Well, here’s hoping that the site doesn’t go down again!
This should hopefully be another fun game. DSJ is a blast to watch and Orlando’s guards should have trouble with him, so this could be a lot of fun.
Hopefully the Magic somehow pull off the win, but with the current flattened lottery odds, I’m less worried about wins as I would be if this were last year (of course, this is the first time the Knicks figured out how to tank properly, but, hey, what are ya gonna do? Dolan’s Razor is gonna Dolan’s Razor).
Let’s go, MitchRob!
153 replies on “2018-19 Game Thread: New York Knicks vs. Orlando Magic”
during the spurs game i was interested to see john jenkins play (mostly cuz i was just suspicious he was another brother/cousin/uncle of jr smith)…he actually looked okay…
then i saw that kid henry ellenson out there, and, i was like “who the hell is he” 🙂 man, how’d they sneak that signing in there – i sort of, kind of remembered it from a week or so ago…
was watching dallas at the clippers last night (jerry west just keeps crushing it)…got to watch timmy chuck a bit – i can not understate how much more enjoyable it is to watch the knicks with neither him or kanter out there playing…
You know which team I sure don’t envy? The Orlando Magic. Just good enough to probably not make the playoffs and are clearly not an actual good team and their best player by far is a 28-year-old free agent who plays the same position as the guy they picked with the #6 pick just last year!
this whole statement just makes me sad…hopefully in another couple of months lance will be free to lead the beijing bears to greatness…
KAT is built to last. Platano Dominican power and seat built makes him invulnerable.
i’ve had it happen a couple of times (thankfully never by a “semi” though), never a good feeling being stopped, looking in the rear view mirror and realizing the person behind you is not going to stop without the assistance of the vehicle you happen to be inside of…
31 points and 21 rebounds…it mostly certainly is good to be alive…although bagley 3rd had 25 points and 11 boards in that game without the near death experience…
Yeah, but we’ve been there before. Just thankfully not today.
Now this game is more like the Knicks we know…
Knicks reassuring us that the tank is full speed ahead.
Yeah, the Magic are probably tied with the Pistons, the Heat and Hornets as the situation I would like to be in the least, maybe Memphis but they at least have JJJ and well, the Pelicans as of right. I still can’t decide who’s in the worst position from the 8th seed hopefuls in the east, they all have credible arguments to be the worst one.
So Ellenson doesn’t do many basketball things huh
LOL Mudiay is playing possessed. His future as a off the bench Jamal Crawford type is being ensured.
Jonny Isaac is making the draft nerd in me proud. Loved him and H-A-T-E-D Josh Jackson.
When Mudiay makes a couple of nice plays in a row, please just keep reminding yourself that he actually sucks (or wait for the inevitable stupid turnover)
MitchRob is so awesome.
Robinson is the only one in this lineup whose defense doesn’t make me want to puke.
Mr Robinson’s Neighborhood
Mitch is the man!
Robinson is outrageous. It’s like he’s playing with his little brother and his friends
Shaq…uh…I mean Mitch is making this look easy.
Mitch singlehandedly is changing the flow of this game.
Not much left to say about Mitch…how many players would it be smart to trade him for?
Gordon was feeling his oats out there. You can tell the word about Mitch Rob is out the Magic all want to try him.
Ellenson is not sucking. Kornet better watch his back.
Mudiay is the new Chuck. Chuck Mudiay.
I am glad that he and Fox are both turning things around. I was really big on both of them and they were very disappointing as rookies.
only got the box score to go off of (4 blocks tonight in 12 minutes), but, holy shit, he wasn’t joking – at all:
Change that to Ellenson, and the answer is nobody (-:
MitcRob got gassed out there. Still not ready for starter type minutes.
I was thinking the same thing, Mitch looked exhausted after about 14 minutes..
DSJ started slow then got hot. He’s playing well at PG even though the assists aren’t there, guys haven’t nailed their open looks.
