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Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Give Precious The Ball!

Originally posted on thePeachBasket | By Darrion Romulus | Last updated 3/7/24

Precious Achiuwa has shown flashes of being a scoring force in the interior. Should the New York Knicks give him more offensive touches?

The Knicks weren’t sure what they were getting when they acquired Precious Achiuwa in the O.G Anunoby trade back in December. Since then, he’s made his presence felt on both ends of the floor. In the 30 games he’s played with the Knicks, Achiuwa has averaged 8.7 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting just over 54% from the field. Previously, Achiuwa was playing well off the bench when he first arrived to New York. But since Julius Randle’s injury he has stepped up to the plate and filled the void at the PF position.

Rising to the Occasion

In the 16 games Achiuwa has started during Randle’s absence, he’s averaged 12.6 PPG, 9.7 RPG, and 1.5 BPG while shooting around 60 % from the field. The 24 year old has been able to take advantage of the opportunity and make the most of it. Now, due to the slew of injuries the Knicks are dealing with, scoring has been an issue. The Knicks have still fought to remain competitive during this tough stretch but buckets are just hard to come by for this team at the moment. During this time, Achiuwa has shown to be an effective scorer in the interior, which I believe is getting overlooked by Coach Thibodeau. The latest example of this was Tuesday’s 100-116 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at the Garden.

Missing the Boat

Now, with Jalen Brunson missing this game due to a knee contusion injury, someone was going to have to take charge on the offensive end. The Knicks went down by almost 25 points in the second quarter before they made a big comeback and made the game close. Precious Achiuwa’s scoring in the interior played a huge role in getting the Knicks back into the game.

Hadn’t previously seen anything close to this level of aggression from Precious Achiuwa in his drive/post-up game.

Eating up the space being given to him, stampeding catches, finishing through Jalen Johnson over and over again.

What an impressive performance. pic.twitter.com/SEBtOdjqfM
— Rit Holtzman (@BenRitholtzNBA) March 6, 2024

Achiuwa was able to drive to the basket and score in the post against the Hawks small frontline. Despite his play on the offensive end, Coach Thibodeau sat Achiuwa throughout most of the 4th quarter and subbed him in when the game was already out of reach.

Precious Achiuwa didn’t play in the 4th quarter until the Knicks were down 15 with 2:00 left. pic.twitter.com/Uit9Ph6dpK
— KnicksMuse (@KnicksMuse) March 6, 2024

In the end, Achiuwa finished the game with 15 points while shooting an efficient ⅞ from the the field. Ultimately, Coach Thibodeau should have played Achiuwa more and given him more touches on the offensive end. Uniquely, Achiuwa has the ability to be more of a scoring option when opposing teams decide to play small. There shouldn’t have been a reason why the offense didn’t go through Achiuwa more in this game. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the only time this has occurred.

Last 10 Games Tell a Story

According to the previous ten games, Achiuwa has only shot the ball 10 or more times in only two of those games.Also, in seven of those games, Achiuwa has shot better than 50% from the field.In the Knicks case, especially when you are dealing with all of these injuries, if a player is showing promise on the offensive side of the ball, maybe you should give him more touches. The Knicks should want Achiuwa to be more of an inside presence so it can relieve the scoring load off of Jalen Brunson and create open shot opportunities for the perimeter shooters. Hopefully, Achiuwa can be a bigger part of the offense in the near future.

The Knicks need to continue to weather the storm as this team tries to get healthy before the playoffs. Achiuwa’s offensive ability can make a huge difference for this team during this time. We’ll see if Coach Thibodeau starts to utilize him in the offense correctly. Give that man the ball Thibs!