NEW YORK — Fast and Efficient, starring the New York Knicks.
After those training camp declarations of picking up the pace to boost the stagnant offense, Tom Thibodeau’s squad put it into practice Friday night with a 130-106 blowout over the Pistons in the home opener.
They shot 53% with the scoring spread evenly and the ball rarely stopping. The Pistons could’ve warmed up the bus in the second quarter.
Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin all scored in double-digits. Dead last in pace last season, the Knicks played speedball with 95 field goal attempts and 29 assists.
The beatdown commenced after the insertion of the Knicks reserves, who entered with a two-point lead in the first quarter and turned it into 22.
Rose was the catalyst. He picked up the pace and teammates followed, with Toppin igniting the fans with his transition finishing.
Rose’s was notably efficient. The Knicks outscored Detroit by 23 points in his 16 minutes. Quickley had a team-high 20 points. In his first home game with the Knicks, Brunson finished with 17 points and six assists.
The Knicks (1-1) were coming off Wednesday’s opening night loss to the Grizzlies, an overtime affair that fell unfavorably to New York because of Ja Morant’s athletic brilliance.
But the Grizzlies are a borderline contender and the Pistons are projected for basement-dwelling again. The Knicks probably fall somewhere in between, and they emphatically handled business against an inferior opponent Friday night.
The sold-out crowd was clearly eager for the opener, giving huge pops to Toppin and Barrett during the pregame introductions. The Garden burst into joy after Evan Fournier hit the game-opening 3-pointer.
The only letdown to the experience was the lack of drama on the scoreboard.
The Pistons are rebuilding and looked the part. Besides their porous defense, they shot just 59 percent from the foul line, with Hamidou Diallo missing badly on his first five attempts.
The Knicks pummeled the Pistons in the preseason and coach Dwane Casey was hoping it served as a learning experience. They didn’t learn much.
“They beat the crap out of us, spanked us,” Casey said about the preseason contest. “Playing an exhibition game gave us a good taste of who the Knicks really are. Typical Tom Thibodeau team, physical, hard-playing, aggressive, and typical old school Eastern Conference team.”
------
