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Knicks Win 102-93 vs Cavs – Up 3 Games to 1

It was an odd game, as a Knicks starting forward was benched due to ineffectiveness, just not the one you thought it would be. R.J. scored 26 points on 18 shots, while Randle struggled with just 7 on 10 and sat for much of the 4th quarter. The Knicks blew a 9 point half time lead early in the second half, but came through strong at the end. Even though Brunson led the team with 29 points on 22 shots, it felt as if it were a team effort. Mitch had 7 offensive rebounds and chipped in 12 points. Hart had 19 points on 16 shots, pulled down 7 rebounds, and added 2 steals.

Randle only played 27 minutes, and Toppin saw the floor for the fourth quarter and ended up with 20 minutes played, and hauled in 8 boards, 5 on the offensive end.

The NBA broadcasted a stat that said teams up 3-1 win the series 95% of the time, so fingers crossed that we’re not that 1 in 20 outlier.

[Edited because somehow in my haste I looked at the wrong box score.]

28 replies on “Knicks Win 102-93 vs Cavs – Up 3 Games to 1”

The NBA broadcasted a stat that said teams up 3-1 win the series 95% of the time, so fingers crossed that we’re not that 1 in 20 outlier.

Only ESPN doesn’t know we’re DOOMED

I was worried going to the game that a Sunday 1 pm crowd wouldn’t be as vociferous, but man, it was rocking at MSG today.

Awesome crowd.

Oh, Z-Man, I am so envious right now. Tell us all about it! Atmosphere, particular moments when the crowd went really nuts, plays that were extra cool in person, etc?

Also, how much of the Knick bench could you see from your seats? Curious if you got a look at Julius during the fourth quarter, since we’re all playing armchair psychologist/orthopedist this evening.

I can’t believe this is happening with the Knicks. Absolutely a team effort.

IQ has seemed invisible but maybe the plus minus is telling the story.

Just amazing how many guys had huge contributions but I am giving Mitch my game ball.

The fact that this team has managed to win despite Randle playing badly, IQ not showing up on offense and Grimes injured is such a good feeling, because it really feels like they haven’t played their best and are still winning.

Of course we got some major unexpected Barrett contributions in the 2 home games to offset that, but it does feel like this team still has room for improvement.

“Oh, Z-Man, I am so envious right now. Tell us all about it! Atmosphere, particular moments when the crowd went really nuts, plays that were extra cool in person, etc?”

I’ve been going to playoff games since the Early Ewing era. I would classify this as a top-10 win. So many game balls to give out. RJ. JB. Mitch. Obi. Hart. iHart. Deuce. Such a great team to root for!

It definitely hurt that it was a matinee. The crowd was awesome, but definitely not like a Friday night crowd. Me and my boys did our part!

There was a definite lull when the Cavs took the lead. But other than that the energy was consistently high. If that RJ 3 had counted, that was the high point. The Hart floater was huge.

The reaction to RJ is definitely greater than for anyone else. I think he was rattled on his early FTs from the R-J-Bar-Rett chants.

After the game, we circumnavigated the Garden around 8th Ave up 31st St and there was a major crowd going wild. It turned out that LJ was in the middle of the crowd holding court in the middle of the intersection of 31st and 7th. What an amazingly joyous scene!

We went to Penn 6 afterwards and had a few extra. Still recovering as I type this.

Just an A-1 day to be a long-suffering Knicks fan! Even though we are doomed, I am glad to have been there on this day!

And believe me, my buddy and I reflected on all the naysayers on KB who have constantly shitted on our FO, coach and players. You know who you are, fuck all of y’all!!

Don’t worry we definitely believe you wasted a significant portion of a glorious day ruminating about all nine of your personal vendettas.

Guess how many times I thought of you today? I’ll give you hint, it starts with Z.

But he did get you to comment quickly on KB when he mentioned it Hubert. You can’t care zero if you respond. 😛 Just play nice assholes.

