Rolling out the white carpet? - Knicks at Wolves GDT

[60WinTim]

I see you guys up north are rolling out the white carpet for KAT tonight!!! I am safely and warmly tucked away down in Texas right now. I don't miss the snow!

FNG request an early GDT. There will be a lot of emotions for both teams tonight. So it is a complete tossup as to what kind of basketball we will see, although I expect the intensity to be quite high.

Moving back to his natural center position, KAT is having a terrific season thus far. He is posting numbers similar to his season before Rudy arrived, with even better 3-point shooting and rebounding numbers. It's those numbers that earned him an enormous contract, which led to an untenable financial situation for the Wolves once the Apron rules were created. And he has only missed 2 games thus far, which is pretty good considering his injury history in recent years. So good for KAT!

It should be a fun game to watch, and another nice litmus test for the Pivot. Go Wolves!

[Wolvesfan21]

I see this as a playoff level atmosphere and intensity. The preseason game was just a warmup and that was an intense game.

This is a good game to attack KAT relentlessly on defense and at the rim which he struggles with. Get him in foul trouble and emotionally unhinged, which we all know he will comply with. The Rudy matchup isn't really ideal in doing that but get them in pick and rolls and I can see multiple players being able to go at him physically and get him to meltdown. If not he will just play a soft drop and leave open 3's which we can take, seems more likely to be honest. Either way make him work on defense and I see a positive outcome as they don't like to play too many guys and their bench is weak.

Play hard and physical, Fast paced and they will suffer with our depth of overall skill and talent.

[thedoper]

We should put Dillingham on KAT and watch the fouls pile up.

[rapsuperstar31]

Who's going to step up and take the first charge from Towns?

[AbeVigodaLive]

I've been looking for where to find "offensive fouls" for a long time. Years.

But I'm especially interested to see where Towns is at this year after leading the league multiple times while playing in MN.

[FNG]

This is such an interesting matchup, even without the Randle/KAT intrigue. The Knicks have one of the best offensive starting 5's in the Association, but they are struggling on defense with KAT playing center...16th overall. The Wolves are far and away the best defense in the Association the past month, but still have some things to figure out on offense. I like the Knicks starters better, but I much prefer our bench. Some things to consider:

1) Who will be on KAT and Brunson? Conventional wisdom would have Jaden on Brunson and either Rudy or Julius on KAT, but it might be fun to see Jaden on KAT (I think either Mike or Ant would be fine on Brunson). We'll have to see what happens. One thing for sure...probably nobody knows what works best on KAT than Finchie.

2) KAT's return will be emotional, but I have a feeling he might try to do too much. A few crosscourt passes whipped into the 10th row would be helpful.

3) Of course Julius might try to do too much also. That could be good if he goes 100% on defense, but we don't want him trying to be too much of a hero on offense.

4) McBride is a smallish backup PG...I think we will see a lot of Rob when he's in the game.

NY is good, but they also have played an easy schedule...only 6 games against the West and only 1 each against Boston and Cleveland (both losses). What prevails tonight, offense or defense? I say defense, as the Wolves win a close one.

[FNG]

Josh Hart is listed as questionable for tonight due to personal reasons. He's really the only Knick who rebounds other than KAT, so that would be really good news.

I'm proud to report that I never missed a basketball game for personal reasons.

[Q-is-here]

My guess is that Jaden starts on Brunson, but they may have Ant and NAW guard him for stints as well. It's sort of the Jamaal Murray treatment, where you try to overwhelm a physically small-ish guard with length, athleticism, and intensity over the course of a full game.

Brunson is a cool story because he came into the league as a somewhat older prospect at age 22 with three years of college experience at Villanova, yet went through a very gradual upwards growth trajectory culminating in last season which was his best.

[60WinTim]

Josh Hart is indeed out. I figure Matt Ryan will see minutes and light us up!

[Q-is-here]

Jaden on Brunson as expected with Rudy on Precious so he can lurk with Randle on KAT.