Kevin McCullar Jr. was the surprise of the game in the Knicks‘ victory over the Hawks on Saturday, writes Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.
After playing just under six minutes coming into Saturday’s game, he finished the matchup against the Hawks with 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals on 3-6 shooting from three in 23:29 minutes of gameplay. Stefan Bondy of the New York Post notes that Trae Young went scoreless when defended by the second-year guard.
“[McCullar] was scheduled on my little minutes sheet to come in at the 8-minute mark of the first quarter. I was going to throw him on Trae just to see what happens,” coach Mike Brown said. “Kev’s a young, really good defender, has a great feel on both ends of the floor, but especially that end of the floor. I wanted to give him a chance. I threw him out there a few minutes and he was fantastic. So, he just earned more minutes. I didn’t have him down for that many minutes, but he definitely earned those minutes as the game went along.”
McCullar noted that the young players on the team were given a warning by Josh Hart that they needed to be ready in case of injury, and on Saturday, he delivered.
“Just staying ready until my number’s called, and happy we got the W,” McCullar said.
We have more from around the Knicks:
- Tyler Kolek got his opportunity in part due to an injury to Miles McBride, and he has taken that chance and run with it, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “[Assistant coach Rick Brunson] came over to me and was like, ‘Get ready,’” Kolek said. “And I’m like, ‘Are you talking to me?’ Cause I didn’t play for two weeks.” Brown has tasked Kolek with studying Pacers guard TJ McConnell as an example of how to succeed without major athleticism or outlier three-point shooting. “I said to Tyler, ‘If there’s anybody in this league you need to take a look at, it’s him,” Brown said. “Because you have a superpower offensively — you can score. You have a second superpower — you can pass. You have some quickness, too. You have a good feel. But defensively, you got to develop a superpower for your size. And you got good feet. Now it’s about using those and being physically tough every single possession.’” There have been ups and downs to Kolek’s first real stint in the Knicks’ rotation, but he has shown during big moments why the coaches trust him to be out there.
- Karl-Anthony Towns knows that he might have to change his game a bit to stop piling up offensive fouls, Bondy writes. Towns leads the league in charges by a large margin and has taken himself out of the Knicks’ gameplan several times by piling up charges early. “I’m going to keep doing my thing. Maybe I’ll have to change my game up a little bit, if that’s what they’re trying to tell me I need to do,” Towns said. “[The refs] didn’t tell anyone else that, but they’re telling me that. Maybe I have to do that.“
- The Knicks’ schedule is about to get more difficult, Winfield writes. That includes a stretch of eight of 11 games on the road to kick off the new year. The team currently holds a 5-7 road record and will need to win while dealing with injuries to key rotation players like McBride, Hart, and Landry Shamet,