In the NBA, as in life, home cooking generally tastes better, and the New York Knicks got a healthy helping of it on Monday night. Riding a three-game skid into their showdown with the Houston Rockets at MSG, the Knicks detonated a 137-point bomb to secure the slump-busting win.
Consequently, they put another full game between themselves and the sixth-place Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference standings while moving to 10 games above the .500 mark once more.
While the hot hands were aplenty in the contest — the Knicks connected on a scorching 58.1% of their field-goal attempts overall and drilled 17 of their 39 tries from behind the arc — none rose to the temperature of Immanuel Quickley’s. Over 30 minutes of action in relief of the injured Jalen Brunson, Quickley dropped a career-high 40 points on 14-of-18 shooting (and 5-of-7 from deep).
In the immediate aftermath of the outburst — which also saw him dish out nine assists — Quickley served up a big-time shout-out for the building and crowd that comprise his professional basketball home.
“THE GARDEN!!!! NO PLACE LIKE IT!!!! ” Quickley tweeted.
Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau Raves Over Immanuel Quickley’s Career Night Versus the Rockets
Quickley wasn’t the only one who has hyped over his 40-piece on Monday. For his part, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was effusive in his praise of the 23-year-old.
“He’s always been an explosive scorer and that’s what I like about him,” Thibodeau said during his postgame presser. But that’s not all the Knicks’ play-caller likes; not by a longshot.
“I’ve said this many times — I don’t know what he is other than a good basketball player. Like, if you need scoring, he can score. If you need playmaking… he had, what, nine assists? He’s effective starting, he’s effective coming off the bench, you can play him at the point, you play him at the two, play him at the three… You plug and play with him and he plays well with everyone.
“So, it was a really good game by him and he’s not afraid and that’s what I like about him. If he misses a shot, he’s coming right down and he’s going to take another one. That’s what we need from him.”
Thibodeau observed that Quickley’s exploits also empowered the baller’s teammates to elevate their own games as well.
“When you get going like that, now they’re gonna [give you] more attention [defensively] — playmake. Play off of that and create easy offense for your teammates, create rhythm for your teammates. We had 35 assists, so I thought the ball moved well and that’s what we need to do.”
Quickley Putting His Best Foot Forward in Sixth Man of the Year Race
Make no mistake — Quickley has been in the conversation for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award for multiple months now. However, his case for the year-end hardware has only improved in recent weeks.
Since February 11 (a sample size of 19 games), Quickley has averaged a cool 18.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals per outing while hitting paydirt on 47.6% of his shot attempts overall and 38.9% from three-point range. Over that same stretch, New York has posted a 13-6 record.
As of this writing, Quickley is a -195 favorite to take home the trophy at FanDuel.
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Knicks’ Immanuel Quickley Sends Strong Message Amid ‘Explosive’ Performance