Remember when they won a couple of games and it seemed like they were locked in to the #9 spot in the draft and people said, “You can’t get mad about the wins now, since they’re locked in to the #9 seed so it doesn’t matter”?
Well, as it turned out, it still did matter, as the Knicks enter tonight just one game ahead of Chicago and just two ahead of the Nets. They still have a chance in this thing!
Orlando, however, is going to be difficult to lose to, especially at home. I predict 25 points for THJ tonight. That might be low.
Let’s go, Nick Anderson’s 0-4!
34 replies on “2017-18 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Magic”
Frank is going to smash his career hi of 15 tonight. Here for it.
Update. Frank is 15 short of his career hi and the Party City banner is hypnotizing Clyde into a state of resigned tranquility.
no way we pull out the loss tonight…no way (trying to use some reverse jinxing methodology)…
Frank with the sick ball fake. I bet he calls that move the “don’t draft a point guard.”
I think trey needs a breather
Melo and mudiay both 1-6 with 2 points at the moment
I can’t believe we’re actually clutching this L. This team has more heart than I imagined. Chicago is winning too!
It’s the Jamel Artis revenge game!!!!!
This clearly means we are maxing out Hezonja.
That was ridiculously pathetic. I mean, glad we lost, I was obviously wrong about being locked into the nine spot, but that was just degrading.
Fire Hornacek, into the sun.
They really pulled it out. Wow! Good for them. #7 is really in play!!
I missed the first quarter of this game and then saw short segments here and there. I went to the Yankee home opener earlier. It was frigid. I wore long johns, two pairs of socks and a ski mask and I was still cold. Those few hours in the upper deck, in a half-filled stadium were more enjoyable than the 15-20 minutes of Knicks game-time that I saw.
How awful.
Hornacek has to go. He’s done nothing to move this team forward. He hasn’t developed anyone. This team is fundamentally unsound and that is the fault of the coach. If they had no talent it would be one thing but he has talent but they do not play well together. That’s on him.
Ntilikina + Mudiay = 4 points, 15 FGA, 0 FTA, 6 turnovers, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 fouls in 46 minutes.
Is that good? Someone tell me because I’m bad at numbers.
Chicago is going to beat Charlotte tonight. I don’t understand how a team with Kemba Walker, Nic Batum, Marvin Williams, MKG, and Dwight Howard missed the playoffs this year. Those guys are all objectively useful parts.
Holy shit, Giannis with an ungodly block on Jaylen Brown
1) Kemba ain’t that good. Above-average volume shooter, but that’s about it. The league is too stacked with point guards and wins are zero-sum. You simply can’t be an elite PG with those numbers when Curry, Harden, Giannis, Simmons, Lowry, Lillard, Chris Paul, Irving, and Westbrook (and more) are out there. Too much talent, and again, only so many wins to go around.
2) Howard’s having a down year (down from .626 TS% to .576% at higher volume). Still an excellent traditional big, but not elite anymore. His turnovers and tech. fouls don’t help, either. Oh and his teammates hate him.
3) Batum hasn’t been the same player since the Portland days. His shooting fell off a cliff, and although he’s productive for a tweener wing, he’s just not elite anymore. He’s also 29, so he’s at the end of his prime. It’s not really surprising that his best years came at 25 and 26.
4) Malik Monk, Kaminsky and Dwayne Bacon have totaled about 3300 minutes played and they’re three terrible, terrible players. Michael Carter-Williams is still bad, too, and he’s played 800 minutes. Look at their shooting numbers.
TS%
Monk .447
Bacon .431
MCW .446
Kaminsky is average at .543, but he’s a PF who can’t rebound or play defense.
So mostly it’s giving 4,000 minutes to replacement-level players. Oh, and remember: they’re capped the fuck out — $119M on the books next year with no (!!!) options. Their team is basically the same, minus MCW.
I think Charlotte has also been pretty bad in close games.
