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Ever since it became clear that rookie Immanuel Quickley was the real deal – in other words, several months ago – fans have begged the Knicks to drag him into the starting lineup. It took half the season, a few injuries and a slow start to an important game, but Tom Thibodeau finally put IQ in his place alongside RJ Barrett and Julius Randle to start the second half of Saturday’s tilt with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The results? Pure magic. New York’s most recent Big 3 crushed the Thunder as the Knicks’ two-point halftime lead turned into a 119-97 game.
The Thunder aren’t a playoff contender, and they were missing their star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but they didn’t make it easy at first. Frank Ntilikina took the PG start with Elfrid Payton and Derrick Rose, and struggled in the opening minutes. The Knicks gave up 31 points in the first quarter and trailed by eight. They dug this hole in the second quarter thanks to the hot shot from Quickley (21 points on 9-16), who rediscovered his float.
Alec Burks closed the half as a nominal playmaker, and fans were wondering if another dude would give an update on Quickley. But Thibs shocked us all by giving IQ the reins to start third. The OKC coach put his upper perimeter defender Luguentz Dort on Quickley and RJ Barrett fled.
Barrett finally broke the 30-point threshold after several recent near misses, dropping 32 effective points on a 12-21 shot. I say “finally” as a joke, since the guy is still only 20 years old.
It should be noted that RJ took 6 more hits than Thursday in Milwaukee, when Elfrid Payton went on the offense. Either way, RJ is in full control of his game at the moment, and with the Thunder defense preoccupied with Quickley, he had room to reach the edge at will. He also hit 3-6 of three, because that’s just something RJ is doing now.
Oh, and Julius Randle was there too. Poor Julius was a bit eclipsed by the excellence of his young teammates, despite his own monster numbers: 26 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds. It was the second triple-double of the season for Julius, the first Knick to record multiple triple-doubles in a season since Mark Jackson.
Will Thibs start IQ again? It’s a story for another time. For now, let’s just take advantage of the upcoming W. Recap.
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