Derrick Rose and Tom Thibodeau may finally get to enjoy the playoff success that they should have had together in Chicago, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Rose’s career was upended by injuries after his MVP season in 2010/11, and the Bulls fired Thibodeau four years later. Now they’re trying to give the Knicks their first postseason series win since 2013.
New York was able to acquire Rose for a bargain price in February, sending little-used Dennis Smith Jr. and a second-round pick to the Pistons in return. There were concerns that Rose might get in the way of the team’s rebuilding process, but he has led them to the playoffs as an explosive scorer and a valuable veteran presence. He helped turn around Wednesday’s Game 2 win over the Hawks, coming off the bench to score 26 points in 39 minutes.
“One thing about Derrick I’ve noticed, when he’s in a familiar situation, in a situation that he’s comfortable in, he understands it’s family, he understands that it’s a good environment, a winning environment, he’s going to flourish,” said Taj Gibson, who was also with Rose and Thibodeau in Chicago. “And right now he’s around familiar faces he’s been in battle with for a long time.”
There’s more from New York:
- Gibson, who wasn’t on an NBA roster when the season began, could be the Knicks’ starting center for tonight’s Game 3, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. The team considered bringing Gibson to training camp, but opted to go with Omari Spellman instead. Spellman earned a roster spot, but when he was sidelined by a sore knee in early January, the Knicks waived him and added Gibson. The veteran big man played an important role in Game 2 while Nerlens Noel was limited by a sprained ankle, and he could be given a starting role if Noel isn’t ready tonight.
- Elfrid Payton‘s playoff future appears to be in doubt after playing just five minutes Wednesday, notes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Payton remained in his starting role, but he never re-entered the game after being pulled for Rose midway through the first quarter.
- The Knicks announced this morning that tickets for a possible second-round playoff series will only be sold to vaccinated fans, Berman adds in a separate story. The team wants to fill Madison Square Garden to its capacity of 19,040, which means no socially distanced seating will be offered.
If tickets are only to be sold to vaccinated fans, I wonder how that can be proven when buying on line… Looking at my vaccine card, it has no ID number on it (though I’m in Tennessee, may be different in NY). If tickets won’t be available to buy on line, I’m almost SURE that’s not a queue I would want to wait in…
I guess you could just require that people show proof of vaccination when presenting their ticket for admission, but (the curse of being an operations manager at a performing arts venue) I can think of a whole bundle of problems and ugly scenes that could cause… Probably the only way it can be accomplished, though. Vaxxed folks could easily buy tickets and give them to somebody else. Shew!!!
Interesting point. I bet you they will do your second proposal and require vaccine cards at the game. One problem I can think of is people finding ways to print fake vaccine cards or something. The people taking tickets are medical experts so I’m sure they might not be able to tell the difference between real and fake ones.
The half-glass full view though is that if like 90% are vaxxed, then at least that particular game will have a sort of herd immunity (maybe?). So it’ll be a far less chance of a spreader event.
Also, maybe it will convince some people to get their vaccine to go to the game haha. Here in Ohio, our governor is offering 5 $1 million prizes and our vaccines just 23%, so maybe we just got to keep incentivizing it lol.
Not medical experts*
Our vaccines just increased 23%….
I need to reread what I type before hitting enter
We’re really low in Tennessee also… I actually like the idea that you have to be vaxxed to get into a non-socially distanced event. There’s NOTHING illegal about that, and I agree with your point that it just might give incentive to people on the fence.
Yeah exactly not illegal at all. Almost all sporting events are considered private property so they can tell you to do what they want. It’s why you can be charged from trespassing as a fan if you run onto the court or field.
First it’s sporting events and concerts. Next the grocery store… well actually next will be Costco. And then the grocery stores.
Cool!!! If you won’t do the right thing for any other reason, do it so you get something out of it for yourself. A tactic that perfectly targets selfish people!
Generally speaking, when you get a vaccine the idea is it protects you from being infected by the disease you’re getting vaccinated against.
Example: I received the Chicken Pox Vaccine when I was a kid. Once successfully vaccinated, it made no difference if my classmates were A) vaccinated or B) not vaccinated or C) not vaccinated and all infected with the chicken pox. Because I was protected against the disease vis-a-vis *being vaccinated*.
I think it would be a severe stretch of logic to suggest an un-vaccinated classmates or their parents were inherently selfish, as a vaccinated individual their decision literally had no bearing on my health.
Obviously, in the case of COVID I think the vaccine makes perfect sense for those at high risk (pre-existing conditions, elderly) of contracting COVID, and I think we should continue to play it safe until we know all at risk people have at least had multiple opportunities to get vaccinated.
But I’m not sure there’s any scientific basis for demanding every single person on the planet to get vaccinated, and I’m even more sure that typing “Selfish!!!” will not convince anyone on the fence about the vaccine to go get it.
We should all be vaxed by now. Just insane not to be. All cards are registered so can be checked when buying tickets. Then show ID and cards at event. Why mess with this now. NY is too crowded to be Messing around. Most are genuine.
There is no reason to keep starting Payton. We cant afford horrible 8 minutes every game. Start Frank for D and close with Rose
Frank is worse than Payton. He’s atrocious. I trust Thibs, who sees them every day, to know which of the two is the better player.
I also trust Thibs. He deserves for bringing us this far. But he doesnt seems to trust Payton either. So why not give Frank a shot with the starters?
Frank has had a lot of shots as a starter over the last four years. He even got a shot this year as a starter and stunk it up.
The only reasons he’s still playing Payton is because he can’t play Derrick Rose 48 minutes and because he has no other options. If Frank was showing any signs of life, Thibs would be playing him. But he’s not playing him, so we must assume he looks bad in practice.
