2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Pelicans

The Knicks take on the Pelicans in an absolutely must win against this awful Pelicans team, although to be fair, they at least have Brandon Ingram back.

By the way, could Nerlens Noel get healthy, please?

Let’s go, Knicks!

142 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Pelicans”

kemba better have a good night, otherwise i’m apt to continue bitching about our utter lack of any kind of purposeful point guard play…

it seems like julius is initiating less lately, but, yeah, kemba needs to go off, gimpy knee(s) and all…

to be honest – iiii don’t think we’re a much better basketball team than new orleans…

I just realized something I didn’t want to see…
We will most likely need to package Burks in a trade in order to see what we have in Reddish and get Burks regular rotation minutes. No way we can find a trade that actually helps us for Fournier- unless it’s for a gut like Bertans, who can spread the floor and play both forward spots

It’s only one Knick’s futility they’re becoming restless with, Clyde

i don’t think you coulda slid a penny under fournier’s feet when he jumped for that tip in…no hops on that dude

PG is obviously a critical piece on any team, but this is getting unbearable. This team has enough talent to play better than this.

No matter who the Knicks put on the floor, it looks like 5 clones of me…which is a very bad thing. The 1st quarter was pitiful.

Yeah Taj has unfortunately been playing way too much, we should just give Sims minutes at this point.

ptmilo:
taj gave us 2.5 solid yrs but not sure we’re watching an nba player anymore

Yeah, but no complaints. The tank is looking kind of empty, but he gave us everything he had left.

KJG:
Haven’t turned on yet but looks like we are getting worse and worse

We’re trying to make Simmons feel like he could have a home here by showing him we can’t shoot either.

Man this has to be one of the worst officiated years in NBA history. It’s like that time replacement referees were in the NFL.

Even being objective you can’t tell they are not missing so many calls on a nightly basis.

What I hear every time one of those Bet365 ads runs: “If you’re a fan of the world’s most frustrating basketball team, maybe you need to ask yourself – ‘Why am I a fan of the world’s most frustrating basketball team?’”

Bing Bong Hits:
What I hear every time one of those Bet365 ads runs: “If your a fan of the world’s most frustrating basketball team, maybe you need to ask yourself – ‘Why am I a fan of the world’s most frustrating basketball team?’”

LOL, indeed.

I’m late commenting on it..but wtf was up with that play where Fournier ran into Randle as Randle was trying to set a pick? It’s like the team- apart from RJ and Mitch- forgot how to play basketball. RJ is still having some ugly turnovers tho. But I’ll live with that because seeing what he can get away with should make him better. I won’t live with Randle’s ugly turnovers- unless he’s giving us around 8 assists lol

RE: Noel

We are not missing him. Thibs just needs to take the leap of faith on Sims. Mitch, when in shape, can do everything Noel does on D- but better. I do appreciate what Noel brings, but he’s been unhealthy and unreliable this season. As soon as it looks like he’s catching some kind of groove, he goes back out for a few games.

Me no likey

Can’t blame Thibs for not playing IQ/Grimes/Obi when the starters are killing it like this

I’ve been giving Julius Randle a long leash because he was so good last year, and because he has played reasonably well in the past.

He stinks tho. How long until that contract ends?

Randle’s 1-8. Fournier’s twice as good as Randle, at 2-8.

Meanwhile Robinson is 5-6, because we keep shooting air balls…

It wouldn’t have made a difference, but what apologia can we come up with for Thibs letting it get to 21 before changing the lineup?

thenoblefacehumper:
It wouldn’t have made a difference, but what apologia can we come up with for Thibs letting it get to 21 before changing the lineup?

Still got his horses in there though

Can’t blame Thibs for not playing IQ/Grimes/Obi when the starters are killing it like this

That got quite the chuckle.

Knick fan not in NJ: We’re trying to make Simmons feel like he could have a home here by showing him we can’t shoot either.

At least the plan to lure Simmons is going perfectly

JK47:
I’ve been giving Julius Randle a long leash because he was so good last year, and because he has played reasonably well in the past.

He stinks tho. How long until that contract ends?

He’s still playing under his original contract this year. His 4 year extension doesn’t start until next season. I for one am excited to watch another 4 years of this!

The Westbrook shit went nuclear in LA. This might be our best chance. Offer LeBron Randle and Evan for Westbrook and two unprotected future picks (LeBron won’t care bc he’ll be retired in 2025 & 2027). Westbrook can drive our tank for the rest of the season, then we buy him out.

KJG: Felton In the house .. immediately becomes our best facilitator if he suits up

He may also be our best shooter

cybersoze: At least the plan to lure Simmons is going perfectly

16.7% three point shooting is almost spot-on, but the 63% foul shooting seems high, and the 31.6% overall shooting seems a tad low.

Raven: 16.7% three point shooting is almost spot-on, but the 63% foul shooting seems high, and the 31.6% overall shooting seems a tad low.

Just went to check — Ben’s career numbers are 14.7% from 3, 59.7% from the line. So for all you “Let’s trade for Simmons,” this is sort of what it might look like…

cybersoze:
Chances for a 24 pts comeback? Slim or none?

