You don’t just respect anyone who doesn’t put in the same level of work you do. Can you pull back the curtain on the work you’ve seen SGA put in? Chris Paul: Man, he’s actually pretty simple. He’s funny. He talks a lot of junk — I know he seems real humble and all that — but he talks a lot. He’s simple in his work ethic. He’s either shopping — he shops all day — or watching basketball. And he’s about his family, and I appreciate that about him.
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“He has been great, not only as a big brother, mentor, but he is like a friend,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said on Chris Paul. “He is always there to lean on. He was the first guy in my life that I was close with that achieved the things that I want to achieve. And I really lean on him for advice, but not only basketball advice — business advice, taking care of your body advice, handling the family when they don’t live with you. “There are so many things that you deal with as an NBA player, especially of his caliber, that go under the radar. His guidance with that was great, not only on off-the-court issues, not only with all the mentorship, just being there as a friend.”
Does Van Gundy think the Knicks will let the loss impact them in Game 2? “They’ll look at the mistakes and pick themselves (up) and get ready to go. I don’t think (Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau) has to worry about (hangover from Wednesday’s loss) at this time of year,” Van Gundy said. “Their pick and roll defense to me, early on in the game, (Karl-Anthony) Towns was really back. (Myles) Turner was just getting wide-open shots. And then they had some miscommunications on perimeter screens; small-small (screens). Are we switching or not? They had breakdowns there. And then late in the game, they were really soft on their switches and (Aaron) Nesmith was hitting threes. To me, they’ve got to clean up their pick-and-roll coverages, being up and more aggressive. And their communication’s got to be a lot better on what they’re doing. “….There was not a hard three in that stretch (of Nesmith’s six threes late in the fourth quarter). It’s still hard to make six straight threes. But it wasn’t like the shot-clock ran down and someone had to throw one in. He got great looks. Nesmith, all five of his looks were great looks. And the one (Tyrese) Haliburton got, (Mikal) Bridges gave him a lot of space on that one, too. They got really good shots. I just thought the Knicks’ defense in that stretch was very soft. And in the overtime, they had breakdowns on (Obi) Toppin’s dunk and (Andrew) Nembhard’s back cut. They just, defensively, didn’t get the job done.”
This season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has averaged 8.8 free throw attempts, making 7.7, but the past two games against the Minnesota Timberwolves have seen an increase. He attempted 14 in Game 1 and 15 in Game 2 as Michael Malone called him a “foul artist” on ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt show. “I think that’s an easy way to put it. Obviously, you watch the last series against Denver. I’ll tell you what, you got to be ultra disciplined,” Malone said. “Yeah, it’s almost impossible. You think about trying to guard the best offensive players in the league nowadays, it becomes almost impossible. Any contact, a lot of times, offensive players like Shai will initiate the contact, will hook his arm, looking to draw that contact.” “He is a foul artist, as I mentioned earlier today,” Malone said. “So discipline, and you’re hoping that the referees read how the game is being whistled after allowing you to be a little bit more aggressive. You can do that. But once again, he’s been living at the foul line. 14 free throw attempts game, 15 tonight, that’s not going to get it done.”
