2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks @ the Joel Embiid-Less Sixers

The Knicks head to Philadelphia to take on the seriously shorthanded 76ers. Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle and Isaiah Joe are all in COVID protocols, Danny Green is out due to a hamstring injury and Ben Simmons is out because, well, you know, he’s a headcase.

The shorthanded Sixers have actually won six in a row, but with Embiid also out, it’s going to be kind of insane for them to pull this one out against the Knicks, even with Mitch Robinson missing tonight’s game, as well.

Crazier things have happened, I guess, but come on, if the Knicks don’t pull this one out then, well, that’d be very, very bad.

IS 56 WINS STILL IN PLAY? It’s looking less likely, but a win tonight would be very helpful to set things back on target!

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Let’s go, Knicks!

230 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks @ the Joel Embiid-Less Sixers”

The only acceptable outcome tonight is a win,
nobody on the Sixers can stop Julius, let’s take advantage of it.

Let’s Go Knicks!

Maybe iā€™m the only one, but i wouldnā€™t trade our roster for the Cavsā€™ one. They have exactly one player that iā€™d want to have. The others they can keep them all.

I’m with you. I think the answers on this were unduly influenced by the boondoggle that was last night. At the end of the day we’re talking about a core that has racked up some of the worst records in the NBA over the past few years plus Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. I’ll pass on that, especially given Sexton’s contract situation.

Guys the Knicks are 6-4 with wins over Boston, Philly, Chicago and Milwaukee. Theyā€™ll be fine and will win between 45-50 games like most of us predicted. Theyā€™re not a championship contender but theyā€™re a pretty good team, no need whatsoever to kinda panic right now.

are you serious big blue???

Are Embiid and Harris out because they have Covid or just broke some kind of protocol?

reference poll question – i’d keep kemba starting…rose against the other teams’ bench is something to watch, and a big advantage to us…

the better questions is: who should close, which most nights will probably be rose…

wow, the sixers are missing 6 guys from their roster…

we would should win, right?

Are Embiid and Harris out because they have Covid or just broke some kind of protocol?

Both tested positive and both have symptoms according to Rivers.

howdy soze…yes, time and its perception interest me greatly…the key to time is locked away somewhere, it’ll be found at some point…

time management is wonderful and all, but there seems to be more practicality though in personal time perspective…the management of the perception of temporal objects…

My world was shattered, I was torn apart
Like someone took a knife and drove it deep in my heart
When you walked out that door I swore that I didn’t care
But I lost everything, darlin’, then and there

i’m not really interested in turning back the clock, i just want have a little better control of the clock i’m on…

Knicks getting killed from 3. Tell me something I didn’t know would probably happen.

pepper: poor shot selection from Randleā€¦

Poor? He does that on purpose. He’s trying to replicate the tough shots of last season. I get mad watching this.

Raven: Clyde literally just said this. Hmmmā€¦

Clyde comments here at KB under the name “Max”, and says he’s from Milano, Italy for us not to guess it. Is that it? šŸ˜€

A lot of classic Knicksiness. Randle with infuriating forced shots, doing his best Melo interpretation. Barrett throwing the ball to folks in the stands as per his normal first half of stupidball while he waits for the pregame shot of ketamine to wear off. Noel heading back to the locker room.

Clyde comments here at KB under the name ā€œMaxā€, and says heā€™s from Milano, Italy for us not to guess it. Is that it? šŸ˜€

I wrote it a good 10 minutes before Clydeā€™s commentā€¦.
Clyde read KB šŸ˜‰

One great thing from RJ this year is he has absolutely looked unstoppable in transition. Probably a bit of hyperbole, but he has shown shades of D-Wade going down hill at times.

cybersoze: Clyde comments here at KB under the name ā€œMaxā€, and says heā€™s from Milano, Italy for us not to guess it. Is that it? šŸ˜€

Well, the other possibility is he’s reading the thread in between comments, looking for insight…

The Knickerblogger hive mind was spot on about Seth Curry. We all wanted that dude when he was a journeyman. That was so odd, he seemed to suffer from some weird kind of overcorrection to not wanting to appear to be signing him due to his last name.

