Getty RJ Barrett and Taj Gibson during Game Four of the New York Knicks first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks.
After tying their series with the Atlanta Hawks in Game Two, the New York Knicks lost back-to-back games at State Farm Arena and face elimination in Game Five.
But second-year wing RJ Barrett didn’t want to hear any talk of it being the last game of the season, when speaking with reporters (via the New York Post) after practice early on Wednesday:
I ain’t thinking about that. We’re winning tonight. I ain’t thinking about that. C’mon, bro. Stupid-ass question.
The 20-year old has struggled this series, as has anyone else in a Knicks uniform not named Derrick Rose. But he bounced back in Game Four, putting up 21 points on eight-of-15 shooting from the field.
New York will need even more from Barrett, among others if they’re to defy the odds on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden and extend this series to six games.
Barrett Humble After Game Four
Even with RJ Barrett seemingly finding his footing in Game Four, a loss is a loss, and the 20-year old treated it that way when speaking with the media (via the New York Post) after the game:
I just played harder. I didn’t really think about it. Coach [Tom Thibodeau] told me to be aggressive and be myself and that’s what I did.
He credited the New York Knicks sloppiness on the defensive end, allowing the Atlanta Hawks to repeatedly go on runs as the primary culprit for their three games to one deficit:
We can’t let them go on those runs. In the third, when they went on a run, we weren’t really able to stop it. We’ve got to be aggressive. We were aggressive in the first half and we got good results.
Who Barrett wouldn’t give (complete) credit to, was point guard Trae Young, despite his strong showing this series:
They have a lot of guys, not just Trae. You’ve got to guard their whole team. We’ll figure it out, just go back and watch film. We’ll figure it out.
His confidence sustained over the following days, leading up to a candid, yet stoic interview on Wednesday.
Barrett: ‘Very locked in’
If nothing else, the New York Knicks appear confident ahead of their win or go home matchup on Wednesday night.
Barrett continued to deny losing as a potential outcome for Game Five (via the New York Post) when speaking with reporters. He and the Knicks are all aware of what it will take to pull out the win:
Very locked in, very confident. (We) had a couple of days to prepare. We have to bring even more fight. X’s and O’s are cool but we really got to play hard. We have to bring the fight to them.
And Barrett also knows that each made basket, each miss, and every mistake is going to count in this one:
It’s just bringing the fight to them. Normally the hungrier team wins. That’s what we got to be. We can’t win them at all at once. We got to go quarter by quarter, possession by possession.
The entirety of the New York Knicks season has been predicated on overachieving.
They’ll get one more chance to do so in Game Five on Wednesday night.
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