2020-21 Game Thread: Knicks @ Magic

The Knicks head to Orlando for a very good chance at getting to .500 ahead of a game against the worst team in the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Magic’s recent collapse (they have the second worst record in the NBA since the start of 2021) has been a huge factor in making the Knicks prohibitive favorites to at the very least make the play-in game tournament (although, right now, with how shitty the middle of the Eastern Conference has been, hovering around a .500 record might even get you a freakin’ home game to open the playoffs this season). Their roster is just straight doo doo right now.

Which is fine news for tonight!

Let’s go get to .500, Knicks!

160 replies on “2020-21 Game Thread: Knicks @ Magic”

This is an important game. It would be nice if we could beat Orlando on the road and put more distance between us and them because they are going to make a run for one of the playoff spots eventually when they get healthy.

This is an important game. It would be nice if we could beat Orlando on the road and put more distance between us and them because they are going to make a run for one of the playoff spots eventually when they get healthy.

Are they going to get healthy? I thought a lot of their injuries were year-enders. But yes, if I’m mistaken, then they could be pretty good once they get healthy. They have some talented guys not playing.

Gordon will be back mid March. Fultz is out for the season. Isaac is not clear but I think he’s out for the season also.

Winnable game if we stay focused.

Looks like they have Fournier and Aminu back tonight, but I think Cole Anthony is out.
They were really unlucky with injuries this year.

Let’s go Knicks!

Yeah, Anthony was one of their bright spots and now he’s out. They’re a real mess.

C Nikola Vucevic
SF Dwayne Bacon
PF Gary Clark
SG Evan Fournier
PG Michael Carter-Williams

It’s like someone is pulling a prank with that lineup.

Frank is back tonight. Not that he’ll see action but at least he’s back working with the team.

Question 6 from The Coalition for New York City
How will you help the Knicks obtain a bona fide superstar without relinquishing team crushing assets?
Go Knicks, beware of this trap game.

Bo Nateman:
Question 6 from The Coalition for New York City
How will you help the Knicks obtain a bona fide superstar without relinquishing team crushing assets?

If randle keeps playing like he did last game, we found one…

The Magic are so ravaged by injuries that it’s the first game in a while in which we have an advantage at the PG position… 🙂

But we’re not defending well, no sir…

The last time the Knicks lost, Lauren Holtkamp was a referee and well, she was awful. The next day Knicks Twitter was ablaze with her name in flames. I don’t know if the entire crew travels together in the NBA, but I see her on the floor today. If the calls go the wrong way tonight, I can see things getting ugly again in Twitter.

Z-man:
Dare we be speaking about avoiding a play-in game?

I hope we avoid it but probably for very different reasons than everyone else.

Let’s just max Randle at halftime. lol

Let’s supermax and make him a franchise player at halftime.

I’ll admit it, last year I suggested that Randle not shoot 3’s, even when open.

What a difference a season makes.

We have tightened a few screws on defense, plus they’re bad and Julius Randle is an All-Star….

Randle must have messed with the sliders on 3 point shooting before last game, and Thibs clearly lowered the opponent 3 point shooting slider before the season started

It’s too good to be true, but I’ll take it while it lasts. As long as he’s a serious threat from out there I can deal with 40% not being sustainable.

Randle off to another hot start!

I’ll take Stephon Marbury for the quiz today.

If I were RJ Barrett I would simply ask Julius Randle how one becomes Ray Allen over the course of one offseason

d-mar:
I’ll admit it, last year I suggested that Randle not shoot 3’s, even when open.

What a difference a season makes.

3pt%:
2019/20: 27.7%
2020/21: 40.6%

Yeah its Marbury, had 1 extra 40 pt game than Crawford, think 5 to 4. Nate had 3 I believe, someone posted the list on Twitter the other night.

Maybe Randle can take RJ into his offseason regimen and then we’ll have two starters shooting 40% from 3 lol

BigBlueAL:
Yeah its Marbury, had 1 extra 40 pt game than Crawford, think 5 to 4.Nate had 3 I believe, someone posted the list on Twitter the other night.

Didn’t see that. Pre-breakdown Steph was fun at times.

Randle’s also become a better FT shooter, and he’s generally been a good non-3 shooter. Is he a 40% shooter? I don’t know, but Randle being a good shooter for a big is probably real

DRed:
Randle’s also become a better FT shooter, and he’s generally been a good non-3 shooter.Is he a 40% shooter?I don’t know, butRandle being a good shooter for a big is probably real

I was kind of thinking about that the other day – even if he regresses to 37-38%, that’s still pretty valuable shooting on a reasonable volume from the 4.