D-Rose 3 minutes, nothing but 1 TOā€¦ and heā€™s plus 10!

Do we really need ā€œpureā€ plus-minus stats in the boxscore?

Run Obi run!

Knicks bench defending like shit after the starters had finally started to lock down at the end of the 1st quarter.

seth curry’s defense has been bad in the past, and is absolutely terrible this year…scoring more and giving up more…

Something Obi can do that I figured he was 4-5 years away if ever — he has a feathery soft touch on his fast breaks when he has to make alterations to his shot near the rim due to the defense. Really impressed with that skill set.

Looked really bad for a sec there with Noel, but seemed to walk off okay. Should probably just take him out of this game entirely.

Nerlens on the floor, gets up limping, calling for the ball. lol I hope he’s OK. We NEED him.

Was about to complement Randle on making some better reads. Then he ignored multiple open players to take a step back two.

The defense on that last Philly 3 happens way two often. Two simple quick passes and they immediately find an uncontested corner 3.

It wonā€™t matter today probably, but itā€™s the reason why their defense sucks so much right now. You canā€™t give up 22 3PTA per half.

I think at the beginning of the game i heard the State Farm guy saying that “things will go surprisingly great”. Looks like he was right. šŸ˜€

WTF was that last defensive possession? I could see it from a mile away that either Curry or Maxey was gonna get a wide open 3pter by the way their defenders were setting up to help when the ball was on the complete other side of the court. Just so fucking stupid.

d-mar: Our centers get hurt basically every 5 minutes

There you have it, we lead the league in injuries per minute. We have the Top2 guys. šŸ˜€

KJG: Is Randle dumb ā€¦ ?

Brian should make a poll with this question. Right now, i’m leaning to vote yes.

I mean, with Embiid and Harris out Phillyā€™s entire offense is whipping it around and shooting 3ā€™s.

If the Knicks defense canā€™t stop that then I donā€™t know what to say.

cybersoze: Brian should make a poll with this question. Right now, iā€™m leaning to vote yes.

His basketball IQ is a problem.

Some of what he did in year 1 and 2 was forgivable because there was no space and he had very little help on offense. So I gave him some benefit of the doubt. This year the team is loaded but he hasn’t changed his game much. That’s why I went off a week or two ago. I could already see the poor shot selection and foolish TOs continuing.

hahahahahahahahaha…love it, it is virtually impossible to get any indication of the actual game score by reading folks’ comments…

that’s funny…

Knicks with double digit lead, so you know itā€™ll be a close 4th quarter

you were off by a quarter

our offense can’t just be throw it to Randle and let him turn his back to basket and dribble out the shot clock….can it?

Our centers get injured so much I think we need four of them in the roster

Turns out Randle is being goaded into doing dumb shit by Danny Green. Nice pass there though.

Iā€™m telling ya, we need to start the third quarter with the bench rotation. They used to coming in after a break (like the half) and know how to bring more energy after sitting.

Man, with how good Randle has become from 3, how good he’s been at the rim in the past, and how good of a playmaker he can be, it’s fun to think about the version of him that doesn’t insist on taking like 8 dumb shots a game

I have to confess Iā€™m surprised to find out that Burks is somehow not shooting worse than last year.

Iā€™m telling ya, we need to start the third quarter with the bench rotation. They used to coming in after a break (like the half) and know how to bring more energy after sitting.

Weā€™re not programmed to do that.
Automatic Substitution Pattern is ON.

cybersoze:
Is it just me, or last yearā€™s games were a lot more fun than this yearā€™s?

Funny part is in 11 games this season the Knicks have had a double digit lead in 9 of them.

It’s difficult because Randle hit those dumb shots last year at a high rate. But they at least need to try and look for better shots.

Drummond is gonna eat poor Taj alive on the glass anyway so might as well see if the small lineup can mess with them, I think

thenoblefacehumper:
Man, with how good Randle has become from 3, how good heā€™s been at the rim in the past, and how good of a playmaker he can be, itā€™s fun to think about the version of him that doesnā€™t insist on taking like 8 dumb shots a game

It’s very frustrating to watch him hold the ball and dribble himself into tough positions when he has the skills to be more efficient.

cybersoze:
Is it just me, or last yearā€™s games were a lot more fun than this yearā€™s?

