Knicks' David Fizdale on RJ Barrett: 'We've got a special kid'
Coby White stole the show, but Barrett had a strong night
By Alex Smith | Nov 12, 2019 | 11:37PM
On a night when Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams was in attendance, one of his former players, Coby White, absolutely went off against the Knicks in the fourth quarter.
And while White's ridiculous fourth quarter - complete with seven made three pointers in the frame - was the biggest storyline of the game, the play of RJ Barrett was one of the few bright spots for the Knicks.
White was simply phenomenal in the final 12 minutes, and despite the fact that he entered the night shooting just 21% from three, he went 7-for-11 from distance, including 7-for-8 in the fourth.
"Once he gets it going, it's hard to stop him," David Fizdale said after the game. "I think he hit seven threes in the fourth … he just broke the game open. We were tit-for-tat there for a long time, and I mean wow, just wow. He put on a show.
"We started to try to play catch-up, and when we started to try to play too fast to play catch-up, there were a few ill-advised shots. We started pressing on some shots, but once he got going, we really didn't have an answer for that."
White finished the night with 27 points, helping the Bulls cruise to a 120-102 win over a Knicks team that is now just 2-0 on the season.
"In the NBA when you give any player confidence like that, then it seems like the rim just gets bigger for them, and that was all she wrote," said Taj Gibson. "But we kept trying to battle back, but our defensive coverage was kind of let down."
And while the North Carolina product dazzled for the Bulls, Barrett, his former rival at Duke, was the best player on the floor for the Knicks.
The third overall pick finished with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while knocking down two threes, piling up nine assists, and grabbing six rebounds.
"I'm just telling you we've got a special kid," said Fizdale. "I know with all of our suffering that we're going through, one of the true bright lights of this team is RJ Barrett. This kid is just going to keep getting better and better, and he's so easy to coach and he really wants to be a great player in this league, and wants to be not just a great player, but a leader. I'm really enjoying him."
"I felt like I kind of lost my aggressiveness a little bit the past couple games, so I just came into today fighting," Barrett said on his own play.
The left-hander knew coming into the game how hot White could get as a scorer, as he'd seen it in person. Barrett and White faced off against each other three times during their college days, with White scoring 21 points on four made threes in a win over the Blue Devils in early March.
"I've played against him a lot, so I've kind of seen that before, the exact same thing actually last year," Barrett said of White. "But yeah, he's gonna make shots, he makes tough shots and that's the kind of player he is.
"To be honest, some of them were tough. Some of them you were there and it's just too late. He's hot. You've just got to try to run him off the line."
Barrett and the Knicks will look to rebound on Thursday night, when they're back at home to face the Mavericks, the team they beat just last week.
