The Knicks have already recorded some impressive victories this season against some of the NBA’s most anticipated teams, including Milwaukee, Utah and Boston.
A foot-to-foot victory on Sunday over the Big Clippers would have shaken a full garden from its foundation to the rafters, but the Knicks ran out of steam in their empty home arena in a 129-115 loss. mostly fun compared to Los Angeles. .
Debutant goalkeeper Immanuel Quickley appeared ready to face a comeback from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter with 11 of his 25 points in the fourth, including some 3 points to pull them in two with less eight minutes left.
But former Knicks striker Marcus Morris, who was switched to last year’s deadline for a possible 25th general election that allowed the Knicks to draw Quickley, fell into a corner 3 to reopen the LA leadership to nine. Kawhi Leonard (28 points) pushed her back over double figures with 5:40 to go while the Clippers (16-5) moved away.
Reggie Jackson finished with 18 points and Paul George had 17, while the Clippers pulled 17-for-38 (43.2 percent) from the 3-point range.
Julius Randle led the Knicks with 27 points and 12 rebounds, and RJ Barrett added 23 to 9-for-14 for the Knicks (9-12). They will play the next two games on Monday and Wednesday in Chicago, where Tom Thibodeau coached the Bulls between 2010-15.
From the start, this was not a lethargic afternoon pattern tipoff at MSG, as both teams pulled more than 50% of the floor in a first half back and forth. The score was now 66-65 for Clippers at the break.
The Knicks buried eight of the top 10 on the field, including five early points on each of Randle and Reggie Bullock, to get an 18-15 lead in the middle of the first quarter. Their lead was extended to seven on Barrett’s steal and slam, with just under three minutes left, but the period ended with the Knicks ahead, 31-29.
Quickley provided a new 10-point spark from the bench in the second quarter, while Randle and Barrett combined for 29 before the break, helping the Knicks stay on the break at some point.
The Clippers won the first seven points of the second half and built the first double-digit lead (12) for both teams, with Jackson scoring 10 in a session for a 101-91 game that entered the final quarter.