I think thereā€™s a multifaceted elephant in the room
1) Mitchs return is nice, but maybe a little short of expectations
2) our upgrades are nice but not super upgradey
3) Randle is something different
4) Burks is I dunno what (stinky)
ā€¦ thereā€™s more bad stuff

cybersoze:
Is it just me, or last yearā€™s games were a lot more fun than this yearā€™s?

Last year we scrapped and found ways to win games with energy and defense. This year it feels like we are trying to find ways to lose when we should win.

Everyone and their brother can see the players on the court are playing lethargically (to quote Clyde) and yet there’s no sign of any change in who’s out there. It’s mind-boggling.

If BBA says this would be the worst loss of the season I would heartily agree.

In fact it might be the worst loss of the last 2 seasons

It’s just embarassing watching these fools barely care about the game, when what made us fall in love with this core was precisely that they tried hard no matter how outmatched they were. Dudes like Shake Milton and Korkmaz driving completely unguarded to the rim, this can’t happen.

d-mar:
If BBA says this would be the worst loss of the season I would heartily agree.

In fact it might be the worst loss of the last 2 seasons

Knicks aren’t losing tonight.

I think we have to go back to at last year’s formula with fewer 3s and a focus on defense. To be clear, I’m not saying don’t shoot 3s, but they better be good ones.

So much for the high-powered offensive juggernaut we were rumored to be coming out of preseason….

We arenā€™t very likeable right now ā€¦ you know we decided to get rid of our number one bulldog ā€¦ number one grit man

Max:
We lost the third quarter 25-14
and once upon a time we were up by 19.

It was the worst 19 point lead too ā€¦ coulda been 40 ā€¦

I wonder if a healthy Mitch would help with guys driving to the rim. . .probably not, he’s too muscular

Seriously we might want to try Sims for a few minutes?

BigBlueAL: Knicks arenā€™t losing tonight.

Agree. I predict they will hang on to win this game, but this pattern of coming out flat in Q3 and letting huge leads slip away is a sign that something mental needs fixing fast. Only 19 games but the pattern is clear.

BigBlueAL:
Obiā€™s defense against Niang is not gonna get him more playing time.

Itā€™s pretty badā€¦ obi has happy feet playing one on one Dā€¦ guy has to chill out

Is it just me, or last yearā€™s games were a lot more fun than this yearā€™s?

For me personally, a lot of this boils down to Immanuel Quickley. Love watching that dude when he’s playing well, which was frequent last year and, uh, less so this year. So hopefully that is starting to change.

I think I heard Clyde moan when RJ’s 3 went in and out. lol

Randle is dumb ā€¦ double confirmed ā€¦ Burks has 1 job ā€¦ canā€™t do it consistently ā€¦

pepper:
thibs pulling all the wrong levers

I donā€™t think he has a clue either that heā€™s pulling the wrong ones

Randle is well rested. That should be good for 3 bad shots and 1-2 TOs in 5 minutes. šŸ™‚

BingBongHits: Agree. I predict they will hang on to win this game, but this pattern of coming out flat in Q3 and letting huge leads slip away is a sign that something mental needs fixing fast. Only 19 games but the pattern is clear.

I can’t remember last week, but wasn’t this a consistent problem last year, especially earlier in the season?

It’s so weird being a fan of this team. When things start to go south, it has this weird comfortable kind of feeling to it. Like the universe is at balance again.

I take back all my rants about Randle….for now. šŸ™‚

This is the most maligned 7-4 Knicks team of all time, and I completely understand it

Randle with a Patrick Ewing performance tonight, constantly criticized all game long but in the end he singlehandedly won the game for the Knicks.

You gotta give it to Julius,
In a game when he did a lot of dumb things he basically won the game by himself with a little help from Kemba, while Barrettā€™s shot 6-20ā€¦

That miss was just the second shot taken by Fournier in the second half (heā€™s 1-2)ā€¦

I just donā€™t know how to feel ā€¦ kinda fun but another back-in winā€¦

Iā€™ll feel better when Grizz cover 3.5 and Warriors put hurting on Hawks

Win is a win and we showed resiliency, but this one should not have been this close or this hard.

