The Knicks have four cornerstones in four years and more than 30 draft picks in the next seven years
On April 1, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and today the Knicks sat at home to welcome the challenge of the Thunder, before this game, the Knicks lost to the Spurs, they urgently needed a victory to stop the decline, and the Thunder can lock the playoff spots as long as they can win today, and finally the two sides played a lore and a counter-lore, and then we briefly talk about the game process, and then talk about the players' play.
Contest Recap:
At the beginning of the first quarter, Giddey scored two points to give the Thunder the lead, Hart and Brunson combined to score 5 points in response, Holmgren and Alexander scored 5 points in a row, and Hatten and McBright scored 5 points in response, the two sides played very close in the first quarter, and the Thunder trailed by 5 points in the first quarter. Although Alexander couldn't find his touch in the second quarter, Jewee stepped up in this quarter, and he scored 15 points in six minutes to help the team overtake four points to end the first half.
Brunson and DiVincenzo hit three-pointers to help the team re-establish the lead, and the team once established a 12-point lead, and at the end of the quarter, Alexander made consecutive kills to help the team chase down to only 8 points to end the third quarter. In the final quarter, Brunson made a layup to help the Knicks lead by one point, and Alexander stepped back to make a rebound, and finally the Thunder defeated the Knicks 113-112.
Brunson tried his best and the Knicks blossomed more
Brunson shot 11 of 25 from the field, 4 of 11 from three-point range and got 30 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal, Brunson played a value this season, as a second-round pick to reach the current height is really unexpected, DiVincenzo did not play well, 4 of 18 shots got 15 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists, if he gave the ball to Bojan, it is estimated that the Knicks will be even better, and now Bojan is completely reduced to a marginal rotation.
Before joining the Knicks, Bojan averaged 20+ points per game, and he was one of the most projecting players in the league, but since joining the Knicks, Bojan has been completely reduced to a fringe rotation, scoring 5 points on 2-of-4 shooting and only playing 10 minutes. Hart continued his excellent play on both offensive and defensive ends, scoring 13 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal on 4-of-9 shooting in this game.
McBride scored 19 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, this game McBride and Hart both played for more than 45 minutes, Thibodeau can really rely on the main force, Thibodeau's death by the main force can allow the team to maximize its strength, but it also increases the possibility of core injury, it can be said that Anunoby and Randle's injuries are because of Thibodeau's death, and Harden scored 17 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal in this game.
The Thunder lock up the playoffs
In this game, the Thunder side Jay Wei shot 14 of 18 from the field, and 1 of 4 from three-point range, with 33 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists. This game was the first game of Alexander's comeback, although he only got 19 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, but he sent a counter-kill, which is also very good, Holmgren left the game with an injury in the fourth quarter, I hope it's okay.
Giddey has played well after Alexander's recent injury, scoring 23 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists in the past two games and 31 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists against the Rockets. After winning this game, the Thunder locked up a playoff spot, and in this case, they can be considered to have completed their rebuild.
The team began to rebuild in '19, but at that time the team still had Paul and Alexander, and the team also made the playoffs, and then the team began to rebuild around Alexander next season, and in '21 the team took Josh Giddey with the No. 6 pick, in '22 the team got Holmgren with the No. 12 pick, and Jay with the No. 12 pick, they got 4 cornerstones in 4 years, and they have to admire the Thunder's draft vision.
And this is still a good young player like Carson Wallace and Isaiah Joe, who has not been given many opportunities, and the ceiling of the Thunder will be very good in the future. "The Thunder are too young for them to beat the Nuggets in the playoffs, but there's no shame in that," Beverley said on his podcast. Indeed, the core of the Thunder is young, and the oldest Alexander, who is only 25 years old, is definitely worth looking forward to in the future.
The reason why I say this is because the Thunder not only have the present, they also have the future, through the original trade to send away the core of Westbrook, George and Paul, they got too many first-round picks, in the next 7 years the Thunder have more than 30 draft picks, in terms of Presti's draft ability, these draft picks are estimated to be able to select a lot of excellent players, and even if the Thunder takes these draft picks to trade for reinforcements, it is also a good choice.
I hope that the experience of Durant, Harden and Wei Shao can make the Thunder a warning, they should spend money, they have the opportunity to form a dynasty, speaking of which, what do you want to say about the current Thunder?