As far as Randle making the all star team, it’s kind of like a fraternity, where once you’re in you stay in until you give a good reason to be kicked out. So far, it seems that the eastern conference “bigs” clearly in front of him are Embiid, Giannis, and Vucevic, with Adebayo, Capela, Sabonis, Siakam, and maybe Turner in the mix with him. Siakam, Adebayo, and Sabonis were all in the game last year, along with Embiid and Giannis. If Siakam is dropped, it seems Vucevic would be in, so it seems like a long shot for Randle if they are all healthy. But winning games against his competitors without Robinson by his side is a good place to start kicking the door down.

Will never be a Rose fan but he just grew on me a bit by telling Obi to stop being Mister Softie

The bench unit is out of synch,
they are either taking bad shots (Rose, IQ)
or passing the good ones (Burks, Toppin)…

BigBlueAL:
Thibs wasn’t happy with IQ’s defense.

MCW ran right by him, Noel didn’t have a chance. IQ’s gotta keep his body in front of MCW

thenoblefacehumper:
Will never be a Rose fan but he just grew on me a bit by telling Obi to stop being Mister Softie

I said it earlier today, the Knicks got an assistant head coach when they made the trade for Rose.

After tonight the Knicks have 3 days off because of the cancelled game on Saturday. It’s a great time to get in some practice and work out some chemistry issues and meld Rose in better with his unit. It’s obvious that Thibs told Rose on day 1: I’m giving you two rookies to work with.

Owen:
If I were a GM I’d probably try to buy low on Mo Bamba and end up disappointed.

I loved him at draft time, still holding out hope…wouldn’t mind trading for him.

Playing Quickley 6 minutes in a half isn’t great but maybe he appreciates Thibs looking out for his top spot on the rookie points per 48 leaderboard

With center Mitchell Robinson on the shelf, the Knicks have had internal talks about big man Norvel Pelle, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. However, New York has a full roster and would have to waive a player to make room for someone like Pelle, who will be a free agent on Thursday if he clears waivers after being cut by Brooklyn.

whoa, i’ve got a problem…i’m at work, just finished a really late lunch (not calling it dinner, cuz i’m eating again when i get home) – i have no chocolate on me…none whatsoever, nothing tucked away in a drawer, nothing in my backpack…

did find a little sack of weed someone had given me a while back, no chocolate though…

cybersoze:
ORL is bad. We’re not playing well and still got to the halftime with the lead.

I would say that Orlando is a fair match for the Knicks. We need this game.

thibs is like bill Walsh and has scripted out the entire qtr…it would mess things up if he subbed now…

Maybe Dolan traveled with the players and gifted them with his… cof, cof… music! 😛

If they lose it would be the first loss I’m mad about in a while so that’s progress

This is the most discombobulated I’ve seen the Knicks all season.

The Burks ‘Macky Sasser double-pump’ in the corner every time is really starting to miff me.

Burks has been so mediocre at best … remember when he was our 1/2 option beforn he got hurt. Those games such an anomaly.

As AL said before, this would be an awful loss.

And a well deserved one, Thibs’ll gonna burst a vein….

“That was the 3rd quarter of doom” – first accurate analysis from Wally, maybe ever.

Good luck to the players having to deal with Thibs practices for 3 straight days after this performance.

four made threes with 8 minutes left in the game ain’t gonna bring home the win tonight…

Mike Honcho:
“Assistant Coach” Derrick Rose is really taking command of this tank division

Really not having a good game.

that fact that he would take 10 shots is a little distressing…

last game rose was talking to himself and grunting pretty loudly at the end of the game…not really savvy vet kind of stuff…more like emotionally not in such great control…

So mr. Burks, why did you pass on so many good shots before?
Good things could happen if you try…

the guards that were the most effective the entire game have not seen the entire 4th quarter….

Why in the flying fuck are Alec Burks and Reggie Bullock in this game and RJ Barrett isn’t?

Did RJ piss in Thibs Cheerios or something? Not sure why he can’t see the floor now.

A very humbling defeat.

Disgusting second half, but all start in the first, when they played as if victory was due and blew a double digit lead.

Thibs’ll gonna kill them in the next three days.

