Knicks head coach Mike Brown challenged his reserves during training camp: fight for every minute, find ways to impact each game.
The 2nd quarter has so far offered a glimpse of guys answering that challenge.
Jordan Clarkson scores 4 points in 5 minutes, Jose Alvarado ignites things with 5 points off the bench.
But I’m burying the lede (as we journalists like to say) – let’s talk about Andre Drummond. He has played 14 minutes and already logged a double-double: 10 points, 11 rebounds (and a steal!) against his old team. Yep, Andre Drummond was a Sixer LAST season. He lost to the Knicks, had to watch them get their rings tonight…wearing a Knicks uniform. Talk about a range of emotions!
Okay, on top of it, Drummond grew up in Connecticut – I covered him at UCONN – and has carved out a steady NBA career with a lot of stops. Here near his hometown, Drummond is crucial to the Knicks repeat plans, replacing Mitchell Robinson. So far, so good.