KNICK MATH: 15>3
Thibodeau’s crew not worried, even if all Nets are in place
The Nets’ Big-3 is like those way-too-expensive Lego sets stored on the top shelf. They’re rarely assembled. Kyrie Irving has taken full advantage of his personal days. Kevin Durant has directed more profanities at Michael Rapaport than he has games played. The two have just seven appearances together alongside James Harden, while the team tries to market 2021-22 season tickets with the Big 3 as the centerpiece.
There’s a chance all three are available tonight against the Knicks at Barclays Center, with Durant tracking to return this week following a 22-game absence. The Knicks don’t seem to care.
“We got a Big 5,” Reggie Bullock responded. Julius Randle interjected. “A Big 15.” Bullock picked up from there. “So we’re not really concerned about their Big 3, we know what type of basketball we’ll be able to come into the game and play,” he added.
The Knicks’ (24-24) brand of basketball is defense, which is No. 1 in the NBA in points allowed per game. It’s a sign of confidence that Bullock, fresh off the Knicks’ 44-point pummeling of the Pistons Saturday, believes the Knicks can impose their style against the high-powered Nets offense, which ranks second despite Durant missing 60% of the season.
The Knicks have adopted the persona of their coach, Tom Thibodeau, who plans for every game like a victory will ensure his entire lineage a spot in heaven. They pride themselves on availability, with Randle leading the league in total minutes and RJ Barrett ranked fifth.
“We’re worried about us,” Randle said. “We feel like we come out — we have a whole team of guys. We try to play the right way, we play hard, we play with energy. We feel like if we do that we’ll have a chance against anybody. So it’s not about (the Nets). It’s not about who they have or who they don’t have. We’re worried about us and what we have to do.”
The Nets, for the most part, are the opposite. They’re biding time until the playoffs, winning games by flipping a switch in fourth quarters and prioritizing June and July health over today. The Nets are the best team in the Eastern Conference and have exactly one player on its active roster — ONE PLAYER — who accumulated more than 60 games with the franchise before this season. And yet, it doesn’t seem to matter. Such is the way of today’s transient and “load management” NBA, where stars run the show and one playing style fits all. The Lakers won a title last season with a largely new cast. The Nets are among the favorites despite very little idea of what the Big-3 looks like together. he Knicks may get a rare glimpse of the Nets’ full Voltron power, but they believe the team is greater than individuals. Unfortunately for them, it usually doesn’t work that way in the NBA. “There are 15 players on the roster,” Bullock said. “With our team that we have, with our leader as coach and our leader with (Randle) on the court, that’s why we’re here — we’re here to compete. We’re here to win games. We know how great we can be. That was one of our goals at the beginning of the year, was to compete against everybody and have fun doing it. We’re the Big 15.”
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