Kemba Walker’s newest return to the Knicks’ lineup began quietly Tuesday evening, however he and his teammates had the Backyard rocking for a lot of the second half.
One other dwelling sport solely resulted in additional buzzkill and heartbreak for the Knicks and their followers, nevertheless, as Julius Randle missed a late free throw, Evan Fournier had a shot blocked on the penultimate possession and Alec Burks clanked a 3-pointer as time expired in a crushing 112-110 loss to the Timberwolves.
“That’s a tricky loss, particularly because the man that missed the game-tying shot. That’s the kind of sport that retains you up at evening,” Fournier stated. “You kinda really feel like s–t within the morning afterwards, however that’s the league we’re in. … For positive, it’s very irritating.”
Walker had buried three monstrous 3-pointers earlier within the fourth quarter and netted 17 of his 19 factors after halftime in his first look since Dec. 29 because the Knicks fought again from a 12-point deficit within the second half.
Fournier related on 5 treys and completed with 27 factors, Randle recorded 21 factors with 9 assists and RJ Barrett scored 17 for the Knicks, who couldn’t totally bounce again from Monday’s eyesore loss to the Hornets in slipping again underneath .500 at 22-23.
“I’m positively a bit upset that we didn’t win, my first sport again shortly. Undoubtedly needed to win,” Walker stated. “However we’ve obtained to maintain grinding it out. This league is difficult, man, it’s arduous to win video games on this league, tremendous arduous. Irrespective of who you’re enjoying.”
Anthony Edwards scored 21 factors and Karl-Anthony Cities completed with 20 — most notably a go-ahead conventional three-point play with 29.3 seconds remaining — for the Timberwolves (22-22).
“Bing-bong that,” Cities declared to conclude his postgame press convention, referring to the Knicks’ subway chime rallying cry.
Walker drew a pleasant ovation after burying his first shot within the opening minutes of the sport, however these represented his solely two factors of the primary half. The Knicks missed seven of their first eight makes an attempt from 3-point vary and shot simply 4-for-15 from lengthy distance, whereas committing 13 turnovers by two quarters.
“It was us, principally. It was us,” Fournier stated. “Don’t get me fallacious, they did issues to hurry us and never execute as effectively. … That was large for us, that’s why we went down.”
The Knicks trailed by as many as 12 factors within the third quarter, however Randle sandwiched two jumpers in a 7-0 spurt to take a 98-93 lead early within the fourth. Walker rattled in a 3 from the suitable facet, one other from the highest of the important thing after which drilled a 3rd inside two minutes of one another for a 107-102 sport with 3:41 left on the clock.
The Timberwolves shaved the Knicks’ cushion to at least one within the closing minute, nevertheless, with Barrett committing two turnovers and Fournier one other within the ultimate three minutes. Barrett’s second giveaway led to Minnesota grabbing again a 111-109 lead on the different finish. Cities drove the left facet of the lane and transformed a three-point play after he was fouled by Randle — who was pressured to play middle down the stretch after Mitchell Robinson and Taj Gibson each fouled out.
“We had some robust calls go in opposition to us, however we simply can’t put ourselves able like that the place the refs are an element,” coach Tom Thibodeau stated. “And we had some expensive turnovers within the final two minutes. They’re trailing they usually’re playing for the ball … and so that you’ve obtained to be robust and perceive what’s happening within the sport and the way it’s being officiated. The depth of the fourth quarter is totally different than the primary three quarters and we've got to know that.”
5 seconds later, Randle missed the primary of two free throws earlier than Burks’ eventual heave on the buzzer bounced off the rim.
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