The Knicks clawed back from a 25-point deficit, but New York was unable to fully climb out of an early hole Sunday and suffered a 116-113 loss to the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore. >> Box score
Five things to know from Sunday’s game
1. Without Reggie Bullock, who was sidelined with a sore neck, the Knicks slightly tweaked the starting five. Head coach Tom Thibodeau inserted Alec Burks into a lineup of Elfrid Payton, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson.
2. After a rough return from injury Friday in New York’s 103-94 loss at the Sacramento Kings, Burks bounced back. Burks scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 5 for 8 on three-pointers, with four rebounds and one assist in 27 minutes.
3. Randle paced the Knicks’ starters with a 25-point performance on a 7-for-18 mark from the field, plus 10 free throws out of 11 attempts in 32 minutes. Randle’s night ended with an odd sequence with the Knicks down 112-109 at the fourth quarter’s 16.6-second mark, which led to a pair of Robert Covington free throws on the other end that put Portland up 114-109.
4. A hot start by Damian Lillard‘s 15-point first quarter buried the Knicks, but New York fought back. Lillard, who iced the game on a pair of free throws with 5.3 seconds left that put Portland (9-6) ahead 116-111, paced the Blazers’ early offensive outburst by ultimately dropping 39 points on 11-of-17 shooting. He went 6 for-10 from deep and made all 11 of free throws in 34 minutes.
5. Immanuel Quickley came to life as the Knicks made a comeback attempt. In 24 minutes off the bench, Quickley produced a new career-high 31 points, shooting 9 for 18 — including five triples — while he made all eight of his free-throw attempts.
Highlights
What’s next
The Knicks (8-10) aim to avoid a second straight loss as they wrap up their four-game West Coast road trip with Tuesday’s 9 p.m. game against the Utah Jazz (12-4).