What a great game though. If Julius could just get it together we could be the surprise team coming out of the East. And really, the East team is going to be much stronger in the Finals in the West no matter who comes out of that side

I wonder, what do the smart folks here think the percentage of Knicks fans who think the Josh Hart trade was foolish is…and what they think of those who still think it was a bad idea…hmmm…

“What a great game though. If Julius could just get it together we could be the surprise team coming out of the East. And really, the East team is going to be much stronger in the Finals in the West no matter who comes out of that side”

Yeah, the West is freaky. I’m not ready to bail on them, but it is weird how uninspiring those teams are…

All of the numbers in the thread post are from the Game 3 box score, not Game 4.

It is my respect for the demonstrated obsession and knowledge of this board”s members that makes it remarkable to me that no one, thus far, would notice.

From the very last post on the last thread, since I hadn’t realized we’d started anew:

Really nice Katz piece in The Athletic. Analyzes all the things the Knicks are doing somewhat differently that may be making all the difference.

https://theathletic.com/4443356/2023/04/23/knicks-new-gear-cavs-playoffs/

And nice catch, timo. I was like hmm, but couldn’t trouble myself to care enough to stop and figure it out… (Randle scored 7, Brunson scored 29, etc.).

That was a hell of a three pointer by Edwards. Pretty much unguardable.

Just read the Macri newsletter, quite the admonishing ode to himself as a longtime RJ doubter.

Basically, the only stat we beat them in was rebounds 47 to 33 and a whopping 17 OR to 7. Seems like we just wanted it more.

Pretty disheartening to see Randle leave without talking to the media.
this is what we were all so worried about last season — does he have the mental fortitude to be a winning player? I thought he had gotten his “mental” together, but that’s far from a sure thing now. his defensive effort in the 3rd was embarrassing. So glad that Thibs sat him.

On much happier notes – if you’re Cleveland (and assuming no historic turnaround in this series) — you have to wonder whether the twin towers concept might be unworkable going forward. Garland and Mitchell are great, but are essentially 1-way players that you have to scheme around on defense. Levert is ok sometimes, but is also a liability on defense. So as a CLE coaching staff, defensively you have 3 guys to scheme around, and on offense, you only really trust 2 guys to handle the ball and make a play. They went all-in on Mitchell but they are so far from a complete team. Hard to know how they take the next step — Mobley is the future so you think you’d trade Allen…. but after this performance and with his contract, he is probably a negative asset. Mobley is a stud but is probably 2-3 years away from his prime (at which point Mitchell may walk).

Anyway – I do not want to count chickens before they’re hatched, so I will stop here in terms of the Cavs’ post-mortem.

Mobley is 21, Allen 24, Garland 23, Okoro 22, Mitchell 26. They are nowhere near their peak yet. Even if they lose this series, there is no need to panic.

The Cavs have similar issues to ours – offensively limited big men, no 2-way big wing – but we have much better depth and have been better coached. Over the next couple of years it will be interesting to see whether RJ becomes consistent or Okoro develops more on offense. I remain skeptical of both … but at least RJ is capable of high usage, somewhat efficient games like the last two. I still am not optimistic he’ll be a reliable plus player or worth his contract, but he’s certainly more complete than Okoro at the moment.

Mobley is 21, Allen 24, Garland 23, Okoro 22, Mitchell 26. They are nowhere near their peak yet. Even if they lose this series, there is no need to panic.

Yeah, win or lose, I feel like this is the beginning of a rivalry for us that can last ~ 5years

On much happier notes – if you’re Cleveland (and assuming no historic turnaround in this series) — you have to wonder whether the twin towers concept might be unworkable going forward.

I think they likely were looking at this as Year one of a three year plan. This year they get Mitchell, and then next year they add to the core. They’re woefully short in terms of depth, but now that they’ve reached the #4 seed with this core, they can add around it, and bring in an offensive-minded 3/4 to add to the core. Also, with Nurse and Udoka both out there, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Cleveland try to move earlier than expected in getting a veteran “win now” guy to replace Bickerstaff, who has looked way, way overmatched this series.

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