Game Day: Knicks @ Blazers, 1/24/21
The Knicks continue their west coast trip with a foray in Portland. The Blazers are hurtin’, but they still have Damian Lillard. Can New York do enough to get the W and get back to .500?
As we continue on, New York (8-9) rolls up on the original Brooklyn, Portland (8-6) tonight. The injury-depleted Blazers will be coming in after a long layoff. Their previous two games against the Grizzlies were postponed due to the league’s contact tracing protocol. Memphis was unable to dress the requisite amount of players. As a result, the Blazers have been sitting around waiting for the Knicks to get their asses to town.
The Blazers will be missing some key players tonight — CJ McCollum, who broke a bone in his left foot, and Jusuf Nurkic, who has a fractured right wrist. They still might not be easy to defend, but they won’t be quite as omnipotent. This also puts Enes Kanter into a featured role. The Blazers also have that guy Carmelo Anthony on their front line. They’ll need him to slow some people down. I can see it now.
The change you wish to see?
Reggie Bullock has been shooting a little better of late and has dragged his 3-point percentage up to a more respectable .348. Is he the undeniable deep sniper that bends a defense? No, of course not, but the threat of proficient shooting anywhere just magnifies the potency of Julius Randle’s playmaking. The thing is, Reggie is doubtful for tonight’s affair with a sore neck. That might explain the strange hair pattern on the back of his head. This likely means the inclusion of Alec Burks into the starting unit.
Coach Thibodeau took a long look at this group late on Thursday. Having trounced the Warriors through three quarters, Thibs did not waste time looking ahead. He definitely seems like the type of guy that really knows how to relax.
I got it FOH
Several games in a row now we’ve seen the Knicks decide who needs to be picked on and they just mercilessly attack. Just on this road trip, they stalked Kelly Oubre in Golden State all game. Then they hunted Marvin Bagley in Sacramento. The big difference there is hunting Oubre required Julius Randle to zoom into a dribble pitch and force the Warriors to make a snap decision on who gets out on the shooter, and who grabs Randle. With Julius inevitably cannonballing to the interior and forcing more structural issues, the Knicks rolled over the Warriors. In Sacramento, without requiring a switch, the Knicks got caught out there playing too much iso-ball. It was the first time this season where it felt like old Julius.
Simply how they attack the Blazers could be symptomatic of how they’ll fair tonight. If they put Enes Kanter and Carmelo Anthony in an endless stream of pick-and-roll, they may be able to manufacture enough points to trudge their way to a win. Of course, they’ll have to come up with an answer for the unstoppable Damian Lillard. Good luck, punks.
Knicks by -12
Melt ICE
We all die, but who’s next?
