2021-22: Knicks vs. Dallas Knicks

The Knicks get Nerlens Noel back, which is good news.

Also, Frank Frank Frank Frank.

Let’s go get to .500, Knicks!

171 replies on “2021-22: Knicks vs. Dallas Knicks”

They Do Exist:

Loch Ness Monster
Frankenstein
Magnum, P.I.
Non-Catholic Gods
Darth Vader
The Phantom of the Opera
The Beast of Craggy Island
Knickerbocker Joy

Geo-fied:
They Do Exist:

Loch Ness Monster
Frankenstein
Magnum, P.I.
Non-Catholic Gods
Darth Vader
The Phantom of the Opera
The Beast of Craggy Island
Knickerbocker Joy

The Knicks pick and roll …

Fournier already with three rebounds 😉

EDIT: Four rebounds. CPR staff standing by for some of us.

BigBlueAL:
Knicks bench looking like shit so far tonight.

Zero rhythm on offense, defense a little leaky but they are hitting some jumpers and we are definitely not. Noel needs to get back to old Noel. He doesn’t look himself but I guess to be expected …

KJG: Fat doncic backing guys down with his fatness

Now picture super fat Zion backing guys down. LOL

Nice to have Noel and his blocks back.

I like what I am seeing with Mitch but needs to track the ball handlers a little better. Luka and Brunson pretty tough though.

not sure Dallas will shoot 17% from 3 in the 2nd half…invisible 6th and 7th man out there tonight

Wonder if Julius is going to take Nerlen to task at halftime for taking a terrible last-second half-time shot instead of letting Julius do it.

Best first half in a while, 13 assists on 20 made baskets, 4 players in double figure, only 3 turnovers.
Consistent effort on D against a strong offensive opponent.

Early Bird:
Love the Noel halfcourt heave, lol

I think that was my favorite moment of the half … it’s always worth a shot … wish other guys thought that way

Mitch only starter under 10 points (at 6). Evenly distributed 10, 10, 11, 11. This is how it should be.

KP is in H&S protocol. Randle seems to be making extra effort last few games to pass to the wing when he is driving and draws a double. Don’t love when he leaves his feet to do so but tonight 3 assists and 0 turnovers.

I know most hate the Burks PG experiment but I can see why Thibs likes on defense. It allows for more switches and doesn’t give the opponent a size advantage as it would if Kemba was there. Plus Burks is a very capable defender and fights over screens.

Breaking out a new half-time incense burning and ceremonial dance ritual to ward off the dreaded 3rd period meltdown.

Bing Bong Hits:
Breaking out a new half-time incense burning and ceremonial dance ritual to ward off the dreaded 3rd period meltdown.

Keep doing it in every game!

The Knicks are having the traditional 3rd quarter meltdown… it’s just that it’s the Knicks west! 😛

I had to look to see if Obi had even played yet. But this is the first game in I don’t know when that I won’t complain about the rotation. It’s working, don’t fix it. As compared to it’s broken, stay with it.

cybersoze:
The Knicks are having the traditional 3rd quarter meltdown… it’s just that it’s the Knicks west! 😛

Jabbing pins into my Kristaps/Mavs voodoo doll…

cybersoze:
Not the best game for the Noel is better than Mitch theory.

That ship likely sailed now that Mitch has lost the fat and isn’t injured … Knock on wood

I can’t imagine the coaching staff thinks iso Randle is the high percentage play at the end of a qtr….can they?

KevinR: We get this team every night with Rose back and we can go on a run

Looks like Rose will be our “new” addition at the deadline 2 years in a row. 😉

See now 2 things Noel does that Mitch typically doesn’t … take a charge and adjust mid flight

Yeah, the Noel-Mitch debate lives on.

Seriously, Noel hasn’t played in like a month. Give him a chance to fit back in.

Setting aside the shooting, RJ looks healthy and high energy again.

I like the way he was hitting the boards little more in the 1st half. We want him rebounding and making plays more. He has those skills. That way when the shot is not falling, at least he’s doing something out there.

Early Bird:
Yeah, the Noel-Mitch debate lives on.

Seriously, Noel hasn’t played in like a month.Give him a chance to fit back in.

I concur … I’m liking mitch results lately but I still don’t love his overall game / development … Noel is rusty …

Early Bird: Seriously, Noel hasn’t played in like a month. Give him a chance to fit back in.

I was just joking. Because whenever Mitch plays bad, he’s roasted here.

I thought the layoff might help Nerlens. He’s been playing hurt all year. Maybe the knees, ankles and everything else is finally back in order. We could use the version from last year. Give it a few games.

