When the Lakers were grabbing offensive rebound after offensive rebound on Sunday night, it was natural to wonder what Ronny Turiaf's energy was doing bottled up on the bench for all but seven minutes.
It's impossible not to wonder after watching him dice up the Blazers during Tuesday night's 100-86 victory. Turiaf delivered on both sides of the floor by making life difficult for Blazers star LaMarcus Aldridge on defense and scoring 19 points to tie his career high on the other end. Most of those points came at the tail end of pick-and-rolls run to perfection with Ray Felton, something that happens infrequently with Amar'e Stoudemire because of the way the defense prepares for the leading Knicks scorer.
Turiaf got more space to operate, though, and he made the Blazers pay for their generosity. That was especially helpful in the start of the second half when 10 straight missed shots opened the door for the Blazers to grab the lead back. Stoudemire was off all night from the floor, finishing 9-of-23, and the team desperately needed someone else to provide the steady scoring. Enter Turiaf, exit the Blazers and the Knicks now have more road wins than they had all of last season.
The best part of Turiaf's game would seem to be the fact that the Knicks won as a result, but it's a close race between the victory and the chance to see Turiaf celebrate so many different things over the course of the evening. No one is more pleased to pick up a hoop and some harm as number 14 and he's certainly the only player in the league to stop, high five a teammate for grabbing a rebound and then deliver a pass to the same teammate for a three-pointer on the offensive end. That happened with Bill Walker on Tuesday night and that alone is argument for more minutes for Turiaf.
An argument against it would appear to be the imminent return of Danilo Gallinari, but might there be another solution? One of the biggest things missing from the second unit is a guy who can score consistently. Starting Turiaf and bringing Gallo off the bench would solve that as well as lessen the frustration of watching Gallo defer to others offensively. As a bench player, he'd be forced to be aggressive and that would be a good thing for both team and player. It seems unlikely, but we'll throw the thought out there all the same.
Stoudemire's poor shooting night doesn't tell the entire story of his game, however. He drew two early fouls on Aldridge, which helped limit his playing time in the first half, and he dished out four assists against three turnovers. That's a nice ratio, though not nearly as nice as Felton's 14 assists with zero turnovers. That ties a Knicks record and also halts a mini-slide from Felton who looked like his heavy workload was catching up to him in recent contests.
Turiaf's big game and Felton's sparkling night don't mean the needs exposed on Sunday night went away. They still need help inside -- old friend Marcus Camby's 16 rebounds and six blocked shots would look awfully nice in orange and blue -- and the team still grinds to a halt when Toney Douglas is playing point guard. Any night you can win a road game when Stoudemire is off his game is a good night, though.
Sports
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
