Game thread: New York Knicks vs Detroit Pistons 7:30p 3/8/2020 [Game #64]

Leon Rose's first week as the president of the New York Knicks featured the best win of the season, which was all but overshadowed by a controversy involving superfan Spike Lee, and then two losses where chants of "Sell the Team" were drowned out by loud music in the final minutes on at least one occasion.

The Knicks hope the second week of Rose's tenure is less eventful, and it starts Sunday night when they host the Detroit Pistons.

On Feb. 4, two days before the trade deadline, the Knicks fired Steve Mills, who was unable to land Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving or any big name in free agency.

Mills had put then-coach David Fizdale on notice 10 games into the season after a blowout loss to Cleveland on Nov. 10, and then fired him on Dec. 6, one day after a 37-point home loss to Denver.

Rose quickly became a favorite to become the New York's president, and he officially took over on Monday. The former agent at Creative Artists Agency watched from his seat at center court as the Knicks pulled out a two-point win over the Houston Rockets, only to occur on the same night Lee was told by security to not use the employee entrance.

A day after Lee said he was not attending any home games the rest of the season, the Knicks lost by eight to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.

They followed that up Friday with a 23-point loss to Oklahoma City, when they were 4 of 24 from 3-point range and allowed at least 120 points for the 24th time this season. They also lost by 20-plus points for the 15th time, and loud music drowned out derisive chants at owner Jim Dolan, who watched the game from his baseline seat near New York's bench.

"I don't think we took away much," New York interim coach Mike Miller said. "I think they got everything. From the way I saw it during the game, the first 10 minutes of the first quarter, I thought we were pretty solid and pretty locked in. From that point on, we had a lot of slippage."

When New York won four straight games in February, the finale was a 95-92 victory in Detroit. That loss for the Pistons is part of a stretch of 10 losses in 11 games. The team Andre Drummond the day after losing to New York.

Seven of those 10 defeats have come by single digits, and on Saturday, the Pistons trailed by 22 before rallying, but ultimately losing 111-105 to the Utah Jazz because of a 5 1/2-minute span without a basket in the fourth quarter.

"We weren't aggressive enough in the first quarter, so maybe we will start trapping in the first part of the game or whatever it takes to get us going," Pistons coach Dwane Casey said after his team fell behind by 11 after the first quarter Saturday.

Christian Wood scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as he continues to capitalize on increased minutes in Detroit's starting frontcourt. He is averaging 23.1 points in seven games since the All-Star break while playing about 33 minutes per game. That compares with averaging 11.2 in his first 53 games when he played 19.1 minutes.

Detroit is 8-1 in the past nine meetings with New York.

(Field Level Media / cbssports.com)

Thanks, Rady.

Knicks win behind a dominant 4th quarter defensive performance. Double double for Randle and MRob.

Damn! I missed a Knicks game where the Knicks were favored over the underdog Pistons by 6 pts ..
Well we got Twenty wins today .. Go Knicks !!!
Miller's record is now 16-26.
That's not going to get Miller an extension .. maybe 26-16 would

RJ 16 shots to get his 12 pts. Mentioned a couple of weeks ago when Coby had his hot streak that he was 22nd in the rookie rankings and Coby was 16th. Well RJ has fallen 1 place to 23rd and Coby is now 10th. Guys around here love RJ but come on 3rd picks should be having better seasons if you ask me esp with the Knicks giving him all the minutes he can handle.

Frank another guy who is inconsistent but gets too much leeway from the fans. He was 3-10 but you would think he scored 30 with the MSG fans cheering a scoop layup runner and drive to the basket he had in the fourth. Payton the best PG we have by far, I don't see the Knicks getting rid of him anytime soon.

tiger0330 said:

RJ 16 shots to get his 12 pts. Mentioned a couple of weeks ago when Coby had his hot streak that he was 22nd in the rookie rankings and Coby was 16th. Well RJ has fallen 1 place to 23rd and Coby is now 10th. Guys around here love RJ but come on 3rd picks should be having better seasons if you ask me esp with the Knicks giving him all the minutes he can handle.

Frank another guy who is inconsistent but gets too much leeway from the fans. He was 3-10 but you would think he scored 30 with the MSG fans cheering a scoop layup runner and drive to the basket he had in the fourth. Payton the best PG we have by far, I don't see the Knicks getting rid of him anytime soon.