Maybe I’ll be wrong and they’ll play him 10 minutes tonight. We’ll see.
What did Frank do to you. Did he not sign your shirt. Or you got something against the French. He’s the best one o defender we got. 4 yrs that’s funny. 4 yrs of what ????. Thibs will play him eventually. He’s loyal but not an idiot. “ Nttilikina Time “.
Wewe
Frank didn’t do anything to me. I just respond because for some reason, there’s a lot of people who think he can play. He can’t, and it’s so surprising to me that he has so many defenders.
Thibs won’t play him because he’s not good. He’s had four years to prove he belongs in the league and he hasn’t. This isn’t difficult. He’s a bust, plain and simple. It happens, you move on.
Another option: Start Rose (as opposed to bringing him in at 11:30 of the 1st and 3rd quarters), and give him 8 minutes rest each half via increasing the minutes of Burks and Quickley.
Problem solved.
“Derrick Rose and Tom Thibodeau may finally get to enjoy the playoff success that they should have had together in Chicago” – seriously? NY has won one playoff game and they’re already thinking they’ll have more playoff success than in Chicago? Once they do half of what they did in Chicago maybe we can start talking about it.
Maybe Popper, the writer of the article, is thinking next year and the year after as well? But you’re right, a couple of playoff wins doesn’t mean success like Chicago.
It’s a bit of a stretch, I agree. But also—Chicago didn’t have all THAT much playoff success in the Rose era.
Thibs made one conference finals and two semis and had two 1st round exits before he got booted. It’s not like they’re comparing the Knicks to a dynasty.
Just curious if Rose and Thibs have any sort of relationship. Wasn’t clear the first 10000 times.
What are the chances Rose stays or does he start ring chasing?
He’s ring chasing right now!
Yes
For Knicks, winning one playoffs game is playoffs success
For Clippers, taking the Mavs to Game 6 is playoffs success
For Celtics, not being swept in the first round is playoffs success
Knicks should offer contracts to
Bobby Portis 1 years $15 million
Cam Payne 2 years $30 million
Forbes 1 year $12 million
Suns will give contract extension to Bridges and Ayton
I don’t think they’d sign Portis again. Didn’t do much when he was here.
don’t know why they would but they not sighing any of those players.
Payton will continue to start, until there’s a viable alternative.
Rose is an alternative, but his minutes need to be monitored. Not necessarily limited in a particular game, but taking the first 6 min off the table keeps him on a normal rotation the rest of the game. Plus, starting is not something he wants. I’m not taking my best PG (only one really) out of his comfort zone.
Quickley doesn’t understand the position (hopefully, there’s a “yet” after that). Namely, the need to get everyone involved, especially early on. That he has a good shot isn’t the only thing that matters.
Frank is a willing passer, but he hasn’t been in the rotation, and doesn’t have Payton’s facilitation ability. We’ve haven’t used Payton much in that role for a while, but we may need him at some point, esp. if there’s injury to a guy we currently are using. Thibs confidence in Frank is limited to situational defense. No reason to question that.
Berman doesn’t understand the game well enough to write about real issues, so he’s latched onto this non-issue.
Berman is all about numbers. He doesn’t care about the truth. Or care about writing a positive story. Negativity sells more. He’s been a Knick hater since the Mello yrs. Needs to retire. The Post is a rag run by a Senile soul. Thibs has done what no one has done with this team. The Bulls had plenty of talent. This team was thought of as a 22 win team. Cause of all the mess the last 4yrs. That most here can’t even understand but will criticize. Or frankly don’t care about it. It’s funny to see all the wise Knick posters NOW. 90% of you didn’t believe in their talent. 70% of you didn’t believe in Thibs.
Yeah …… I’m here watching. The word I got is Bandwagon. Talent needs development. Not cheers and jeers. I’m so thankful we signed Thibs. Even management didn’t see this. Thibs grew up a Knicks fan. He knows what MSG and Knicks are all about to this city. He knows the City game. “Trust In Thibs.”
I’ve e been saying it since we signed him. I guess you get it NOW.
Everybody is playing like garbage except rose Burks had a good game 1 bullock game 2 taj trying had noel is a beast playing hurt and obi is ok. I didn’t expect this from them at all the playoffs is different and there is no real experience. Randle got something else on his mind he been double teamed in the regular season I won’t say it’s that. Get it together please this is very heartbreaking to the fans that waited all these years smfh.
If Randle or Barrett showed up at all in Game 1, they’d be up 2-1 right now. Both look timid and lacking in energy and Randle in particular is missing wide open shots.
Randle/Barrett:
Game 1 – 12/37 from the field, each with a -5 +/-
Game 2 – 1st half – 3/16, -17 and -16
2nd half – 7/14, +20, +13
Game 3 – 4/24, each with a -9
They’re both, aside from the 2nd half of Game 2, playing terrible ball and this is on them. They’re #1 and #2 on offense for this team and they need to pick it up.
Yeah we’ve now entered This Is Totally Inexcusable Territory with Randle. I thought he got his nerves out after Games 1 and the first half of Game 2, but he’s still short on wide open shots, and he’s still refusing to punish mismatches
First quarter last night he had Gallo on a switch and he just looks at him and then passes to a smothered Burks in the corner. Like DUDE. You were an All NBA level player this year, you NEED to annihilate Gallinari whenever he’s on you, period.
Barrett I’m not giving a pass either. But he was streaky all year. And it’s his 2nd year. So I’ll give him just a little slack.
The only silver lining here is that if Randle and Barrett start playing well you’d have think this series swings hard to NY. Right now it seems like a big if though.