'True Pro' Evan Fournier Finally Returns to a Knicks Game
The New York Knicks broke into their apparent emergency roster stash on Thursday night.
Injuries to their headliners forced the Knicks to turn to a former starter, as Evan Fournier took to game day hardwood for the first time since Nov. 13. The long-awaited performance of the Knicks' single-season record holder for most successful three-pointers was perhaps one of the few lingering positives that the team could've gleaned from a dreary 122-115 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, their fifth in a row after an eight-game winning streak briefly thrust them into the six automatic Eastern Conference playoff spots.
With Jalen Brunson (hip) and RJ Barrett (finger) both unavailable, Fournier made up for part of their lost production with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, playing 17 minutes in defeat. Previously expressing a relatively aloof indifference to his demotion ... going from the Knicks' starting shooting guard on opening night to hardwood exile in only 13 games ... Fournier expressed as much joy as he could with the team trapped in its current mire.
"I'm actually happy I got a shot at being back out there," Fournier said, per SNY. “I got a chance to play and I was just trying to be present, just, you know, be in the moment and just help the team win … It was a lot easier to play than to be on the bench and watch the guys there."
Fournier was one of three double-figure scorers in a dire effort for the meandering Knicks (18-18). Taking away the combined 30-of-60 that he, Julius Randle, and Immanuel Quickley shot, New York was 8-of-30 from the field. His efforts to lift the team in a desperate endeavor were ultimately futile but did not go unnoticed.
“He was great. He came in and played within himself,” Randle, he of a game-best 41 points, said. “It's tough to have a rhythm when you haven’t played in that long but he competed, made timely shots. So he was good.”
“He’s a true pro and it's not easy, and it's not easy for Derrick (Rose) either," head coach Tom Thibodeau added. "But that's what being a professional is and that's what the expectation is.”
Rose, another name left in exile by Thibodeau's latest attempt to form a desirable nine-man rotation, has likewise been called upon to step up with Barrett and Brunson injured. The veteran has been a healthy scratch for most of the month (save for a nostalgic insertion into the Knicks' Dec. 16 win in Chicago) but has averaged just over 14 minutes over the past two games, which have featured only 96 seconds from Brunson and Barrett.
The former has missed the first two legs of the Texas trio entirely after sustaining a hip injury in Sunday's Christmas loss to Philadelphia while Barrett left early after suffering a finger laceration early on in Dallas on Tuesday, a game that saw Miles McBride play 46 minutes off the bench.
Even with Rose and Fournier's personally triumphant returns, Cam Reddish remained parked for the 13th consecutive game. That's downright shocking considering that Reddish was in the Knicks' starting five as recently as the week before Thanksgiving, but it becomes curious considering the team's recent, high-profile defensive lapses. Luka Dončić was downright historic in a triple-double effort on Tuesday, that showing coming less than a week after Pascal Siakam put up 53 in a win for Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden.
Reddish confirmed that he has not discussed a potential move away from Manhattan with the Knicks' organization. He, however, expressed some hesitation about his future and expressed his frustration in perhaps the most polite way possible.
"I’ve been preaching patience (but) it’s starting to be a little long," Reddish said, per the New York Post. "But maybe there’s going to be an opportunity. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
"I don’t have any control over (stuff), so I can’t do too much thinking or I’ll think myself into misery," Reddish continued. "That’s just human nature. I just try to stay in the gym and work out and go from there ... I’m just trying to stay ready, continue to work on my game, and obviously just trust in God, man."
Time will tell if Fournier and Rose continue on their current paces on Saturday night, when the Knicks complete their Texas tour against the Houston Rockets (7 p.m. ET, MSG).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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