Derrick Williams

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Top 5 Plays of the Week: D-Will's Oop, The RoLo Jam, Porzingis' Rejection, and More!

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March Memories: The Big Dance

Jonah Ballow

The young and role players on the Knicks roster will most likely see an increase in court time with only six games remaining on the docket.  After a typical group meeting for the players, several veterans including Carmelo Anthony, Jose Calderon, and Robin Lopez agreed the best course of action is to reduce their minutes to create time for the other members of the squad to close out the season. 

Head coach Kurt Rambis said the players approached him with the idea and along with president Phil Jackson and general manager Steve Mills, the organization and the players were on the same page for the final six games.   The discussions took place on the road trip following the New Orleans game, prior to the contest against the Mavericks.

“We would like to cut down on guys minutes who we feel secure with,” Rambis explained.  “We know who they are as players and play well for us and try to cut back their minutes to open up minutes for other guys.”

Coming off knee surgery last season, Anthony ranks 15th in the league in minutes played at 35.5 per outing.  Arron Afflalo is averaging 33.8, Lopez at 26.9, and Calderon has played the fourth most minutes on the team at 28.1 per game.  Calderon suffered a contused right quad on Wednesday night in Dallas and could not return to the game in the second half.  X-rays were negative following the contest. 

“Don’t get me wrong, I know I still would like to be out there just playing and competing but at this point, if we can build guys like Jerian [Grant] and Langston [Galloway] and D-Will [Derrick Williams] and K.O. [Kyle O’Quinn] and jut giving those guys an opportunity that they probably wouldn’t have or haven’t had in the past I think is good for them.  I think it’s good for the morale of the team, I think it’s good for their confidence because sometimes in situations like this you can as a player lose your confidence and that’s something we don’t want,” Anthony acknowledged.

The lineups will be interesting to watch in the next six outings for the Knicks.  Kristaps Porzingis is scheduled to undergo an MRI on his shoulder when the team returns to New York.  The rookie suffered the injury after blocking Alonzo Gee’s dunk attempt in New Orleans on Monday evening. 

“It’s an opportunity for guys to just play,” Anthony stated.  “It’s not any one person that I want to see, it’s just opportunity for guys that haven’t been playing as much to go out there and play now.”

The Knicks return to action on Friday night with a contest against the Nets at Madison Square Garden.