Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Portland Trail Blazers 1/24/2021 9:00 pm [Game #18]

The Portland Trail Blazers received an unexpected but welcome break this week, and figure to be fresh and rejuvenated Sunday night when they host the New York Knicks.

Portland's scheduled games on Wednesday and Friday against Memphis were postponed due to COVID-19 issues for the Grizzlies. So, Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts saw an opening to refine some things in practice and tinker with player rotations.

It was certainly well-timed after recent injuries to shooting guard CJ McCollum (foot) and big man Jusuf Nurkic (wrist).

"Between getting extra rest and extra reps, the practices have been good for us," Stotts said. "It helped. There is no question that having extra time to work on things on both ends -- we need to adjust. Different guys will have different roles. From that standpoint, missing these two games was good for us."

Though five-time All-Star Damian Lillard (team-best 28.1 scoring average) remains Portland's main man, the injury to McCollum is a major blow.

The 29-year-old had stepped up his game this season and was off to a superb start. He was averaging a career-high 26.7 points in 13 games before sustaining the hairline fracture in his left foot against the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 16.

Seldom-used Rodney Hood will be asked to soften the loss of McCollum. Things went well on Monday against the San Antonio Spurs when Hood scored a season-best 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting in 25 minutes.

Hood figures to stay in the starting five as Stotts would prefer to continue bringing sharpshooter Gary Trent Jr. off the bench.

That is definitely appealing to Hood, who is hoping to find his rhythm after scoring just 18 points all season prior to Monday.

"I feel like I got off to a better flow, just being in the game," Hood said. "Sometimes when you come off the bench, you never know when you coming in.

"I just had a good flow coming in," he continued. "(Lillard) was trying to get me going real early, coaches trying to get me going real early because they know down the long stretch of the season, I'm gonna need to be back to myself. So (Monday) was a good start for me."

New York is 1-1 during a four-game road excursion that continues through Tuesday against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.

The Knicks posted a 119-104 win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday before falling 103-94 to the Sacramento Kings the following night.

New York scored just 40 second-half points in the loss to Sacramento. The Knicks moved within two points with 4:30 to play before the Kings put the game away with an 11-2 burst.

The disappearing act down the stretch left coach Tom Thibodeau in a sour mood.

"Obviously we didn't finish well," Thibodeau said. "I did like the fight in the fourth quarter to come back, but we didn't close it out. It's hard to win on the road if you're not doing all the little things. The games keep coming. We have to improve."

Julius Randle contributed 26 points and 15 rebounds in his latest solid performance. The 26-year-old has registered four consecutive double-doubles and is averaging 20.8 points and 15.3 rebounds during the stretch.

Randle was miffed with the loss to the Kings, which followed a three-game winning streak.

"This was a weird, weird game for us," Randle said. "We started off slow, worked our way out of it and was up at the half. The third and fourth quarter was a little bit of a funk. I don't even know what happened. The ball stuck a little bit."

--Field Level Media

(STATS / cbssports.com)

POR without CJ and Nurcik.

A loss coming in Utah, so this is a game we need to win!

We?re getting blown out and I haven?t caught any of the game. I guess it?s a good thing

Quickley. Wow just wow. Knicks have the Blazers lead all the way down to 5 in the 4th quarter. Quickley with 20 off the bench.

This is about as scrappy an effort as you?re ever going to see in trying to get back in a game in the 4th. Knicks playing aggressive defense to force turnovers and drawing fouls down the other end. Only problem is that every time they draw close, Portland knocks down another 3.

Knicks had Melo trapped at half court with only 8 seconds left on the shot clock and somehow ref calls a foul to bail him out. Lead goes back to 6 with only 30 seconds left. Brutal call against the Knicks.

Knicks led by Quickley got a 25 point lead all the way down to 4 in the 2nd half. Looks like they are going to run out of time though.

Unbelievable. Quickley sinks a free throw to cut lead to 3. Kanter pushes Randle?s arm on made free throw and Randle?s arm hits Covington?s face. Randle gets called with a Flagrant 2 and gets ejected. WTF.

Ref review changes the flagrant to a regular foul on Randle, but he?s gone anyway with his 6th foul.

Knicks lose by 3.

Quickley has 31 points and almost led the Knicks to a huge comeback.

31 for Quickley! The most points that Haliburton has had in a game this year is 17 and people talk about him like he is Michael Jordan.

