2021-22 Game Thread: Some of the Knicks @ Some of the Celtics

The Knicks head to Boston tonight and with Derrick Rose out and half the team in COVID protocols, Kemba Walker is now not just playing for the Knicks again, but STARTING.

You can’t make this weird shit up.

Luckily for the Knicks, while COVID has taken away most of the players we most want to see, the remaining guys are still a reasonable approximation of an NBA team, so this should be fun. It would also be mice to see the Knicks move past the Celtics in terms of “Wow, we’re much worse than we thought we would be, but at least we’re better than you.”

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Let’s go, Knicks!

185 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Some of the Knicks @ Some of the Celtics”

Per @ Fred Katz
Rose out due to sore ankle.
Starters Kemba, E4, Burks, Noel, and Randle

At the end I decided to watch just for the comedy relief granted by Kemba’s situation…

Let’s Go Next To Health & Safety Knicks!

Remember the iconic Michael Jordan flu game?

You mean the iconic Michael Jordan hangover game?

I’m guessing Burks & Kemba combine for 48 min at PG. Selden backs up both wing shots. Taj gets PF minutes. Taj 3s baby!!!

Following on gamecast, is Hall there? If not, I imagine him getting out of the car and playing the 2nd half in a Westchester jersey.

Early Bird:
I’m guessing Burks & Kemba combine for 48 min at PG. Selden backs up both wing shots.Taj gets PF minutes. Taj 3s baby!!!

If Burks is on the wing, and then he is Kemba’s backup, he’ll play 48 mins. 😛

DRed:
Do we even have a backup PG tonight?

Reports (bullshit) say Jericho has been working on his handle in practice

cybersoze: If Burks is on the wing, and then he is Kemba’s backup, he’ll play 48 mins. 😛

This is still Thibs. He wants 53min minimum, even without overtime

They’re shooting 50% from 3, we’re shooting 14%. We could still turn this around. We won’t, but we could.

Love how on the very first possession of the game, the play called for Kemba to give the ball up to Randle between the circles and then go stand in the corner.

I was planning on watching this later, but after reading the comments I am wondering why i bothered recording it. Blind faith I guess.

Really bummed McBride is out. This could have been the breakout game….

DRed:
Man Evan is a fucking mess.I wonder if he has some sort of undisclosed injury

I’d say yes. Last picture I saw of him (don’t have NBA pass) he was wearing Kinesio Tech tape on his shoulder. That is an adjunct treatment for musculo-tendinous injuries.

Great. All these guys in COVID protocol and I have to sit here courtside with Breen doing color commentary for a bunch of scrubs. I’d rather be Bing-Bong-Bangin’ Haarlow. :-/

I’d have to assume Evan is injured its not like he was a bubble star hes been good for years.

I don’t get the impression Seldensanity is around the corner but at least Jalen Johnson or Cam Thomas aren’t getting these minutes, that would be a real disaster

We can’t count on the bench to give us a boost tonight (pun intended)…

Meanwhile our All-Star and leader went scoreless in the 1st half.
Luckily he still has three quarters to pad his stats…

I’m going season 1 of El chapo…on Netflix…can’t be any worse than this excrement…

Of course Mitch is limping, not enough of our players who are occasionally entertaining are out

Evan ate that one bad steak in San Antonio, and I assume he’s been eating the leftovers ever since. Hey, a steak is a steak.

Kemba figures wtf I may not play again for a few months, might as well get a bunch of shots up

Letting Kemba be an actual ball dominant point guard for 20 minutes per game or so would probably be better than the mothballs approach, though he may have opted for the latter over the former for all we know

Wally just said Fournier and Randle “have good chemistry with each other.”

Get well soon, Clyde.

thenoblefacehumper:
I don’t get the impression Seldensanity is around the corner but at least Jalen Johnson or Cam Thomas aren’t getting these minutes, that would be a real disaster

So tedious…

A few possessions ago, Randle did one of his pick and rolls where he went to set a pick for Kemba and instead of actually rolling just like slid four feet away to the side and demanded the ball so he could chuck.

Ah…seeing those old dunks of mine always get me stiff. Rebecca calls those highlight reels foreplay.

noel is mailing this shit in…and Randle is a head case…and we can confirm kemba is washed…

We’re good. It’s the inevitable 15 point hole. The kids will reel us back in the second half…

Oh fuck. Never mind.

It’s good to see Fournier scoring even if he plays like crap otherwise. He needs to get something going this year

Knicks actually have four of their five starters. Of course, they’re getting demolished — but they get demolished pretty much every game.

Early Bird:
It’s good to see Fournier scoring even if he plays like crap otherwise. He needs to get something going this year

+1

I understand the frustration on the board but not the hate.

