The Knicks brought in a fresh new starting backcourt in the offseason in Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, but it’s still the old guard that dug the Knicks out of a hole for a key Monday win at the Garden.
The reserve backcourt of Immanuel Quickley and Derrick Rose spearheaded a fourth-quarter rally after the starting five built an 11-point deficit in the third quarter and the Knicks finally won a home game, 92-84, over the Pacers.
With the maligned starting backcourt of Walker/Fournier buried on the bench again for the game’s final 17 minutes, the Knicks responded with sensational defense in the fourth quarter, holding the Pacers to 10 points in the period as they shot 2 of 20.
Quickley, who has been hot the last six games after a slow start, finished with 16 points and made all four of his 3-pointers. Rose scored 14 points with seven assists as the Knicks bottled up the Pacers in the fourth quarter.
“Just the way the game unfolded — they had the rhythm going,’’ coach Tom Thibodeau said of rolling with Quickley, Rose and Alec Burks. “That’s how we’ll approach it. They [Rose-Quickley] have great chemistry.
“Quickley is a very underrated defender and a fierce competitor. He’s real shifty and knows he can create separation.’’
Thibodeau mixed and matched and found a potent closing unit.
Though Julius Randle struggled offensively, got booed and scored just 11 points with five turnovers, Thibodeau closed with him and his defense was a big part of the 23-10 fourth quarter. In fact, Randle took just one shot in the final period.
Thibodeau went out of his way to praise Randle’s energy, perhaps knowing the fans are getting on him.
“This is how we win games,’’ Randle said. “Getting down defensively. Ten points in the fourth is impressive. It’s Knicks basketball.’’
It hadn’t been in recent times, and they’d lost two straight heartbreakers. But the Knicks (8-6) moved to 3-4 at the Garden, breaking a four-game home losing streak.
Quickley dribbled out the clock and then skipped around the court — as he does after hitting one of his 3s.
Asked about his trademark skip, Quickley smiled. “It’s just fun playing at the Garden,’’ he said.
For the first time, Thibodeau revealed one factor in the Knicks reaching for Quickley at 25 in the 2020 draft was a big recommendation from his assistant coach Dice Yoshimoto, who was at the University of Georgia during Quickley’s final year at Kentucky.
It’s been previously reported Knicks executive William Wesley, close to the Kentucky program, and former Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne were the largest influencers.
“Dice told me, ‘Watch this kid, Quickley,’ ’’ Thibodeau said. “He hits every big shot for Kentucky.’’
Midway through the fourth quarter, Rose came out and instead of turning to Walker, Quickley and Burks ran the point and kept the offense humming and the defense frenetic.
“The thing you like about Alec — he can guard, shoot and dribble,’’ Thibodeau said. “He’s a Swiss Army knife.’’
A Quickley 3 gave the Knicks the lead for good at 83-82 with 4:50 left. Rose came back in to share the backcourt with Quickley and nailed a jumper for an 85-82 lead with 4:00 left and they were on their way.
It looked like déjà vu again with the starting five ready to cost the Knicks another game.
The starters didn’t come out for the third quarter with any crispness.
They were outscored by 10 points by the time Thibodeau dug into the bench with Taj Gibson midway through the quarter but only after the Pacers had built a 11-point lead, 67-56. Center Mitchell Robinson never returned because of a sprained ankle.
It continued an alarming third-quarter trend for the starters in the past five games as all five starters were a minus for the game.
“We’re a team,’’ Quickley said. “When they don’t have it we have it. When we don’t have it, they have it. We had a high sense of urgency. We didn’t want three games to slip away.’’