NY Knicks Fireworks Part 2: Top 10 Obi Toppin Dunks 20-21

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NY Knicks – #7 – Stealing and Slamming: February 23rd, 2021 vs Golden State Warriors

One of the knocks on Obi Toppin coming out of Dayton was his defense. Many scouts and draft pages pointed it out as his biggest weakness, some going as far as to say he all but hopeless on that end. But, I think if you ask most Knicks fans about his defense as a rookie, most people would say he was impressive at times and at worst was a player who just lacks strength more so than awareness or ability.

If you need a reason to believe Toppin can be a difference maker on defense, watch this play. Toppin tears the ball away from a driving Kent Bazemore. The ball finds its way to Alec Burks, who begins to bring the ball up. At the moment that Burks goes to the ball, Toppin took off. He was previously behind every other player on the court, but he would quickly find himself ahead of everyone. While seemingly everyone else on the court took their time going the other way, Toppin turned his defense into offense almost by himself. Once Burks got to just before the Knicks three-point line, he saw Toppin going backdoor and connected with him on the ally-oop.

You got to love seeing both the defensive IQ and the hustle that Toppin shows on this play to get himself and his team two points.