RJ being strong enough to knock Julius down is the most impressive part of this game

Randle is stubborn (and maybe dumb) ā€¦ but his stubbornness to heave up those 3s late saved us ā€¦ Thibs isnā€™t gonna get away with his rotations forever

Bing bong is the sound of the subway doors closing but the other teams keep shoving their hand in at the last moment to keep the doors open.

So Knicksy! Doing it all backwards!

Weā€™ve been very lucky with opposing teams missing players, especially (but not only) on the road,
Orlando was heavily depleted, just as Milwaukee or tonightā€™s Sixers, the Pels were without Zion and Ingramā€¦

This team had all the chances to be 10-1 (only Indianaā€™s loss was ā€œacceptableā€) and blew itā€¦
Thatā€™s why this year feels so frustrating despite the good record.

In other news, Frank with another nice run…7 efficient points for a +14 in 11 minutes.

At 7-4 Knicks are in 7th place in the East. 111.7 PPG puts them in 2nd place but with 109.4 OPP PPG they rank 11th.

Talking out of my ass without having looked at the shot charts: it feels like in the last two games Randle has made more of an effort to get to the basket. Unfortunately he hasn’t been rewarded with many free throws. Hoping that doesn’t deter him from trying to keep that up (if it’s actually happening).

There really is no reason a human bowling ball who is suddenly a knockdown 3PT shooter should spend so much time in 0.70 xPPS land.

At least we got good Julius in the 4th, and beating Philly always feels good no matter the rosters involved. Now let’s all forget this game ever happened and see if they play up to the opposition again against the Bucks.

Knicks shot a good amount of 3s today, just didnā€™t hit them at a very high rate (13/40 exactly the same as Philly). They somehow out rebounded Philly 55-47 (14-12 OREB), which definitely surprised me. I thought they had been killed on the boards. I guess they made up for it when Drummond was sitting.

Iā€™m sure the Knicks game was entertaining and all, but the last 3.9 seconds of the griz/wolves regulation has been loltastic.

Insane shot from Towns but the Wolves still lost… Brandon Clarke and Melton with really nice statlines.

Seems like so many guys on this team are streaky playersā€¦ but maybe thatā€™s just because itā€™s still early in the season. Also, the new ball!

But seriously, I think things will even out by game twentysomerhing, and then weā€™ll really see where this team stands. If RJ and Quick can improve on last season, we will be dangerous.

So yesterday, i looked at the Nets-Bulls score and it was 78-74 in the final minute of the 3rd quarter. I thought “The Bulls are trying but it won’t be easy”. Well, to my surprise, this morning i checked the final score and it was 95-118 (4th quarter: 17-42) !? :O This has been a strange year, until now.

So we’re tied for 5th, with Nets and Cavs, only 0.5 games away from the 2nd seed, a tie between Heat, Bulls and Wizards. Behind us we have the Raptors, 1 game away. And then there’s a gap, as Bucks and Celtics are 2.5 games behind, and the Hawks are 3 games behind… shouldn’t they be some kind of powerhouse? Maybe Trae and the new rules are the reason for this.

So my plan was like this:

For the next 8 games, we have: Bucks, home and away, 76ers and Hornets, away. To win one, at least. And then we have the must win games at MSG, against Pacers (revenge!), Cavs, Magic and Rockets. I think weā€™ll be 5-3 again. What do you guys think?

Right now, we’re 2-1. Funny enough we played 2 hard games, and we won both. And played only one must win game, and lost. How odd?
Well, if we win one more of the hard ones (vs Bucks, @ Hornets), i think we’ll go 6-2 in this stretch. Because the remaining must win are exactly that… we must get revenge from the Pacers, and also we can’t let the Magic win twice at MSG (right? right?). The Rockets are one of the worst teams in the league, i don’t know if BBA would easily come up with a name for a loss against them.

If we indeed go 6-2 in this stretch we’ll get to 11-5 at the 16th game, which would cheer up Brian because that’s on pace to… 56 WINS! šŸ˜‰ Let’s do it, team! šŸ™‚

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