The Knicks face one of the NBA’s toughest schedules for the remainder of the season, which only increased the importance of Saturday’s visit to Oklahoma City to help maintain their position in the playoffs.
Tom Thibodeau’s team recovered from a defeat on Thursday in Milwaukee with a redemptive 119-97 victory over insufficient Thunder at the Chesapeake Energy Arena for their 20th win of the season (20-19). Their total wins represent one win less than they recorded last season, when they finished 21-45 under David Fizdale and after Mike Miller, now an assistant coach for Thunder.
RJ Barrett scored 32 points, the best of his career, in 12 of 21 shots for the Knicks, whose next two games will be in the two favorites of the Eastern Conference: the Nets on Monday and the 76ers the following night.
With goalkeepers Elfrid Payton (hamstring) and Derrick Rose (health and safety protocols) out, Frank Ntilikina had his second start to the season, but played just seven minutes (with zero points) after committing two initial fouls.
Immanuel Quickley played despite being questionable for the game with a pain in the groin. The debutant guard ended with 21 points in a career record, 33 minutes off the bench.
Star striker Julius Randle suffered his worst game of the season with just seven points in Thursday’s loss to the Bucks, but he posted his second triple-double of the season on Saturday with 26 points, 12 rebounds and the best of his career with 12 assists. The last Knicks player to post multiple doubles in one season was Mark Jackson in 1988-89.
Al Horford scored 16 to lead Thunder (16-22), who lost top scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (quad injury) and veteran guard George Hill (thumb), among others.
The Knicks were coming off a difficult journey on Thursday night on their return from the All-Star break, earning most of the season’s points (134) and suffering their biggest defeat margin (33) against the Bucks. But Thibodeau’s team had shown resilience after such poor matches in the first half of the season.
“This is what you have to do. The games keep coming, and you have to analyze why you won or lost, make your corrections and prepare for the next game, ”said Thibodeau before Saturday’s game. “Each game counts in the same way, so this is what is important to understand.
“We cannot look back, we cannot look forward. We have to be attached to this team. … You have to be ready to play and that is a big part of that. Having a good established routine, where you are building the right habits and how you prepare for each game, this is an important part of winning ”.
Randle needed just 3:12 from the first quarter to equal his points total in the game against Bucks, but Thunder hit 70.6 percent of the ground in the session for a 31-22 lead.
Ntilikina sat down with two fouls just five minutes into the game, but Quickley dropped three of his first four shots to six points in the fourth.
The rookie added two first 3 points in the second quarter to double that total, Alec Burks contributed nine (of his 15 points in total) in half and Randle increased his total to 14 when the Knicks eliminated a deficit of 11 points to 56-54 advantage in the break.
Thibodeau stayed with Quickley over Ntilikina to open the second half, and the Knicks defense spurred a 16-8 run to open the third quarter to extend his reserve to 10 before taking an 88-78 lead to the fourth.