This is that same suspect lineup Thibs had to call timeout in first half … it’s quite suspect

Mitch is roastee because of all the expectations. I want him to be great … Noel we just appreciate him going about his business in business like manner… no nonsense … good Noel is pretty consistent …

KJG:
This is that same suspect lineup Thibs had to call timeout in first half … it’s quite suspect

Yeah, I thought the 2nd unit would play much better together. Obi flubbing dunks. IQ fouling all over the place. Odd. I mean Kleber is the Mavs’ biggest guy out there, we should have layups and every single rebound.

KB Apprentice: Yeah, I thought the 2nd unit would play much better together. Obi flubbing dunks. IQ fouling all over the place. Odd. I mean Kleber is the Mavs’ biggest guy out there, we should have layups and every single rebound.

The unit just doesn’t run like they used to … is it Rose missing ?

There’s a fine line when attempting to comeback with 3s vs. good open shots. They’ve gotten a lot of good open shots that happened to be 3s tonight so we are a bit lucky on both sides of that line … back to .500

Anyone else feel like Doncic sleptwalk through this game? This is the Garden man, put on a show!

Well I still want the Knicks to win lol but disappointed in his performance.

SoNiceWeShowItTwice:
Anyone else feel like Doncic sleptwalk through this game? This is the Garden man, put on a show!

Well I still want the Knicks to win lol but disappointed in his performance.

Deserves some flak … “star” just taking night off

Without doubt, the most “competent” game we’ve played all season. Everything from defense to ball movement to shooting to free throws and even coaching (timeouts/rotations) has been solid. Even the balance of scoring across the team. That’s how it’s done boys.

KJG: The unit just doesn’t run like they used to … is it Rose missing ?

Yeah, think so. Obi missing him in particular.

EDIT: Watching Deuce feed Obi just then makes the point, too.

Lol that Frank three…..

Great win. Knicks are good again, just as we all have been predicting.

Randle and Mitch with double-doubles.
RJ with 32 and 7.
Nice win. Randle handing the pressure is the most important thing. I’ll sleep well tonight.

Frank was plus 1 in a game his team lost by 23.

The legend continues, you’re just too dumb to understand.

Good win, most consistent game in months.

RJ with another 30-plus game, Randle better in the first half (5 TO in the 2nd) but solid overall, Mitch a beast on the boards, Burks and Fournier both very consistent.
Good to have Noel back, Grimes belongs, IQ and Obi were a bit off.

And the final scene with RJ hugging Frank was a blast.

Hubert:
Frank was plus 1 in a game his team lost by 23.

The legend continues, you’re just too dumb to recognize it.

Damn, you beat me to it

Bing Bong Hits: Ok, my feet hurt from all that dancing and the haze in here is pretty bad…

LOL. But now you gotta do it every game, if we want to be 6th. ;D

DRed:
aw look how happy everyone is to see Frank

Yeah, that was interesting. RJ, Quickley, and Knox seemed real happy to see him. RJ gave him a real big hug.

Anyways, really hoping that this is not just a tease by RJ. Let’s keep it going.

Randle had a bunch of turnovers but more of them seemed to come from him trying to force it inside. I’ll take that over his usual turnovers.

I can tolerate the Randle TO’s as long as he gives the effort on D that he did tonight.

Early Bird:
Randle had a bunch of turnovers but more of them seemed to come from him trying to force it inside. I’ll take that over his usual turnovers.

Yea if he gets stripped down low or something so be it … he’s supposed to be down there at least …

Doncic has been out of shape, struggling with injuries, and in Covid protocols this season. He’s been a mess all year. It’s Doncic though. So he’s going to make some great plays, pile up boxscore stats, and score lots of points. He always has the ball. But a lot of the time the team looks better with Brunson on the court. The ball moves better. He has plenty of time to get healthy and in shape for the playoffs, but it better start soon. Right now he’s nowhere the player he was last year let alone better.

Early Bird:
Randle had a bunch of turnovers but more of them seemed to come from him trying to force it inside. I’ll take that over his usual turnovers.

Agreed. And each of those inside turnovers looked like it was as much on the receiver as Randle.

Julius’ effort was there tonight, no doubt about it.
He defended well, rarely forced and his turnovers were of the “good” variety.
17-12-8 despite a mediocre shooting night, it shows that he can get his numbers just staying in the flow of the game.

Fournier tried on defense too, took mostly good shots and made a couple of great passes to Mitch.

And honestly RJ played like a star.

Everyone was engaged, ball movement was good, it’s the closest thing to the team I dreamed of at the start of the season.

“That RJ contract extension is getting more expensive.”

