Immanuel Quickley’s scoring off the bench has been a major strength for the Knicks all season, so much so that he finished as the runner-up for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
But Quickley played a season-low nine minutes in Tuesday’s 111-105 win over the Heat in Game 2 to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The combo guard scored six points, and he’s averaging 8.6 points per game in seven postseason games, down from 14.9 in the regular season.
“We need him,” Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “Like, just get out there, and he got going a little bit [in the second half].
“He’s got a knack for putting the ball in the basket, and I don’t want him overthinking it. Shoot your shot, when he’s aggressive and attacking, he’ll be fine. We’ve seen him now, as everyone knows, he’s a scorer.”
The Knicks’ four-man second unit was outscored by Miami’s backups 17-2 in the first half — with the lone points scored by Quickley, who missed all four of his 3-point attempts in the game.
He is shooting 24.1 percent from long distance (7-for-29) in the playoffs.
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Obi Toppin, who scored 18 points while starting in place of Julius Randle in Game 1, was held without a point in Game 2, missing both of his field-goal attempts in 10 minutes of action.
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Josh Hart made his fourth consecutive start in place of Quentin Grimes, who played 10 minutes off the bench in Game 1 after missing the final two games of the first round against the Cavaliers with a shoulder injury.
Grimes played 25 minutes Tuesday night, including nearly all of the fourth quarter.
“I like [Grimes’] defense and obviously the shooting piece of it,” Thibodeau said.
The MSG crowd featured its normal assemblage of high-watt celebrities, but also Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, two players from the previous Knicks squad to reach the second round in 2013.
Anthony received one of the loudest ovations of the night.
Jalen Brunson received one fifth-place vote for league MVP and tied for 12th in the balloting.
