RJ Barrett started the new season on fire, putting his first nine hits on the floor, including all three three-point attempts, in the Knicks’ first loss to Indiana.
Tom Thibodeau’s team will return to that location on Saturday night, and Barrett will seek to rediscover this touch after his percentages dropped dramatically in the next four games.
The second-year guard was hardly the only culprit in Thursday’s 100-83 loss in Toronto, Tampa. The Knicks finished a damn long-range 3-for-36 against the Raptors, including an NBA record of 23 straight errors without one from the top five.
Barrett, general election no. 3 in Duke’s 2019 draft, he has connected to just 26.3 percent (19-for-72) on the field since his hot start on Dec. 23 against the Pacers. He also launched 21 consecutive attempts beyond the three-point arc.
In fact, Barrett (0-for-8) and young striker Reggie Bullock (0-for-9) became the first teammates in NBA history to go 0-for-8 or worse from three points in the same game.
Barrett was not made available to the press after Thursday’s game, and the Knicks (2-3) did not train and did not make anyone available on New Year’s Day before Saturday’s visit to Indiana.
Thibodeau showed earlier in the week that Barrett “was great” and “played a full game” in back-to-back victories against Milwaukee and Cleveland. Despite his small number of players, Barrett, 20, has an average of 15.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in five games.
“He played well without shooting well. We know the filming will follow, “Thibodeau said on Wednesday. “He does a lot of things for us defensively, moving well without the ball. It becomes the valley.
“She has a lot of room for him to grow. He was diligent in his work. Just having a wing to do things he can do, his versatility is a great asset to the team and his willingness to play for people. “
Thibodeau said after the loss on Thursday that he wants to review the game’s film before commenting directly on Barrett’s and the team’s poor shooting game, especially since the Knicks led the league by 3 points (45.9%). .
“I think when the teams play the area, you’ll have a lot of issues open, but we’ll take a look at it,” Thibodeau said. “It’s the right game. For me, it’s like getting the game right, if you get the move, if you force the defense to collapse, you kick it out, and if one of your shooters is open, that’s all that’s going on.
“So if a guy is wide open, no one is less than five feet away, you have to shoot him.”
Even with his goal-scoring team, Thibodeau noted that the Knicks led by seven points in Thursday’s third quarter – and remained within three, with less than nine minutes left in the fourth – due to their defensive commitment. The Knicks allowed 105.2 points per game, the fifth lowest in the NBA.
“You always think you can do better. [Toronto] did not shoot a high percentage. Keep a team like this at 100 points, you should have a shot to win it “, said Thibodeau. “If we had done some of the three, we would probably have had a good chance of winning it.
“Our defense is something we have to keep working on – isolation on the ball, pressure on the ball. We are not perfect. I think if we make the effort, we fly around us, we put pressure on the ball and our weak side is conscious, we can cover [our] mistakes.”