The New York Knicks were back in the Garden for the first time since April. The Knicks hosted the Washington Wizards in a home-and-home series to open the preseason.
There were only a few bright spots in this game as the score shouldn’t indicate that it was close. The Knicks fell to the Wizards 115-99.
Marcus Morris was in uniform and avoided suspension from the opener. He set the tone for this Knicks team after one preseason game.
Morris had another strong outing with 21 points, 6 boards and no ejections. He opened the game with 10 points in the first quarter. Morris shot the ball very well throughout his 31 minutes, 8-13 from the field and 3-7 beyond the arc. His shot looks likes it’s in mid-season form already. Morris is looking comfortable in the blue and orange already.
RJ Barrett lead the team with 35 minutes played. He added 15 points on 6-15 shooting and 7 rebounds. He’s being aggressive and not afraid to take his shot. This is what coach David Fizdale likes in Barrett, as he has earned the starting two spot, for now.
Allonzo Trier had a strong outing with 14 points in only 17 minutes played. Trier seems to be the odd man out in the back court. He didn’t get a lot of playing time in the opener at Washington either. However, when Trier enters the game, he makes the most of his time and provides instant offense for the Knicks. He’ll have to earn more time on this team.
Julius Randle did not have as strong an outing as he did in the opener. Randle had 14 points on 50% shooting from the floor and 8 boards.
Mitchell Robinson and Elfrid Payton both played very poorly.
Payton went scoreless on 0-9 shooting from the floor. He was pretty much invisible except for bringing the ball up. Payton appears to be a player that won’t hurt the team, but doesn’t move the needle either. Any momentum that he might have had in trying to earn he starting point guard spot took a few steps back.
Robinson was back to his rookie form. He was committing dumb, lazy fouls. At one point, Robinson had 4 fouls in 9 minutes. At one point, he bumped into someone shooting a three for his 5th foul, that sums up his performance.
The Wizards spoiled the Knicks preseason home debut. They went on big runs and the Knicks had no response. There was no ‘bully season’ this game as the New York Knicks were the ones getting bullied.