He played 16 minutes without a break- that’ll take the legs out of anybody. He looks like he can go 30 a night right now as long as he can stay out of foul trouble.
LOL Robinson had Fournier’s heart.
LOL MitchRob is an athletic savant/freak. Super high athletic and basketball IQ.
Mitch appears to have made the FT adjustment DAJ made over a period of, like, ten years in the middle of the season
Yeah, he’s clearly a quick learner. Wouldn’t be surprised if he expands his game a bit over the summer.
Ain’t no way I’m including Robinson in any trade. Not even AD, who is a top 5 player. To get $20 mil production for $1 mil is crazy value.
We have a 42% chance at another productive player (if it’s really a 3 player draft). Zion, Barrett, Ja, any would be productive right away, probably. So in that context, adding two max players like KD and Kyrie does actually make sense.
Trading Robinson for AD and then signing another max does not. We just wouldn’t have enough to really compete.
Mitch Rob hype train has left the station…
Looks like he might have injured himself
God our perimeter defense is trash.
Knox is good for one thing: putting up a lot of shots.
MitchRob for DPOY
Someone please sit Knox down.
It kinda sucks that we took unfathomably terrible players with our last two first round picks, both of which were in the top ten.
Almost all our starting 5 have more shots than points. Is that good?
Build around MitchRob!
So your saying Knox will improve his shooting %?
ISO ZO!
Wow that was pretty from Trier
This new big white guy seems useless
@48
I prefer him out there over Knox. At least he won’t miss 15 shots a game on top of playing shitty defense.
Big white guy has 5 assists and 8 boards, not nothing.
Grab a fucking rebound!
Trier is so bad defensively.
MITCH FUCKING ROB!
I just thought, man, we need for Mudiay to do something stupid….
Bingo!
Can’t be mad about this win if Mitch is playing like a first team all NBA player
This lineup with Mitch should be called “the plausible deniability lineup”
Strange no call. One of the most obvious fouls I have ever seen.
We really can’t trade Mitch
Robinson is so bestial.
Some interesting no calls here
New Big White Guy > Our starting forwards
This team doesn’t deserve Zion
Mitch closing off that Fournier drive man to man without fouling might be the most impressive play of the night
Hard to be mad about this one. A 20 year old, 36th overall pick pretty much shouldered the whole win…
Magic guards won’t take one shot in the paint because of MitchRob.
I was pretty happy about the win on Sunday, much less so tonight lol.
@62 what do you want them to do play Clyde?
Boy you can really dream on Mitch. He’s pretty much Clint Capela already. He might turn out to be the platonic ideal of that type of player.
Guy is like fucking Bill Russell out there.
It’s one thing to not want to win when THJ and Enes Kanter are your lineup and are no part of your future. It’s another thing when thing when it means rooting against the fact that Mitchel Robinson just carried the second squad to a victory.
Well, let’s be fair. Ellenson and Trier have been great and Mudiay has had a very solid game.
He’s better on defense than Capela. And he has looked like he needs a ventilator half the time tonight. Although it’s been an insane game.
Yeah, I’m not so happy about this potential win. We need to get back in the loss column.
I mean, with Robinson leading the way, ok, but the Big White Guy Du Jour, no.
It would have been better to lose, but man, I love Mitch so much that I can’t be too sad about it. Yay, MitchRob!
Yeah, winning with this 4th quarter lineup not that exciting. Mitch and Trier is great but the other 3 not so much. On Sunday Knox, Dotson and DSJ were all vital in the win at least. With the Cavs on Thursday this could become a 3 game winning streak!!
Mitch got iso-d against DeRozen the other night, stayed with him and blocked his shot. DeRozen is a flawed player, but he has a great handle and terrific footwork and there aren’t many 7′ dudes who can handle him at the 3 point line. Robinson is really terrific
Mitchell Robinson is already an impact two way player. This is nuts.
Also, as Z-Man said, can’t be unhappy about Trier. 18 points on 5 shots is like a TS of %100000 it something…
Ellenson is going to be this year’s N’dour ha ha.
