Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Sacramento Kings 1/22/2021 10:00 pm [Game #17]

The New York Knicks hope to duplicate a Northern California sweep they accomplished last season when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.

The Knicks won only 21 games last year, but two of them came in a three-day stretch last December.

On that occasion, New York outlasted the Golden State Warriors in overtime at San Francisco, had a day off, then ventured the 90 miles to Sacramento for a 103-101 win behind Julius Randle's 26 points and nine rebounds.

They get an opportunity to repeat thanks to a one-sided, 119-104 road win over the Warriors on Thursday night.

But this time around, there will be no day off before attempting to complete the double.

First-year Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau took time Thursday night to praise the leadership of Randle on an improving team that is riding a three-game winning streak.

"He's always been a great worker, so that sets a great tone for how we're going to go about our business," the veteran coach said. "And now he's more comfortable with the vocal aspect of it. In this league, oftentimes you have guys who say all the right things and do none of them. So the important thing is what you actually do each and every day."

Randle and RJ Barrett have been the offensive leaders for the Knicks, with at least one of them going for 20 or more points on each night of New York's win streak.

It was Barrett's turn to lead the way against the Warriors. He had a career-best 28 points, igniting a Knicks offense that put up its second-highest point total of the season.

That was only half the story, however. New York put its improved defense on display at Golden State, limiting the potent Warriors to 9-for-38 shooting on 3-point attempts.

The Knicks have held eight opponents -- including their past three -- to 104 points or fewer and have gone 6-2 in those games.

In Sacramento, the Knicks will see a team that has held just two opponents under 115 points -- and both those games were a while ago.

Since limiting Houston to 102 on Jan. 2, the Kings have seen pinball numbers put up on them on a regular basis, with the Toronto Raptors going for 144, three other teams totaling 132-plus and all but one foe hitting 122-plus.

Sacramento's best defensive effort in its past nine games came Wednesday night on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers, who managed just 115 points. Still, it was enough for a 19-point win, the Kings' fourth straight defeat.

"We see the mistakes and see what needs to be done," Kings veteran Glenn Robinson III said after the game. "Now it's on us to fix it."

Something that doesn't need fixing is De'Aaron Fox's game. He put up 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go with seven assists against the Clippers, one game after scorching New Orleans for 43 points on 17-for-27 shooting with 13 assists.

The past six Knicks-Kings games in Sacramento have been decided by a total of 23 points. One went into overtime. Sacramento went 4-2 in those contests.

--Field Level Media

(STATS / cbssports.com)

Thanks Rady, wsup with all the back to back games, we had one at the beginning of this week.
Coach Thibs has been doing such a good job with the Knicks, he has the Knicks prepared for our crazy schedule. Big Props to Thibs and his coaching-staff for the 8-8 record.
Last night, Thibs played a 10 man rotation vs GSW, I'm hoping he do the same tonight.
Lets Go Knicks !!!

The Kings are going through a bad stretch. They're 5-10 and have lost 4 in a row.
The Knicks have an opportunity to go on a 4 game win streak tonite.
The Blazers are beat up - missing 2 of their top 3 players.
Utah... well, we handled them before, but they'll be looking for revenge. Fortunately we're better now than when we played them last. We're one of the few teams in the NBA that has multiple answers for Gobert.
We're already halfway to clinching a 2 win road trip, with a shot at 4 wins. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's see if we can pick off Sac Town.

NYK with 8 off rebounds and 0 turnovers in first half so far.

After I post this, Toppin offensive foul... turnover #1

NYk 2-12 from downtown buy have 28 points in the paint

Bullock and EP combine for 3 first half points. The other 3 starters each have double digit points.

I hope we have legs to finish this in the 4th...

Half-Time .... Knicks 54 - Kings 49

Payton's defense is holding up strong against Kings quick guards, hoping he keep that energy in the 2nd half.
MitchRob is going for a double-double night!
Our rookie Obi came in for quick 6 min to score 6 points for our bench-players in the first-half, lookin for some bench-points in the 2nd half .. Burks? Knox? Noel? and Quickley?

mafra said:

Bullock and EP combine for 3 first half points. The other 3 starters each have double digit points.

I hope we have legs to finish this in the 4th...

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Our legs were getting shaky a couple minutes before the half .. Our bench-players have to come alive in the 2nd half to keep adding on to our lead

We look a little tired think thibs should go to the bench early

Haliburton might be another SGA from okc .. He’s awesome

End of 3rd Qtr. .. Knicks 72 - Kings 76
Our bench players looked tired too SMH

3 for 18... another power shortage from three

Someone call / text Frank now !!!

