BBNBA: Julius Randle, Immanuel Quickley power 25-point Knicks comeback

Not a ton of exciting NBA games last night, but the Knicks were the story of the night with their 25-point comeback. Let’s talk about it.

Knicks erase 25-point Boston lead to win in MSG

Behind a stellar first half from Jayson Tatum and a blunderous offensive performance from New York, Boston built a 25-point lead in the Garden near the end of the second quarter at 57-32. A small run to end the half got the Knicks back within 20 at 63-47.

Boston re-extended that lead to 20 a few times early in the third before a three-point barrage gave New York life near the end of the quarter.

The big story of the night was Evan Fournier, the former Celtic who torched his former team for a career-high 41 points and 10 three-pointers. He hit several during the third-quarter to bring New York within striking distance. As did Julius Randle, who hit a pair of threes to keep Boston from getting back up by 20.

With New York down 15 and two and a half minutes left on the third-quarter clock, Immanuel Quickley hit a three and converted an and-one to finally bring the Knicks back within single digits.

YOU WENT UNDER A SCREEN VS. IMMANUEL QUICKLEY?? ARE YOU STUPID??? pic.twitter.com/XhTrKxlhor
— The Knicks Wall (@TheKnicksWall) January 7, 2022

Early in the fourth, a Randle and-one and a deep Quickley three cut the lead to two. From there, it was the Evan Fournier show. He hit five threes in the fourth quarter, including the lead-taker with two minutes to play.

The two teams battled to a tie a few possessions later with New York having one more chance to win with 1.5 seconds left and the scoreboard knotted at 105 apiece.

Thanks to R.J. Barrett, pandemonium ensued…

RJ BARRETT BEATS THE CELTICS AT THE BUZZER ‼️ pic.twitter.com/PAlHvoratT
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 7, 2022

A game for the ages in Madison Square Garden between half-century-old rivals.

As for the Kentucky guys, Randle finished with 22 points and eight rebounds while Quickley scored 16 and made three threes. The duo also made some of the more important plays of the evening during the comeback. Check out the entire highlights from this game, it’s worth it:

Suns win despite bad shooting from Booker

Occasionally stars have off nights. Yesterday’s Suns-Clippers game was one of those for Devin Booker. He attempted 22 shots but made just five and missed all seven of his three-pointers.

Instead of hanging his head and moping around in the other aspects of the game, Booker crashed the glass and remained aggressive on defense. He and Chris Paul both shot poorly from the field, but the duo focused their energy on the glass, with Booker hauling in 10 rebounds and Paul grabbing 13.

It wasn’t pretty but the Suns still got the job done against the Clippers at home, winning by 17 as their defense held stout, allowing just 89 points to LAC.

With a small skid from Golden State recently, including a loss to the woeful Pelicans last night, Phoenix leaped back into the driver’s seat in the West and now boasts the best record in the NBA at 30-8.

Diallo & Lyles continue to get minutes

Nevermind that Detroit only scored 88 points and lost by 30 to the Grizzlies. Let’s talk about Hamidou Diallo and Trey Lyles, who continue to play major minutes alongside an otherwise infant Pistons core.

Diallo has now started and played 20+ minutes in each of the last 12 Pistons games. And Trey Lyles has been the first man off the bench for Detroit since returning from COVID protocols.

Both men reached double-figures last night. Diallo took 12 shots and scored 12 points while adding six rebounds. Lyles scored 10, rebounded six and avoided getting posterized by one of the NBA’s most fearless dunkers. Unlike another former Kentucky Piston many years ago…

for those curious, he chose life. pic.twitter.com/bGB9jcGuSe
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 7, 2022

Man, that was so, so bad for Brandon Knight. Sorry to reminisce on the worst moment of the 2011 NCAA Tournament East Region MVP’s career.

Statistics

Player	Result	Points	FG(3PA)	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Turnovers	Minutes	+/-
Julius Randle (NYK)	108-105 W vs. BOS	22	8-20 (2-8)	8	2	2	0	0	38	+14
Immanuel Quickley (NYK)	108-105 W vs. BOS	16	6-12 (3-5)	2	3	1	0	2	25	+9
Hamidou Diallo (DET)	118-88 L @ MEM	12	5-12 (0-3)	6	1	0	0	1	25	-25
Devin Booker (PHO)	106-89 W vs. LAC	11	5-22 (0-7)	10	4	0	0	2	33	-6
Trey Lyles (DET)	118-88 L @ MEM	10	3-8 (1-5)	6	1	1	0	1	26	-12
Eric Bledsoe (LAC)	106-89 L @ PHO	10	4-12 (0-3)	5	3	0	0	4	36	-8
Brandon Boston Jr. (LAC)	106-89 L @ PHO	10	4-12 (0-1)	3	1	2	1	1	20	-8
Wenyen Gabriel (LAC)	106-89 L @ PHO	0	0-2 (0-0)	2	0	0	2	0	2	-3
Enes Freedom (BOS)	108-105 L @ NYK	0	0-0 (0-0)	3	0	0	0	0	12	+12
Kevin Knox (NYK)	108-105 W vs. BOS	DNP – CD	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Nerlens Noel (NYK)	108-105 W vs. BOS	DNP – Conditioning	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–