RJ Barrett Shines Early, But Knicks Fall to Rockets
On the whole, there wasn't a ton to be enthused by in the latest Knicks loss of the 2019-20 season — this time, a 123-112 beatdown at the hands of the Houston Rockets on the road.
Luckily, a standout first quarter from RJ Barrett provided all the highlights a Knicks enthusiast could need for the night.
Barrett poured in 14 points (already higher than his season average of 13.7 per game), four rebounds and three assists on 6-8 shooting in the opening period, and the Knicks only trailed by three points after the opening quarter.
Barrett was truly at his best. Strong finishes in the paint, efficient 3-point shooting and brilliant passing defined his first quarter, showing the best of what Barrett can offer as a lead ball-handler.
The problem, unfortunately, was that after shooting 6-8 and being given the keys to the kingdom in the first quarter, Barrett was seemingly put back outside the castle again for the rest of the game.
The ball found its way to his hands less the rest of the game, instead going to the likes of Julius Randle (5-14 shooting, 17 points) and Bobby Portis (4-10, 12 points). A silver lining was that Dennis Smith Jr. had one of his best games in a while with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and seven steals, while also sopping up 12 shots himself and making five of them.
It was an interesting decision to get the ball into Barrett's hands less as the game went on, to be sure. With all three of Frank Ntilikina, Elfrid Payton and Kadeem Allen unavailable, playing Barrett as the de facto point guard for stretches made perfect sense. After the first quarter, it seemed to be utilized less and less as the game went on.
But all in all, the Knicks failed to contain James Harden, just hours after he, PJ Tucker and Russell Westbrook had attended the celebration of Kobe and Gianna Bryant's life in Los Angeles. Harden finished with 37 points on 14-25 shooting, but most importantly buried the Knicks in the second quarter on his way to 31 points in the first half. Westbrook didn't end up playing in the game.
The Knicks kept things a game in the third and fourth quarters, actually winning the half by four points. Unfortunately, the 15-point deficit at half was too much to overcome for New York.
Mitchell Robinson shone as well, overcoming early foul trouble to put together a solid outing against the small-ball Rockets.
Robinson's game against the Rockets proved that he, perhaps, is future-proof in this NBA that's getting further and further away from traditional big men. Facing the Rockets, a team that just recently traded away a Robinson-esque player in Clint Capela, Robinson proved that he can work the perimeter, hang with guards and, of course, patrol the paint on defense.
Because of that versatility to never lose anyone on defense, Robinson can still have the traditional versatility of a big man on the glass, exploiting his height, and on lobs, skying over his competition for easy points. There's a real argument that Mitch is the best player on the Knicks currently, and Monday's matchup with the Rockets went a long way towards showing that he and Barrett can be centerpieces for a long time on the Knicks.
