Knicks fall 103-128 to Thunder in Oklahoma City
With another change in the starting lineup – as David Fizdale reinserted Kevin Knox at the small forward (for his first regular season start) and demoted Frank Ntilikina back to bench for Emmanuel Mudiay (who made his first start since his trade), the Knicks didn’t looked much different as they fell to a Russell Westbrook-less Thunder 103-128.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knicks | 22 | 27 | 31 | 23 | 103 |
| Thunder | 37 | 28 | 35 | 28 | 128 |
Paul George put up a monster game for his team, torching the Knicks with a season-high 35 points and bringing back memories from his Pacers’ days when Fizdale was an assistant coach in Miami.
“We tried to trap him some. I felt that pain from him when I’ve had my best teams. This guy’s a big-time player. When he gets it going like that, he’s tough”
– David Fizdale
Besides George, Steve Adams scored 19 while Jerami Grant and Dennis Schroder dropped 15 points each.
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For New York, Tim Hardaway Jr. led with 20 and former Thunder, Enes Kanter added 19. Kanter, who failed to finish in double double for the first time in the last six games, was cheered by the home crowd.
“It’s always nice to come back here. Fans are one of the best in the league. Every time I come here in the summertime they always give me a cheer.”
– Enes Kanter
Knox scored 15 points but continues to struggle from the field, shooting 5-16 and Allonzo Trier added 11 off the bench.
The Knicks have now dropped 4-11 after allowing 371 points during the last three games and right now they look like a team that has given up on winning and focuses on developing the young.
| # | TEAM | W | L | % | GB |
| 1 |  | 60 | 22 | 0.732 | 0.000 |
| 2 |  | 56 | 26 | 0.683 | 4.000 |
| 3 |  | 53 | 29 | 0.646 | 7.000 |
| 4 |  | 52 | 30 | 0.634 | 8.000 |
| 5 |  | 46 | 36 | 0.561 | 14.000 |
| Standings | |||||
| Jun 13: | 90 - 94 | W | @ |  |
| Jun 10: | 107 - 106 | W | vs | |
| Jun 08: | 111 - 115 | L | vs | |
| Jun 05: | 104 - 105 | W | @ | |
| Jun 03: | 95 - 105 | W | @ | |
| May 25: | 93 - 130 | W | @ | |
| May 23: | 108 - 121 | W | @ | |
| May 21: | 109 - 93 | W | vs | |
| May 19: | 115 - 104 (OT) | W | vs | |
| May 10: | 114 - 144 | W | @ |  |
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