Game Preview Knicks vs Thunder 1/21/19

Happy Martin Luther King Day, everyone. This annual day-game has been one of the happiest traditions in the life of my Knick fandom. It’s a second consecutive matinee for the Knickerbockers (10-34). Today they’ll face the Thunder (27-18) who nearly lost to the Sixers over the weekend but Paul George made a miraculous 3-pointer, with the foul to take the win. It came after Russell Westbrook fouled out, Philadelphia stormed back to tie it and Jimmy Butler scored the go-ahead basket over Dennis Schroder, who had a foolish pass stolen in the closing seconds. Check this nonsense out...

Psychosis! The Knicks have not played since their silly loss to the Wizards in London. Which may have left a bad taste in a few mouths.

Projected Starters

Key Matchup

While it might not seem so tough when you look at his horrible shooting numbers, the Knicks will need to do what they can to make Westbrook disinterested. The human landslide isn’t exactly lighting the league on fire and bursting through the logo like Evel Knievil but he does help break the game open. Westbrook’s jumper is completely out of whack right now and his finishing at the rim isn’t right either. It’s his constant pressure and mad dashes that let the rest of Thunder know their role and fill in seamlessly.

Steven Adams and Paul George are probably having better seasons and may be the guys that define which way the game goes. They still get in line behind Westbrook. So the question is, will Emmanuel Mudiay be able to absorb some of Russell’s rim rushing and push him into taking tough dribble pull ups? Can Frank Ntilikina force him into careless decisions and turn it the other way for points? Tune in!

Prediction

The Knicks continue to find unthinkable ways to lose games. Today I think we’ll see a vintage Enes Kanter game. 20 points, 20 rebounds.

Knicks by -20.

Warm Up Music