, the point guards. Elfrid Payton was butt juice once again, shooting 0-6 and looking like a mess on both end. Dennis Smith Jr. got the backup PG duties and played like...Dennis Smith Jr. Needles to say, it wasn’t pretty.

Ben has the recap tonight. The Knicks are on the front end of a back-to-back. Hopefully they’ll have more luck against...Milwaukee? Ah, crap.