At least Mitch is a man of his word with 6 blocks tonight. The loss would have been ideal, but still plenty of games for us to loose.
People have to stop wanting it both ways. If you believe in the fact that MitchRob is for real you have to embrace games like this as learning blocks on his way to a legit NBA center.
Lance just went full Donkey in the huddle
Don’t worry about the tank fellas, check the schedule. Many losses to come.
It’s a good comment about closing off Fournier. Mitch is so mobile. It is really impressive. Nothing missing from his defensive toolkit.
I think the secret is out. Doesn’t just belong to Knickerbloggers anymore.
It’s definitely far from ideal that Henry Ellenson chose tonight to have his first good NBA game, and I wish DSJ/Knox were on the floor in the last 6 minutes.
But man…I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a team more scared of one player than the Magic were of Mitch in the 4th. They positively were just not shooting within 15 feet of that dude. It was really something.
We were likely going to have to move one of KP and Mitch, and it sure seems like we made the right choice.
The 6th block was a pretty blatant foul, can’t believe the refs missed that. But you know how the refs are prone to those superstar no-calls…
2 games with Ellenson, 2 wins. COINCIDENCE?!
Celtics losing by 30. What a wonderful evening of basketball.
We managed to defensively contain the Magic guards with Mudiay and Trier, arguably the worst tandem of perimeter defenders you will find in the NBA, and the reason why was because the Magic weren’t interested in entering that paint in getting to the basket. Only way that happens is if you have an elite all NBA level talent patrolling around it to cover for their matador D.
We can still, in theory, pass the Bulls and Cavs to actually hurt our chances at Zion. We need more Frank, Hezonja, Knox lineups.
This could have been an all time historic draft for the Knicks if Knox wasn’t so horrible.
It’s going to interesting to see if Jordan asks to be waived- they’d have to do it in the next day or two if he wants to get on a playoff roster.
Mitch is better than his boxscore stats. He gets “off boxscore assists” in that teams are so worried about the lob, they alter their defense and allow other players to get into the paint or take open shots. On the defensive side he impacts shot selection because no one wants to go into the paint. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone show this much progress this fast on both sides of the ball.
Would anyone be shocked if he adds a couple of post moves or baby hook before the end of the season?
People are talking about the 6 blocks for MitchRob, but I like to add the 3 steals in there as well.
We are way better off keeping him if he’s willing to stay. I think he’s had a very positive impact on the team and Robinson specifically. Having a few vets around helps and he’s the kind of vet that commands a lot of respect. It may be a matter of if we have some kind of hand shake agreement with him about the off season depending on if Durant comes.
Let’s also keep in mind this is not Linsanity Part 2. The league figured out Lin after a few weeks and he became an ordinary PG. What adjustments are NBA teams gonna make to slow down Mitch? Box him out?
It’s totally sustainable.
And just think how much better Mitch’s box score would’ve been if Kadeem had been playing instead of Mudiay.
He’s legitimately in contention for best defensive player in the league already. We can’t trade him.
What pick in the 2018 draft would MitchRob be right now? No lower than 4 and as high as 2?
Ellenson just turned 22 and has some physical tools (7’2″ wingspan) but has not been dedicated to getting in shape…was one of the very few players at the 2016 combine with double-digit body fat. Not a bad flier guy. He has the longest “transactions” list of any player I’ve ever looked up on B-R.
I bet if Mike Zarren gets the job in New Orleans (it would be a dumb idea to take it as I bet he could have any GM/POBO job he wants) he would value Mitchell Robinson over Jayson Tatum. Mitch dunks everything, can cover 1-5, and can play crunch time minutes because he’s officially good at hitting free throws. This kid might be better than prime DeAndre Jordan as early as next year.
A week ago, I thought Mitch would go #2 to #5 in the 2018 draft based on his play…however if he keeps playing like he has in the past three games then I think there’s a legitimate case for him going #1.
