Either the Knicks got a glimpse of a bright future on Sunday night, or their opportunistic youngsters capitalized on the chance to play the backups of a team that had nothing to play for.
With several Raptors starters resting for the playoffs, the Knicks beat Toronto 105-94 to finish 37-45, with their exact lottery position to be determined by how the Pelicans (36-45 going into Sunday) end their season.
Wherever the truth lies, Knicks fans will eat up this objective fact:
Finally given the opportunity to play major minutes on a nightly basis with Julius Randle sidelined, Obi Toppin has balled out.
Toppin’s second year ended with career-highs in games 81 and 82, dropping 35 on the Wizards on Friday night and 42 on the Raptors on Sunday. In five games starting for the injured Randle, Toppin closed out the season with 20, 20, 19, 35 and 42 points.
Garden fans have begged for Toppin all year, and he gave it to them on Sunday night. The slam dunk contest champion had at least four spectacular highlight dunks:
-An outrageous reverse alley-oop from Alec Burks
-A breakaway tomahawk at the start of the fourth quarter
-A high-speed oop from Burks as soon as he re-entered for the end of the fourth quarter
-Going directly at the Raptors’ Yuta Watanabe on the open court after a press break; Watanabe was wise enough to get out of the way
“Terrific,” Tom Thibodeau said of Toppin. “Behind the scenes I see how hard he works, and it’s a result of the work that he’s put in. He and (Immanuel Quickley) have great chemistry.”
Despite how Leon Rose tried to spin the Knicks’ strong finish, Toppin’s performances have largely come amid the dregs of the NBA calendar, with teams actively tanking for lottery position (like the Wizards were Friday) or resting key players for the postseason (Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet sat out for the Raptors Sunday).
Schedule-based mirage or not, Toppin has flashed a something of a three-point stroke over the last four games. He was 12 for his last 23 heading into Sunday, and hit six of 14 attempts — which the Raptors mostly dared him to take — to close out the year Sunday.
“I feel like as the confidence got better, it just became: as soon as I catch the ball, if I’m open, I’m gonna shoot it…I’m not thinking, I’m just playing basketball,” Toppin said after the game. Despite the fact that Knicks fans have crushed Thibodeau for playing Randle heavily over Toppin, the second-year player said after the win that he trusted Thibodeau’s decisions and Randle had enthusiastically backed him.
Fellow second-year player Immanuel Quickley was equally impressive on Sunday, finishing with career highs in points (34) and assists (12) and tied his career best 10 rebounds for a triple-double.
Toppin said that he and Quickley drove to the game together and schemed their career nights in advance.
Thibodeau acknowledged that despite the tantalizing final week, the season was ultimately a disappointment after last year.
“We know we gotta make a big step this summer, so we’re gonna need everyone in there making a commitment,” Thibodeau said.
FIBA FOURNIER
While most people associated with the Knicks have been vague about their plans for the summer, Evan Fournier was direct: he’s playing in September’s European championships in Germany. The Frenchman said he was committed to participating in a training camp for the French national team and playing in EuroBasket, which runs September 1-18.
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