NEW ORLEANS — The Knicks breezed through the big games and are headed into an easy schedule.
Starting with Saturday night's game against the Pelicans, the Knicks will play five of their next seven games against the bottom four teams in the NBA standings.
It's a surprisingly easy game, with two games against the Pelicans (5-23), Raptors (7-21), Jazz (6-20), and Wizards (4-21).
Even the two opponents sandwiched between these tankers, the Spurs (14-13) and Magic (17-12), are underdogs against the Knicks (17-10).
New Orleans will be without permanently injured Zion Williamson (hamstring strain), Brandon Ingram (ankle sprain) and Jose Alvarado (hamstring strain) heading into Saturday.
The Pelicans, who lost to the Knicks in a game against MSG on December 1st, are expected to be one of the biggest sellers before the trade deadline, with Ingram being the favorite, according to sources, and information on acquiring Williamson. Speculation is said to be increasing.
Meanwhile, the Knicks have won seven of their last nine games after defeating the Timberwolves 133-107 on Thursday.
Not only did Julius Randle leave the court after Thursday's game without shaking hands with his former teammates, he walked past the Knicks' locker room on his way out of the arena and didn't stop, even with a shadow in his eyes. .
It's safe to say he's still upset about how his tenure in New York ended. In previous eras, this might not have been noteworthy. However, players these days are so close that even cold encounters are rare.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Randle plays at MSG for the first time since being traded on January 17th.
Looks like Josh Hart is back.
Hart, who missed Thursday for “personal reasons,” was not on the injury report for the game against the Pelicans. He missed the game against the T-Wolves for the first time this season, and Precious Achiuwa started for the Knicks, and although he struggled defensively in the first shift, he regained his form in the second half.
Jericho Sims was added to the eight-man rotation, and Tom Thibodeau gave just about everyone his usual shout-out after the game.
“curl–[Anthony Towns]I mean, what can you say? It was just a monster game,” Thibodeau said. [Bridges] And I thought O.G. [Anunoby’s] The defense was special. Good play from Jaylen. [Brunson]I thought he just didn't play the game, read the game really well and created a lot of advantages. It was good to have 39 assists, but a lot of that was due to dribbling and making the right reads. Deuce, everyone working together [McBride] Jericho gave us a really good time, and Cam gave us a good time. [Payne] In the same way. “
A few minutes later, Thibodeau interrupted a comment about two women who ran onto the court during the game, saying, “Precious gave us a good game, too.”
So the coach contacted everyone.
But with Hart's return, it's safe to assume Achiuwa will return to the bench.
