What a week. After a tremendous game against the Bucks, RJ Barrett and the Knicks stepped up and won two impressive games. It would have been nice for the Knicks to start the In Season Tournament with a dub, but Julius Randle once again bricked it up. But we will talk more about that later. We will start this blog with positivity and talk about how much of a baller RJ Barrett has been.
It was pretty much unwatchable in the two games this season that RJ Barrett did not play. Brunson had to carry the load with RJ out with his knee injury, but these last two games have been different. Since his return from this nagging knee soreness, Barrett has averaged 25 PPG, 4 RPG, and 5 APG. He’s playing really well, and it’s not just the last two games. He’s scoring over 22 PPG this season at 47% and 47% from the three. If RJ can do this for the whole season, I don’t see why he can’t make his first All-Star game.
Another player who’s been showing up is BIG Mitchell Robinson. I wasn’t the biggest fan of him coming into the season, but he has proved me wrong so far. Averaging 12.4 RBP, and 6.3 of them have been offensive. He has been a massive sparkplug for this team and is playing phenomenal defense. Locking up Wemby yesterday as Wemby was 0-6 when Robinson was the primary defender. We love to see this from Mitch as he proved the haters wrong yesterday (look at the comments from this Tweet). He talked the talk, and he was able to walk the walk.
This praise doesn’t go to one player but to the whole Bench Squad. Immanuel Quickley is playing for a contract, and man, is he earning it. He should have been 6-Man last year, but the way he’s playing this year, he will earn it. He will also get a huge contract the way he’s playing, and I cannot wait to see how much it will be from the Charlotte Hornets. Quickley has been really good, and so has Donte DiVincenzo. Him or Hart are bound to make at least one clutch three a game. I love the heart and passion of the Bench Squad. They always show up to play and do their best to keep the Knicks in the game until the starters return.
The last big thing I want to talk about is consistency. That has been the biggest crutch of the season. It feels like Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson have not been on the same wave. It was good to see in the Spurs game the Knicks 3 best players all have a good game, but Brunson and Randle have to get on track. This is more towards Randle, but Brunson has put up some stinkers this season. If Randle could continue to have games like he did against the Spurs, the Knicks should rise through the Eastern Conference and be a top 3 team.
Weekly Grades:
Knicks: B+
Jalen Brunson: B+
Julius Randle: C+
RJ Barrett: A
Mitchell Robinson: A+
Quinten Grimes: B-
Immanuel Quickley: A
Donte DiVincenzo: B+
Josh Hart: B
Isaiah Hartenstein: B+
Now, let’s see what the Knicks have up next for the coming week.
The Knicks should at least go 2-1 this week. They get an easy one Sunday afternoon against the Hornets to end their home stand. The Hornets might be one of the worst teams in the NBA, so this should be a dub, especially after having four days off. The Knicks then have five straight road games and start in Boston. They need Randle to show up this time, as the Celtics look like one of the best teams in the NBA to start the season. It’s not impossible for the Knicks to beat the Celtics. They just need all their stars to have good games. Finally, we wrap it up in Atlanta to take off that loser, Trae Young. This should be another win, as the Knicks have owned the Hawks since 2020. They are 9-3 in their last 12 games. The Knicks are a fun team. I enjoy watching them, and I hope these last two games are an indicator of what’s to come.
SmallDog Sports 
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