Young Knicks provide hope even with loss to Heat

The standings would tell you that Tuesday night’s loss in Miami for the Knicks meant little - a pair of sub-.500 teams facing off in a nearly empty arena. But for the Knicks, it might mean something else - a meeting with a team that they realize is still the defending Eastern Conference champions and a chance for their young team to test the developmental process.

While the focus was on the debut of Derrick Rose, who joined the team and was cleared in time to get on the court and show that he is an offensive upgrade from any guard on the roster, the 32-year-old was hardly a surprise. Rose is a former MVP, a player who was still averaging 14.2 points per game in Detroit this season before the trade to the Knicks.

For the Knicks, the more important moments came in times like RJ Barrett taking - and missing - the potential game-tying shot when he took Jimmy Butler to the rim. It came in rookie Immanuel Quickley entering the game as a backcourt pairing with Rose, and flourishing immediately. And it came with Obi Toppin seeming to suddenly find his speed as the quick and dangerous Rose upped the pace of the offense.

The discussion has been whether the arrival of Rose would take minutes from Quickley, but in the first test it showed that perhaps the more important thing is that he can enhance the development by helping to make the Knicks relevant again.

"Everything is important. You can’t skip over any steps," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "It’s important to concentrate on daily improvement. If you take all the necessary steps and doing the right things, the results will take care of themselves. I want each day to be about learning and improving.

"Some days in the games we may fall short but I want us to learn from that. Then, hopefully, we can take it forward and continue to get better and turn it into wins. That’s one of the things I love about our team. I love their attitude and approach each and every day. There was disappointment in losing last night. But today it’s let’s get in, watch film and work and have a great practice and get better. That’s all you can ask for."

While Rose and Quickley each may put point guard on their job description first, they do have the versatility to play together and that was evident as they keyed a 25-5 run when they entered the game in the first half.

"It shouldn't be too hard with him," Rose said. "We're similar. He's getting double-teamed in his rookie year. There ain't too many rookies getting that type of attention. For him to see that kind of early, it's just going to make his game better. The game is going to slow down more.

"And he listens. That's the greatest thing about him, he listens. With that, you always got room for improvement. He's a dog. He's a dog. I can't explain it. You've got to be a player to understand it. We're in a fight, I know he's fighting."

If it was a fight the Knicks lost Tuesday. But as much as coaching and minutes can teach, so can standing alongside a veteran in a tight game against a well-coached, battle-tested team.

"I feel like playing in games like yesterday, Miami’s a really good team," Toppin said. "They won the Eastern Conference finals last year. Having an opportunity to play against those guys and see where I was against those type of guys, it felt great to be out there."

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

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.