Worst game in IQ’s young career, very bad one for Rose.

They have a knack for playing down to the competition (see OKC, second game vs Cavs…).

Still a lot of work to do, let’s forget trading for a star please…

They deserve Jimmy Dolan’s blues during the flight back to ny after that one…

My kids wanted to watch Bluey and Phineas & Ferb tonight, so I missed nearly all of the game. I’m glad they did. And not just because those shows are both awesome.

Alan:
My kids wanted to watch Bluey and Phineas & Ferb tonight, so I missed nearly all of the game. I’m glad they did. And not just because those shows are both awesome.

phineas and ferb was a family favorite…right up there with Kick Buttowski…

for a kid’s show, phineas and ferb is definitely okay…fun sciencey kind of stories…bluey just seems like a re-skin of peppa pig, it’s okay, very soothing…

one of my current favorites is big city greens…now that’s a fun family 🙂

missed the game, planning on just deleting it…

DRose alarm bells at a 8.5. He didnt play well in the previous 2 games either. Hopefully practice helps. Burks has to be the most lackadaiscal player in the lineup. Sorry but Payton needs to play more minutes than Rose until he proves otherwise. Hate closing with Rose.

How can there be only 3 teams with winning records in the East?

It’s nucking futs! But the Pacers are now the fourth, but still, it’s crazy either way.

I’ve said it a few times already, but now I’m vindicated, Rose taking 12.5% of his shots at the rim since joining the Knicks is a massive red flag.

He’s scored well on unsustainable shooting. I’d wager we see more of these games going forward. We wasted a 2nd round draft pick.

Maybe worth it if he tanks us into the lotto

Early Bird:
I’ve said it a few times already, but now I’m vindicated, Rose taking 12.5% of his shots at the rim since joining the Knicks is a massive red flag.

He’s scored well on unsustainable shooting. I’d wager we see more of these games going forward. We wasted a 2nd round draft pick.

Maybe worth it if he tanks us into the lotto

He looked bad tonight, that’s for sure…

Z-man: He looked bad tonight, that’s for sure…

I haven’t been able to watch the last few games so I can’t say, but I’ve been following his shot charts and he’s been lighting it up from the midrange when he “played well”.

I don’t think he can get to the hoop anymore. Re: the Lowry discussion from last thread, when the athleticism goes it goes fast. Maybe Rose is recovering from an injury, but he’s his early hot shooting looks to me like the gamestop of NBA value.

It’s too early to tell…he’s moving okay other than no vertical explosion. Just seems like he’s reverting to his shoot first-poor shot selection ways.

Z-man:
It’s too early to tell…he’s moving okay other than no vertical explosion. Just seems like he’s reverting to his shoot first-poor shot selection ways.

Hopefully, but I’m very worried. He was getting to the rim in DET closer to his career average, but he was shooting sub-50% from there.

After today’s game, between DET & NYK Rose is near his career low in % attempts at the rim .265 (career low .260) and career low fg% .484 there.

Getting to the rim less often and shooting below 50% within 3ft of the rim is not good.

For comparison, Rose was pretty good the last two years. He averaged .295 of his attempts at the rim and shot .658 there.

Maybe Rose is nursing an injury, maybe he rights himself, or maybe he hits enough mid-range shots to get by, but it’s not what you want to see from an aging PG.

Looked through Rotowire, Rose’s knee has been acting up this year. That might be why he’s struggling getting to the rim instead of his age. But given his injury history with his knees, I’m not sure that’s better.

Upside, his knee was fine last 2 years

I read over the Knicks v Heat game thread from a few days ago and couldn’t imagine what you all were complaining about with the Heat jerseys. Then I caught a few minutes of Miami in Golden State and, holy shit, how did that happen? Maybe in Miami their arena compliments those colors, but with the gold key of the Warriors court it was the most god awful vertical clash of visual pain. I couldn’t even watch the game, it was so distracting. It was like the Warriors were playing a team of fluorescent Harvey Dents. Jimmy Butler agreed to be photographed in that?? I hate the thought of people losing jobs, especially in a pandemic, but, c’mon, hold whoever’s idea that was accountable!

(Apparently it was a good game. But who would know it? I was too busy trying to adjust the hue on my tv screen)

I still can’t believe a whole team of highly-paid professionals wasted a lottery pick on Cam Reddish

Total waste of a lottery pick, but I think he might end up being a useful player eventually. He’s young and he can play a little D.

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