Getty Derick Rose drives to the basket past Bogdan Bogdanovic during Game One of a first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.
As if the New York Knicks losing Game One of their first-round playoff series wasn’t enough, Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young added salt to an open wound with comments after the game.
After hitting a game-winning floater with less than a second remaining, he commented after the game on how quiet the crowd got at Madison Square Garden.
“Next one.”🤫🤫
Young was still critical of the fans after the game when speaking to reporters (via the New York Post):
I’ve always looked at it is I’m doing something right. If I’m offending them with my play that they hate me that much, I’m obviously doing something right. I just got to let my play do the talking. At the end of the day, fans can only talk. They can’t guard me. They’re not out there playing.
Atlanta’s starting guard, and now New York’s number one enemy finished the night with 32 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds 35 minutes on Sunday, single-handedly putting the Knicks away late.
The NBA’s playoff atmosphere breeds competitiveness, birthing rivalries that were never there before.
It seems that Trae Young has opened up one with the New York Knicks, with Sixth Man of the Year finalist Derrick Rose offering a response to the opposing point guard ahead of Game 2 on Wednesday night.
Derrick Rose Responds
When asked about Trae Young’s theatrics after practice on Wednesday, former-MVP Derrick Rose was candid (via Newsday) with reporters:
The league has gotten so soft … The crowd is supposed to do that. his reaction is supposed to be that way. I mean, that’s what I’m used to. … You want to talk shit, talk shit. It’s alright, but next game it’s going to be tougher.
The New York Knicks sixth man later added (via the New York Post) that the team would be more prepared in Game 2:
Tonight we’re just going to play our normal way of playing. Aggressive and playing smart. He’s a smart player. He knows how to use angles. We just got to make sure we stay into the ball and make things harder for him. Last game we didn’t do that.
Rose didn’t have a bad game, but he didn’t have a great game either, on Sunday.
He finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and five assists—but also five turnovers. That’s the most he’s committed in a game with the Knicks, and only the second time he’s done that this season (December 26).
But his play is less of a concern for New York, who’s getting nothing out of Rose’s predecessor, starter Elfrid Payton.
Fans are hoping head coach Tom Thibodeau will make a long-awaited lineup change on Wednesday.
A New Look Starting Five?
Head coach Tom Thibodeau, amidst cries from the fans and analytics alike for Elfrid Payton to be removed from the starting lineup, has not swayed on his position surrounding the point guard.
Up until now.
At least, that’s how fans and reporters are choosing to interpret his latest comments.
The New York Knicks head coach was asked yet again about Payton after he played the point guard just eight minutes in their Game One loss; two brief stints to start both the first and second halves.
For the first time, fans heard a different, less committed rebuttal (via the New York Post) from Thibodeau:
Regards to Elfrid, we always put the best players out there that will help us win the game. So some guys are a bit better than others in situations, some guys may be going well. Whoever is going well, we have confidence in everyone on the roster.
He danced around it, but in a way, the Knicks head coach set planted the seed that could preempt a lineup shift.
And if Thibodeau is looking up and down this New York roster in search of a Payton replacement, it’s likely that no one has a stronger case than Burks.
Not only has he served as the de facto point guard and ball-handler at times this season, but he’s also previously started a three-game stretch, and two other separate games previously this year.
In those games, the Knicks went 3-2, and Burks averaged 15.2 points per game.
Removing Burks from the second unit rotation makes for the least damaging when you consider the chemistry that Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley, Obi Toppin, and Taj Gibson have all developed in recent months.
It’s the right call to make, removing Elfrid Payton from the New York Knicks starting lineup, and there’s little doubt that Alec Burks is ready to answer it.
But is Tom Thibodeau prepared to make it?
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