{"id":142252,"date":"2020-12-27T06:21:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-27T03:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/knicks-rj-barrett-flop-in-opener-at-empty-msg\/"},"modified":"2020-12-27T06:21:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T03:21:50","slug":"knicks-rj-barrett-flop-in-opener-at-empty-msg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/knicks-rj-barrett-flop-in-opener-at-empty-msg\/","title":{"rendered":"#Knicks, RJ Barrett flop in opener at empty MSG"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Knicks, RJ Barrett flop in opener at empty MSG<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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If a basketball team falls in the Garden and no one is there to see it, yes, it still really happ<\/a>ened.<\/p>\n

The Knicks played a regular-season game<\/a> at Madison Square Garden for the first time since March 8 \u2014 a stretch of 293 days \u2014 on Saturday night, albeit with no fans in attendance and no Celebrity Row stars to gawk at due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The end result wasn\u2019t dissimilar from the majority of the team\u2019s home games over the previous two years, however, as coach Tom Thibodeau and the Knicks suffered their second straight loss to open the season, 109-89, to the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

Second-year guard RJ Barrett (10 points) missed 13 of 15 shots in a nightmarish follow-up to his 26-point season-opening performance in Wednesday\u2019s loss at Indiana. He combined with starting backcourt mate Elfrid Payton to shoot just 2-for-21 for the game and 0-for-9 from 3-point range as the Knicks fell to 20-55 at home since the start of the 2018-19 campaign.<\/p>\n

Julius Randle led the Knicks (0-2) with 25 points and Alec Burks netted 22 in 31 minutes in his second straight strong showing off the bench. Mitchell Robinson added 11 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots.<\/p>\n

\"RJ
RJ Barrett goes up for a shot during the Knicks\u2019 109-89 loss to the 76ers. <\/figcaption>
NBAE via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rookie first-round picks Obi Toppin (calf) and Immanuel Quickley (hip pointer) missed the game for the Knicks, who will face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks at the Garden on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

With Quickley unavailable, Thibodeau used Burks for stretches at point guard and reduced his rotation to nine players until the game was out of reach late in the fourth quarter. Dennis Smith Jr. (four points in 17 minutes) saw his first action of the season after not playing against the Pacers, while Frank Ntilikina did not get off the bench until 2:27 remained in the game.<\/p>\n

Joel Embiid scored a game-high 27 points with 10 rebounds for Philadelpia and Long Island product Tobias Harris contributed 17 points as Doc Rivers and the Sixers (2-0) looked right at home at the empty Garden.<\/p>\n

Before the game, Barrett had surmised that such emptiness at the World\u2019s Most Famous Arena could work in the Knicks\u2019 favor this season.<\/p>\n

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