View From the Toppin: Obi Unphased By Return to Knicks, MSG

Obi Toppin is finally partaking in the games the New York Knicks envisioned when they drafted him with the eighth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Few, however, saw the change of wardrobe coming.

Toppin’s efforts have set up a second round postseason series between the Knicks and Indiana Pacers, as his work off the bench helped the latter win their first playoff round in a decade. The homecoming tips off at Madison Square Garden on Monday night (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT) but Toppin downplayed his return as the Pacers prepped for their eighth all-time playoff get-together with his original NBA employers.

“I feel like I’m preparing myself just like I did for (the first round), just locking into everything the coaches are telling us to do offensively and defensively, and playing my role,” Toppin said in video from the Pacers. “We understand what type of crowd is going to be (at MSG). Celebrities are going to be there, like we just got to lock into our main things and play our type of basketball.”

Even the allure of playing at MSG no longer appeals to Toppin, as growing up in the city (born in Brooklyn) and three years in blue and orange more or less desensitized the experience for him.

“You play in Dyckman, you play in the Rucker Park. You see that every single day,” Toppin said, referring to the city’s renowned street courts. “So it’s like being from New York, that doesn’t really excite me anymore.”

Toppin is set to be a headline whether he likes it or not, as he is one of several newcomers that helped catapult the Pacers onto the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, having come over from the Knicks in a July deal that sent two future second-round picks east.

Toppin struggled as an Indiana starter but found a bit of a groove once became a spell option to in-season acquisition Pascal Siakam. Of note, Toppin scored double figures in each of the Pacers’ final four games against the Milwaukee Bucks in the opening round, including a team-best 21 in last Thursday’s clincher.

Knicks fans need little reminder of Toppin’s tenure in Manhattan, one where he struggled to secure a lasting role in Tom Thibodeau’s rotation in the wake of Julius Randle’s All-Star breakout. Toppin stepped up big when an ankle injury hobbled Randle in the final stages of last season but that wasn’t enough to convine the Knicks not to turn the page.

“We always thought he was a good player,” Thibodeau said of Toppin, per Zach Braziller of the New York Post. “I don’t think anything has changed. (He’s) very athletic, runs the floor great, shoots the ball, can score the ball. He’s always been able to score. Like I said, we loved having him. He was in a situation here where he (was) playing behind Julius. So that was the story behind that.”

Toppin did mildly celebrate the fact that his family will be on his side throughout the series: his younger brother Jacob, a rookie free agent, is listed on the Knicks’ roster but does not figure to get any major playing time this postseason. Jacob appeared in nine games for the Knicks, including their Dec. 30 visit to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and later enlisted Obi’s help at the Slam Dunk Contest held at Lucas Oil Stadium as part of Indianapolis’ All-Star Game festivities in February.

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