Duke Basketball Product in Midst of Untimely Shooting Slump

The New York Knicks, the No. 5 seed from the Eastern Conference, overcame poor shooting from former Duke basketball one-and-done guard RJ Barrett to win Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the No. 4 seed Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.

But that wasn't the case on Tuesday night. No, the Knicks suffered a 107-90 loss in Cleveland while Barrett again struggled to find the bottom of the net from deep. His teammates didn't fare much better; the squad finished 7-for-29 (24.1 percent) from 3-point land and 29-for-79 (36.7 percent) overall.

Although Barrett ended with 14 points, seven more than his Game 1 total, he shot only 4-for-13 from the field and 0-for-3 from downtown, relying on his 6-for-7 clip from the charity stripe to reach double digits.

And the rest of Barrett's box score wasn't particularly impressive, either, as he tallied three rebounds, zero assists, and one steal across his 33 minutes as a starter.

The 22-year-old lefty, who went No. 3 overall at the 2019 NBA Draft after setting the Duke basketball freshman scoring record (860 points) but shot only 30.8 percent from three as a Blue Devil on 6.2 attempts per game, is now 2-for-20 beyond the arc between his past four outings, including the last two games of the regular season.

His overall field goal percentage in that span is also concerning: 36.4 percent on 24-for-66 shooting (6-for-25, or 24.0 percent, in his two playoff outings).

Fortunately for RJ Barrett and the New York Knicks, the next two games in the series take place in the friendly confines of Madison Square Garden.

RJ Barrett on what he expects from Madison Square Garden on Friday night:

"I know it's gonna be loud. The fans are gonna be into it. It's gonna be a great atmosphere. It's the most special place to play, so it's gonna be a lot of fun." pic.twitter.com/g4FxkwnnKJ
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 19, 2023

They host the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 at 8:30 p.m. ET Friday.

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