Toppin makes ‘huge’ impact in limited role
CLEVELAND — Obi Toppin resumed playing limited minutes Saturday night with the return of Julius Randle to the Knicks’ lineup.
The reserve power forward still had an impact on Game 1 against the Cavaliers, however, scoring all of his nine points in 14 minutes overall during the Knicks’ separation run in the third quarter en route to a series-opening 101-97 victory Saturday night.
“I thought Obi gave us really good minutes,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said after Game 1. “We got hit with some things tonight. Some of the silver lining was the last month, we had different guys out, so those other guys had to step in.
“Julius — we knew, first game back, his rotations were gonna be different. I thought Obi gave us really good minutes. I thought that was huge.”
Toppin had averaged 21.8 points and 31.8 minutes in the five games Randle missed to conclude the regular season due to a sprained ankle.
With Thibodeau adjusting his rotation to accommodate Randle’s first game in 17 days, Toppin came off the bench earlier than usual in the third quarter, with 7:43 remaining.
The former Dayton star contributed two breakaway dunks, a key corner 3-pointer and two free throws in the period as the Knicks opened an 11-point lead.
“I felt good, felt the same. Had an air-ball in the first half, and that didn’t look good,” Toppin joked afterward. “But the second half, I ran the floor, our guards found me. JB [Jalen Brunson] being the special guard that he is, found me for an open shot in the corner.
“We have great guys who are going to give up good passes to allow us to be successful. So I felt good out there.”
The 25-year-old Toppin added that he “1,000 percent” was happy to have Randle back in the lineup, even if it meant a more limited personal role.
“Having all our guys healthy is always going to be a good thing for us. Seeing 30 back out there was a great sight,” Toppin said. “I mean, I would say, yeah, I expected him to play.
“I just feel like we came in and played with a lot of energy. Knew what we had to do when we got out there, and just had fun. We always want to win, we never want to lose. So we have the mindset of going into every game with a winning mindset going in there, give it 110 [percent] to come out with the win.”
The Knicks will look to take a 2-0 series lead on Tuesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse before returning to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Friday.
“It’s just one win. We need three more. We’re not going to get too excited. The job’s not done yet,” Toppin said. “We’re going to go into the next game with the same mentality, look over film, see what we can fix and get better from it.
“I’m going to say it’s going to be a dogfight the whole series. … Everybody is going to do extra things to help their team. We’re going to bring that dog out every game.”