The Knicks were able to clinch a playoff berth Sunday night despite missing two of their three leading scorers by achieving something they hadn’t done in five years.
RJ Barrett joined All-Star forward Julius Randle on the sidelines due to a non-COVID illness, missing his first game since returning from a lacerated finger in January.
The Knicks boasted four 20-point scorers in the same game — Jalen Brunson and Quentin Grimes with 27 apiece, Immanuel Quickley with 22 and Obi Toppin with 21 — for the first time since December 2018 against Milwaukee.
“The ball was moving. We were just out there, just having fun, moving the ball and just playing freely,” said Toppin, who played the entire second half, along with Grimes. “It feels good, but I just got to come back here and do what I gotta do every single day to help the team win.”
Toppin’s minutes partly were extended because Josh Hart briefly left the court in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be an ankle issue. He got re-taped and returned to the bench but didn’t get back in the game.
“It’s cool,” Hart said. “I’ve played through worse.”
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The Wizards were without four starters: Knicks All-Star Kristaps Porzingis (non-COVID illness), plus Bradley Beal (knee), Kyle Kuzma (ankle) and Monte Morris (ankle).
The fading Mavericks’ overtime loss — their 16th in 22 games — to the Hawks on Sunday gave them the 10th-worst record in the NBA, which is significant for the Knicks. The Mavs’ first-round pick — acquired in the 2019 Porzingis trade — is top-10 protected, meaning it won’t convey to the Knicks this year if Dallas finishes with a pick among the first 10 spots in the draft lottery.
Randle missed his second straight game after spraining his left ankle last Wednesday against the Heat, and he wore a protective boot while seated on the bench. He is slated to miss at least the remainder of the regular season before being reevaluated ahead of the start of the playoffs.
“Just follow the protocol they’re laying out for you. That’s all you can do,” Tom Thibodeau said. “So work your way through it, day by day. When he’s healthy, he’ll go. He’s just following their protocol, a lot of treatment, that sort of thing.”
Veteran guard Evan Fournier returned to Thibodeau’s nine-man rotation for the first time since early February in place of Barrett, but he didn’t score in seven minutes off the bench.
