Knicks takeaways from Saturday's 130-111 loss to Bucks, including lack of size hurting New York
Having won two in a row and returning home after a five-game road trip, the Knicks were riding high and hoping to take that momentum into Madison Square Garden against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, who entered the game winners of six straight and 16 of their last 19.
Instead, New York fell to an early hole and was never able to recover, playing poor defense along the way, and lost 130-111.
Here are the key takeaways...
- Jalen Brunson once again was the star of the show for the Knicks, finishing with 36 points on an efficient 15-for-26 (58 percent) from the floor and 3-for-5 from deep. He also had seven assists, three rebounds and even a block in 37 minutes.
- Unfortunately, Brunson’s teammates weren’t able to help him out, shooting a combined 26-for-67 (38 percent) and 6-for-24 from three-point range. On a positive note, the Knicks were able to knock down their free throws, going 20-for-21 from the charity stripe.
A lot of those came from Julius Randle who scored 26 points for New York, finding most of his success at the line. He went a perfect 10-10 from the free-throw line and added eight boards and one steal.
- RJ Barrett, the Knicks’ third scoring option who has been mired in a bit of a shooting slump over the last 10 days, had another clunker. He finished with 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting which was aided by a solid fourth quarter where New York was already down by a considerable margin. Barrett shot 1-for-7 in the first half and went into the fourth quarter 1-for-10.
- The Knicks’ lack of center depth and options was evident against a tall and athletic Bucks team, especially after Isaiah Hartenstein, making his second consecutive start, got into early foul trouble in the first quarter. Taj Gibson filled in admirably in his 15 minutes, but with such few options at the 5, the Knicks weren’t able to defend Milwaukee the way they would’ve liked.
That led Antetokounmpo and the rest of the Bucks to space the floor and score some easy shots. They went 48-for-91 (53 percent) from the field and 16-for-32 (50 percent) from three. Antetokounmpo finished with 28 points, Khris Middleton added 20, Damian Lillard and Malik Beasley each had 19 and former Knick Bobby Portis scored 23 off the bench.
- Aside from a brief one-point lead in the first quarter thanks to a Brunson three, the Knicks never led in the game as Milwaukee had total control, leading 36-27 after the first quarter.
- Scuffling in the second quarter with a deficit that grew to 16 points with 2:35 left in the half, Brunson willed his team back into the game and gave them new life by hitting a buzzer-beating three that cut the deficit to 62-55 and gave a packed MSG crowd a lot to cheer about.
- But the balanced attack of the Bucks proved too much for New York in the third quarter who went into the fourth quarter down, 100-87, even after another Brunson three-pointer near the end of the buzzer.
- It was more of the same in the fourth quarter as Milwaukee continued to impose its will on the Knicks who couldn’t do much to stop it, ultimately losing 130-111.
- New York’s bench had a rough day of it, scoring a total of 13 points. Immanuel Quickley, Josh Hart and Quentin Grimes went a combined 4-for-17 (1-for-9 from three) for 11 points.
Highlights
What's next
The Knicks and Bucks play the second game of a back-to-back at Madison Square Garden once again on Christmas Day at 12 p.m.