If the Knicks could do the impossible and fall all the way down to 6th in the draft, I think we have to grab MPJr there and sit him and KP for the entire 2018-2019 season. Being able to pair Burke and Ntilikina with a front court like the 6’8” Cam Reddish, 6’11” Porter Jr, and 7’3” Porzingis would be cheating.
@17 and 18, you’re right about all of that. I’m just surprised that a team that screamed “45 wins and a 1st round playoff exit” is losing to us and the Bulls. I figured Dwight Howard would hold up pretty well, but Batum was the major let down. It’s a good thing we didn’t give him the huge contract he signed in 2016, huh?
I thought Batum would be worth it, so I was wrong about that.
I’ve started watching film in advance of the draft, and seeing Doncic just makes me sad. Whoever he’ll be playing for is very lucky.
I though the Hornets would make the playoffs simply by virtue of being the 8th seed when everybody else is worse, as I expected Indiana and Philly to be better but also expected Miami to fall off hard, and they didn’t. Not having Cody Zeller for pretty much all year didn’t help too, I think he’s pretty good.
They really seem like a case where the players are all collectively done and they can’t be bothered to even try anymore. I’m not going to call it the Dwight effect but man, they really seem to have followed his veteran leadership.
I thought Philly would be worse because I thought they’d play Fultz a lot, and I sure didn’t see Indiana being this good.
I made two bets before the season, over on the Raptors (I thought the 48.5 line was waaay too low, didn’t expect them to win this much though) and on Indiana.
Never saw Oladipo becoming this player of course but they have a lot of pretty good role players, I think George is overrated and I was so sure Detroit and Miami would be terrible. 31.5 just seemed way too low for Indiana even if Oladipo didn’t become a star.
At least Frank is improving on offense….
Glad we got the L. As much as I hate tanking this late in the season when it’s an obvious tank game you gotta get that L.
Looked at the box score about halfway through the game and saw Hardaway had like 16 points on 11 shots and thought “damn if Hardaway goes off and wins this game Knickerblogger is gonna have a meltdown!”
I believe in our ability to get to #6
There’s a very outside possibility of five or even a tie for fourth! I highly doubt we win any of our last four games (MIA MIL and Cleveland twice) and the rest of our competitors have relatively easy schedules besides BK (Boston MIL and Chicago twice)
Say we got the #6 pick and the #1 team was choosing to trade down. Would you trade up for Doncic, how much would you be willing to pay, and how much do you think the other team would ask for?
I’d Trade up, and give them this year’s first, a 2020 first, and Frank. Is that enough?
@29
I would probably start with a lowball offer of Porzingis for the 1-6 swap + a protected future first from the team, then I’d move to two picks preferably with top 5 protection + whoever they want other than KP.
I’m too scarred to trade away multiple unprotected firsts ever again, I guess, but I’d talk myself into it after binge watching Doncic highlights.
Two first round picks and the key to our defense in the future is too much to give up for a guy who hasn’t played a minute of NBA basketball, but I’d definitely try to move up to grab Doncic if the opportunity presented itself. The only thing is that at #6 Michael Porter Jr is still likely to be available, and he might actually be more talented and a better fit to play with KP considering his size, mobility, and rebounding to go along with scoring prowess.
The number one guy on my Knicks-specific draft board is a healthy Michael Porter Jr. If his health checks out and is on the board when the Knicks go to pick, we have to take him and devote all of our resources to his development and health.
Imagine if they drafted Porter and just let him spend most of his first season rehabbing until he’s 100% healthy?
I don’t think Porter will be there past #6, though (I don’t think he makes it past #5, but definitely not past #6).
As for what to trade for the #1 pick. Fuck. That’s a tough one. I guess I’d offer Frank, the pick swap and then a top five protected 2020 first rounder. If they want more than that, no thanks.
If I was Porter I’d run for the hills, if I was expecting development and getting healthy from this organization.