Knicks vs. Blazers Summer League Final: How & What to Watch
It's summer and the New York Knicks are playing for a championship.
Alas for the team's long-suffering fanbase, it's one of the prospect variety, though hardware is nonetheless on the line as the Knicks will battle the Portland Trail Blazers for the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League championship. Rings and revenge will be on the line as the Knicks previously fell by an 88-77 final to Portland last Monday night, done in by a comeback that erased a 24-9 New York lead from the end of the first quarter.
Leading scorer Quentin Grimes had 24 points in defeat part of a 23.5 average over the first four games, good for fourth amongst all Las Vegas competitors.
What: New York Knicks (3-1) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (3-1) (Summer League Championship)
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV
When/Watch: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN
Keep An Eye On: Jericho Sims
It would be potentially prudent for the Knicks to give the Summer League sophomores Grimes and Sims Paolo Banchero-style benchings in a meaningless championship game. By this point, it's clear that neither is coming back to Vegas in a Knicks uniform unless the Association puts a team in Sin City. Whether it's in blue or orange or elsewhere ... as their Vegas antics have reportedly drawn the attention of potential trade partners ... Grimes and Sims look ready to be lasting contributors at the NBA level.
Sims, however, might have a little something to prove in the Knicks' last show: the recent earner of a three-year extension, Sims has earned a double-double in all but one game of an 11.3-point, 10.3 rebound showing ... the exception being New York's Monday loss to Portland. It's not like the Knicks are relying on Sims to score (Grimes and Miles McBride have been more than happy to help out in that department), but Sims might have to come up even bigger in the paint if the teams hope to escape with the ultimate prize.
He did his part with 11 rebounds in Monday's loss, but the Knicks were drastically outrebounded by a brutal 49-30 margin. Portland limited the high-octane Knicks' scoring opportunities by allowing only seven offensive rebounds, three of which landed in Sims' hands. Though the Knicks will likely require some more production from their developmental names (though Feron Hunt has held his own) to fully rectify that problem, but Sims faces a brilliant leadership opportunity in what will very likely be his final Vegas bow.
Blazer to Watch: Jabari Walker
Portland has made the most of a brutal situation: the team lost its star Summer League attraction (last month's No. 7 pick Shaedon Sharpe) to a shoulder injury but has earned three consecutive wins to put themselves in the championship conversation.
Together with Trendon Watford, Walker (son of 1999 first-round choice and 10-year veteran Samaki) has done a brilliant job of manning Portland's interior. The penultimate pick of the draft (57th overall) came up especially big against the Knicks with a 16-point, 13-rebound effort off the bench. He has since earned a three-year rookie deal with the Blazers, whose prospects are a dominant plus-44 when Walker is on the floor.
In comments to NBA.com, the younger Walker believes his father's status as a role player (one that won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002) played a positive role in his professional development.
"If my dad was a star player, I probably wouldn’t understand the rebounding, the blocking, the timing, finding areas to get open,” the younger Walker said. “I thank him a lot for that. With him being a role player, that helped a lot. In the NBA, everyone is a role player, everyone has different roles. I feel like the quicker I learn what my role is, the quicker I’m able to impact. I try to look at it from a mature aspect and just complement the stars, (and) earn my way."
