After attempting ten shots in the first half of this game, Michael Beasley attempted only three field goals in the second, and one of them was a putback layup attempt. I’m not saying it was tanking, but…it was tanking. Beasley was told in the locker room at halftime not to take so many shots in the second half because he was unstoppable. He couldn’t miss, and players who can’t miss have the unfortunate tendency to win the game for their team.
We all wanted Beasley to show out and dominate after Kristaps went down (RIP in peace), but it turns out that he needs a functional team around him in order to be effective. It’s not a coincidence that the most success he had in recent memory was with the Rockets, who were (and still are) a legitimate NBA team with NBA-level talent at every position. In the past weeks, as the Knicks losses have piled up, Beasley has had many single-digit scoring games. He was astoundingly efficient in this one, but will probably regress in the coming games, leaving us with blue balls yet again.