Immanuel Quickley's defense keeps him on court for Knicks
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) is defended by Knicks guards Miles McBride (2) and Immanuel Quickley (5) during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 23, 2023. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
CLEVELAND — Immanuel Quickley struggled through the first four games of the series on offense, averaging just 6.5 points and shooting 35.8% from the floor — including 27.3% from beyond the arc. And while the Knicks would like to get his explosive offense from the regular season as a sixth man, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is content to rely on Quickley’s defense.
Take it with a grain of salt — small sample size and a flawed statistic anyway — but Quickley entered Wednesday’s Game 5 as the NBA’s postseason leader with an 80.8 individual defensive rating. But it’s not wrong to consider his team defense as elite this season.
“Yeah, I think the defense,” Thibodeau said. “I always say that, if you're not making shots, you still can play well. He's demonstrated that. And I don't worry about him offensively. He's going to shoot the ball, and he will make [it]. So just get out there and help the team any way you can. And that's a big plus for us.”
Missing again
Quentin Grimes was listed as questionable with a right shoulder contusion and called a game-time decision by Thibodeau. But Grimes did not take the floor for pregame warmups and was ruled out shortly before game time. Jericho Sims also was sidelined with a sore right shoulder.
“it’s a quirky thing,” Thibodeau said when asked how Grimes suffered the injury in Game 3. “It happened during the course of the first half, you don’t know exactly when it happened. You’re running through a ton of screens, you’re getting hit. So somewhere along the line, he got hit.”
It wasn’t just Josh Hart’s singing that was caught with him mic’ed up Sunday. He also was in an exchange with Mitchell Robinson where he stressed the importance of the rebounds he grabs.
“Me and him always go back and forth with rebounds,” Hart explained Wednesday morning. "But I told him he gets regular rebounds, good rebounds that help. I get those rebounds that break teams. That’s what I want to do. Those are the plays that I want to make, that break teams.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
