Obi Toppin needs to have the ability to guard gamers like Kevin Durant. Fortunate for him, he may get a chance to just do that on Wednesday.
“We’re gonna see,” Toppin stated. “He’s a terrific participant. I'll by no means again down from any matchup — if that chance comes, I’m gonna maintain my floor.”
That minor subplot to Wednesday’s Knicks-Nets matchup apart, the extra necessary facet of the sport would be the Knicks’ motivation to knock off their rivals in a recreation Brooklyn must win.
It’s not as a result of the Knicks wish to play spoiler. It’s simply, nicely, as a result of.
“We acquired to win tomorrow,” Toppin stated. “We misplaced so many shut video games towards them. We simply gotta get a win. We gotta come out with quite a lot of vitality. We’re in our dwelling within the Backyard, so we gotta come out with this win.”
Added R.J. Barrett: “It’s a giant recreation. I’m excited. I do know the crew’s fired up.”
The Knicks have but to beat the Nets in three tries this season, dropping the video games by a mixed 10 factors. Just one recreation has been determined by greater than a possession, and the final matchup got here right down to a poor inbounds move with one second left when the Knicks had an opportunity to tie the sport.
“I feel it’s ridiculous that we've misplaced by two or three factors each single time,” Barrett stated. “It’s loopy. I’ll attempt to break that cycle [Wednesday].”
The Nets are locked into the play-in recreation, however tied with Charlotte on file. At the moment, they’re the 10-seed, however might transfer up, even perhaps into the 7-8 recreation if issues break proper.
Toppin’s potential to protect Durant might, after all, be a key consider how Wednesday goes. With simply three video games left in his sophomore NBA season, the 24-year-old needs to see his recreation develop on the defensive finish of the court docket going into subsequent yr as nicely.
“I really feel like that’s the most important factor, with the ability to guard 1 by means of 5,” Toppin stated Tuesday in a press convention that amounted to an evaluation of his season with simply three video games left. “Having the ability to swap onto Kyrie [Irving] or [Seth] Curry. Having the ability to guard these elite athletes and with the ability to swap onto Kevin Durant or one thing. I wish to be a extremely good defender, trigger I really feel like that’s gonna take my recreation to a different degree.”
Julius Randle and Derrick Rose are unlikely to play the remainder of the common season, Thibodeau stated.
Thibodeau stated he would see how Quentin Grimes (knee) and Miles McBride (knee) really feel on Wednesday morning earlier than deciding whether or not they’ll play.
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