Randle looks pissed and rightfully so refs are suckin tonight

Thibs called time-out .. 89-87 Kings .. 4 min remain in game

Halliburton puts nail in coffin. Outplays OBI. Knicks win if they took Halliburton...

Halliburton with a solid all around effort. 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Toppin with 5 nondescript points...

NYK with 33 points in the second half against the worst defensive team in the NBA.

Just like the step back against OKC at 5-3... here comes a 3 game slide.

L in POR
L in Utah

96-89 and Randle misses a huge FT with 90 seconds left, failing to convert the traditional 3-point play

I?ve counted 2 games we would?ve won had we selected Halliburton. Knicks would be at least 10-7.

I can?t say there?s 1 game we won bc we took Obi Toppin.

Just an awful choice. Halliburton looks like a 12 year pro... rotation guy. Toppin is a gimmick.

If this was your first shot at watching Halliburton, then know he?s being doing this all season for SAC. Fox and Halliburton a force in the future.

All my anger from draft night resurfaced watching Halliburton school our guards.

mafra said:

I’ve counted 2 games we would’ve won had we selected Halliburton. Knicks would be at least 10-7.

I can’t say there’s 1 game we won bc we took Obi Toppin.

Just an awful choice. Halliburton looks like a 12 year pro... rotation guy. Toppin is a gimmick.

If this was your first shot at watching Halliburton, then know he’s being doing this all season for SAC. Fox and Halliburton a force in the future.

All my anger from draft night resurfaced watching Halliburton school our guards.

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Kid looks like he's going to be good but Topps would be so much better if we had a pg the caliber of Fox

Broadway said:

Kid looks like he's going to be good but Topps would be so much better if we had a pg the caliber of Fox

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Wasn?t Toppin the most NBA ready prospect? The most offensively gifted player? Sure, if we had a stud PG serving him freebies at the rim...

But how does that spacing work with MRob?

Halliburton plays with second unit, and doesn?t need Fox to set him up... and he?s so good and smooth he closes most games.

Toppin was an awful pick based on roster we have and on his talent. Halliburton was clearly the better player, played a position we needed.

Not many 24 year old Dayton players take the NBA by storm. Knicks wanted to win the headlines, so they took this kid. Thankfully, somebody with sense talked Rose out of trading up for Toppin. That would?ve made me go nuclear.

Here?s a telling stat: Toppin has 2 offensive rebounds all season.

I?m telling you, Obi won?t be getting a second contract for the Knicks. If they are smart, they use him in a deal ASAP before his value plummets like Frank, DSJ, and Knox.

What does Toppin do well? Jump? He can pass and he?s coachable and a good kid. I?ll give him that...

RJ is afforded time bc he?s 20. Should we wait until Toppin is 29? Trade him....

mafra said:

Wasn’t Toppin the most NBA ready prospect? The most offensively gifted player? Sure, if we had a stud PG serving him freebies at the rim...

But how does that spacing work with MRob?

Halliburton plays with second unit, and doesn’t need Fox to set him up... and he’s so good and smooth he closes most games.

Toppin was an awful pick based on roster we have and on his talent. Halliburton was clearly the better player, played a position we needed.

Not many 24 year old Dayton players take the NBA by storm. Knicks wanted to win the headlines, so they took this kid. Thankfully, somebody with sense talked Rose out of trading up for Toppin. That would’ve made me go nuclear.

I’m telling you, Obi won’t be getting a second contract for the Knicks. If they are smart, they use him in a deal ASAP before his value plummets like Frank, DSJ, and Knox.

What does Toppin do well? Jump? He can pass and he’s coachable and a good kid. I’ll give him that...

RJ is afforded time bc he’s 20. Should we wait until Toppin is 29? Trade him....

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Maybe so but the kid plays nearly 30min/gm so he's out there with Fox for stretches and gets to play with other vets with established games. Topps plays with primarily a bench unit limited minutes. Hal may be better now and later but he and RJ have some similarity so not sure how it works either in a patty cake system of Payton and Randle. If you notice Payton rarely likes to find RJ out there, pretty sure Hal ain't getting much playing with that BUM

Topps was billed as an Amare' Lite or say the 2nd coming of Jordan Hill...lol. With that being said Amare' played the majority of his career with a spoon feeding point guard(Nash). Can we please get a REAL pg?

I know the Knicks team were performing sleepy-like tonight, we played 4 games in 6 days.
Yep, we were out of energy tonight.
I know this is Burks 2nd game back from injury, but I didn’t like Burks hesitant performance on the second unit lineup .. he holds the ball way to long, and kept getting his shot blocked all night. Fake sometime !!!