Ha, they ended up making a game of it

htr10 said:

Knicks lose by 3.

Quickley has 31 points and almost led the Knicks to a huge comeback.

31 for Quickley! The most points that Haliburton has had in a game this year is 17 and people talk about him like he is Michael Jordan.

Click to expand...

Again START him so we know it?s real!

htr10 said:

Knicks lose by 3.

Quickley has 31 points and almost led the Knicks to a huge comeback.

31 for Quickley! The most points that Haliburton has had in a game this year is 17 and people talk about him like he is Michael Jordan.

Click to expand...

I miss the game .. I caught the Highlights .. the 2nd half of the Game goes to Quickley's new Knicks. We all seen Quickley's potential comming ....
WOW! Quickley! Quickley! Quickley! A 31 point performance in just 24 minute of playing-time. Quickley's dynamic 4th qtr. scoring tonight has showed me he will become a 4th Qtr. Finisher player in the NBA.

Damian Lillard scored 39 pts tonight .. Thibs Guard rotation really need Frank on the court alongside Quickley's creativeness.
Frank never should have fired Leon Rose !!!

IQ was the man this evening. 31 on 18 shots. Burks had it going for a while, but other than that...

Would?ve helped to have Halliburton give us 12 points or so... didn?t really see Obi do anything on the floor to help much.

Randle missed a late FT.

Did RJ play?

mafra said:

IQ was the man this evening. 31 on 18 shots. Burks had it going for a while, but other than that...

Would?ve helped to have Halliburton give us 12 points or so... didn?t really see Obi do anything on the floor to help much.

Randle missed a late FT.

Did RJ play?

Click to expand...

RJ didn?t get his usual minutes. He might have gotten banged up a little bit in the 1st half. It was hard to tell what happened.

mafra said:

IQ was the man this evening. 31 on 18 shots. Burks had it going for a while, but other than that...

Would?ve helped to have Halliburton give us 12 points or so... didn?t really see Obi do anything on the floor to help much.

Randle missed a late FT.

Did RJ play?

Click to expand...

The funny thing about the Halliburton vs Toppin comparison is that if you go to per 36 minute stats, Halliburton is averaging 14.7 points per game and Toppin is averaging 14.5 points per game. Halliburton?s biggest accomplishment on the rookie front is getting more minutes per game. He?s not really done a ton with those minutes.

For comparison, Quickley?s per 36 minute scoring is 22.3 points per game.

All the Knicks hate from the media for passing on Halliburton. Where?s all the hate to the rest of the NBA and all these genius draft analysts for not knowing about Quickley?

htr10 said:

The funny thing about the Halliburton vs Toppin comparison is that if you go to per 36 minute stats, Halliburton is averaging 14.7 points per game and Toppin is averaging 14.5 points per game. Halliburton?s biggest accomplishment on the rookie front is getting more minutes per game. He?s not really done a ton with those minutes.

For comparison, Quickley?s per 36 minute scoring is 22.3 points per game.

All the Knicks hate from the media for passing on Halliburton. Where?s all the hate to the rest of the NBA and all these genius draft analysts for not knowing about Quickley?

Click to expand...

I hear you. I?ve watched 7 SAC games and have seen almost every minute Obi has been on the floor.... While OBI barely makes a ripple while on the floor, Halliburton has impacted winning.

He?s not dominating or taking over games.
Thinking M Bridges in PhO. Just a solid piece, perhaps even a starter, on a winning team.

Against Knicks, when second unit came in, he stabilized his unit and prevented our second unit from going on a run in the first half. He helped hold serve and protected lead the starters amassed. Then, at end of game, he made 3-4 crucial plays that put the nail in our coffin.

He makes smart decisions, plays within himself, and isn?t a liability when shots aren?t failing. Toppin might get numbers if given his minutes, but it would be a sloppy, inefficient production with a negative plus-minus.

Bottom line: Halliburton looks comfortable on the floor, while Obi looks lost. Not what you expected from the most NBA ready prospect.
Doesn?t he turn 24 soon?


IQ is clearly the steal of the draft. Knicks might be on yo something... if you build from scratch, you need to hit a late first and a second... we got MRob, IQ... boom!

We get RJ... boom.

Now we just need that generAtional talent and a supporting 1B star. Then we are open for biz