2016-17 Game Thread: Knicks @ Pacers

Here’s the thing about the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers are not good. They are just flat out not a good team. They absolutely should tear their team down, trade Paul George and rebuild around Myles Turner. They are not a good team and their future does not look particularly bright. Also? They’re the #7 seed in the East! They’re just one game behind being the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference!

But get this – they’re also only four games ahead of the Knicks! The biggest trap for the Knicks on their way to getting a top 10 pick in the NBA Draft is that the Eastern Conference is just filled with shitty teams like the Indiana Pacers who really aren’t really that different than the Knicks.

The Knicks’ current SRS is a woeful -2.96. The Pacers? Who are currently in the playoff picture at a game over .500? They’re at -2.43!! That’s insane! The Pacers have also had by far the easiest schedule in the NBA (the Knicks have had the 11th easiest schedule, so we can’t even blame their shittiness on a tough schedulue). Only four teams in the Eastern Conference even have a positive SRS! This Conference is so bad that it will be very difficult for the Knicks to lose enough games to get a top 10 draft pick unless the Knicks make some moves for the future (like starting dealing Melo’s teammates until Melo agrees to leave, too) or they improbably just lose every close game from here on out (which just doesn’t work, statistically).

They’re in a stretch of winnable games here. Let’s hope that they don’t win them.

Let’s go, Knicks?

Knicks Morning News (2017.01.23)

  • [NYDN] Phil Jackson’s 10 worst moves with Knicks
    (Sunday, January 22, 2017 2:44:55 PM)

    These aren’t about Phil Jackson’s media and Twitter blunders, which are plentiful and should be embarrassing to any executive.

  • [NYDN] Carmelo Anthony misses potential game-winner in Knicks loss
    (Sunday, January 22, 2017 6:44:21 AM)

    Jeff Hornacek has tried everything.

  • [NYTimes] To Supplement Pay, W.N.B.A. Players Put Their Safety at Risk
    (Monday, January 23, 2017 5:01:11 AM)

    During the off-season, most of those playing abroad were in Turkey, a nation where unrest and violence have fueled concerns back home.

  • [NY Newsday] Close losses raise Knicks’ frustration level
    (Sunday, January 22, 2017 7:31:44 PM)

    Carmelo Anthony plopped himself on the scorers’ table at the Garden with the dazed expression of a man who had relived a bad dream. He didn’t feel the hands on his back — supportive fans patting his shoulder, trying to tell him it was going to be OK. He could only see all the things that went right, and then the one, pivotal thing that went wrong.

  • [NYPost] Knicks must fix this gaping hole in their defense – and fast
    (Sunday, January 22, 2017 8:51:33 PM)

    Better late than never? Not in this case. The Knicks lately have shown an irritating habit of locking down defensively in the fourth quarter. Making this practice so annoying is that for large parts of the game leading up to their attempted defense, they look like a team that couldn’t guard a locked door with…

  • [NYPost] Derrick Rose is about to blow — which won’t help him get calls
    (Sunday, January 22, 2017 2:25:38 PM)

    At some point you expect Derrick Rose to erupt and say, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” That was the line from Peter Finch’s character in the movie “Network,” but it was also the look on Rose’s face following the Knicks’ 107-105 loss to the Suns on Saturday…

  • [NYPost] The Knicks are losing these games as painfully as possible
    (Sunday, January 22, 2017 12:36:25 PM)

    The Knicks have won six times this season in games decided by four points or fewer. Now before you proclaim the Knicks the new Cardiac Kids, realize they’ve also lost seven games by four points or fewer. Two of the defeats have been in their past two outings, five of them in January, six in…

  • [SNY Knicks] Was clutch performance against Knicks an audition for PJ Tucker?
    (Sunday, January 22, 2017 11:02:22 AM)

    PJ Tucker looked like he came out with hunger to prove his worth against the Knicks on Saturday night.

  • [SNY Knicks] Anthony, Knicks disappointed in latest missed opportunity
    (Sunday, January 22, 2017 7:39:52 AM)

    With the ball in the final seconds on Saturday night, Carmelo Anthony heaved up a last-second 3-pointer, but the ball circled the rim and came out, as the Knicks fell to the Suns by two points.

  • [ESPN] Monday’s Knicks News: Anthony focused on the present
    (Monday, January 23, 2017 5:11:19 AM)

    Monday’s Knicks News: Anthony focused on the present