Jalen Brunson wasn’t available for the Knicks game against the Houston Rockets on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. That was OK because Immanuel Quickley admirably picked up the slack during New York’s 137-115 victory.
The 23-year-old point guard went off for 40 points, which is a new career-high mark. It wasn’t just the final number that was eye-popping, though. How he reached that plateau was even more impressive.
Quickley scored his 40 points in an efficient manner. In fact, his effort was the most efficient in Knicks history:
Immanuel Quickley last night:
✅ 40 PTS (career high)
✅ 9 AST
✅ 14-18 FG
✅ 5-7 3P
✅ 7-9 FTQuickley recorded an effective field goal percentage of 91.7%, the highest such figure in a 40-point game in @nyknicks history.
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— Justin Kubatko (@jkubatko) March 28, 2023
That’s a way to make your mark, right? But his combination of points scored, assists, and high shooting percentage was something we’ve seen done before in Knicks history. It just hasn’t been done very often, and it hasn’t been done in a while:
Immanuel Quickley is the first Knicks player with 40 points, 5 assists and 75% shooting in a game since Nate Robinson in 2010.
He is the 5th Knicks player to do this, including the reg. season and playoffs pic.twitter.com/0VRb2vMVST
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 28, 2023
This was his third such performance of at least 30 points this year in 75 games played. He scored 36 on December 27th in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs and 38 on March 5th in a win over the Boston Celtics.
Now in his third NBA season, Quickley is on the verge of setting new single-season career-high marks in points (14.1) and rebounds (4.1) per game, while also adding 3.3 assists per night.
More importantly, he helped the Knicks snap a three-game losing streak. They’re now 43-33 as they continue holding onto the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed. The Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat are their closest competition right now, as they’re each 3.5 games behind New York.
Coincidentally enough, the Knicks will welcome the Heat to The Garden on Wednesday night.
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You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