Don’t worry. There will be plenty more games with mostly bricks. Then the consensus that week will be to trade him for a bag a rocks rather than bring him back again with a big extension. 🙂

He was great again tonight.

I think some of what we saw tonight was matchups and no KP in the paint. That helped people get closer to the rim because there was no help. But you have to take advantage of the good matchups and situations because sometimes they are tough.

I am digging this poor man’s Draymond Green version of Julius Randle we’re seeing the past couple of games. Just play that defense, collect those boards, pass those dimes Julius and both our offense and defense will see improvement.

Knicks at .500. RJ & Fournier coming around. Charlotte pick slotted at 20. It’s all coming together boys!!!

I see Kevin Knox failed to score tonight. Was it Frank’s D that shut him down?

Cool that RJ is over his tummy trouble, or whatever it was that Strat said was bothering him all season.

Nice shot of Ntilikina and Knox after the game. It looked like they were talking about being roommates in Dallas next year.

Bing Bong Hits
January 12, 2022 at 8:53 pm
Breaking out a new half-time incense burning and ceremonial dance ritual to ward off the dreaded 3rd period meltdown.

tomorrow’s new york sports page headline:

Bing Bong Hits delivers new york back to .500

The last win was a good win because they had to have it. This was just flat out a very, very good win.

Definitely. We have the same record as the Lakers, but are tied for 10th in the conference instead of tied for seventh.

Was at the game, great ambiance, nary a Julius boo and lots of RJ chants. It was nice having a relatively stress-free game on a weeknight. Mitch was an absoute monster, and it was great seeing Nerlens out there. Fournier playing like we hoped when he was acquired. Only negative was that IQ and Obi didn’t have it on O. It was great that the queasy feeling when Thibs put the starters back in at the end was not a thing this time.

Hopefully RJ and Julius will both keep playing like they did last night, especially at home.

We have 5 more games, before the “road trip of hell”, so it’d be amazing if we go 4-1 in this games to get to 3 games above .500, as Max said in the last thread. I can’t see us going better than 9-13 on that road trip stretch, so this would put us right around at .500 (1 game below). Then in the last 14 games, the schedule gets easier and i think we can go 9-5 or even 10-4. Some teams are already thinking about the playoffs, like BRK in the 3rd to last game.
But even in the best case scenario, i think our ceiling isn’t higher than 7th, most likely we’ll be 9th or 10th.
ATL has dug quite a hole, they’re 6 games below .500.

Was at the game, great ambiance, nary a Julius boo and lots of RJ chants.

That’s great to know. I think Julius is adapting to not being “the man”. I hope he builds from this game.

Mitch was an absoute monster, and it was great seeing Nerlens out there.

We need both at a high level. The team plays much more comfortably on O when they know Mitch and Noel are going to get a lot of stops on D.

Next stop: ATL. A win there to help derail their season a little more, it’d be some kind of a revenge from the 2021 playoffs.

Dedicated to CDiggy: “Russell Westbrook 2-for-14 as Los Angeles Lakers lose to Sacramento Kings again” 😀

I’ve only gotten to see snippets of these last few games. What’s changed about RJ that has him playing so much better than earlier in the season? Just that his shot is falling again? Having the ball in his hands more thanks to Julius’ struggles and our lack of a traditional point guard? The relative weakness of our opponents? Something else?

(And even the opponents thing only seems to go so far. Like, San Antonio was severely depleted against us, but they still had Poetl, aka the kind of rim protector who in the past has given fits to RJ and his mediocre athleticism.)

Having the ball in his hands more thanks to Julius’ struggles

I don’t know if it’s because of Randle’s struggles or not but they seem to be running the offense more through him. He also just seems to be shooting with more confidence and attacking the paint more. And while Randle has struggled, last night at least he really seemed to be making the effort to attack and then dish. The defense has to account for Randle so I think things are opening up for RJ a bit?

RJ is a pretty good playmaker. It makes sense for us to run things through him more.

Also, yeah no KP but Mitch again with a great game. I’m tellin’ ya, Mitch has been so much better recently. He seems to finally be in shape and has some of that skinny Mitch bounce back. Would love to see a bit more variety in his offense but what he is giving us now is light years ahead of what he was doing earlier this season. If Noel is finally healthy, we may FINALLY get to see this elite rim protection all game that we thought we would have. That will shore up our defense and rebounding so much.

IQ wasn’t great last night but overall he is controlling the ball and offense so much better.

I keep saying it. We’ve slowly been righting things these last few weeks. Schedule will get tougher though but honestly, I do not worry about strength of schedule that much. I would much rather we face tough teams and be playing well than face bad teams when we’re not playing well. If you play well, you can beat anyone.

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