Just days after being benched down the stretch of an overtime loss to the Lakers, RJ Barrett dropped 30 points, converted some huge buckets in crunch time, and helped the Knicks to a much-needed bounceback win over the Heat on Thursday night.
Barrett jokingly told reporters after the win that he would be speaking with them this time after declining to speak after Tuesday's loss, and chalked up the incident to simply being human.
"I'm human. I get frustrated just like everyone else," Barrett said. "My momma told me if you didn't have anything good to say, don't say it at all."
Barrett shot just 5-for-13 in that loss to the Lakers, and was replaced by Immanuel Quickley with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. He never came back in, but on Thursday, he shot 56.5 percent from the floor on 23 attempts, helping mask the absence of Jalen Brunson, and was one of the heroes of a critical victory against a Miami team that New York is trying to chase down in the Eastern Conference standings.
"Just come in and be ready the next day," Tom Thibodeau said. "We know he's a critical part of our team. We need him to play well. But we're always going to put the team first. We thought the group that was out there gave us the best shot. Most of the time, he's finishing the game…don't worry about missed shots as much as just helping in any way you can.
"The thing I love about RJ, I always believe he's gonna bounce back. I saw it immediately next day after the Laker game; I said, 'we'll be fine.'"
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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