The Knicks hit the Pistons, 114-104, on Thursday night to enter the All-Star break with an 8-3 spree and a winning record at 19-18.
With the chant of ‘Let’s Go Knicks’ by the 2,000 strong in the Garden, they beat up the Eastern Conference sausage Pistons for the second time in four days and made sure to take advantage of what has been a weakness of late. schedule was.
In fact, of their last eight wins, seven have fallen against clubs well below .500 (Washington, Houston, Atlanta, Minnesota, Sacramento and Detroit).
But after seven years of being the league’s laughter, the Knicks will take it up. Whether they can hold out when play resumes is another story.
The Knicks open the second half of the season with a four-game road trip that will test their mettle – in Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Brooklyn and Philadelphia – and won’t play the Garden against Orlando until March 18. They are at home 11-7.
The dizzying Garden even sang “We Want Pinson” on Thursday evening and summoned the 12th man Theo Pinson.
The Knicks still didn’t have an ex-Piston Derrick Rose (COVID-19 protocols), but that didn’t matter against the pathetic Pistons (10-27). All five Knicks starters had hit double digits by the end of the third quarter.
Julius Randle closed the first half of his brilliant season with 27 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists. He will be in Atlanta on All-Star Sunday for his first performance.
“We’re growing as a team, growing as a unit,” said Randle. “We have to go into the break and stay ready because the second half will be a beast.”
Randle’s sidekick, RJ Barrett, may be coming one day. He shot into the All-Star break with a 21-point evening with five assist, in which he shot 9 of 13.
Point guard Elfrid Payton was not only back in action after missing four consecutive games with a hamstring tension, but also started. He took six quick points, showed no rust with his ability to penetrate, set the tone and finished with 20 points in 35 minutes.
The Knicks ended the first half with panache. They went on an 18-4 run to rise 15 points before a row lay-up by Dennis Smith Jr. from Detroit in the closing seconds made the score 59-46 at half time.
The run was fueled by Barrett, who fed center Nerlens Noel (12 points, 11 rebounds) for an alley. Barrett then raced for a tomahawk jam. A possession later, Barrett grabbed a long offensive rebound and dribbled in for a lay-up.
Barrett scored 10 points at half time, and Randle, selected for Team Durant in the All-Star Game earlier in the evening, hit a double-double at half time (18 and 10).
Meanwhile, Frank Ntilikina, who started the previous game in San Antonio as point guard, continued his 3-point genius. After hitting 3 out of 3 against Spurs, he came off the bench in the first quarter and hit three straights in four minutes to make him 6 for his last 6.
Noel, their starting center with Mitchell Robinson injured, gave the Knicks a defensive spark in the first quarter with a monster block on a riding Sekou Doumbouya. The Pistons were rocky from the 3 point line, going 5 of 20 in the first half.