Pre-Game Reconnaissance: Knicks at Wizards—10/06/17

Game 2 of the preseason is tonight and apparently Knicks public relations is a bit confused about that!!

Hopefully not as confused as Frank Ntilikina’s knee is, though.

Anyways, the Knicks will travel a little bit to the south and then a little bit west to face the Wizards at the Verizon Centre. Let’s get ready for that game.

The Foe:

I caught up with the excellent Michael D. Sykes II of SBNation’s Wizards site, Bullets Forever, to ask him what of these 2017 preseason Wizards!

Thanks for having me, Harrison.

John Wall pretty much sat out the game as a precaution. It was a meaningless preseason game against competition the Wizards won't see again until, at least, another year from now. Gotta keep those legs fresh, right? Bradley Beal only played the first half of the first quarter of the game, so Scott Brooks seems to be taking a cautious approach with his backcourt this preseason.

Tyler Hansbrough had a pretty decent return to the league, right? He showed off some skill I, quite frankly, didn't know he had. He stretched the floor with the longest two point jumpers I've ever seen in my life and showed some pretty decent footwork in the post against the Wizards' third unit.

As far as rookies go, the Wizards have a bunch of undrafted free agents. So there isn't much to expect there. I'd say the guys to look out for, who will likely get the most playing time tonight, are Tomas Satoransky and Kelly Oubre. Those are the most significant two developmental projects the Wizards are riding on this season, so any progress -- or regression -- they see tonight is important. This will be the first time they're going up against other NBA competition this season, but they were both impressive in the first game against the Long-Lions.

The Wizards should be pretty dominant against the Knicks this year, but as a Wizards fan, similar to you all in New York, we do not count our eggs before they hatch. DC Sports is cursed and it will probably always be cursed, so you never know what can happen this season. That being said, John Wall and Bradley Beal are amazing and, hopefully, good enough to buck that trend.

If Beal can continue to build on last season with his combination of health and production, he's a shoe-in for the All-Star game. Fun fact: He'd be the first Wizard not named John Wall to make the All-Star game in a decade. The last person? Caron Butler in 2007-08. No pressure, right?

Overall, the fanbase is pretty excited for what's to come this season. And they're definitely excited to see them play another NBA team tonight.

The Knicks:

New York took an L against Brooklyn the other night and it was probably the exact type of L we’ll see them take a lot this season. The Knicks aren’t strapped for offensive options, but they absolutely have an inordinate amount of Swiss cheese defenders on their roster.

The starting lineup that they trotted out against the Nets on Tuesday had Kristaps Porzingis, Doug McDermott and Tim Hardaway Jr. in it—all three of which can score in a variety of ways. It also had Ramon Sessions who, at this point in his career, is solid, if not limited on both ends of the floor and Kyle O’Quinn who can also be hit-or-miss in all facets.

Then, they bring out Willy Hernangomez and Enes Kanter, who are also bad at defence.

Once the Knicks give up a few turnovers and go on long scoreless stretches, they’re going to be down big and they won’t have any way of stopping it.

Against a team like the Wizards, who can score in so many ways, don’t expect for this game to be pretty. Especially with defensive spark plug Frank Ntilikina out of the lineup with a bruised right knee.

The Knicks will also be without Luke Kornet (hamstring), Ron Baker (ankle) and Mindaugas Kuzminskas (calf).

One can expect a starting lineup that’ll be the exact same as Tuesday’s, but maybe with Kanter or Hernangomez at the five instead of Kyle O’Quinn.

MISC:

Nigel Hayes just wants to prove to everyone that New York City is actually bad. Look, will somebody in the area hit him up and bring him for a Papaya dog or some shit already, I have had enough of this New York slander! Enough, Nigel!

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Game is at 7PM ET and will be coming to you live on MSG. And now you’re ready for Knicks-Wiz!