The New York Knicks were set to host the Washington Wizards in game one of their 2-game set at the Garden. They came into the game fresh off a 1 point loss in overtime to the 76ers. The team was eager to get back into the win column. Emotions were high at the end of the last game as a controversial foul was called late. This time though, they were able to handle business instead of leaving things in the refs’ hands.
The Wizards started the first quarter on a roll. They took an early 6 point lead, but Julius Randle would not let that slide. He hit a three-pointer and two back-to-back jump shots to bring his team within 1. Two corner threes by Reggie Bullock allowed the Knicks to be in favor of that 6 point advantage as well. Randle was sent to the line in the final seconds and made both free-throws. The quarter ended with the Knicks ahead 39-31.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Immanuel Quickley’s step-back three-pointer gave his team a 16 point lead. The Wizards were just unable to keep up with that momentum. They were 33% from the field. Russell Westbrook had a quiet first half with only 6 points, 4 of which came from the line. The Knicks’ offense was just as explosive as their defense. The lead stretched to 20 by halftime. It was a 69-49 game at the break.
In the third quarter’s opening minutes, Randle hit 3 consecutive three-pointers, and the Knicks lead blew to 30. They reached 100 points with under 2 minutes to play. The Knicks were very successful from beyond the arc, shooting 59.% Randle had 16 of his 37 points in the third. In the last second of the quarter, Quickley punched in all his free-throws. The Knicks were on top 108-80 going into the fourth quarter.
The Wizards were able to slice 10 points off their deficit at the 7:54 mark in the fourth. The Knicks defense started to become a bit fatigued. Shortly after allowing a layup by Raul Neto, coach Tom Thibodeau called a timeout. At that point, the Wizards were about to reach triple digits. However, by the time they saw 100 points, the Knicks were ahead 17. Quickley’s driving layup with 31 seconds left called it a game. The Knicks blew the Wizards out 131-113.
Randle was 7-of-10 from three-point land tonight and, as aforementioned, led the team with 37 points. RJ Barrett had 21 points, while Alec Burks contributed 20. This was Burk’s 3rd consecutive 20-point game. On the other side of the ball, Westbrook was 3-for-14 from the field despite playing 30 minutes. Who was responsible for holding him to 14 points? None other than the Knicks defense.
“When you have Russell and Bradley they can put a lot of points on the board, so there is constant pressure,” Thibodeau said. “You never know if the lead is safe. We started slowly defensively then we got going.”
Up Next:
The Knicks and Wizards will face each other for game 2 of 2 in this set on Thursday, March 25th at 7:30pm.
