Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the NBA daily, even when COVID has ravaged the league.
The Knicks defeated the Pacers to get to .500.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Elsa/Getty Images.)
Well, well, well. The New York Knicks are decent. I said that last month, too, but, at the time, they had only played 7 games. They’ve played 34 now. And this team compared to previous years are like nite and day.
And like I said the month before, it’s not like they got some huge free agent (they pretty much fail to get one every year) or had a game-breaking draft pick (although we’ll get to this later). It’s like the culture and their play was fixed with a change upstairs and the coaching ranks. Leon Rose, who was a sports agent that represented guys like LeBron James and Allen Iverson in the past, was installed as president of the Knicks last year. Then they got Tom Thibodeau to coach the team, which somehow seemed to go under the radar, but was really a huge move to set the tone for the upcoming season.
Thibodeau coached the Chicago Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2011. Then he helped guide the Minnesota Timberwolves to their first playoff berth in 14 years in 2018. He’s not without his flaws; we all know his reputation of running down and wearing out his players by giving them too many minutes. But he’s a defensive specialist that gets a lot out of his rosters.
The Knicks are in the Top 3 in defensive rating, which seems so shocking because it’s not like most of the core changed. But it also speaks to the growth of the remaining Knicks from last season. Julius Randle became an all-star this year for the first time in his career. RJ Barrett is showing promise. Mitchell Robinson was that rim protector before he got hurt. Elfrid Payton and Reggie Bullock have been a pretty decent backcourt.
And they got a great bench with a rejuvenated Alec Burks, the feisty Austin Rivers, and the recently-acquired Derrick Rose (yeah, yeah; also, I’m aware he started the last two games with Payton out). If this had the environment of seasons past, they probably don’t win more than 10 games. But we know the coach that Thibodeau is. Some of his ways may be a bit outdated but it still gets the job done.
Now let’s see if they can make the postseason for the first time since 2013. But this is such a stark contrast from last year.
Bullet Passes
Joel Embiid‘s 42 points is not enough as the Sixers couldn’t beat the scrappy Cavaliers, who had been itching for some victories. Cleveland has won three straight after they dropped 10 in a row.
But the Nets couldn’t overtake the Sixers as they had their 8-game win streak snapped by the Mavericks. Kristaps Porzingis (yeah, I know) returned and scored 18 points. No Kyrie Irving for Brooklyn on Saturday.
No one is talking about the Spurs being 5th in the West and also only one loss behind seeds #2-4. Also, no one talks about the Spurs even when they win championships so this is just really par for the course.
Kevin Durant will still be captain in the All-Star game and he’ll make the selections when they draft this coming Thursday.
The Wizards have won 7 of their last 8. Russell Westbrook got his 10th triple-double. In fact, in this 8-game stretch that was just mentioned, he had a trip-dub in 6 of those games. The other two? He fell short by a rebound each. 19.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 11.5 assists in that span.
This is pretty wild, dude.
So many teams in the East with the same number of losses. It’s gonna be a rumble.
NBA Scoreboard
Feb. 27, 2021
Watch This Play
Sometimes, you see the best stuff on garbage time. Like R.J. Hampton throwing this down on Darius Bazley.
Don’t jump with R. J. Hampton 😳 @brhoops pic.twitter.com/XzFeOJ4fUZ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 28, 2021
That’s how you top off a 30-point win.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.