Westchester Wire: Strong Offense Leading To Victories

The Westchester Knicks started off the season by playing four of its first six games at home. December was going to be the team’s first challenge of the season. Eight of the Knicks’ 11 games were on the road.

The Knicks had a stretch of five road games in a six-game stretch.

After losing their third game in a row to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Knicks rebounded three days later. The Texas Legends stood in front of them and were set to give the Knicks a huge challenge.

When the two teams battled, the Legends were 7-5 and coming off of a huge win over the Reno Bighorns. Pierre Jackson dropped 29 points, six assists, and four steals against Reno, so the Knicks needed to contain Jackson.

Also, Texas is No. 2 in points per game. Westchester needed their defense to step up after giving up 126 points the previous game to the Vipers. The Knicks looked to end their three-game losing streak against the Legends.

That’s what they did.

Doron Lamb started off the game by scoring 10 of the team’s 13 points early on, but picked up a couple of early fouls. At one point in the first quarter, Westchester went on a 19-2 run.

Chasson Randle had an exceptional shooting game from 3-point range, as he knocked down 5-of-6 shots from deep in the first half and went 9-of-11 for the game.

The 38 points scored by Randle were the second-most points scored by a Westchester Knick in a game behind Doron Lamb (40) on Mar. 12, 2015.

The Stanford product continued his offensive production in the next two games against the Austin Spurs and Los Angeles D-Fenders. Randle had 29 points with eight minutes left in the 3rd quarter and was on pace to set the record for the most points in a game.

That didn’t happen, but he finished the game with 36 points, five assists, and four rebounds.

Randle and Jordon Crawford started to show that they’re one of the top backcourts in the NBA D-League. The Randle-Crawford duo paced the Knicks against the Austin Spurs.

Playing both Randle and Crawford has its advantages. In certain situations, Randle has more of an opportunity to play off the ball and become more of a scorer.

Crawford’s speed and agility make him a threat in transition. He can zoom by anyone in his way or he can knock down a shot. The Bowling Green product has been known to hit some buzzer-beating shots as well.

Also, Crawford has been getting good looks when it comes to 3-point shots. The 5’6″ guard is shooting 55.9 percent from deep this season. The backcourt of Randle and Crawford totaled 68 of the team’s 120 points on 26-of-42 shooting from the field against Austin.

Just as the first half was set to close, Crawford rushed down the court and drained a 3-pointer to end the half with 23 points.

After his incredible production in that three-game span, Chasson Randle was named Performer of the Week on Dec. 19. He became the second Knick to accomplish that feat behind DaJuan Summers on Nov. 23, 2015.

Two days later, Randle was rated the No. 25 prospect on the D-League Prospect Watch.

After the recent stretch of games Randle has had, he says he’s not too focused on the NBA D-League Showcase.

“I guess you can say that. I can’t look too far ahead. We still got games tonight and coming up that’s before the Showcase, so just got to make sure I take advantage of the day,” Randle said. “Don’t look too far ahead and just continue to try to get better.”

The Knicks play their first game in the D-League Showcase on Jan. 20 against the Erie BayHawks.

Along with the impressive performances by Randle and Crawford, Damien Inglis has been looking solid throughout the season. He has been showcasing his post moves. On some occasions, he’s able to shake off his defender and knock down the jumper.

In the game against the Legends, Inglis almost notched a triple-double (19 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists). The most notable thing the Knicks forward has been displaying is his ability to be a good passer.

He often plays point forward due to his ability to get his teammates involved. With a minimum of 10 games played, Inglis leads the team in assists (3.9).

Westchester head coach Mike Miller expected Inglis “to put up points, rebounds, and be efficient,” and that’s what he has done.

In two of their next three games, the Knicks had issues defending the 3-point shot. The D-Fenders are in the top of the NBA D-League in many offensive categories, which includes being No. 1 in points per game (120.3) and field goal percentage (48.4).

Los Angeles ranks near the middle of the pack in 3-point percentage—9th in the NBA D-League—but the team has many players who can shoot at an efficient rate. Along with that, the D-Fenders can distribute the ball well and that’s what they did against the Knicks.

Los Angeles got many of their players involved against the Knicks. It opened the game on a strong note and ked Westchester by 16 at one point in the first half.

Jeff Ayres had an overall productive game. Ayres was knocking down perimeter shots, made shots inside, and even drained his first three of the season.

The D-Fenders got solid production from many players. Four players (Vander Blue, Justin Harper, Josh Magette, and Troy DeVries) nailed at least two 3-point shots in their Dec. 20 meeting. DeVries had a game-high four 3-point shots made off the bench.

Two games later, the Knicks had issues with guard Brady Heslip, who connected at a rate of 10-of-15 from beyond the arc. Heslip was on pace to break his previous record—13-of-20 on Nov. 29, 2014 against the Idaho Stampede—but came up short.

“Hopefully we’ll do better. One guy made 10, so that kind of tells a story with the number and obviously our game plan was Brady Heslip has to shoot every shot off the dribble today. And as you saw, that didn’t happen,” Westchester head coach Mike Miller told reporters after the game.

“He got spotted up and made shots. That’s what he does. He’s crafty. He made shots. He got going, so we’ll continue to move forward. Defensively we want to improve. We want to get those numbers under 50 every night from the field and get that number from three down in the 30’s and we’ve got some work to do to do that. We’ve been scoring the ball well, so it’s given us a little bit of a cushion. But as we move deeper in the season, we’ll have to be better defensively.”

After the holidays conclude, the Westchester Knicks will continue their road journey, as they embark on a four-game road trip that begins in Brooklyn against the Long Island Nets. On their road trip, the Knicks will battle two teams—the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Grand Rapids Drive—that rank in the Top-8 in 3-point percentage.

The Drive are No. 2 (39.3 percent) in the NBA D-League and the Mad Ants are No. 8 (36.3).

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While it seemed like December would give Westchester problems due to having eight games on the road, the Knicks are 4-2 on the road with two games remaining. The Knicks have had issues winning games at home, as Westchester has lost all of its home games in December after going 4-0 in November at home.

With all the changes the Knicks have undergonw this season, Westchester is 9-6 and half a game behind the Maine Red Claws in the Atlantic Division. The Knicks will need to maintain their production, as they have a tough stretch of games once the new year starts.