Josh Giddey spoke candidly after the Thunder suffered another loss.
Plus it was a game to forget for the Warriors as the reigning champions were on the wrong end of a season-worst smashing.
Catch up on all of the day’s action in our NBA Wrap!
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GIDDEY SPEAKS CANDIDLY AFTER THUNDER’S LOSS TO KNICKS
The Knicks left New York immediately following an embarrassing loss to the Thunder on the Garden floor barely one week ago.
They headed back home Tuesday (all times AEDT) after sealing a winning record on a daunting five-game road trip with a redemptive victory over the team that smashed them for 145 points on Nov. 13 at MSG.
Jalen Brunson poured in 23 of his season-high 34 points in the second half — and Julius Randle and RJ Barrett bounced back from poor shooting performances Sunday in Phoenix to score 25 points apiece — as the Knicks seized a 129-119 victory at Paycom Center.
Randle, who scored a season-low nine points against the Suns, finished with 25 and 11 rebounds, while Barrett busted out of a five-game slump with 25 on 10-for-16 shooting, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range. Brunson connected on 14 of 20 field-goal attempts and also registered nine assists.
Mitchell Robinson played 13 minutes after returning to the line-up Sunday against the Suns following a nine-game injury absence, but the Knicks announced in the fourth quarter that their starting centre was ruled out again with right-knee soreness.
Immanuel Quickley added 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and Quentin Grimes had eight in 33 minutes in his second straight start as the Knicks evened their record at 9-9. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder (7-10) with 30 points and seven assists, and Lu Dort scored 24 points.
Aussie star Josh Giddey, who had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, was spoke candidly after the loss as the Thunder dropped their third game from their last four to fall to 7-9 while giving up over 120 points in each contest.
The Knicks had split the first four games of the trip — wins over the Jazz and Nuggets followed by losses to the Warriors and the Suns. Those four teams entered Tuesday’s action with a combined record of 25-4 on their home courts, with the lone losses for Utah and Denver coming last week against the Knicks.
“To me, it’s like every game is a game by itself. So you don’t come onto the trip looking at five games,” Tom Thibodeau said. “The first game we’re in Utah, they’re undefeated at home. We knew we’d have to play a great game. We did. The next night, back-to-back, going to be a challenge, undefeated Denver team at home. Played well enough to win the game. Obviously, that’s good.
“You’re coming out, you’re playing Golden State, the team that’s been a dominant home team. We knew we were going to get their best shot. And [Phoenix] is a terrific team, great team at home. … So your margin of error is very small.”
To salvage a winning record on the five-in-seven-days excursion, Thibodeau certainly needed a better effort defensively against Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder than the Knicks put forth when they were smacked for the most points they’ve allowed in any game this season in a 145-135 home loss at the Garden eight days earlier.
“Just a well-balanced team. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is just a monster, so is Giddey, and they’re really starting to shoot the ball well,” Thibodeau said.
Barrett, who inked a four-year extension worth a guaranteed $107 million over the summer, hardly could say the same over his previous five games. He’d missed 23 of 25 attempts from 3-point range while connecting on just 26.3 per cent from the floor overall (20-for-76) over his previous five appearances.
After totalling just 21 points on 7-for-22 shooting against the Suns, Barrett and Randle combined for 16 in the first quarter alone as the Knicks constructed a 38-34 lead through one.
Randle pushed his first-half scoring total to 16 as the Knicks extended their lead to 69-58 by intermission. The second quarter featured a 13-2 Knicks splurge midway through the period and an alley-oop dunk by Jericho Sims from a Barrett feed in the closing minutes. Quickley also tossed in nine points in the stanza, and Obi Toppin drilled a late 3-pointer after going 1-for-10 from long distance over the previous three games.
The Thunder slashed a 17-point Knicks cushion to seven midway through the third, but Brunson netted 12 in the quarter for a 98-87 game entering the final period.
-Originally published by Peter Botte in the New York Post
WARRIORS SUFFER SEASON-WORST BLOWOUT
An undermanned Golden State Warriors have suffered a massive 128-83 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in a season-worst showing from the reigning champions.
The 45-point differential marked the highest point differential in the league this season, while the Warriors’ 26 turnovers are tied for the most in a game this season with the Houston Rockets, according to StatMuse.
Playing without four of their starters in Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green (all rested), the Warriors went down early, trailing 35-16 at the end of the first quarter and going on to lose every other term.
Thompson was coming off a 41-point performance in Houston and was expected to miss the second end of the back-to-back. He hasn’t played both games in a back-to-back since returning in January from Achilles and knee ligament surgeries.
Curry, who had 33 points in Houston, was listed as out with right elbow soreness and Green for lower back injury management, while Kevon Looney was the only regular starter in the Warriors line-up and played just five minutes.
Simmons’ Nets & Curry’s Warriors win big | 01:19
Brandon Ingram led New Orleans with 34 points on 12-of-19 shooting, six rebounds and three steals, Jonas Valanciunas had a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double and Aussie Dyson Daniels was productive off the bench with nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 20 minutes.
CJ McCollum added 15 points for the Pelicans, who welcomed star forward Zion Williamson back after a three-game absence with a foot contusion.
For the Warriors, Jordan Poole poured in a team-high 26 points and Jonathan Kuminga added 18.
It marked New Orleans’ fourth win from its last five to improve to 10-7, wile Golden State fell to 8-10.
Ingram said the Pelicans tried not to let the late announcement that they wouldn’t face the Warriors’ top players unsettle them.
“That’s one of those messages where we say worry about ourselves,” he said. “Having Zion back in the line-up, we haven’t had much minutes with the starting group so it was important for us to try to get back and try to get our institution together for later games.”
ELSEWHERE …
The Chicago Bulls, led by 28 points from DeMar DeRozan, ended the Boston Celtics’ nine-game NBA winning streak with a 121-107 victory on Tuesday.
Zach LaVine, who was frustrated to be pulled from the waning minutes of the Bulls’ loss to Orlando on Saturday, scored 22 points.
Nikola Vucevic added 12 points and 13 rebounds for Chicago – who had also beaten the Celtics at home in October but fell to them in Boston on November 4 in the game that launched the Celtics’ streak.
At 13-4, the Celtics still own the best record in NBA basketball. Down by as many as 21 in the third quarter, Boston sliced the deficit to 10 with 4:49 to play, but couldn’t get over the hump.
LaVine drained a three-pointer and DeRozan passed to Alex Caruso for a reverse layup that pushed the Bulls’ lead to 116-101 with less than three minutes to go.
Embiid leads Sixers pass Bucks | 02:38
Jayson Tatum, scored 28 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and handed out seven assists in the defeat. Jaylen Brown added 25 points and seven rebounds for Boston.
In Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 37 points to lead the Bucks to a 119-111 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, who were without star Damian Lillard because of a calf strain.
In Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points and Darius Garland added 26 as the Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks 114-102.
Cedi Osman added 24 points off the bench and the Cavs drained 10 three-pointers as they gained a little payback for their loss to the Hawks in last season’s play-in tournament.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 25 points, but he scored just four in the fourth quarter as the Cavs – who led by three going into the final period – pulled away for the win.
ALL RESULTS
HAWKS 102 CAVALIERS 114
MAGIC 102 PACERS 123
CELTICS 107 BULLS 121
TRAIL BLAZERS 111 BUCKS 119
HEAT 101 TIMBERWOLVES 105
WARRIORS 83 PELICANS 128
KNICKS 129 THUNDER 119
JAZZ – CLIPPERS