Mo, Mo, Mo
How do I like it? Making an impact all over the court.
Good morning! The Knicks look to pick up their second win in a row tonight at home against Indiana. For New York, Mitchell Robinson is out on the first night of a back to back while OG Anunoby is questionable. For Indy, Nesmith, McConnell and new addition Ivica Zubac are questionable.
Mo, Mo, Mo
No, no no…I can not get enough of Mohamed Diawara.
New York’s wing who isn’t yet old enough to drink has burst onto the scene in a big way. After showing flashes of promise throughout the season, he now has fans everywhere worried about whether the Knicks will have an issue retaining him this summer.
(They won’t. He’s a restricted free agent, and barring something nuts, they will not let him go).
As a sign of my growing love and adoration for the young man, I wanted to go through five of his plays from Sunday’s win that highlight some of what has me so excited. Let’s start midway through the second quarter:
This is a throwback to the clip I included in yesterday’s newsletter.
Diawara is guarding White, a dangerous (if currently ice cold) 3-point shooter. He can’t abandon too early, but also can’t wait too long, what with Jaylen Brown having successfully gotten the switch on Brunson.
Watch him first stay active in between his man and the ball-handler, and then wait until the millisecond Brown turns his back to lunge. His presence bothered Brown enough to prevent a clean look altogether, and as an added bonus, he immediately sprints up the court to space to the corner.
This one is similar to the last play in balancing on-ball and off-ball responsibilities.
Here, Diawara knows the man he’s guarding, Jordan Walsh, isn’t a frequent 3-point shooter (31 attempts on the season) but is a dangerous one (42 percent). He can’t completely abandon, but needs to give a real dig to give his undersized teammate a chance.
That timely lunge forces Brown to pick up the dribble a bit early, which in turn allows Mikal time to converge on the back side. From there, its about the size of the fight in the dog, and Mo Diawara has a lot of dog in him. He would win the tip and sink a three on the next trip down.
This is the one play that isn’t a positive, but I kinda like it anyway.
Not anticipating that Payton Prichard had this whip pass in his bag, Mo is shading pretty far off Walsh. When the pass gets thrown, he bee-lines it back to the corner, but his momentum (Mo-mentum?) takes him a half step too far, and Walsh has the step he needs to get to the rim. Pretty finish from there.
Even with the mistake, I love the effort, and I guarantee you he’ll store this away for the next time he’s in the same situation.
Grown man stuff right here.
Vooch may not be the low post presence of yesteryear, but he’s still a load on the block. Matched up on him after the switch, Diawara battles while keeping his cool, doesn’t foul, stays vertical, and forces a rushed attempt that doesn’t even hit rim.
Picture perfect technique in a tough spot.
Last one:
Will this show up anywhere on the stat sheet? Absolutely not. But when Diawara unsheathes his 7'4" wingspan and presents it to a driving Vucevic, the big man is forced to spin and turn earlier than he planned. A wild shot ensued, and the Knicks were off and running the other way.
It’s little plays like all of the above that have me convinced Diawara will be a consistent if small presence in Mike Brown’s postseason plans. And if he keeps rewarding him like this? Who the hell knows how his spring might unfold.
For the end of today’s newsletter, I hope you’ll indulge me as I have a little bit of fun with numbers.
