RJ Barrett found his game, and the Knicks picked up arguably their most important win of the season.
It’s not a coincidence both happened on the same day.
The Knicks are at their best when Barrett is producing.
On Christmas Day, he enjoyed one of his stronger games of the year, a 21-point effort in the Knicks’ 129-122 win over the Bucks at a sold-out Garden that snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Eastern Conference powerhouse.
“I got into a good rhythm early in the game, helped us get a lead,” Barrett said. “After that, it was kind of trying to play the game and listen to what the game was telling me to do.”
It had been a struggle of late for Barrett, who connected on just 36.7 percent of his field goal attempts and 20.8 percent of his 3-pointers in his previous six games.
He didn’t let those struggles negatively impact him.
Barrett kept shooting, and the ball fell for him on Monday.
He looked more like the player who started the season so well, before migraine headaches sidelined him for three games and a slump followed.
Barrett made 8 of 14 shots from the field, hit two 3-pointers and added six rebounds.
He was particularly good early on, setting the tone by scoring 14 first-quarter points.
The Knicks led by nine after the first and never trailed again.
“A team like that, you got to try to hit them first and try to keep the lead throughout the game,” Barrett said. “They threw some punches back, they cut it to four at one point, so they definitely played hard, they played well, they definitely tested us. But we were able to keep the lead and pull away.”
A major factor for Barrett and the Knicks were they were able to get out in transition, scoring 23 fast-break points.
Seeing the ball go through the basket gave Barrett much-needed confidence.
“Absolutely, just getting some easy ones early, getting into the flow and rhythm of the game,” he said.
Maybe this will mark the beginning of a hot stretch for the streaky Barrett. It’s at least a start.
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