1 stud and 1 dud from Knicks’ intense win over Heat led by RJ Barrett
Following a tough overtime loss to the Lakers on Tuesday, the Knicks bounced back big time against the Miami Heat with a 106-104 win. This was a huge victory, as not only did the Knicks take down the team standing in their way of the sixth seed, but they also won without Jalen Brunson.
While this game was closer than it should have been, a win is a win. In other Knicks news, Julius Randle was named to his second All-Star Game and celebrated it with a 23-point, 10-rebound, six-assist game. While the efficiency wasn’t all there, Randle hit a big-time dunk to help close the game out at the end, so shout out to him.
New York desperately needed this win, as they are now two games back from the sixth seed, something that would get them out of play-in range. This game would not have been a win without the big-time play of a certain Knicks star not named Randle, however.
1 stud and 1 dud from huge Knicks victory over Miami Heat
Dud: Evan Fournier
Once it was announced that Jalen Brunson would miss this game with a non-COVID illness, it became very clear that a certain player would join the Knicks rotation again. Boy, did he play terribly.
In 18 minutes, Evan Fournier scored five points, grabbed two rebounds, and dished out four assists while shooting a disgusting 1-of-7 from the field and 1-of-6 from behind the arc. While you could credit his poor game to rust, it still pains me to see Fournier receiving minutes over other players on the Knicks.
Obviously, Cam Reddish is being held out due to the front office searching for a trade partner, but at this point, it seems like Derrick Rose or maybe even Svi Mykhailiuk could provide more than Fournier.
The good news, however, is that the trade deadline is on Feb. 9, meaning we more than likely will not see Fournier in a Knicks jersey past that date. At the very least, the Knicks will have hopefully traded for someone to plug into the rotation over him in case of injury.
Regardless, I think tonight proved that Fournier should simply be kept out of the rotation, period. He should be nothing more than salary filler in a potential trade.
Stud: RJ Barrett
At first, it seemed like it was going to be another rough night for RJ Barrett, who was benched in the fourth quarter of the aforementioned Lakers game due to his poor play. While some have criticized Tom Thibodeau for that, we’re not here to have that discussion.
Barrett struggled out of the gate, however, as soon as the second half started he exploded and was arguably the Knicks’ best player in the third and fourth quarters. Barrett would end the game with 30 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, shooting 13-of-24 from the field and an unfortunate 0-of-5 from downtown.
This wasn’t a perfect game from Barrett by any means, however, compared to how the rest of the Knicks roster fared, I think it’s safe to say he deserved to be our stud from tonight’s game.
There really isn’t a much better way to bounce back from a bench-worthy performance than to drop an efficient 30-bomb on one of the better teams in the conference. Barrett has a history of big-time games against Miami, so last night shouldn’t have been that big of a surprise.
Hopefully, Barrett can keep it up as the season has gone on, as despite some struggles early on, this has most likely been his best season as a pro.
