NBA Matchups: January 18

We have an early slate today, so I thought it made more sense to put out Matchups as early as possible for those of you guys looking to get in on the early action. I’ll be adding more stuff in the morning, but here’s where we’re at so far.

 

Orlando Magic at New York Knicks (back end)

Team Totals:

Injury Report: Mo Bamba (O, protocols), Evan Fournier (O, back), Michael Carter-Williams (O, foot)

Magic projected starters: Cole Anthony, Dwayne Bacon, James Ennis, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic

Knicks projected starters: Elfrid Payton, Austin Rivers, R.J. Barrett, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson

Clifford quotes: Said Vooch’s play-making has been big and he likes how he’s been able to get deflections, said Cole Anthony will continue to get opportunity and Saturday might have been his best game, said he likes how Khem Birch is setting screens, said team has to do a better job of getting Vooch the ball in the post.

Thibodeau quotes: Said he wants to play Elfrid with Quickley eventually, said Obi’s defense is coming on, said he likes how the second unit is put together, said IQ is better off the dribble than people think and his deep range is huge for spacing.

Stats and Notes:
*After Clifford basically said Gordon is the point guard, it was Cole Anthony handling the ball the most by far in the last game at 7.3 minutes to AG’s 5.0. Cole also has some #NarrativeStreet because of his dad and Spike Lee, if you’re into that sort of thing. Gordon should still be a really strong option here against some bad Randle/Barrett defense, and it was really encouraging to see him play in both games of a B2B.
*Mitch-Rob rules, but he’s been a good matchup for centers this year as the Knicks give up a lot of paint points to bigs. Clifford has said for over a week now that Vooch needs to run the offense more, so he’s going to offer a very high floor with a nice ceiling in this matchup.
*Immanuel Quickley is probably not going to start, but he’s just been impressive and looks like a veteran with how he can break down a defense. IQ didn’t play in garbage time and he was still able to put up 17 points and eight dimes. He’s been stellar per minute over his last two at 1.52 FD points per minute and has so much offense going through him when he’s out there. The secret is out, though, and Payton played well enough on Sunday to start again.