Tuesday night was a bounce-back game for the NY Knicks. After a stretch of uninspiring play that led to plenty of panic amongst the fans, New York went down to San Antonio and came away with what felt like a must-win against the Spurs.
The team had been under heavy criticism but even more specifically, some of their key players were catching heat. It felt like that for the first time, there was a real “fed up” and “no more excuses” attitude towards two of the team’s key young players: RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson.
NY Knicks: RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson step up
Head coach Tom Thibodeau had some recent comments about RJ Barrett where he was calling for his young wing player to step up his game.
Coach also made a new lineup adjustment for Tuesday night’s game, where he started Nerlens Noel over Mitchell Robinson.
Clearly, both Barrett and Robinson heard the criticism loud and clear.
Barrett was torching the Spurs all night long. He finished the game with 32 points and a career-high seven 3-pointers. He was playing with energy, getting to his spots, and was the one of the NY Knicks agressors on offense all night lone.
Robinson asserted himself the minute he was subbed into the game. While Robinson doesn’t play a major role within the offense, he was making his presence felt on every play. He played just 22 minutes but finished the game with 11 points and 14 rebounds, a whopping 8 of which were offensive rebounds. He finished tied for the best net-rating on the team, +13.
So what’s next for Barrett and Robinson?
One word: consistency.
These are the players the NY Knicks know they have. A strong, 2-way slasher in Barrett and a physical rim-runner in Robinson.
These are two key young players on the Knicks who have a lot of responsibility. They can’t afford RJ Barrett to string together weeks where he’s just throwing up 6 points per game. It has nothing to do with usage or roles. You’re playing plenty of minutes, go assert yourself.
The same goes for Robinson. Mitch is way to athletic and strong to not have a consistent impact and flirt with a double-double night in and night out.
These are two important building blocks for the Knicks and their time to take to the next step is now. This was a great win to build their confidence.