{"id":387519,"date":"2021-12-30T10:40:32","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T07:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/knicks-need-to-start-giving-obi-toppin-more-minutes\/"},"modified":"2021-12-30T10:40:32","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T07:40:32","slug":"knicks-need-to-start-giving-obi-toppin-more-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/knicks-need-to-start-giving-obi-toppin-more-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"#Knicks need to start giving Obi Toppin more minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Knicks need to start giving Obi Toppin more minutes<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"76\" height=\"69\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=76&amp;h=69&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-nyp_columnist size-nyp_columnist\" alt=\"Ian O'Connor\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png 152w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=114 114w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=76 76w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Ian-OConnor.png?w=38 38w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 76px) 100vw, 76px\"\/>        <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Alec Burks saved the Knicks from an unmitigated disaster in Detroit, because he is a pro\u2019s pro. He has seen it all over 11 years in the NBA, and he could tell his team was prepared to lose to a decimated Pistons club that would have struggled to win a Big Ten <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> on Wednesday night, never mind a G-League game.<\/p>\n<p>So Burks calmly, stoically, and surgically delivered a career night off the bench with 34 points, 19 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Knicks to a comeback victory that spared them as embarrassing a defeat as they\u2019ve had in a long, long time. Taj Gibson was a huge second-unit help, too, because he has 13 years of NBA experience and he saw where this night was heading as clearly as Burks did.<\/p>\n<p>The Pistons had lost 17 of their previous 18 games, and at 5-27 they were the league\u2019s worst team even before COVID protocol and injury claimed their best players and forced them grab a half dozen guys out of the local Y. And yet they somehow scored 25 of the first 29 points of the third quarter, taking a 14-point lead, before Tom Thibodeau was bailed out by his bench.<\/p>\n<p>Before his Knicks could fly off to Oklahoma City for a chance to get back to .500 for the first time in more than three weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe knew it was going to be a challenge,\u201d said Thibodeau, citing the stress of back-to-back road games exacerbated by <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> issues and a late arrival in Motown.<\/p>\n<p>But a quick review of the \u201ctalent\u201d Detroit put on the floor tells you that no, this never should have been a challenge at all. Remember the Bad Boys Pistons of Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and Chuck Daly? These were the Bad <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> Boys Pistons who played a center, Luka Garza, with a vertical leap that makes Laimbeer\u2019s look Jordanesque, and a 27-year-old G-Leaguer making his NBA debut.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"716\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Obi-Toppin-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Obi Toppin slams one home during the Knicks' 94-85 victory over the Pistons.\" class=\"wp-image-20658252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Obi-Toppin-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Obi-Toppin-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Obi-Toppin-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Obi-Toppin-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Obi Toppin slams one home during the Knicks\u2019 94-85 victory over the Pistons.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">USA TODAY Sports<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So this was not a victory as much as it was a heart-stopping escape. The Knicks\u2019 starting five, which included Quentin Grimes in place of late scratch Evan Fournier, finished with a combined plus\/minus of minus-116. The Knicks\u2019 second five, which played the entire fourth quarter, finished with a combined plus\/minus of plus-161.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>And when it was over, Thibodeau and Gibson made it a point to say that the benched and overmatched starters were enthusiastic in their support of their backups. That\u2019s a good thing, no doubt. You need your players to root for one another during a regular-season grind made more exhausting by a pandemic that just won\u2019t quit.<\/p>\n<p>But 35 games deep into a season that was supposed to be a worthy sequel to last year\u2019s gift from the basketball gods, and that was supposed to represent the next step toward legit contention, it\u2019s clear the Knicks need something to elevate them.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear they need to cut Obi Toppin loose, and give him a lot more minutes than he\u2019s been getting to date.<\/p>\n<p>Even if those minutes are taken from Julius Randle, the closest thing the Knicks have to a franchise player, and the star they signed over the summer to a four-year, $117 million deal.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday night, after his 5-for-20 outing against Minnesota, Randle missed 9 of 11 shots and scored five points in 26 minutes. He did contribute 10 rebounds and five assists, but all in all, he hasn\u2019t been nearly the force he was last season, when he single-handedly took the Knicks on their version of a magic carpet ride.<\/p>\n<p>The magic is gone, at least for now. \u201cJules is still trying to find himself,\u201d Gibson conceded. And that might h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>en next week, next month, or at least by playoff or play-in time. But if the Knicks want to climb the ladder back into the Eastern Conference\u2019s top six seeds, they need to turn more to the player who climbed the ladder a few minutes into the fourth to dunk home Burks\u2019 lob pass to give his team a lead it never relinquished.<\/p>\n<p>Toppin returned the favor with 1:52 left, refusing to force a shot and instead dishing an underhand pass to the corner to Burks, who put the game out of reach with a four-point play. Toppin\u2019s numbers were modest in 22 minutes (nine points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal), but he played valuable defense, provided nonstop energy, and posted a plus-36 to Randle\u2019s minus-27.<\/p>\n<p>Once upon a time, when Thibodeau was an assistant on the \u201999 Knicks, Jeff Van Gundy waited too long on another long and athletic riser, Marcus Camby. Thibs and Van Gundy are very good coaches, but hey, it happens to the best of them.<\/p>\n<p>Toppin has his flaws for sure, yet his pros far outweigh his cons. He needs to start playing 25-plus minutes every night, even if that means more pine time for Randle.<\/p>\n<p>If the Knicks are to grow into a serious playoff contender, they\u2019ll need a lift. And Obi Toppin lifts off like no other New Yorker.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/12\/30\/knicks-need-to-start-giving-obi-toppin-more-minutes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Knicks need to start giving Obi Toppin more minutes&#8221; Alec Burks saved the Knicks from an unmitigated disaster in Detroit, because he is a pro\u2019s pro. He has seen it all over 11 years in the NBA, and he could tell his team was prepared to lose to a decimated Pistons club that would have&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":387520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/Obi-Toppin-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[122838,87529,79258,82762,72932,77061,46765],"class_list":["post-387519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-12-30-21","tag-alec-burks","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-julius-randle","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-obi-toppin","tag-tom-thibodeau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}