Game Day: Thunder @ Knicks, 1/8/21
The Thunder visit the Knicks tonight, a team that the Knicks were supposed to be in the cellar with. Instead, the Knicks are thriving and favored to beat the OKC Future Draft Considerations. Can New York take care of business at home?
I’m not sure if I understand this team. They work miraculously hard and grind teams into a fine powder, then… win games? Have they gotten the third quarter of doom vaccine?
Tonight the Knicks square up with a team that was largely considered to be an equal heading into the year. The only thing is, we did not know the reach, the depth, the all-encompassing extravagance one Julius Randle was about to bestow unto our loyal hearts and eyes. Poor Julius, we done you wrong. We wanted to trade you for a shopping bag full of sewage. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for instead looking like an All-NBA caliber offensive engine. The effort both ways has been excelsior. If this is who you are now, I will gladly lead the charge, extolling the virtue of this fine tuned basketball virtuoso. Averaging 23 points, 12 rebounds, 7.4 assists in 38 passionately charged minutes, Knick fans are going to positively burst and gush the first chance they get to share the building with you.
Julius’ Evel Knievel jump across the canyon has been helped along by RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson scaling some walls and some heady play from the rest of the squad. From Austin Rivers and Immanuel Quickley to Elfrid Payton, Alec Burks, and Reggie Bullock, everyone is giving A1 effort, and the Knicks are a team to be proud of and galvanized behind as a fanbase. It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a team that’s been truly enjoyable.
Tonight’s test
When we set out on this 2020-21 voyage, I think we all expected a ho-hum team of not-quite-good-enough losers. There would be some sparks of joy here and there. But ultimately the goal was to stink and trade Randle for a decent draft pick without taking back salary. Now that everyone seems integral to the winning cause, when they face a lottery-bound opponent like the Thunder, there’s actually no excuse to lose. The talent is there and the team plays with a special purpose.
Closed for a reason
The Thunder have some iffy shooters. Lu Dort is hitting at 45% of his nearly five threes a game, but how much do we believe in that? Mike Muscala is just under 45% on 5.4 a game. Then there’s Darius Bazley and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander taking a combined 11.4 per game while shooting .306 and .295, (dis)respectively. Al Horford and George Hill are also shooting five triples a game. In fact, the only guy getting significant minutes and not taking gobs of threes is Hamidou Diallo. You’d think he’d be a certified chucker the way these guys a blasting off. Whatever new head coach Mark Daigneault is on, it’s been working a little bit. They have managed a 3-4 record, but they are dead last in scoring and dead center in opponent scoring.
If the Knicks continue to wall off the paint and dare certain guys to shoot them out of the game, the Thunder will aggressively let it fly, and the Knicks will have to hope no one gets locked in for whatever reason. Going the other way, just fucking truck these skinny mini punks. Tire George Hill and Horford out and then truck them too. The Knicks have size everywhere. The only physically imposing guy is the human fire hydrant, Lu Dort, but at 6-foot-3, most small forwards should be able to shoot over him, and RJ Barrett isn’t some waif that can be tossed around.
I’ll do it, I know it will come back to bite me, but I’ll do it, damn you!
Knicks by 10
