Knicks toppled by Bucks in the first game after All-Star hiatus

What the franchise prays is no precursor, the Knicks started the second half of the season in Milwaukee on Thursday in disastrous form.

After all hope grew from the first half of their season, the Knicks looked unrecognizable as they dropped 35 points on Fiserv Forum in the fourth quarter.

Blown away by the Knicks in a game at the start of the season, the Bucks took sweet revenge with a 134-101 pounding behind All-Star MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo’s triple-double (24 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists in 29 minutes). The 134 points were the most allowed by the Knicks this season.

“Clearly disappointed with the result,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. “We were all not okay. I don’t think anyone played particularly well.”

As Julius Randle goes, so go the Knicks. And he did not go well. Randle later admitted that he has a history of slow starts after the All-Star break.

Randle, who watched live as ‘the Greek Freak’ went 16-for-16 in Sunday’s All-Star Game, had a bad outing after the break. Swarmed through the Bucks defense, Randle finished with seven runs, shot 3 of 12 and made five turns. He did place six assists, but the league leader looked listless within minutes.

Giannis Antetokounmpo drives past Elfrid Payton during the Knicks' 134-101 loss against the Bucks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo drives past Elfrid Payton during the Knicks’ 134-101 loss against the Bucks.
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“I was fine,” Randle said of his physical condition. ‘They collapsed. I tried to squirt and read the ball. I missed a few pictures, lay ups, things I make forever, but I’m not too worried, man. From what I remember, the last couple of years, the first game out of hiatus, I don’t know why, I’m always sh-y. I’ll get back to it right away. ”

Thibodeau felt that Randle hadn’t made the right reads – something he’s been doing at All-Star level all season.

“I think it’s reading the game,” said Thiboeau. The game is going to tell you which photos to take. You cannot decide in advance what to do. You have to understand when you are the first option and someone commits and sends a second defender, as the head scorer you have the responsibility to make the right game. ”

Late in the third quarter, Antetokounmpo swept Randle’s frontcourt dribble and sprinted in for a dunk and a 20-point lead. It was that kind of 2018-2020 throwback night for Randle, who looked like he needed another week off.

Randle didn’t think the Antetokounmpo matchup was too much of a burden, but the lack of point guard Derrick Rose (COVID-19 issues) for a third straight game may have taken its toll.

“I just didn’t play well offensively and they hit shots,” said Randle. ‘I’m not going to make excuses for it. It is what it is. I’m not really trying to balance it. “

The Knicks dropped to .500 on 19-19. They went into the hiatus with a winning record after an 8-3 spree, but seven of those wins came against clubs well below .500.

The Knicks start the second half of the season with four road games and continue on Saturday in Oklahoma City, which defeated the Knicks at the Garden in January. After that, the Knicks will play against the two best teams in the East, visiting Brooklyn and Philadelphia.

Their defense will have to be much more alert. The Knicks had thwarted Antetokounmpo early on by building a wall in the paint and keeping him at just two points in the first quarter. But the Bucks escaped during Knick’s quick hiatus to open things up.

“Any time you commit to a specific area, you will be vulnerable in other areas,” said Thibodeau. “But we shouldn’t give up everything, and that’s what we ended up doing. So we didn’t make the transition. We did not provide the paint. We didn’t cover the line, and then we didn’t finish our defense with good bounce back. They got pretty much everything they wanted. ”

The Bucks were ahead 68-51 by half-time as they lifted their energies in the middle of the second quarter as the Knicks got sloppy.

The slump started with a few bad plays from rookie Obi Toppin. With Knicks’ lottery choice in 2020, Antetokounmpo was able to score over him. Then on the other side, Toppin threw a short pass straight to Milwaukee’s Donte DiVincenzo, who rushed in for a quick dunk and picked up the momentum.

Randle, 1 of 8 in the first half for three runs, then lost grip on a runner, which led to another quick break for DiVincenzo.

This was the first of 35 games in 67 days, as the Knicks try to duplicate their successful first half of the season. Of those matches, 23 are against clubs with winning records. The Bucks (23-14) were just the first.

“We have to get back to it right away,” Randle said. OKC next. We will not worry about this. ”

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