Knicks collapse, Warriors cruise
A nice and easy two-game slate, plus an evening three-team trade for financial freedom and Frank Vogel's unnecessary jeopardy
Slow night in the Association with only two games on tap. Let's recap some of the fun — and not so fun — stuff from the night.
Thibs and Knicks fans suffering
​Batman villain Tom Thibodeau hosted his former team and watched his Knicks cover their hands with butter and let a win slip clumsily through their fingers, and Thibs made faces:
The late-game offense was quite atrocious, with multiple players standing still and generally looking lost before Kemba Walker chucked up a three. You could feel the Alec Burks miss from deep coming well before it left his hands.
The Knicks bench scored 18 points. And a Knicks collapse wouldn't be complete without their fans engaging in the typical post-game self-flagellations:
Anthony Edwards, with the sauce
I'm not sure exactly how to describe this move. When Edwards caught the ball and went baseline, I instinctively braced for a dunk, but then he avoids contact with a step-back euro-step fading layup? Whatever you call it, it's nice.
Now, for some observations from the other coast, where the Warriors got a get-right game vs the Pistons.
Cunningham can play... offense
It's been a minute since I've checked in on the Pistons prize, and he's got a nicely developing offensive game. He had a quiet night, but still found time to show a nice little two-man game going with Beef Stew. Cade striped a couple of threes off the dribble and showed off some savvy passing — and then halfway through the second quarter the game was over. Like most rookies, he got wrong-footed or blown by or lost on defense a handful of times. Not that it's really fair to grade the kid's ability to stay alive in the Vitamix-swirl that is the Warriors offense.
McGruder's revenge
So, a while ago the Pistons played the Warriors and Rodney McGruder mixed it up with Juan Toscano-Anderson. And Klay was being interviewed during the game and lightly trashed Old McGruder, saying he'd be out of the league soon. Well, the Pistons love McGruder so much they tried to trade him — but couldn't because the tall man they wanted was too sickly — so now here his is knocking down shots with that hideous-looking jumper of his. It's like a full-body dry heave where he leans forward and sort of pukes the ball in the direction of the rim. But he drained 4-7 shots from deep, so eat that, Klay Thompson.
Warriors' rookies
The Warriors rolling meant that their rookies got a little run, and man, if Jonathan Kuminga gets a little seasoning, look out. He picked up some early fouls and had some mistakes and painful lapses, but my goodness is he an athlete. Andrew Wiggins would like you to know that Kuminga is "strong as shit." The kid brings a ferocious athleticism and ability to attack the rim that no one else on that team has. Also, Kuminga needs to start going by "Jon" because "Jon Kuminga" sounds way more badass. Whatever potion Kevon Looney drinks to make him look 47 years old, he must be sharing it with Moses Moody. Moody has my receding hairline.
But truly, we gotta give the people what they want — Steph and Klay, doing work.
If you go by Beef Stew, you better be ready to get cooked:
And Klay, giving Cory Joseph a taste to end the first half:
About last night…
While you were sleeping, the Nuggets, Celtics, and Spurs worked together on a financial scheme to get out of paying their taxes:
Denver got rich quick by adding Forbes, a player buried in the depth chart of San Antonio's youth movement. Forbes adds shooting to a team without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. Meanwhile, the Celtics create another trade exception and save money towards their luxury tax. They're one more trade or release away from dipping under the tax. San Antonio gets Juancho and a distant future second round pick for their trouble.
It's interesting that this trade comes nearly immediately after it was announced Bol will be out for 8-12 weeks for foot surgery. The Celtics, by acquiring Bol and Dozier, gained two players who will not suit up for them this season and will be hitting free agency this offseason. Ahh, the sweet ingredients that go into meeting ownership demands of not paying the luxury tax unless they field a contender.
Reports are flying out of LA about Frank Vogel, and I'm not sure why. It makes zero sense that Vogel would be coaching for his job:
Frank Vogel isn't a perfect coach. But, as many others have pointed out, Vogel didn't construct this roster. Sure, it took him too long to realize that playing DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard were mistakes. But Vogel's switch to LeBron at center and their recent closing lineup of James, Austin Reaves, Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk, and Stanley Johnson proved to be successful.
Would you look at that? The Lakers played better with youth around LeBron! Who could have thought of that?
The issue lays in the fact that Vogel only has those four young guns at his disposal right now, and the Lakers don't have any way out of it.
Don't fire Frank Vogel.
Scores, stats, & notes
Timberwolves 112, Knicks 110 — Evan Fournier led all scorers with 27. KAT's clutch bucket at the end was the difference maker. Quickley and Toppin only played nine minutes each. How the hell is Cam Reddish supposed to crack the rotation?
Warriors 102, Pistons 86 — Pistons not named McGruder or Stewart went 16-65 from the field. Klay scored 21 points. Killian Hayes played eight minutes and didn't return in the second half, with an apparent hip injury.