The New York Knicks suffered their biggest loss of the NBA season so far, defeated 126-101 by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Knicks were outclassed by OKC on their way to losing a fourth game in the last five, their sole win in that span coming against the lowly Toronto Raptors.
It looked like a blowout in Madison Square Garden from the tip-off, with OKC charging to a 31-17 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Knicks never recovered.
This was a strong bounce back for OKC after their loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier in the week.
This was a second successive win for the Oklahoma City Thunder over the New York Knicks, with Isaiah Hartenstein coming out on top against his former team.
Hartenstein has been impressive since joining OKC and looks like a great acquisition for the Western Conference leaders.
Former Knicks player Wally Szczerbiak told MSG Network he was impressed by the contribution Hartenstein is making in OKC.
He said: “His athleticism, his mobility, really caused problems for the Knicks. And then the way he can pass, the way the floor was opened up, the Knicks couldn’t make the Thunder pay for playing small.
“There were times where the Thunder had five guards out there and the Knicks couldn’t keep up with their speed. They just had the Knicks just moving all over the place on the defensive end of the floor, and the point of attack was a real problem for the Knicks to slow down.”
MVP contender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the scoring for OKC with 39 points. And in somewhat of a rarity in today’s NBA, this included only one three pointer.
Szczerbiak added that he felt SGA could have had a lot more than the 39, “It just seemed like he could have had 60 if he wanted to.”
Commenting on his style of scoring, he compared him to NBA legend Michael Jordan, with the way he does not need threes to spike his numbers.
He said: “Incredible athlete. He reminds me a little bit of MJ. He’s very elastic out there, and the way he just slithers in the paint, the way he gets wherever he wants. I mean, he leaves defenders completely flat footed.
“Remember, he’s 6” 6 with his speed, that’s how tall Michael Jordan was, too. And he gets to his spots. He’s really simple. The shots that he takes and makes and he does the game comes easy to him. It really does.
“His first step is as good of a first step, as there is in the NBA, right up there with Ja Morant, but he’s bigger than Ja Morant, so he can finish around the rim and he doesn’t have to rely on his athleticism.”
SGA is averaging 31.5 points per game this season and scoring 52.7 per cent of his field goals.
OKC rank first in the Western Conference with a 31-6 record, while the Knicks remain third in the Eastern Conference despite their poor form, 25-14 overall, five wins ahead of the fourth placed Milwaukee Bucks.
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