Immanuel Quickley didn’t sweat his goose egg in the Knicks’ first game of the season, bouncing back from a scoreless road effort against the Grizzlies with a team-best 20 points in Friday’s home-opening win over the Pistons at the Garden.
Quickley also finished with seven rebounds and a team-leading seven assists in 27 minutes to spearhead a 61-point performance by the Knicks’ second unit.
“It was great to see him play like that. I thought he and the rest of the bench did a terrific job. They gave us a big, big lift,” coach Tom Thibodeau said of Quickley after the game. “I love when he shoots. I feel every time he shoots, particularly his 3s, I think they’re all going in. He puts a lot of pressure on the defense.”
Quickley had missed all six shot attempts — including three from 3-point distance — in Wednesday’s overtime loss in Memphis. But the third-year guard remained aggressive and connected on 8 of 14 field-goal attempts and made three of eight from long range against the Pistons.
Immanuel Quickley dribbles during the Knicks’ win over the Pistons. Noah K. Murray-NY Post“Really, I just trust in God’s plan and trust in my work. So I don’t feel like I have to press if I go 0-for-6, 0-for-10. It doesn’t really matter,” Quickley said after the game. “As long as I know that I’m doing all the right things, I don’t skip no steps every day, come in, work, do what I need to do and watch the film, see what I can do better and just live with whatever happens.”
Derrick Rose on Julius Randle’s play through two games: “His approach has been totally different. The way he’s reading the floor is totally different. His passing has been unbelievable. Understanding that we want to get up a certain amount of 3s and he’s finding the shooters. I can’t complain. He’s been playing great.”
