NYKMentality wrote:Awesome win tonight.

What could've been an atrocious and disheartening loss.

Becomes an inspiring win that not only makes it 3 wins in a row (4 out the the previous 5) but also a win to build momentum upon.

From down 14 with 3 minutes in the 3rd. Then our 5 backups Deuce @ PG, IQ @ SG, Burks @ SF, Obi Toppin@ PF and Taj Gibson @ Center come into the game. And before you know it they played the remaining 3 minutes of the 3rd + all 12 minutes of the 4th and it was a Knicks 14 point lead with under 2:00 left in the game (and we won by 9!)

All 5 of those backup unit players deserve so much praise but man oh man was Alec Burks on flame fire tonight. 19 4th Q points. And finished with 34 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists off of 12/17 shooting and 5/8 from 3PT land. Like whoa. Hey. He may not be built for starting PG but he's another spark plug off the bench especially at SF on the wings.

And remember last night? When Coach Thibs was getting criticized for not playing Obi Toppin a lot of minutes? And I said coach Thibs has a plan on a back to back and how I had a feeling Obi Toppin would get 30+ minutes? I was wrong. He earned 21 minutes. And loved his energy and electricity.

And I'll admit. I was wrong heading in. We didn't beat this depleted Detroit team by 50+ points. Like I thought we could. But our NBA powerhouse bench unit did beat their bench by 50+ points. Score of 65-7 (+58). Just goes to show how unstoppable our bench can become if opposing teams aren't deep enough in talent and depth off the bench.

I'm pretty fired up for a chance to get back to
500% @ OKC come Friday Night.

Agreed!

Winning back to back road games in the middle of winter is tough. Knicks depth saved them for the second night. I'm still optimistic with the starters. I think their physicality wears out teams and is one of the reasons the second unit gets more run. I hope Obi gets more play time- Randle/Obi，Mitch/ Obi line ups all do well.

franco12 wrote:

SergioNYK wrote:Thibs said in the post game that Randle is nicked up.

If he's playing hurt, he should sit out a few games cause him playing like that tonight doesn't help.

Thank you! If Randle is hurt- I get that he is a gamer and wants to be out there, but at this point, his play is hurting the team. Give him a day or two off, let him recover.

Maybe all those minutes from last year are catching up.

There's no excuse Thibs could give us fans for Randle poor performance on both sides of the court.
Thibs and Randle have no plays or plan on offense/defense for the Starters.
When the starters 3-ball is dropping we fans are happy, when the 3 ball is not dropping 4 of our starters are letting opponents score at will, especially Randle & Barrett. When them two start playing hard defense then others will follow but their stand-still laziness when they dont have the ball stop them from being a leader in the startter lineup.
Randle need to play the PF position rather than TRY to be the PG, and team facilitator.
Plus Randle's defensive effort all season, says trade him.

Yes, I seen what the team could do without RJ in the rotation.
Thibs dont want fans to see what the Knicks could do without Randle in the rotation for 3 to 5 games.
Obi Toppin is waiting for his chance to score 30 pts !!!

Obi did a great job on defense and rebounding in traffic tonight. He did his normal good job on offense. Great night from him.

This is IQ's best role. Scoring combo guard off the bench that can make the pass if the defense gives it to him.

I like this bench lineup. IQ and Burks are the scoring threats. Obi does the glue work on offense. He cuts, he gives trapped passers good angles to pass out of traps. He leaks out for easy fast breaks. He is a very willing passer. I love me some Obi.

Taj did what Taj do. Very solid everywhere when you need him most.

Very fun game to watch when you skip the starters.

Jimbo5 wrote:Thibs is in a really bad spot. The team invested alot on Randle and its like he is obligated to make him the featured player in this team even though his mindset and physical game play resembles his 1st year as a knick rather than the MVP candidate of last year.

Its true that this team will go as far as Randle can take the team. More often than not Thibs will live or die with Randle playing. Benching him is not an option which could send negative signals to other teams. Not loving Randle's consistencies issues the past 3 years.

If Randle is hurt, that only give him an excuse for the last 3 game, but he had a decent game against the T-wolves. His performance overall so far this season is underwhelming to say the least, he is even bringing the play of the starting 5 down with him.

I don't think Thibs really cares about who they signed and for how much- he had no problem benching Kemba when he did. We also know Thibs is loyal to a fault so Randle's play last season likely earned
him 35 minutes a night on whatever team Thibs coaches for the next 10 years. It's possible Thibs dials back the minutes but more likely he bets Randle's next run is right around the corner.

franco12 wrote:

Uptown wrote:RJ had Mitch wide open

And if were our coach - or anyone else- Mitch would probably average 20 a game.

VDesai wrote:
Randle and Barrett -27 and -29 respectively. Whoa. McBride +39. Toppin +36! Play defense and look what happens!

WP76 wrote:Not to derail the thread but the only thing I'd give up in a trade for Ben Simmons is a sack of basketballs. The guy is a useless head case who's a festering wound on Phily's roster. Let him remain the 76'ers problem.

I am of the opposite opinion.

Vaccination status aside (and it's a big aside), I'd heavily consider Randle/RJ for Ben Simmons and would probably do it.

Head case? For sure. Are there enough head cases in the NBA that turned around, yes. Shooting? It's a workable problem IMHO

Simmons is a guy you can envision building around. He has deep flaws but is also a unique enough player with the talent to match that you can put the right pieces around to get to a high level team.

I feel like both RJ and Randle have enough flaws and mental make-up deficiencies that match Ben Simmons and I would NOT build around those two. In a year or 2 you will need extend RJ and his salary will be in the $15M+ range and that would put those two players in the ~$45+M per year range with neither being able to build around.

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