Knicks blown out by Thunder on their home court

Josh Hart was a rare bright spot with his typical hustle

If you were expecting the Knicks to come out aggressive, trying to make up for their fourth-quarter collapse recently in Oklahoma City, you were massively disappointed in this game. It was like a game early in the year, where any pick, anywhere on the court resulted in a wide-open shot. The Thunder opened up hitting just one of their first 10 shots. They finished shooting 53.9% and ran away with a 126-101 win at Madison Square Garden Friday night.

The bright spots in this game for the Knicks were few and far between. Josh Hart played with energy and enthusiasm for the 30 minutes he was on the floor. He finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds. But he had no chance for a triple-double as none of his teammates played particularly well.

Karl-Anthony Towns had a big third quarter and finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds. But it took him too long to take advantage of the smaller defender that the Thunder played against him. We can ask if it’s Towns’ fault or the team’s fault for not making him the focus of the offense down low.

Jalen Brunson went 12-12 from the free throw line and finished with 27 points. But it simply wasn’t a great night for the point guard in terms of getting the offense organized. And there were too many times where the Thunder ran a pick that put Brunson on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and while not many people in the league can cover the Thunder’s MVP candidate, Brunson was woefully incapable of putting up any resistance.

In the first half, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges were a combined 0-11 from the floor and 0-9 from behind the arc. There’s simply no way the Knicks are going to win when two starters are zeroes offensively. Anunoby ended up with four points in 36 minutes, while Bridges was held scoreless in 32 minutes.

Bridges did a half-decent job defensively against Gilgeous-Alexander. Or at least he did until a pick was set. Bridges showed absolutely no effort to get around any pick. Maybe that was the defensive game plan. But if it was, it was a pathetic choice and one that should have been addressed at halftime, if not earlier.

Bridges, Brunson and Hart all finished with a -23, Miles McBride, playing for the first time after missing five games, had a -16 in 20 minutes and Precious Achiuwa had a -16 in just six minutes.

The combination of the lopsided score and Achiuwa’s bad game resulted in Tom Thibodeau dusting off Ariel Hukporti and getting the rookie center 12 minutes of playing time. Hukporti has more size than either Achiuwa or Jericho Sims and isn’t afraid to shoot an open shot, like Sims is. Hukporti should get minutes in every game. He needs playing time. And on this night where most of his teammates looked lost, Hukporti finished with a +1.

The Thunder is one of the top teams in the league and perhaps the top defensive club. No one begrudges Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 39 points. But when a reserve like Isaiah Joe scores 31 points because he’s 8-11 from behind the arc, you just get the feeling it’s not your night.