New York Knicks vs Minnesota Timberwolves
Game 19: December 2, 2016
Knicks 118, Timberwolves 114

Written by Eric Weinstein – @ericcweinsteinn
flagrant2blog.blogspot.com/ 

Welcome to the Kyle O’Quinn show starring Kyle O’Quinn

An apology might be in order.

It was the Timberwolves turn to be the road team as they traveled to New York on the second leg of a home and home. The Knicks squandered a 16 point lead, but once again held on to defeat the Wolves and sweep the season series, 118-114. Carmelo Anthony paced the Knicks with 29 points on 9-20 shooting, along with 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Kristaps Porzingis had a rough game with 11 points on only 2-12 shooting, but those two weren’t the stars of tonight’s game. That title belongs to none other than Kyle O’Quinn. KO was a beast, plain and simple, he had a season high 20 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks, and was a +16. He was the emotional leader on both ends of the court, where his heart and hustle lead the way. Karl-Anthony Towns had 20 points on only 5-18 shooting after his 47 point performance Wednesday night. Zack LaVine led Minnesota with 23 points.

Takeaways from this game:

KO Mania

Kyle O’Quinn was a monster on both ends of the court. Season highs in scoring, rebounding, and minutes played, he has been excellent stepping in for Joakim Noah when he has sat out. He picked up the scoring slack, as Kristaps Porzingis had a rare off shooting night, and he bullied Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota big men all game. His hustle and defense were contagious, and he made huge defensive plays in the final minutes. The numbers he put up could almost be worth 72 million dollars over four years, maybe…

Pace:

I hope I wasn’t the only one yelling at my television hoping the Knicks would push the pace. In the first quarter, the Knicks jumped out to the early lead because they were getting out in transition and running the floor. The Knicks don’t need to slow down and run a set play every time down the court, because when they came out running, the penetration in the lane set up either easy layups or a wide open three pointer. With guards like Derrick Rose, who had another really nice game, more on him later, and Brandon Jennings, who always look to run in transition, the rest of the team should want to run with them for easy buckets.

Show Rose the money?

We all read the story. Rose is looking for an extension and wants to remain a New York Knick.

Excluding tonight’s game, Rose is averaging 16.4 points, and 4.5 assists on the year.

Disregarding his injury history that we all know, are those numbers worth a three year, 75 million dollar extension? Rose added 24 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds to his season totals, and has brought some clutch play to the end of games. The Knicks should wait for the season to be over before they even think about extending Rose, based on his injury history alone. Rose has been a positive addition on the offense, and takes the pressure off of Porzingis and Anthony.

The Knicks improved on their stellar home record, which now stands at 8-3 on the season, and their overall record to 10-9. This moved the Knicks into the seven spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, and in the weak east, they could continue to move up in the standings. Sacramento comes to town on Sunday with Boogie Cousins and Rudy Gay, and they will try to end the Knicks small two game winning streak. Also, we get the long anticipated Arron Afflalo, Kurt Rambis reunion. Can’t wait.

By the way, Kuzminskas is my favorite Knick and it’s not even close. I jumped out of my chair when he dunked all over Cole Aldrich.