There’s going to be plenty of games like this the next few months. Prepare for it. Brace for it. There will be times when it seems like the Knicks go hours at a time between rebounds. There will be times you’ll wonder if they’ve simply outlawed the blocked shot as a defensive weapon.
There’ll be plenty of points.
On both sides of the hyphen.
That’ll take some getting used to for you. It’ll certainly take some getting used to for Tom Thibodeau, who has been known to weave sonnets about the glorious intricacies of defense. The Knicks knew early on Monday night they weren’t going to clamp down the Raptors. They were going to have to outscore them.
They outscored them, 136-130. They’re 1-0 without Mitchell Robinson.
And now, it really starts to get fun.
“We’re a team that can go on runs,” said Josh Hart, who came off the bench and contributed a typically Hart-like game — 16 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, 6-for-8 from the floor. “If we play our style and get stops we like getting into the open court and making plays.”
The stops have been something of a problem the last three games. They surrendered 146 and 133 points their last two games before Robinson suffered a stress fracture in his ankle. Against Toronto — a shooting-challenged team all year — it was only 130.
That’s going to be life around the Knicks for the time being. The Jericho Sims/Isaiah Hartenstein combo is capable enough — together they scored 13 points (11 by Hartenstein) and had 15 rebounds, and the Knicks will sign up for that most nights. But neither has the presence Robinson has. Neither inspires much in the way of fear around the rim.
So the Knicks have to adapt. They have to adjust. It helps when so many of their key players were as sharp offensively as they were Monday night. Julius Randle had 34, RJ Barrett 27, Jalen Brunson 21, Quentin Grimes 19. That’s going to have to be more the rule than the exception for the next 2 ½ months.
“Mitch is huge for us on the defensive end and on the offensive glass, getting us extra shots,” Hart said. “We knew it’d be tough and we had enough guys to win the game.”
They were also missing Emmanuel Quickley, and on this night they were able to absorb his absence, too. It is a habit that will be imperative starting Thursday night, when the Knicks begin a hellacious stretch that’ll take them clear to the New Year:
• A five-game road trip through Utah, Phoenix, LA (with games against both teams) and Brooklyn
• Back-to-back home games against the Bucks, who just dumped 146 points on them, including the Christmas Day showcase
• A killer trip to Oklahoma City, Orlando and Indiana
• Home for the 17-4 Timberwolves on New Year’s Day
A season could turn upside down going through that ringer, and the Knicks are bracing for it without their most imperative defensive weapon. By the second of January, we’ll have an awfully good feel for where this is all going. Before then it’ll be a lot of mixing and matching and running and gunning.
“The more reps you get the better you’re going to play,” said Sims. “I’m better, stronger and quicker than I was last year, and I know the game more.”
He also should have some muscle memory from last year, when he had to help out prominently during the 23 games Robinson missed. They survived those stretches, going 12-11. It’ll be a longer, harder stretch this time around. But nobody’s going to weep for the Knicks, so they can’t feel sorry themselves either.
“A number of our guys stepped up, especially offensively,” Thibodeau said. “The rebounding could have been better. And we need to continue to work on defense.”
There’s a good chance that he’s not going to like what the number on the other team’s side of the scoreboard is going to look like between now and the middle of February. For one night, at least that was eased by the number on the Knicks’ half. That had better become a pattern, and quickly.
