Tom Thibodeau likes to regularly repeat the statistic that his team ranked third in the NBA in free-throw attempts last season, but converting them with consistency continues to be a problem for the Knicks.
The Knicks left 12 points at the free-throw line in Wednesday’s 108-104 season-opening loss to the Celtics at the Garden, connecting on just 53.8 percent (14-for-26).
A season ago, the Knicks finished behind only the Lakers and the Pistons with 25.5 foul shots per game, but they ranked 22nd in the league by making just 76.1 percent of nearly 2,100 attempts.
“Obviously, you want to shoot better than that,” Thibodeau said Thursday before the Knicks departed for a three-game road trip beginning Friday night in Atlanta. “I think getting to the bonus early is important for us. It creates value shots. So free throws, hopefully we’re making a much higher percentage than we did in the first game.
“We ended up taking 41 3s, and we made 18, which is a really good number (43.9 percent). The turnovers were low (nine), and we had 24 assists on 36 baskets. But I thought we left some points on the table. So we gotta run the floor, create easy baskets. … We’re capable of doing a lot better than we did.”
but many of his teammates struggled from the charity stripe. NBAE via Getty Images
RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley combined to make 11 of 13 from the stripe, but the rest of the team clanked 11 of their 13 attempts.
That included a 1-for-5 showing by Julius Randle, who had improved to 77.4 percent over the past three seasons, and a key missed technical free throw by Jalen Brunson in his lone attempt from the line.
“Missing free throws are mental,” Brunson said after the game, “especially at home.”
Meanwhile, the Celtics closed out their win by hitting 14 of 15 attempts in the fourth quarter and 22-for-26 for the game.
“I think obviously, we shot the 3s well, but we didn’t shoot our free throws well. And they did,” Thibodeau said. “I think the thing that I didn’t like, the fouling late hurt us because they had not been to the line most of the game.
“So there were a couple of sequences late in the clock where we had played really good defense and then we bailed. And then there were a couple of sequences where they made tough shots that we defended extremely well on the play and they made them.”
Randle and Brunson didn’t make many of their shots from the field, either, finishing the game a combined 11-for-43 from the floor.
But Quickley, whose deadline for a contract extension passed on Monday without a deal, and Barrett netted 24 points apiece.
opening-night loss to the Celtics. NBAE via Getty Images
And Quentin Grimes had 11 on 4-for-7 shooting as the Knicks held a four-point lead with 3:39 remaining in the fourth before the Celtics pulled out the victory.
“It just shows how deep we are as a team. Those guys played phenomenal. They pretty much kept us in that game,” Brunson said. “I said [earlier this week], Quick is going to play how he plays. It’s not gonna faze him at all with the stuff he went through these past couple of weeks.
“I’m not really surprised by the way they played. We have a deep bench, in the things they’re able to do. It’s gonna help us win a lot of games.”
Better consistency from the free-throw line certainly would help, too, especially during this three-game road swing through Atlanta, New Orleans and Cleveland.
“We’ve got a tough road schedule ahead of us. We’ve got to take it one game at a time, not worry about this one” said Grimes, who missed his lone free-throw attempt with a chance for a four-point play in the fourth quarter. “We did good things to learn from this game, bad things we have to correct, but we have to keep getting better, take it one game at a time and we’ll be all right.”