Knicks Takeaways from Tuesday's 128-102 loss to Bucks, including RJ Barrett's career high in threes made

Barrett scores 20 points in back-to-back games for first time in his career

1/15/2020, 3:25 AM
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The Bucks handled things from start to finish Tuesday night in Milwaukee, sending the Knicks back to New York with a 128-102 loss. >> Box Score

Five things to know from Sunday's game

1) The Bucks came out hot and all but ended the game in the first few minutes of action, going up 18-4 less than half way through the first quarter. Despite the Knicks coming back to make it 29-23 after 12 minutes, the Bucks went on a 36-17 to take a 25-point lead at halftime. Milwaukee got out to as large as a 35-point lead Tuesday night. New York's offense struggled without its leading scorer in Marcus Morris, who missed his fifth straight game due to a neck injury.

 

2) RJ Barrett had back-to-back 20 point games for the first time in his career Tuesday, putting up 22 points after scoring 23 in the Knicks' upset win over the Heat on Sunday. Barrett set a career-high in three pointers made as well, hitting an efficient 5-of-6 shots from beyond the arc as he tried to pick up the slack for New York.

3) Julius Randle carried a large part of the offense on his back on the night, putting up 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting, while also grabbing 15 rebounds. Randle did however lead the team in turnovers with four, but it would be hard to argue that those turnovers were the main contributions to the Knicks' downfall Tuesday night -- considering they had just nine total as a team.

4) Giannis Antetokounmpo played just 21 minutes, but still managed to dominate the Knicks with 37 points (12-of-17 shooting), nine rebounds and four assists. 

5) Elfrid Payton was ejected midway through the game, leaving Kadeem Allen as the only true point guard available for the Knicks the rest of the way -- Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr. both did not play due to injury.

6) Bobby Portis continued to produce from the bench, adding 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and grabbing eight boards.

7) In three games against Milwaukee this season, the Knicks have been outscored 383-292 -- a 91-point difference that averages out to over a 30-point blowout in each meeting.

Highlights

What's next

The Knicks will play host to the Phoenix Suns this Thursday night at Madison Square Garden at 7:30 PM.

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