RJ Barrett still out, but Obi Toppin returns for Knicks
Knicks forward Obi Toppin slaps five with head coach Tom Thibodeau in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Jan. 9, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Knicks found themselves close to completely healthy — or as healthy as an NBA team at the midpoint of the season can be — as they took the floor Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
RJ Barrett still was out with a lacerated right index finger, but after a practice session Sunday, he is close to returning. And Obi Toppin was back, having completed his ramp-up with a practice with Westchester on Thursday and a full practice with the Knicks on Sunday.
With 3:52 left in the first quarter Monday, he reported into a game for the first time since Dec. 7, when he suffered a non-displaced fracture of the fibula head in his right knee.
Toppin was much improved on both ends of the floor before suffering the injury. Now the question is how coach Tom Thibodeau will utilize him.
“We’ll see how it unfolds,” Thibodeau said. “Each day, I think more and more — he’s gotten contact now. So just get in there and play well. Handle your minutes well, whether they’re short minutes, long minutes. Doesn’t matter. Play well. That’s the most — make the team function well.”
High IQ on defense
As the Knicks consider rotation changes, one thing to account for is that Immanuel Quickley has improved greatly on defense. The Knicks’ defense currently is 14 points better per 100 possessions with Quickley on the floor.
“It depends on how I want to go with this,” Thibodeau said. “I could say too small of a sample size or I could say I agree with it totally. The thing I love about Quick is that he’s smart, he’s very, very smart. He knows. He understands what he has to do to help our team defense. I think it’s his greatest strength.
“So he can play — even when he’s guarding twos, his size, because of his intelligence, he knows how to create body position, very good with his hands, his feet, rarely is he out of position, and I think that does [make] your defense a lot better. And he’s going to give you great effort all the time.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
