The Spurs bring the Knicks back to earth with one never questioned after the third quarter, won by the Texans 36-21. The top scorer in San Antonio – the ninth other than the start of the season – is Trey Lyles with 18 points. Dejounte Murray adds 17 but it is the depth of coach Popovich’s bench (55 points scored against 44 of that of the Knicks, which however has 26 only from Quickley) to make the news.
Winning in 7 of the last 9, the Knicks run into a bad evening in which, for the first time since February 17, they fail to exceed 100 at the end of the race. Of the 93 points scored, 26 are signed by the excellent rookie Immanuel Quickley, increasingly convincing. Taking advantage of the minutes freed from the absence of Derrick Rose, Quickley takes 21 shots, sending 6 triples out of 13. In double double Julius Randle (14 with 11 rebounds, less productive than usual), New York also has 15 points with 5/9 shot by RJ Barrett