Knicks drop at Garden to Nets rivals 111-106 after blowing out 28 point lead
Julius Randle scored a game high 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds but the New York Knicks fell 111-106 to the Brooklyn Nets at Madison Square Garden after blowing out a 28 point lead in the second quarter.
Immanuel Quickley missed a 25-foot three pointer with 51 seconds on the clock that would had tied the game at 106. On the follow-up, the Nets failed two consecutive times to score but still managed to get two straight offensive rebounds and give the ball eventually to Cam Thomas, the rookie who nailed the dagger from long distance with 7.7 left, making it 109-103.
The Knicks never trailed until the last 4 minutes of the game when they finally gave the lead to their rivals, 99-97 with Thomas shooting a step back jumpshot that completed a 15-0 run for the Nets in a span of less than four minutes.
The game was going into a whole different direction and nothing predicted the outcome as the Knicks built a comfortable 28 point lead in the second quarter just as Obi Toppin completed a dunk that put the Knicks up 54-26 with 6:44 left to play in the first half.
The Knicks scored 38 points in the first quarter, made their first six three pointers and were already up by 20 points at the end of the first act. With Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons out, this would have been a breath of fresh air for the Knicks in their final game before the All Star break.
What they didn’t counted was the young rook who exposed them in front of their home crowd. Cam Thomas came off the bench, scored 16 of his total 21 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Nets to a shocking victory against their hometown rivals.
“You get a big lead, you’ve got to play tough with a lead. You have to understand how to play with a lead, so we haven’t done that. We haven’t done that well.”
– Tom Thibodeau
Randle had 20 points at halftime and faded in the second half. Quickley finished with 18 points off the bench and Evan Fournier scored 16. No other Knick managed to get in double figures.
The Knicks (25-34) are now 3-13 in their last 16 games, fell 3.5 games behind the Hawks and its for the third time this month they lose a game after leading by more than 20 points. They will take a 9 day break and return on February 26 to host the Heat (37-21).