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RJ Barrett's talent need to be mentored by a player/coach PG-CP3, or coach Mark Jackson for a season to learn to play NBA Team-ball.
RJ been playing individual reckless ball for stats throughout his rookie season.

Last night at the start of the 4th qtr. when the Knicks had a 1 pt lead 72-71 .. Frank took over to control the tempo of the game and boost the Knicks lead on defense makes the best offense to give the Knicks a 84 - 75 lead having 6 min remaining in the 4th quarter.
Frank remind me so much of a young Walt Clyde Frazier.

Payton has never been a 4th quarter player in his NBA career, the crunch-time pressure has always made Payton fold in big time games in the 4th quarter.
Payton are in his 6th season in the NBA having more NBA experience at the PG than both DSJ, Frank and Kadeem put together.

tiger0330 said:

RJ 16 shots to get his 12 pts. Mentioned a couple of weeks ago when Coby had his hot streak that he was 22nd in the rookie rankings and Coby was 16th. Well RJ has fallen 1 place to 23rd and Coby is now 10th. Guys around here love RJ but come on 3rd picks should be having better seasons if you ask me esp with the Knicks giving him all the minutes he can handle.

Frank another guy who is inconsistent but gets too much leeway from the fans. He was 3-10 but you would think he scored 30 with the MSG fans cheering a scoop layup runner and drive to the basket he had in the fourth. Payton the best PG we have by far, I don't see the Knicks getting rid of him anytime soon.

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I was looking at RJ stat's line this morning and came to the conclusion. Of course, I been saying this about RJ all season. One of the things that the FO should have asked was whether he is a 'Transformative' type of player like KP? Anybody that answer 'YES' should have been fired on the spot.

Your observation of Frank is duly noted. Frank game seems to bring an intangible factor that isn't measure by numbers or stat's. He bring a energy to the team. A more consistent jumper(mid-range not 3's) would be great. There were 2 or 3 short range jumper that he should have made. I do see more aggressive in him and hopefully that will turn into making more shots.

As for Payton, again I agree with you about him being the best PG but it stat wise for me. Have you notice that even when he is putting up good number we still lose. As you said about Frank if he is putting up these good number it would look like the team would be hitting on all cylinders but it not. Keep asking the same question -- WHY??

Dark Raider said:

Hey tiger,
When you watch the next game. Take a close look at RJ driving to the basket. He is always fending off opposing players with either one of his free arms. He is a walking offensive foul machine. In the OKC game he lowed his shoulder driving to the basket on Alexander who had good defensive positioning. He didn't get call for it. If he is missing his outside shoots(which is often) then he start asking for the ball. Wanting to be the 'Knicks Savior'!! It must be what was taught to him and Zion at Duke. Zion does the same thing. Remember the March madness game Duke losing(final minute) against Central Florida when Zion wasted away one defender and jump into Falls with him standing straight up and didn't move. Of course, Duke got the calls.

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He does use his off arm to push off occasionally, not sure if they keep statistics on that so I don’t know if he does it any more then anyone else. He also forces shots off his drives way more than he should when he should be looking for the kick out pass when he’s got tight coverage.

Kiyaman said:

RJ Barrett's talent need to be mentored by a player/coach PG-CP3, or coach Mark Jackson for a season to learn to play NBA Team-ball.
RJ been playing individual reckless ball for stats throughout his rookie season.

Last night at the start of the 4th qtr. when the Knicks had a 1 pt lead 72-71 .. Frank took over to control the tempo of the game and boost the Knicks lead on defense makes the best offense to give the Knicks a 84 - 75 lead having 6 min remaining in the 4th quarter.
Frank remind me so much of a young Walt Clyde Frazier.

Payton has never been a 4th quarter player in his NBA career, the crunch-time pressure has always made Payton fold in big time games in the 4th quarter.
Payton are in his 6th season in the NBA having more NBA experience at the PG than both DSJ, Frank and Kadeem put together.

Click to expand...

NY Post had a nice article on a Payton and his future with the Knicks. No question they have to pick up his option unless they trade for a CP3 which I give low probability to, you don’t leave Nits and DSJ as your PGs on this team or in your draft pick if we select a PG in the draft.

https://nypost.com/2020/03/09/elfrid-payton-making-case-to-be-part-of-knicks-point-guard-plans/