Knicks cough up 13-point lead in third quarter, fall to Utah Jazz for third straight loss
Austin Rivers was briefly incredible and Donovan Mitchell was miserable throughout. But the Knicks still managed to get blown out Tuesday by the Jazz, 108-94.
Rivers’ shooting hand was aflame in the first half. His heat checks kept coming up positive. But after hitting his first 10 shots for 25 points in 12 minutes, including five from beyond the arc, the backup guard was subbed out and never scored again. The Jazz (13-4), the league’s hottest team, capitalized on Rivers’ extended absence by erasing a 13-point deficit in the third quarter. Utah then dominated the fourth quarter for its ninth straight win despite Mitchell shooting 3-for-15 overall. The Knicks (8-11) lost their third straight with Immanuel Quickley and Alec Burks missing a combined 21 of 25 shots. They let go of the rope down the stretch.
Rivers fell one conversion short of tying the franchise record for consecutive shots. But in the midst of the streak, Rivers was pulled after picking up his third foul with 4:34 remaining in the second quarter. He didn’t return until there was 4:11 left in the third quarter, with Thibodeau sticking with his starters despite their drought after halftime.
Rivers missed his final four shots, finished with 25 points on 10-for-14 from the field. Quickley, who to two nights earlier scored a career-high 31 points, followed up on his worst game as a pro by shooting 1-for-11. Rudy Gobert led the Jazz with 19 rebounds and 18 points.
The last time Rivers caught fire was also against the Jazz on Jan. 6, when he scored 14 straight Knicks points down the stretch of a victory at MSG. But he entered Tuesday on a mini-slump while shooting a combined 4-for-16 in his previous four games.
The defeat marked the end of a four-game Western Conference road trip, with the Knicks finishing 1-3. They’ve played just seven of their 19 games at home. They’ve also managed to avoid any COVID-related postponements, leaving them tied with the Nets for the most games played in the league.
Rivers acknowledged the team was fatigued heading into Tuesday.
“We’re definitely tired. Our schedule, I would challenge anybody to put up their schedule versus ours,” Rivers said. “I don’t know how a schedule could be tougher than what we’ve played. Physically and mentally. At the same time it is what it is. Here we are. I don’t know. We’re fatigued but we’re ready to go.”
Thibodeau wouldn’t use the schedule as an excuse, noting it will even out. Eventually, the postponed COVID games will have to be replayed in a condensed fashion and the Knicks will get to rest.
“The schedule is the schedule. It’s balanced,” Thibodeau said. “Sometimes it’s in your favor where you may have a home stretch where you’re playing every other day or you may have a couple days in between. The thing that makes this a little more unusual with the COVID stuff is you could be walking into teams that are off for an extended period of time. But that’s all part of it, as I mentioned before. you could probably find an excuse for every game.”
