Bring On OKC

A look at the big matchup in Oklahoma City tonight. Plus, KAT gets awarded and Jalen gets disrespected.

Good morning! It’s watch party time!!

If you’re in the NYC area tonight, stop on down to T2 Social to watch the Knicks take on the Thunder. Tip off is at 8pm but we’ll get things going at 7. For New York, both Jalen Brunson and Deuce McBride are being listed as questionable. For OKC, Alex Caruso missed last night’s game against the Clips, and Chet Holmgren is also out.

As for the last time the Knicks were involved in a matchup of this magnitude, I think we have to go back to the 2012-13 season, and wouldn’t you know it, it was against the Oklahoma City. On April 7, New York went into OKC having won 11 in a row and sitting in second place in the East. The Thunder had only won three straight but were 56-20 and a half game back of the Spurs for first in the West.

The Knicks, of course, came away with the win to extend their streak. Hopefully we get the same result tonight.

News & Notes

🏀 The initial voting results came in for the first batch of All-Star ballots, and wouldn’t you know it, but most most fans aren’t very bright:

Maybe I’m being too harsh. Fans nailed the correct top two for the West backcourt, the right top two for the West frontcourt, and the correct top three for the East frontcourt (hooray, KAT!)

But LaMelo Freaking Ball?!? I can only chalk this up to three things:

1. LaMelo is the first name that pops up when you’re looking at East guards because he’s averaging the most points, but by that logic, Paolo Banchero should be top three in East frontcourt voting because he’s second in scoring among that group.

2. People like LaMelo’s freewheeling style of play, especially in an All-Star format. Then again, Ball was well outside the top five last year, so where was this fervent response then?

3. The kids these days love their big ballers.

Your guess is as good as mine. Either way, the fan vote only counts for 50 percent when it comes to determining the starters, with the other half split between player votes and media votes. My hope is that Brunson still has a fighting chance, even if he stays in fourth with the fans.

🏀 Speaking of Mr. Towns, congrats on being named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December!

Towns helped lead the Knicks to a 12-2 month while shooting the lights out of the ball. New York has also risen steadily up the defensive rankings, and to KAT’s credit, they’re now 12th in the league at limiting opponents’ accuracy at the rim. This is Towns’ first POTM win for his career.

Defeating the Machine

It’s been a while since I did a proper game preview, but Friday’s matchup with the 27-5 Oklahoma City Thunder certainly warrants one.

With a caveat, of course. If Jalen Brunson isn’t able to give it a go, I’m not sure how much we should really take from whatever happens, regardless of New York’s outstanding positive 11.1 net rating in 852 possessions without the Captain on the court this season, per Cleaning the Glass.

In theory, no Brunson would improve the Knicks’ ability to defend OKC at a high level, especially if Deuce is back in uniform. Needless to say that Jalen’s impact on the offense is profound enough to warrant the negatives on defense, but it does raise an interesting question: What’s the best way to beat the Thunder - with offense or with defense?

In other words, is it even possible to generate efficient offense against this version of the Thunder, or is your best bet to lean fully into stopping an offense that is good but decidedly not great?