He’s doing all of this as a low usage player who scores all of his points on lobs and putbacks. Nothing anyone can do to stop it beyond allowing our guards to blow by guys without the Mitch’s man help.
Aaaaaaaand someone has finally taken the Mitch train a stop too far.
Ellenson was drafted 18th overall by the Mavs after 1 year of college. He can dribble and shoot a bit. Was not a great athlete and needed to improve his shot selection. According to his G-League numbers he’s started being able to pass more too.
There’s definitely worse players to take fliers on.
Ugly loss for Boy Wonder and the Tryhards. You really hate to see that.
I do sometimes get a pinge of regret that we never got to see them play together. They could have blocked everything.
He had (I think) a six blocks game against the Celtics earlier this season where they just stopped driving when Mitch was on the court.
How many wins per year is switching from Kanter to Robinson worth?
@ 102…yeah (I’m smiling) I’m probably taking it too far…but really if he continues to average ~16 PPG, ~4 Blocks, ~12+ rebounds & ~68% FG%, 75% FT%, & 1 STL for the rest of the year…objectively that’s crazy good and unprecedented. Doncic is great, but if Mitch continues to perform as he has over the last two games I think a reasonable case could be made for him deserving to be #1 or #2 in a redraft of 2018…Doncic is really special..but Mitch is too..just in different ways. Yeah I’ve probably taken the Mitch train a stop too far. That’s funny!
So had we drafted Mitch #8, would we be as happy? I think Yes.
Had we drafted Trier at 36, would we be as happy? I think Yes.
Had we picked up Knox as an undrafted FA, would we resign him at the end of the year? Um…maybe?
They would have been really complementary on O and D. KP bombing 3s, Mitch diving to the hoop, both blocking the rim on D…really the only weakness would be an overpowering Big Man, and there aren’t very many of those around these days…
Bol Bol & Mitch could have a similar effect as KP & Mitch…not saying we should draft Bol Bol..however the possibilities are interesting: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/bol-bol-1.html
I think they would have been perfect together.
They would make a good inside/outside team on offense and on defense KP wouldn’t have to run around like a chicken without a head anymore helping out all the time like he had to previously because Robinson would take care of the paint. He could help in spots and save energy for offense because he’d be the higher usage player on that side. It’s a terrible shame we won’t get to see it. But look on the bright side. We get to see Mudiay and DSJ battle for minutes at PG. smh
I would trade MitchRob for Jokic. That is all.
And if you added Mitch’s $1.5mm salary to KP’s $31mm they would have averaged out to fair value!
If Pascal Siakam sustains what he’s doing now, he doesn’t have far to go to move into the superstar category. He’s excellent on both sides. Their problem is that Lowery may be starting to decline a little.
Our bench outscored our starters 75 to 33. Henry Ellenson looked like a keeper, led both the starters and bench in assists.
Bill Simmons made a pretty good point about the Lakers’ situation on his podcast yesterday. Luke Walton is going to be the fall guy but Pelinka and Magic Johnson have been a disaster this season. They could have kept Brook Lopez, and they were the team that promised to draft Mitch 25th overall (which is why he skipped the combine). Brook Lopez and Mitchell Robinson make these Lakers a playoff team and likely save Walton’s job, but instead they have Javale McGee and Mo Wagner. If we could steal Lonzo Ball from them I’d die a happy man.
Everything the Lakers have done (other than sign Lebron who wanted to go to LA for business and family reasons anyway) has been somewhere between head scratching and foolish. Walton may or may not have been ready for the job, but Magic clearly wasn’t. If they don’t have a great off season, it will be interesting to see how they handle Magic. It won’t be easy to fire him no matter how obvious it is that he deserves to go. They would have to come up with someone the fans could get behind. #pagingPhil
I didn’t know the Lakers had a promise to Mitch. Wow. Them getting him would be so true to form. Us getting him is the kind of luck we never experience.
What if the Lakers breaking that promise karmically transferred all their luck to us??
