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Reggie Bullock Knows What Went Wrong In Rough Start To NBA Playoffs

Julius Randle wasn’t the only Knicks starter looking to bounce back in Game 2 against the Atlanta Hawks.

Starting small forward Reggie Bullock became a reliable long-range threat late in the regular season, but he clanked all five of his 3-point attempts and finished with six points in the Knicks’ 107-105 loss in the series opener. 사설토토

“Obviously I didn’t see one of my 3-balls go down but that doesn’t stop me from shooting,” Bullock said before Wednesday’s game. “I know how great of a shooter I am. Just have to go back and look at the shots that I missed and try to correct the detailed things.

“Julius is the head of the snake and I’m sure he’s going to be ready to go. I will, the whole team will, so it’s all about us going out and playing our basketball…and try to even the series up.”

After an injury-plagued first season with the Knicks in 2019-20 (29 games), Bullock emerged as a prototype “3 and D” wing this season, averaging 10.9 points per game while shooting 41 percent from long distance. In the team’s final 17 games, however, his numbers rose to 14.2 points and 44.2 percent from long distance, while logging 36.4 minutes per appearance.

Reggie Bullock struggled in Game 1 of the NBA playoffs.NBAE via Getty Images

While Randle was held to 15 points on 6-for-23 shooting in Game 1, Bullock finished 3-for-9 from the field, including the five misses from beyond the arc.

“It was more about I was pulling out of open shots a little bit,” Bullock said. “Going back, looking at the film, I was pulling out of them. I just have to take those same shots.

“It was only five threes that I missed. I shot so many over my career, I can’t worry about those five. I just have to continue to go back out and shoot that same shot and be more locked in. I’m up for the challenge, I just have to stay more locked in on every play.”

The eight-year NBA veteran out of North Carolina had appeared in four previous playoff games in his career, two brief cameos with the Clippers as a rookie in 2014 and two with the Pistons in 2016.

The Knicks dropped Sunday’s series opener on a last-second bucket by Hawks point guard Trae Young, who finished with 32 points and 10 assists.

 “We just have to go with the gameplan, whatever it is that coach draws up, just go with it. Go hard,” the 30-year-old Bullock said.  “That’s the brand of New York basketball and what we’ve been hanging our hats on this year.

“We just have to come out with that urgency and that passion and get stops and use the game plan to contain [Young]. We just have to go out and execute.”