CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tom Thibodeau’s facilities didn’t do this earlier than.
On his second shot in a Knicks uniform Sunday, Karl-Anthony Cities pulled up from 27 toes and buried a 3-pointer, the primary glimpse at each the vary and confidence of New York’s star 7-footer.
Nonetheless, Cities struggled together with his shot after that conversion.
He missed 4 of 5 3-pointers and completed with 10 factors in quarter-hour because the Knicks beat the Hornets, 111-109.
Oct. 6. NBAE through Getty Photographs
Extra noteworthy was Cities being outrebounded by Charlotte heart Nick Richards, 8-4, earlier than sitting the second half.
Cities will bury his treys and house the ground — as he’s achieved at a excessive clip his complete profession — however defending the rim and paint, each Thibodeau staples, are query marks.
On his earlier workforce, they had been sufficiently big issues for Minnesota to accumulate Rudy Gobert for these duties.
preseason sport on Oct. 6. NBAE through Getty Photographs
Thibodeau mentioned he was solely trying to set up a “baseline” within the preseason opener, so the hope is there’s progress towards a cleaner sport and common rotation by the preseason finale on Oct. 18 in Washington.
“You’ve been going by coaching camp and so it’ll be good to go towards some completely different faces,” the coach mentioned. “All of the issues we’ve been engaged on, to see it in a sport scenario. Simply get began.”
The Knicks unveiled their complete high-profile beginning 5 on Sunday, with Jalen Brunson at level guard, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges on the wings, and Cities at heart.
Brunson, enjoying his first sport as Knicks captain, was the beginning lineup’s main scorer and a sometimes artful ball handler, dropping 12 factors on 5 of 11 taking pictures with three assists.
He and Cities accounted for 22 of the starters’ 30 factors.
The group performed lower than a half, so the pattern measurement is minuscule.
on Oct. 6. NBAE through Getty Photographs
However the shot distribution was attention-grabbing in that it might challenge ahead, simply based mostly on Brunson and Cities being high-volume scorers.
Bridges, making his Knicks debut after main the Nets in scoring final season, tried solely 5 photographs with 4 factors.
He additionally drew the hardest defensive project in Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball.
Anunoby, simply handed a $212 million contract, had 4 factors whereas taking simply three photographs.
Hart, a daily triple-double producer final season, went scoreless on two photographs with one rebound and one help.
Thibodeau simply wished the reps.
“I believe it’s vital for us as a result of Mikal clearly is new, KAT hasn’t performed with these guys, and OG performed in a really restricted period of time,” Thibodeau mentioned. “Mainly you’ve received a brand new beginning 5 that has to get acclimated to enjoying collectively. After which we have now a special bench, too, so these guys need to get some work collectively as properly.”
As anticipated, the Knicks’ second unit was Miles McBride, Valuable Achiuwa, Landry Shamet, Cam Payne and Jericho Sims.
McBride was aggressive with a game-high 22 factors on 18 photographs, whereas Shamet added 16 factors in 27 minutes.
The Hornets had an opportunity to win on the charity stripe with 2.5 seconds remaining, however Duane Washington Jr. missed all of his free throws after being fouled on a 3-point try. Washington, satirically, was among the many many gamers despatched away by the Knicks within the Cities commerce. He was given more money within the deal — primarily signed to a assured contract solely as a result of the Knicks wanted to match salaries — and Sunday was a small payback.
