Don’t Be Fooled By The Stats: Trier Still Struggled For New York Knicks
In the New York Knicks 107-101 loss to the Charlotte Hornets Allonzo Trier scored 15 points. Despite the strong scoring performance and applauds from fans and media alike, and against the Hornets, Trier showed why he’s bench all season.
Check the recent headlines for the New York Knicks. NY Daily News has “Allonzo Trier finally got to play (And he made the most of it).”
”Allonzo Trier nearly saves Knicks from RJ Barrett dud” is from the New York Post and Posting and Toasting even deemed it the “Allonzo Trier Game.”
Trier’s 15 point performance has gotten the media excited. After seeing the box score and seeing Trier’s scoring outburst I also believed the second-year guard had a breakout game. Excited over Trier’s performance I quickly set up to watch the game film.
I wish I could continue to believe Trier’s sensational scoring performance was just that, a sensational scoring performance, but it wasn’t. After watching the game Trier’s performance was much more underwhelming. Allonzo Trier’s points were inflated and he failed to play anything resembling teamwork or defense. Let’s first take a look at how his 15 points became so inflated.
With 7:31 left in the 4th quarter Trier drove to the basket and muscled his way to 2 points. Clearly Trier travelled on the play but there was no call.
With just over 3 minutes to play in the game Allonzo Trier drove to the basket again, this time clearly pushing his defender PJ Washington away with his left arm. Once again another missed call by the refs and Trier picked up another 2 points.
I’m not trying to complain about the New York Knicks scoring points but I want to point out that 6 of Trier’s 15 points would’ve been wiped away by a competent NBA ref (which they are hard to come by these days.)
Trier picked up his final 2 points in the last 10 seconds of the game on a two-handed slam when the Hornets stopped playing defense. The reason why the Hornets stopped guarding Trier is because they had a 6 point lead with 11 seconds left to go. The New York Knicks need a three to make the game just a one possession deficit.
The New York Knicks chances of a comeback were limited but Trier’s choice to take a dunk instead of a three eliminated any possibility at all. The play demonstrated a low-level basketball IQ and also adds to Trier’s ball hog reputation.
Speaking of that ball hog reputation Allonzo Trier put it on full display against the Hornets. On the rest of Trier’s baskets only one came off of an assist, and that was when Elfrid Payton passed Trier the ball who came running down the court. Trier pulled the trigger 6 seconds into the shot clock.
Trier ended the game with 0 assists and 0 rebounds. Everytime Allonzo Trier touched the ball he was trying to find the best way for himself to score, not the New York Knicks. Not to create or look for his teammates, as we saw by how rarely Trier passed the ball up. Multiple shooters were open behind the line and Trier never passed the ball.
Whenever Trier was on the perimeter and he had his hands up and wasn’t passed the ball he would throw his hands down frustrated with the team. One play stands out the most.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter Allonzo Trier would pop up wide open around the left-wing, but Kevin Knox missed Trier and dumped the ball to a posting up Bobby Portis. Knox continued to play by setting a screen for Trier and did nothing.
The moment Knox didn’t pass the ball to Trier, Trier jumped up in the air and threw his hands down. Instead of running through the screen and staying involved in the play Trier lost interest.
If Allonzo Trier stayed involved he would’ve followed Knox’s off-ball screen and been open on the right-wing from three. However, Trier got more upset over not getting the ball than the success of the possession.
No moment was more disappointing than Allonzo Trier’s effort on the New York Knicks most important defensive possession. Trailing 100-97 with 34 seconds left in the game Trier was matched up on Terry Rozier. Willy Hernangomez set a weak screen on Allonzo Trier but that’s all he needed.
After seeing the pick, Trier slows down and doesn’t run towards Rozier. He leaves Rozier driving to the basketball with only Mitchell Robinson picking him up off the screen. Trier just kinda jogs slightly behind.
Allonzo Trier put no effort to fight through the screen and guard Terry Rozier, despite the New York Knicks needing a stop to keep the game alive.
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Scoring points is always nice, but even while dropping 15 points Allonzo Trier still showed why he’s been glued to the bench all season. Trier’s a ball hog, with a bad attitude who doesn’t play team basketball or defense. While others will site this game as a break out for Allonzo Trier because of his stats, it really is just another disappointment given his actual play.