Pelicans are supposed to be bad so you wanna say slim however the eye test tells me they are elite, man for man, relative to our Knicks… so I say none

Look I don’t know that going to this group much more frequently would win us more games, but I know for damn sure they’re far more watchable and we’re not winning games anyway

Can we put this within single digits with 5 mins still on the clock? I say we can.

Kind of makes you wonder what could’ve been if we went to this group before the game was cooked

The ONLY good thing about this game is that none of the starters went over 30 minutes.

That they got any time at all was unfortunate…

Oh well … Thibs is so hard headed he can’t even tinker with the backups lineup … like why not spell someone for a minute … play sims for a minute … play deuce for a few … keep running … keep moving … nope …

We just have to practice harder, make no changes, and execute the same offense better the next time.

We played well enough to only lose by a few points if we didn’t do such a pathetic job of shooting FTs. And we didn’t turn it over much.

Lol we also shot 37% from the field. What a shitshow.

Well, we are losing the games we should be winning. Even if we win against LAC at MSG, then comes the road trip of hell with 15 away games in a total of 21 games. Some teams we’ll face: BRK twice, MIA twice, MEM twice, PHI twice, MIL, UTA, DEN, GSW, PHO, DAL. I think we don’t stand a chance to be in the play-in, unless they play better against good teams than what they do against average and bad ones.

These studio breaks are so sad… all the teams in the last 20 years that were much much worse… why do they feel more likeable … I really disliked Marbury… I wish we had him back .. Zach Randolph , yes please… Jamal Crawford… yes please… washed up Kenyon Martin (and I hated that Merc team) , yes please … david Lee , yes pelase … Malik Rose!!! Yes please

Can tunnel vision be unlearned? Game after game, Randle & Barrett are too often working against the very ideal of flowing, harmonious team ball. Yeah they score but they’re also ultimately promulgating anti-beautiful-basketball.

Randle sprays the ball late in the clock (and sometimes “earns” another assist when he’s bailed out by Fournier or somebody else making an absurdly hard-earned shot). Barrett often thuds to the basket, his face as sullen as a pit bull, and everyone else stands and stares.

Fournier, Grimes, Toppin, might move without the ball – but then they’re like dancers with no partners. Or they suddenly get the ball with 3 seconds on the clock. Randle & Barrett rarely make it truly easy for them. Fournier isn’t MJ, hah, but for better or worse he’s one of our only shooters – and yet he hardly gets the kind of passes that play to his one clear strength.

A lineup of Rose, Grimes, Fournier, Toppin & Gibson might be a defensive disaster – but it’d perhaps be a window into movement, sharing, fluidity. Hell, any lineup that might resurrect some warm, fleeting memories for Clyde – back when the ball moved, the players moved, there were 5-6 touch passes on a possession.

One way to frame it: Would Popovich want Randle or Barrett on his teams – and would he think he could teach them beautiful basketball?

Hubert:
We just have to practice harder, make no changes, and execute the same offense better the next time.

Wow Hubert are you Thibs’ speechwriter? Spot on.

Every game just feels so pointless.

If there’s one thing I’m going to throw at Thibs and his staff is that our player development seems to be terrible. There’s simply no signs of sustainable improvement or at least fixing obvious mistakes by our players. Quickley is the same player he was last season as is Barrett, Randle does the same shit every game, Fournier too. There’s no sign of learning from mistakes and progressing, games are entirely decided on whether our guys are randomly hitting tough shots or not. If they are we beat the bad teams, if they aren’t we lose to every garbage team in the league. This is just stupid.

Looking at our schedule, we’re going to be favored in 7 of our final 36 games. That means we’d need 12 upsets just finish the season at .500 — while not losing a single game to an underdog.

Not happening.

Totes McGoats as Totes McGoats:
RE: Noel

We are not missing him. Thibs just needs to take the leap of faith on Sims. Mitch, when in shape, can do everything Noel does on D- but better. I do appreciate what Noel brings, but he’s been unhealthy and unreliable this season. As soon as it looks like he’s catching some kind of groove, he goes back out for a few games.

Me no likey

You could be right. You know when I looked up the PER values of different Knicks, he was seventh on the Knicks with a PER of 13.1. He only has played 89 minutes, so it’s definitely a small sample size, but I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing if he could keep it up.

Wow. If we play to the schedule, we end up 29-53. That’s swell.

Well, the good news is we’ll have a great lottery pick. Leon ought to be able to turn that into at least a top 20 protected pick for the following season.

“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”

Winston Churchill after the Knicks latest debacle…

Among the many problems of this team, I don’t think Fournier can make the rotations that Thibs demands. Possibly Kemba too.

Thibs system requires players to hedge and recover and Fournier is a step or 2 too late recovering. Maybe he just happened to be out of position a couple times, but he’s so slow I suspect he’s incapable of making the rotation.

For Kemba I wonder if he’s too short to contest without overcommitting when recovering to the 3pt line.
—
I think that’s one reason the 2nd unit routinely out performs the 1st. All the 2nd string players can rotate properly. Obi may be terrible individually, but is athletic enough to rotate properly.

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