On-Off +/- per 100 possessions:
Ayton +0.9
Doncic -1.2
Bagley -0.7
Jackson Jr +0.3
Young -4.6
Mitch +5.9
I know I’m in the minority here and I’m well aware that injuries could easily derail him, but there’s not a team in the NBA that wouldn’t give KP the max if injuries were less of a concern and most would do it anyway. They understand he’s already a plus player on both sides (though more so on defense) and already has the skillset to be a very positive player on offense. It will probably take him a couple of months to get into the swing of things after such a long layoff, but playing with Doncic is going to reduce his role and get him a few extra really easy shots per game. Plus, he’ll finally have a good coach that will use him properly, control his minutes, lower his chances of getting hurt, and keep him fresher until he gets stronger. Those guys could be great together if they can keep him healthy. I’m looking forward to it and hoping he stays healthy just to watch what they can do playing with each other.
Lakers had 3 consecutive #2 picks and turned them into Russell, Ingram, and Ball. Wow.
Young is playing a lot better lately. I was right that he was going to have some serious efficiency and TO problems in the NBA this year, but he’s getting better way faster than I thought. He may turn out to be quite a good player and better than I thought.
Call me crazy but I would still kick the tires on Lonzo Ball. He’s so young and actually made minor improvements as a shooter this season. The only issue I have is with his father’s big mouth and delusions of grandeur as a wannabe shot-caller. It would be a Janis Porzingis nightmare all over again.
@123/125
I think Ball could still turn out to be very good, but he’s a bad fit on LA with James there unless they are satisfied using him as a backup instead of developing him. I know Ball and his father wanted LA, but if I was them I’d want out immediately. I’d gladly take him in NY. I wouldn’t mind having an above average playmaker/defender/rebounder for the PG position. He’s too young to write him off as a permanently bad shooter.
I’m just here to overreact on Mitchell Robinson because I love him like a family member already, probably more than I love my siblings.
It’s sad for the tank yeah but we really can’t complain when this guy is performing like this. The kid has arrived and I’m just enjoying the ride.
There’s one Lonzo Ball statistic that I absolutely hate:
1.2 FTA/36 minutes
Well, I also hate this one:
.417 FT%
FT/FGA is one of the Four Factors, and Lonzo is the most pathetic FT/FGA player like ever. Granted, he doesn’t have the rock in his hand a whole lot these days, but he had the same crummy FT numbers before LeBron was on the team. I just don’t know how you make it as a point guard if you can’t crack one free throw made per game.
Lonzo is just a really odd duck of a player and I don’t feel like he’s worth the drama that his old man brings to the proceedings.
Jokic has to be a top 3 basketball IQ player in this game today.
I mean, like only Chris Paul, Lebron, maybe Draymond rank higher. That’s it.
It’s so weird because he wasn’t a horrendous free throw shooter in college. I mean, 67% isn’t good but it’s not as bad as it is now. I feel like the entire controversy with his shooting has gotten into his head.
Interesting play during the 2nd Quarter, @ 7:35, Mudiay drives, while two players guard Mitch who is diving. Mitch has gravity offensively.
The thing that has made me believe in Mitch so much is that he can also finish inside, he has shown soft touch and awareness well beyond where it should be expected of a guy so raw. There’s serious potential for him to be a guy like Gobert, a .660+ ts% guy who alters the game defensively with his defense. If he can hit free throws consistently, he’ll be a 16/13/2.5 blocks guy in no time, and that’s pretty much max contract value if it’s consistent.
The Knicks probably did the Magic a bit of a favor by keeping them in the lottery, so at least they have a shot at a top four pick instead of making the playoffs while, like, six games under .500.
What’s also interesting is those guys weren’t bad picks, or at least the consensus was they weren’t. I really liked Lonzo and Russell was at least a defensible pick that a lot of teams would have made. I didn’t get the Ingram hype but that draft was shit. I guess in a redraft you’d take Siakim? I looked at the thread here and I think the only guy I liked in the top 10 besides Simmons was Sabonis.
