Spurs 109, Knicks 83: Scenes from ‘Let’s just play random dudes together’

There were some intriguing behind-the-scenes chess matches being played Friday night in an otherwise nondescript New York Knicks loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The opponents: head coach David Fizdale and...himself? Common sense? I’m not really sure.

The most significant battle of wills came at the center position, where Fiz needs to balance rookie Mitchell Robinson’s emergence with impending free agent DeAndre Jordan’s desire to get paid. Also, Jordan is Kevin Durant’s friend, I guess? I’m not sure what the motivation is, exactly, but Fizdale decided to play them together in the second half. As you might expect with two massive dudes who can’t shoot, the spacing was an unmitigated disaster, and the Spurs ran roughshod over the super-big Knicks en route to a 109-83 loss.

Fizdale’s other dilemma came when backup point guard Kadeem Allen clearly outplayed pet project Emmanuel Mudiay. Fizdale’s solution, yet again, was to play them together. Allen got an impressive 28 minutes of playing time, dropping 16 points on 7-10 shooting to go along with 2 assists and 3 steals. Mudiay got the lion’s share of playing time (35 minutes) and put together a very Mudiay line: 14 points on 14 shots, 2 assists, 4 turnovers.

Damyean Dotson (21 points) was once again the Knicks’ top gun. That dude can play.