The Knicks returned to the Garden for the first time in 2 ¹/₂ weeks, played their first game at home in March. They faced a group of relatively anonymous athletes dressed in white and red Blazers’ …
The Knicks returned to the Garden for the first time in 2 ¹/₂ weeks, played their first game at home in March.
Despite having a worse record than the Knicks at 26-41, Portland stood just one game out of the play-in tournament while the Knicks were a distant five games out. Portland is trying to relaunch around injured superstar point guard Damian Lillard. The Blazers dispatched veteran guards CJ McCollum and Norm Powell at the trade deadline in order to restructure last season’s playoff club that went nowhere.In fact, the Knicks and Blazers are in similar positions with their season finales less than a month away.
“I did that with Scott,’’ Billups said. “We have a long history from back when he recruited me in high school. Then we won the championship in Detroit when he was in the front office there. When I had a really strong desire to get in the front office, he was nice enough to let me come in and be a fly on the wall and watch him for three or four days. I was grateful for that.’’
However, Thibodeau also hurts his case when he pulls Toppin with 5:50 left to bring in Randle in a blowout — as he did Wednesday.