Entering Thursday, the New York Knicks had been the best 3-point shooting team in the NBA through the season's opening week.
To the surprise of absolutely no one—especially Knicks fans—the team's early prowess from downtown seems to be too good to be true.
Of course, in classic Knicks style, the team couldn't just come down to earth in a regular fashion.
In a New Year's Eve loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Knicks starting five of Julius Randle (0-4), Reggie Bullock (0-9), Elfrid Payton (0-2), RJ Barrett (0-8), and Mitchell Robinson (zero attempts) combined to miss all 23 collective tries from 3-point range in Tampa. As Basketball-Reference's Justin Kubatko pointed out, Tom Thibodeau's group set the record for the worst 3-point shooting performance by a starting lineup in NBA history.
The Knicks' starters went a combined 0-23 from 3-point range last night. That's the most 3PA in NBA history by a starting five without a make.
Reggie Bullock (0-9) and RJ Barrett (0-8) became the first teammates in NBA history with 7+ 3PA and 0 3PM in the same game. pic.twitter.com/prr9aOGNBt
— Justin Kubatko (@jkubatko) January 1, 2021
Kubatko also noted that Barrett and Bullock became the first set of teammates in league history to each take seven threes or more without a make.
The Knicks were the least effective 3-point shooting team in basketball in 2019-20, and Thibodeau and the front office have prioritized perimeter shooting. Before Thursday, the improvement was dramatic, yet unsustainable.
Overall, the Knicks shot 3-for-36 from downtown against the Raptors in the 100-83 loss.
“To me, I think we were shooting 47 percent from three the first four games and we got high-quality shots,” Thibodeau said after the game, via SNY's Ian Begley. “I thought we had high-quality shots again tonight, but again, I want to look at the film before I comment further on that. But that’s part of the NBA game. We emphasize the open three, the layups, the drives to the basket trying to get to the free-throw line, that’s all part of the offense.”
The ice-cold night dropped New York's season 3-point percentage to 36.6, currently ranking 13th.
“We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’ll learn from it and continue to focus on improvement,” Thibodeau added.
The defeat dropped the Knicks to 2-3 on the season. They'll look to regain their shooting stroke against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
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