First it was Kemba, now it’s Fournier, both have problems and are far from perfect players,
but we forget too often that the reason this team is so mediocre is that its “supposed stars” (Randle and Barrett) are playing like shit and both regressed to their 2019 form.

The thing I like about E4 is that he plays fundamental basketball (IMO). He passes, he cuts, and he has a pure shot. I think he would shine in a motion (or any) set offense. True, he may not be quickest guy or the best defender on the team, but he usually has a couple of steals per game showing good anticipation and court awareness to compensate for his terrible fouls and matador cape swings here and there. Plus I agree that he may have some nagging injury at the moment.

Compare that to Randle who always looks completely out of control whether he’s making every shot unconsciously or repeatedly dribbling the ball into the shins of his defenders. I wouldn’t know where to start to “teach” the guy what to do in a collaborative offense.

d-mar:
If we played the Celtics 82 times Fournier would be a first ballot HOF’er.

well, parquet IS French ;-0

Kemba ain’t totally cooked. I can’t pretend I have a great idea what his role should be if/when we’re fully healthy, but “no role at all” is likely not optimal.

* to be fair, Kemba’s problem is that he wears down….so it’s not surprising that he’s good when he’s rested.

Thibs took my advice to rest Kemba for 10 games and bring him back fresh for a few good games to maximize his trade value.

* to be fair, Kemba’s problem is that he wears down….so it’s not surprising that he’s good when he’s rested.

Yeah, I said before the banishing that his ideal role is probably being a literal part-time player in terms of both minutes and games. The hang up is probably getting him to agree to that.

I wish Thibs weren’t so positionally rigid because giving Kemba minutes with another point guard, like Deuce, could be an interesting look

Z-man:
* to be fair, Kemba’s problem is that he wears down….so it’s not surprising that he’s good when he’s rested.

Maybe we can play him in away games only, i heard it’s a new trend in the league. LOL

thenoblefacehumper: Yeah, I said before the banishing that his ideal role is probably being a literal part-time player in terms of both minutes and games. The hang up is probably getting him to agree to that.

Yeah, doesn’t seem like Thibs would like that, either.

There’s somebody on this planet saying “this is the first Knicks game I’ve watched all year, looks like those Kemba and Fournier signings have worked out really nicely!”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

First Grimes, then Deuce, now Kemba…

Thibs’ doghouse is reaching Fizdale’s level of non sense…

Still haven’t left “Fournier is good at basketball and this will reveal itself eventually” island

thenoblefacehumper:
There’s somebody on this planet saying “this is the first Knicks game I’ve watched all year, looks like those Kemba and Fournier signings have worked out really nicely!”

lol

Thibs may be the worst coach in NBA history at drawing up plays out of timeouts. All you have to do is scream at the other 4 players to not give it to Randle and we’d do better.

Randle has been particularly eye-gougingly terrible tonight. Seeing Prichard d-ing him up is vomik-inducing.

d-mar: Hey wait a second I predicted a Fournier bounce back before the Rockets game. The island has 2 inhabitants

Hold on there, gents. See (way) above and all season long …

If only there were some Knicks players on the island along with us …

Randle has been particularly eye-gougingly terrible tonight. Seeing Prichard d-ing him up is vomik-inducing.

It reminds me of the time that KP was bodied up by someone small. I forget who, but it was super embarrassing. Actually, didn’t Huerter also guard Randle at one point in the playoffs and keep him from scoring?

Every now and then Randle drives to the basket. It tends to work. You would think he would draw some more long term conclusions about this but nope.

Brian Cronin: It reminds me of the time that KP was bodied up by someone small. I forget who, but it was super embarrassing. Actually, didn’t Huerter also guard Randle at one point in the playoffs and keep him from scoring?

Marcus Smart

“It reminds me of the time that KP was bodied up by someone small.”

It was Marcus Smart. That kind of thing wouldn’t happen much now. He’s been terrific in the post. Now he can’t hit a 3. Lol

One of this team’s biggest problems is basketball IQ. It’s hard to watch them without screaming at the TV because of dumb plays.

KJG:
Two consecutive dumb shots Randle Kemba

cybersoze:
Can we get this W or what?

Can’t get stops or rebounds … Randle glued to ground on that last one

Glad to see Kemba and Fournier may actually be the players we imagined. Being positive now.

As per contract, every single game must end with Julius Randle arguing with the refs.

d-mar:
Tatum is hugely talented but his basketball IQ is on the low side

He definitely has the ability to shoot them out of a game … he takes dumb shots like Randle but hits a bunch more of em …

Randle needs to take a backseat to Fournier and Kemba, who based on today looks like he should be reinstalled as PG.

