Knicks In-Season Tournament Is Over

The New York Knicks were in Milwaukee on Tuesday night for the quarterfinals of the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament to face Giannis Anteokounmpo, Dame Lillard, and the Milwaukee Bucks. It was a high scoring affair and with 53 seconds left in the first half the score was locked at 70 a piece. That kind of offensive pace is difficult for any team to keep up for an entire four quarters. For the Knicks who came into the contest allowing the fewest points in the NBA they scored 50 second half points but they allowed another 71 to Milwaukee and were beaten 146-122. The 146 points were the most points the Knicks have given up in a game since 1979.  The Bucks scored 37 points in the first quarter, 38 in the second quarter, and 37 in the third quarter.  The last time the Knicks allowed at least 37 points in the first three quarters of a game was 1962 against the Philadelphia 76ers which was the night Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points.

Milwaukee will advance to the semifinals of the event which will be played in Las Vegas.  Antetokounmpo had 35 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists for Milwaukee and Lillard had 28 points.  Knicks power forward Julius Randle had a game high 41 points and did not miss his first shot until well into the second half.  He finished the night making 14-19 shots.  Point guard Jalen Brunson finished with 24 points on 10-22 shooting.  Small Forward RJ Barrett finished 7-18 from the field with 23 points.  Guard Immanuel Quickley who has been so good for the Knicks off the bench the last two seasons had a rough night making just one of seven shots from the floor in 19 minutes.  It was a similar performance from Quickley as was seen in last spring’s playoffs where he struggled with his shot.

These tournament games also count as regular season games, and the Knicks now have a 12-8 record which currently has them in the Eastern Conference’s fifth spot.  They are no longer in contention to win the inaugural In-Season Tournament.  They will next play the Celtics in Boston on Friday night.  The Celtics were eliminated themselves from the tournament on Monday night with a loss to the Indiana Pacers.  The final four stage in Vegas for the semifinals to be played on Thursday will be the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference and Milwaukee and Indiana in the Eastern Conference.