Bulls 110, Knicks 102: Scenes from a sloppy, excruciating defeat

The New York Knicks play like crap for most of the night but still had a chance to defeat the Chicago Bulls late in the fourth quarter. Immanuel Quickley (who else?) got the Knicks their first lead of the half with a triple.

The score went back-and-forth for a few possessions before Alec Burks tied it up once again with a three.

But that was about it for the good guys. Some questionable pick-and-roll coverage led to back-to-back threes with a vintage 2019-20 Julius Randle spin move turnover sandwiched between. 110-102 Bulls is your final.

As has become routine, the story of the game was the play of the point guards. Quickley didn’t shoot it particularly well (5-13 for 16 points), but dished out 7 dimes and grabbed 6 rebounds. Meanwhile, Elfrid Payton was his usual burlap sack of dookie. Tom Thibodeau yanked him early in the first quarter for some lackluster play, and he came back to start the second half to promptly blow three straight defensive assignments against Coby White. Look at this shit.

So Thibs called timeout...and kept Payton in the game. Elf continued to play like shit, and yet Thibs kept him in for most of the third quarter. It was maddening.

RJ Barrett (7-17, 14 points) had his worst game in a while, but showed some inspiring hustle in the third quarter when the game seemed to be getting away from the Knicks. He bricked a few shots in the fourth that would have helped the cause, but you can’t argue with his spirit.

Anyway, that sucked. Recap to come.