Before tonight’s scrimmage, there was talk of coach Chris Finch resting his starters. Fat chance. Only Jonathan Kuminga sat tonight for the Minnesota Timberwolves (3-1), since everyone wants to play at Madison Square Garden, the grandest basketball stage in the world. Indeed, the visitors looked determined to announce themselves while the defending champs (0-3) still dragged their feet in the loss. Final score: 122-104
The Knicks set the tone for the night with Brunson and Towns missing badly from
deep. They found a creadky rhythm soon after, with buckets from Hart and Bridges and a pair of steals. Meanwhile, the game gave us our first look at LaMelo Ball in Timberwolves blue. He finished the night with 10 points, seven dimes, and five giveaways in 22 minutes. Sounds about right.
In the opening minutes, Brunson got hit with a flopping call when he stumbled from a shove by Gobert. Expect more of those calls this season, at least in the opening months. According to the telecast, NBA referees are utilizing a “STEM” criteria to evaluate potential flopping violations. The acronym stands for Secondary, Theatrical, Exaggerated, and Movement. So, officials are looking for secondary reactions that occur delayed and long after initial contact; theatrical (overly dramatic) performances; exaggerated physical responses that are misaligned with the actual force applied; and unnatural body movements (think arm flailing, karate-style leg kicks).
In Q1, Edwards had 11 points early, leading his team on a 7-0 run by the middle of the first period. After a timeout, the Knicks started clawing their way back. Around the four-minute mark, Deuce McBride and Andre Drummond checked in, and Deuce laced a triple, giving the crowd a rare moment to cheer about.
Deep in the quarter, Pacome Dadiet, Landry Shamet, and Jose Alvarado spelled the remaining starters. Over the final four minutes of the frame, New York managed just five points (a long shot by Dadiet, and a shake-and-bake kiss-off-the-glass shot by Drummond) while Minny went on a 9-5 run. Preseason basketball can get fairly sloppy, folks! Score after 12 minutes: 30-25, visitors.
To start the second, Grand Theft Alvarado picked Ball’s pocket on the inbound play and scored an easy layup. He picked off a Trey Lyles pass on the next possession, too, but missed the ensuing floater. Nice to see Jose in mid-season form. Drummond provided some protection behind him, blocking Ball and swatting a Lyles three for his third block of the game.
Landry Shamet had a rough stretch: he missed a three, lost the ball to Ayo Dosunmu ahead of a Jaden McDaniels layup, then had another three blocked by Dosunmu. He finished with two points in 12 minutes. Dadiet had a few nice moments and hit another three off a Tyler Kolek assist to cut Minnesota’s lead to 34–31.
McDaniels took over from there, scoring seven straight points as Minnesota extended its lead to 41–31. He also blocked Kolek’s drive during that run, while Kolek committed an out-of-bounds passing turnover. Mixed night for Tyler, who finished with four points and four assists in 11 minutes. Jordan Clarkson finally stopped Minnesota’s run with a three, but New York still trailed 41–34 when they called a timeout midway through the quarter.
Late in the quarter, Anunoby picked off a Dosunmu pass, and Ayo chased him down for a hard foul at the rim. It was a spicy moment, as Anunoby took exception to the aggression, but tensions cooled quickly. It’s preseason! OG delivered some highlights, finishing the half with 12 points and the night with 15.
The Wolves were clearly motivated to show up the World Champs, and when Edwards hit a buzzer-beater for his 20th point, his team took a 62-50 lead into intermission. New York hadn’t played cohesively, as evidenced by the first-half stats. Minnesota shot 55% from the field and 10-of-16 from three, compared with New York’s 39% and 7-of-19 from deep. The Knicks also made just 8-of-19 inside the arc, and they dished only nine dimes. Not bueno. Despite eight steals, New York managed only two fast-break points to Minny’s 12. The villains outrebounded our heroes, 21–15.
Whatever was discussed during halftime helped to turn their play around. Out of the break, the Knicks played with more focus and cooperation. Brunson turned it on, scoring 10 points through the first half of the period (he finished the night with 20 points in 22 minutes on 6-of-13 shooting).
After that, Mike Brown swapped out his starters with his team trailing 77-72. Mohamed Diawara got to make his first appearance of the game, and it was a shaky stretch. He fouled Dosunmu, who canned both free throws, then committed a traveling turnover on New York’s next possession. He grabbed a defensive rebound in the closing seconds but missed a three just before the buzzer, finishing the stretch with no points, one rebound, one turnover, and one foul. Minnesota went without a field goal over the final 3:18 but still carried a 90–80 lead into the fourth.
Drew Eubanks gave the Knicks some useful minutes early in the fourth. Alvarado did, too, hitting a jumper to cut the deficit to 90–82, but threes from Williams and Martin pushed it back to 14. Eubanks finished an Alvarado alley-oop and added a driving hook, then collected a steal before leaving at 7:10 with four points, a block, and a steal in the quarter. He looked pretty good for a third-string candidate. New York couldn’t string together enough stops, too, and watched their opponents score at will, stretching the margin to 103-86.
Tyler Kolek scored four points on a pull-up and a late driving layup, but missed a floater, a three, and the free throw that would have completed a three-point play. He also threw a pass that Pullin picked off, though he later found Tony Bradley for a layup. Bradley was the most productive of New York’s late substitutions, making all four of his shots for eight points and grabbing two rebounds. Also looked pretty good for a third-string candidate! Diawara collected two boards but continued to go scoreless, committed two turnovers, and picked up two fouls. While we’ve been focused on the guys fighting to make the team, we might be watching Diawara play himself off of it.
Up Next
New York travels to Toronto to face the Barrett, Quickley, and the Raptors tomorrow. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.
