Any meatball on an NBA roster can hit a few garbage layups, maybe get fouled a few times, and fool people into thinking they had a “good” scoring game. Literally anyone can do it. You know how many promising-on-the-surface vids have been ruined by a preponderance LAMEups? I don’t even want to think about how my noble channel has been sullied by such performance.
That paragraph sounds like a leadup to the fact that is an aesthetically disappointing performance from Frank Ntilikina, but it’s actually the exact opposite: the amount and quality of jumpers shown here is something I didn’t believe was possible from him. According to Clyde Frazier, he wasn’t missing during warmups, so he came into this game with a singular goal: shoot jumpers.
There were times during this game where he was actively hunting for his shot. He didn’t want to pass, and why would he, when he can hit any jumper that he wants? I’m sure he was playing defense or something, but in contrast to his last good game, his boxscore is sparse; a rebound and a block to go with all these buttery jimbos.
Knicks fans may desire a jack-of-all-trades all-around stud as the future of Ntilikina, but I think I prefer the Curry-and-Thompson-combined version. It makes for better highlight videos, anyway.