The New York Knicks have won nine games in a row since trading for Josh Hart, and they look like one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
New York guard Immanuel Quickley, who recorded a career-high 38 points during a victory over the Celtics on Sunday, has shown why he deserves to win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.
According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz, the vibes surrounding the team are “immaculate” and there is a “wave of cheeriness” in the locker room. Even Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, who is sometimes thought of as a bit of a curmudgeon, seems happy with what he has seen.
"Quickley's my guy."
Thibs after IQ's career-high 38 points in the Knicks' 9th straight W 🔊 pic.twitter.com/oFlqddcfFF
— NBA (@NBA) March 6, 2023
Here is the full quote from Thibodeau:
“Quickley’s my guy … You celebrate your team. You celebrate winning. Those are the things that you celebrate. I want our team to have win. I want them to have joy. But I don’t want it to get lost and I don’t want it to get twisted: Winning is way more fun than fun is fun.”
Let’s take a second and let that sink in one more time.
Are you ready?
OK. Here we go:
“Winning is way more fun than fun is fun.”
That’s legitimately brilliant stuff from Thibodeau right there! It almost sounds like a Yogi Berra quote.
“Most of us will never have an idea of what it would be like to play and succeed at the professional level, but in Quickley, we see a player reacting to all of it as we imagine we might if ever given the chance.”
On the unadulterated joy of @IQ_GodSon: https://t.co/lDPSzPmxc3 pic.twitter.com/Yifv5lGhO8
— Jonathan Macri (@JCMacriNBA) March 6, 2023
He is absolutely right, too. It’s great to see that Quickley plays basketball with so much joy. He was skipping around the court and dancing after every basket he made.
But that translates even better when the Knicks are winning basketball games, and that’s exactly what happens when Quickley is on the court.
Quickley has the second-best point differential among all players in the league during games he has come off the bench. The Knicks are 35-17 (.673) when Quickley logs at least 22 minutes and 4-10 (.285) in all other games.
So as long as the Knicks keep playing Quickley, they’re probably going to keep having fun. And remember: Winning is more fun than fun is fun.
