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RJ Barrett has encountered some difficulty converting free throws this season, so it figured that one he was trying to miss on purpose found nothing but net.
Barrett attempted to clank one from the stripe with the Knicks trailing by two with 2.6 seconds remaining for a chance at an offensive rebound, but his swish set up Kevin Durant’s two game-sealing free throws at the other end — giving KD 53 points — in the Nets’ 110-107 victory Sunday at Barclays Center.
“My teammates were laughing at me because I was trying to miss it and it ended up being a perfect free throw. I tried to miss it,” said Barrett, who is shooting 70.3 percent from the line this season. ”I was trying to just shoot it quick, so it would hit the front rim and Mitch [Robinson} could try to grab it. But it went in.”
And so ended the Knicks’ fourth loss in seven games on their now-completed road trip, with rough defeats in which they also blew second-half leads against playoff-bound teams in Philadelphia, Phoenix and Memphis. Those wasted close calls left Tom Thibodeau’s team 28-40 overall with 14 games to play, and five full games behind Charlotte and Atlanta for the last two play-in spots in the Eastern Conference, before the Hawks’ home game Sunday night against Indiana.
“Slim, obviously, the odds are against us,” said Evan Fournier, who connected on 5-for-8 from 3-point distance and finished with 25 points. “But that’s exactly what I mean. I think we aren’t looking at the schedule or the [standings], and we’re just going one game by one game, trying to be in the moment and trying to make the most of the opportunity. … But we need each and every game, and that’s why losing those games is frustrating.”
Thibodeau praised Fournier for “a very good all-around game,” but the veteran guard also committed a critical turnover one possession ahead of Barrett’s unplanned made free throw. The Knicks came out of a called timeout with 13.4 seconds remaining and the Nets ahead, 106-105, but Fournier’s pick-and-roll pass intended for an open Robinson inside was deflected by Brooklyn’s Bruce Brown to Durant, who was fouled and also drained both free throws in that sequence.
“I had an easy pass, I messed up. It’s that simple,” Fournier said. “If we make that pass, that’s a dunk, we’re up one. Nothing else to say, really. Bad pass.”
And with it, there’s not much left to say about the Knicks’ remaining schedule in what has turned out to be a thrown-away season following last year’s run to the playoffs.
“Just try to keep racking up wins. You never know,” Barrett said. “Other teams could also go on losing streaks, too. So you don’t know what’s going to happen. … It’s the NBA.
“Things happen sometimes. We’ve been playing amazing basketball since the All-Star break. I always go back to that Phoenix game, I feel like we definitely should’ve had that one. Just all you can do is play good basketball and try to close out these games at the end of the fourth. That’s what we’re going to try to do every game.”
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