We’ll win some games as soon as Obi is out of health and safety protocols and Randle is in.

On a lighter note, I’m drinking a double IPA from Bronx Brewery called “Now youse can’t leave”…10.1%

Perfect choice for this game…

Z-man:
On a lighter note, I’m drinking a double IPAfrom Bronx Brewery called “Now youse can’t leave”…10.1%

Perfect choice for this game…

It applies generally to Knick fandom

Had no business being in this game and yet in the end probably should have pulled it out. Celtics look awful and needed 3s from Richardson (certified scrub who per Knicks games must have a breakout game against them) and terrible refereeing to bail them out.

Randle needs to go back to the dreds cause Afro Randle is a terrible shooter. Actually all forms of Randle sucks shooting this year

When they’re clicking on offense, Kemba and Fournier look good. That was today. But when they don’t, the defense is so bad, they become unplayable. Please don’t declare they should be the starting backcourt based on one game. We’ve been through that already.

Our defense is atrocious anyway, might as well run a competent offensive backcourt (until the trade deadline)

It really does make you question why in the world Kemba was in the dungeon for so long.

Thibodeau’s idea of starting point guards is Elfrid Payton and Alec Burks and his idea of a point guard who shouldn’t be in a rotation is Kemba Walker.

Fournier tonight wasn’t so bad on defense,
he probably had his best defensive 24-seconds of the year on a Tatum’s iso.

I’m perfectly fine with Kemba coming from the bench, but sending him to Siberia was bad coaching and a waste of a team’s asset.
I’m fine with Fournier coming from the bench too but only if Grimes is the starter.

And… I’d be very okay if we’re able to trade Randle… 🙂

Hahn and Monica calling it exactly right. Our top three pieces for this season — Randle, Kemba, Fournier; all vets — going into the 4th should have closed the deal. They didn’t come close. These are not our kids who couldn’t close. It was our (supposed) All Stars. That hurts.

We should play one of Kemba/Fournier in the starting lineup, and the other in the 2nd unit. Fournier has worse stats than Kemba, he should’ve been the one demoted in the first place.

Kemba + RJ + Burks + Julius + Noel
DRose + Quick + Evan + Obi + Mitch

But work the phones to trade Kemba and Evan, because we have to find minutes for Deuce and Grimes.

I like how we totally forget about Kemba’s performances prior to his benching (not to mention that Boston gave up assets to dump him and OKC couldn’t wait to waive him) to bash the coach for not playing him. And could we at least consider his 4th quarter performance in making judgments?

OTOH, what 6’9″ rugged all-atar is frazzled by the defensive monster Payton Prichard? That was disgusting…

Mostly for ball movement and to find out what we’ve got in the kids, play —

1) DRose, Fournier, Burks, Julius, Noel
2) Deuce, IQ, RJ, Obi, Mitch

Float Grimes as needed, and close with who is good that night.
Trade Kemba off the strength of this game.

BTW, I know Boston is Kemba’s former home, but he specifically made a stupid mistake down the stretch getting his 6th foul and then right after the final whistle, he was laughing and hugging all the Celtics for a loooooong time. I get it: Life > Game, but that’s not likely the “Thibs way” and I’m sure someone reminded Kemba when he finally got into the locker room: Hey, we lost.

Z-man:
OTOH, what 6’9? rugged all-atar is frazzled by the defensive monster Payton Prichard? That was disgusting…

Totally agreed.

Z-man:
I hope Kemba upped his trade value tonight. That’s about it.

Exactly.
Kemba’s defense had been terrible and close to unplayable all year long.
I think no one is campaigning for Kemba to start or play 37 minutes like tonight (he was already gassed after 25), but we’ve had games were nobody can hit the side of a barn and maybe you can just try him from the bench to see if he’s in a good shooting night, like tonight’s 3rd quarter.

Once the Burks as a starting PG experiment went down the drain (not for Burks’ fault, it’s not his position) it’s strange and widely discussed (not only here but in every national basketball outlet from Lowe to Katz, to Windhorst and so on) to exile a player that way.
He’s an asset, the job it’s to use it wisely, not to depreciate it.

We used to ask the question: “how far can the Knicks go with Randle as their best player?”

Now the question is, “how far can the Knicks fall with Randle as their 12th best player?”

I’m still pleased that the Knicks chose SGA’s worse college teammate instead of him.

d-mar:
We used to ask the question: “how far can the Knicks go with Randle as their best player?”

Now the question is, “how far can the Knicks fall with Randle as their 12th best player?”

Depends on whether he’s playing the minutes of a 12th best player… or leading the league in minutes, which is gonna happen

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