Yeah, Russell and Ball were fine picks at the time. They just both disappointed big time. Russell is at least sort of kind of putting it together now.
I’d trade for Lonzo if we sign Irving and Durant and play him at shooting guard. He’d provide great value as a lock down defender/transition scorer and he’d probably lead the Knicks in assists every year. Imagine Irving, Ball, Durant, Zion, and Mitch as a starting five. We would be the Showtime Knicks.
From a poster on a Magic blog:
Mitchell Robinson: Enemy of The People
That’s awesome. Robinson needs to change his Twitter handle, though. 23Savage? For serious?
The list of players I would trade Mitchell Robinson straight up for is getting shorter and shorter….especially with salary and current team situation considered.
The list does not include:
Ayton
Bamba
Bagley
JJJ
Let’s just hope that his reputation gets to the level of his production before the Knicks trade him!
@141
No way Perry is stupid enough to trade a guy like him with that contract so the Knicks can gamble on 3 max contract players.
It’ll probably never get to that point, which is good news for MitchRob fans such as, well, everyone here, but I doubt the Knicks would hold off on trading Robinson for AD.
DSJ for Lonzo Ball is possibility. Do it, Pills. Do it.
I think you’re right about that in a vacuum — but the salary matching rules might actually save us in that while I think they’d trade Mitch for AD, they would prob balk at trading essentially every young player for AD.
Now – bearing in mind that I have not not fully thought this out— I do sort of wonder whether we might be better off “signing” AD as the 2nd max player rather than the 3rd. For 2019-20, AD is a “bargain” at ~25MM, and thereafter we won’t have cap space anyway, so would we be better off signing KD at $36MM, trading, say $10MM in salary (like Frank, Knox, the 2019 draft pick assuming it’s not Zion) plus, say, the unprotected 1st we got from Dallas for AD — I’m not saying that would necessarily get it done, just spitballing. That would make AD a “net” $15MM signing, leaving us with nearly $15-20MM left in cap space, in addition to allowing us to keep DSJ, Trier, and Dotson as depth pieces, and NOT trading Mitch.
I don’t think AD winds up here. Ainge has the hots for him and he clearly prefers the Lakers. My guess is that he winds up on one of those two teams, and if not, goes with the Clips.
I just don’t want to believe that Perry would be stupid enough to stockpile lots of young assets and then blow it all (especially Mitch, who the braintrust seem to value incredibly highly) on AD. Could it happen? Sure. But my best guess is that you will see AD join LeBron and Kyrie in LA.
Hey, as an anti-tank measure, what if you kept the 1-2-3-4 odds the way that they are, but if those team miss out, they drop further than 5-6-7? Like say you change all of the probabilities after the top 3 so that if the worst team doesn’t get a top-3 pick, they slip to #14; #2 slips to #13, #3 slips to #12, etc.?
This would make sort of a bell curve where teams in the middle of the lottery were very unlikely (like 20% chance or a bit less) to land a top 3 or 4 pick but they were very likely to move up a couple of slots from where they finished. For example, the team that just missed the playoffs at #14 has a 2.5% chance of landing in the top 4 but a 47% chance of landing at #5?
Great knickname for mitch here.
“Blockness Monster.” I approve.
My guess is he’s a kid who was a big fan of rapper 21 Savage when he joined twitter
I agree that AD probably ends up somewhere else, but I also think that Perry would, in a blink of an eye, trade for AD if it was part of a “Sign KD and Irving and then trade for AD” deal. Beyond that….huh, I really don’t know if they would empty the farm for “just” AD. I sure as heck hope not. I will say “no,” as well. Now, Frank’s KD and AD idea? That’s a tough one…
I put up a new thread for the sake of having a new thread: http://knickerblogger.net/ny-post-we-dont-play-to-lose-knicks-not-focusing-on-lottery-odds/
Oh, I agree that that is likely what it was, but it’s also a poorly thought out idea. 🙂