BBNBA: Immanuel Quickley leads Knicks comeback with 26 points
Do you remember when Immanuel Quickley got hot near the end of his sophomore season at Kentucky and had all of Big Blue Nation fired up for what might happen in the postseason? Multiply that by the size of New York City and that is what is happening now.
Covid stole what was setting up to be an exciting March Madness back in 2020, but there are no impediments looming for the 2023 NBA playoffs, and Quickley has the Knicks piquing.
On Tuesday, IQ scored 14 of his team-high 26 points in the third quarter, leading the Knicks to a comeback win over the Portland Trail Blazers. He also added 10 rebounds, three assists, and a steal just to demonstrate his versatility.
Don’t look now, but Quickley has quietly scooted up to the second-favorite odds to win the NBA 6th Man of the Year award (an honor Kentucky’s favorite bucket, Tyler Herro won last season). IQ will be hard-pressed to surpass the current favorite, Malcolm Brogdon, by the end of the season. But as a leader for the red-hot Knicks’ rise up the standings, it is certainly possible, especially with Jalen Brunson out.
Julius Randle had a very Julius Randle game on Tuesday, scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while launching plenty of 3-pointers.
For the Trail Blazers, former Kentucky polarizing players, Shaedon Sharpe and Kevin Knox played sparingly. Sharpe knocked down two 3s in seven minutes of action and Knox got a courtesy two minutes of walk-on time when the game was out of reach.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander returns to the lineup and dominates
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been dealing with a few minor ailments that have kept him day-to-day on the injury report, but when he plays, he dominates. That was certainly the case on Tuesday night when he dropped 35 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder over the Brooklyn Nets 121-107.
SGA also knabbed eight boards and dished out four assists.
Similar to Quickley and the 6th Man award, Gilgeous-Alexander has the second-best odds to win NBA’s Most Improved Player. He had been the front-runner all season long but recently fellow first-time All-Star Lauri Markkanen’s excellent play in Utah has tipped the odds in his favor. Shai’s intermittent availability likely helped halt his momentum as well.
Still, there is plenty of time to excel, as the Thunder have won six of their last seven games and keep things interesting in a very crowded Western Conference race to the playoffs.
Anthony Davis has another routine Godzilla performance
Did someone say a crowded Western Conference race to the playoffs?
Ludicrous stat lines are becoming the norm for Anthony Davis, as the Lakers look for a late-season playoff push without LeBron James. On Tuesday, AD finished with 35 points and 17 rebounds en route to a 123-108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, another day in the office for the Brow.
Top 10
- 1
Kirby Smart
UGA head coach calls out ESPN, officials
- 2New
SEC admits mistake
SEC releases statement on reversed PI
- 3
Sark stands by Quinn
Steve Sarkisian reaffirms Quinn Ewers as starter
- 4
Bama fans: “Bench Milroe”
Alabama fans react to 24-17 loss to Tennessee
- 5
Police save goalpost
Neyland security stops Tennessee fans from taking down goalposts
Jarred Vanderbilt got the start once again and had a quintessential played-better-than-his-stats-would-indicate type of game, his specialty. Vando ended up with four points, eight rebounds, three assists, and a steal, but had a whopping +22 in the +/- category.
The third player in Hollywood’s Kentucky trio, Wenyen Gabriel, chipped in six points and eight boards in 15 minutes off the bench.
Booker drops 30, but the Suns can’t get past the Bucks
The new Devin & Kevin buddy cop movie in Phoenix is off to a shaky start. Sure, the Suns are 3-0 when Durant has been in the lineup, but they are 4-6 in the 10 games he has been unable to take the floor due to the injury of the moment.
To compensate for Durant’s absence, Devin Booker has tried to put the Suns on his shoulder, but it turns out carrying celestial bodies is not that easy. Book has scored at least 30 points in six of his last seven games, and the one time he failed to reach that milestone he had 28. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been enough as the Suns lost to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, their third straight, despite another 30-point Booker effort.
Suns fans are praying Durant gets healthy soon as they look longingly at the Brooklyn Nets box scores and see Mikal Bridges averaging 26 points per game since being traded.
Other BBNBA Notes
- Jamal Murray had another tough shooting night, scoring 14 points on just 1-8 from behind the arc as the Denver Nuggets fell to the Toronto Raptors, their fourth-straight loss.
- In BBNBA injury news, Keldon Johnson sat out with the same nagging left foot injury and Hamidou Diallo did not play due to an ankle sprain. However, on a positive note, Karl Anthony Towns has reached the “resumed basketball activities” part of his rehab and expects to return to action in the coming weeks.
3/14 Statistics
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | MIN | +/- |
| Anthony Davis (LAL) | 123-108 W vs. NOP | 35 | 11-18 (1-2) | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33 | +18 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) | 121-107 W vs. BRK | 35 | 12-24 (1-1) | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 36 | +12 |
| Devin Booker (PHX) | 104-116 L vs. MIL | 30 | 13-27 (1-3) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 43 | -7 |
| Immanuel Quickley (NYK) | 123-107 W vs. POR | 26 | 8-14 (4-8) | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 34 | +8 |
| Julius Randle (NYK) | 123-107 W vs. POR | 24 | 8-20 (0-5) | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 34 | +8 |
| Jamal Murray (DEN) | 110-125 L vs. TOR | 14 | 5-18 (1-8) | 2 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 40 | -20 |
| PJ Washington (CHA) | 104-120 L vs. CLE | 9 | 4-7 (0-2) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 35 | -14 |
| Nick Richards (CHA) | 104-120 L vs. CLE | 7 | 3-3 (0-0) | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 23 | -17 |
| Wenyen Gabriel (LAL) | 123-108 W vs. NOP | 6 | 3-6 (0-1) | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | -3 |
| Shaedon Sharpe (POR) | 107-123 L vs. NYK | 6 | 2-5 (2-4) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | -12 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt (LAL) | 123-108 W vs. NOP | 4 | 1-4 (0-2) | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 28 | +22 |
| Kevin Knox (POR) | 107-123 L vs. NYK | 0 | 0-0 (0-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Keldon Johnson (SAS) | 132-114 W vs. ORL | DNP-Foot | ||||||||
| Nerlens Noel (BRK) | 107-121 L vs. OKC | DNP-CD | ||||||||
| Hamidou Diallo (DET) | 97-117 L vs. WAS | DNP-Ankle |
Tonight in the NBA
7:30 (ESPN): 76ers (Maxey) @ Cavaliers
7:30: Grizzlies @ Heat (Adebayo, Herro)
8:00: Kings (Fox, Monk, Lyles) @ Bulls
8:00: Lakers (Davis, Vanderbilt, Gabriel) @ Rockets (T. Washington)
8:00: Celtics @ Timberwolves (Towns)
8:30: Mavericks @ Spurs (Johnson)
10:00 (ESPN): Warriors @ Clippers (Boston)
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard