Tom Thibodeau’s Julius Randle-Obi Toppin desperation plays in Knicks’ favor

The New York Knicks traveled to Philadelphia on a three-game losing streak to face a Sixers team without their two best players in Joel Embiid and James Harden. In a game that the Knicks should’ve easily won, things came down to the wire, but New York came out on top, 106-104.

After there were rumblings about the Knicks’ starting lineup being changed, Tom Thibodeau did the unthinkable and replaced Evan Fournier with Quentin Grimes. The 22-year-old guard made his regular season debut in the loss to the Hawks, so while it was a little surprising to see him get the start over Immanuel Quickley, it was a move in the right direction for Thibs. Grimes played in only five minutes before sitting for the remainder of the first half, but fans got to have a look at what a starting lineup looks like without Fournier.

However, that wasn’t even the most shocking rotation decision of the night from Thibs, who is perhaps the most stubborn coach in the NBA. Maybe it’s because Thibodeau knew that his time in New York could be coming to an end (that’s just a guess), but at long last, he decided to turn to Julius Randle and Obi Toppin minutes.

After previously saying that Randle-Toppin minutes weren’t effective at the very beginning of the season, those minutes on Friday night are what propelled the Knicks to a win.

Tom Thibodeau finally tries out a Julius Randle-Obi Toppin lineup in Knicks win

New York was without Mitchell Robinson in the second half due to a sore right knee, so after giving Jericho Sims minutes, Thibodeau opted for a Julius Randle-Obi Toppin lineup with the Knicks going up against a Sixers team that lacked a true center.

And guess what? It was a success. There’s been a lot of talk about Toppin over the past couple of days in part due to Randle looking more like the player that he was last year, but in true Thibodeau fashion, the 24-year-old played in only six minutes in the first half. And no, it wasn’t because Randle was playing well, either. He was playing iso ball and went into the half with five of the team’s 14 turnovers.

Because Thibodeau is Thibodeau, it took until there were less than three minutes left in the third quarter to put Toppin in the game for Randle. The starting power forward re-entered the game with 10:36 left to play, but instead of replacing Toppin, he replaced Sims. Obi went on to score 10 of his 17 points in that span, including knocking down a three-pointer off an assist from Julius with 1:27 left to play that gave the Knicks a 97-96 lead.

Randle didn’t turn the ball over at all in the fourth, and he came up big for New York with four made free throws at the end of the game.

It’s true to say that New York would’ve lost to a healthy Philadelphia team, so it’s not exactly right to label the win as good, but more so much-needed. If it weren’t for Thibs finally choosing to play Julius Randle and Obi Toppin together, the Knicks would be tasked with taking on a good Celtics team while on a four-game losing streak.

Let’s hope that Thibodeau’s open-mindedness travels back to The Garden with him.

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