2019-20 Game Thread: Knicks @ The Team That’s Stuck With KP

The Knicks travel to Dallas tonight for the Knicks’ first matchup against Kristaps Porzingis, who is now a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

Sadly, Mitchell Robinson is not going to play tonight, so we don’t get to see Mitch dunk on KP. We’ll likely see Marcus Morris, instead, push KP around on the block. Maybe RJ Barrett can post up on KP, as well!

The Mavericks have far and away the best player on the court tonight in the brilliant Luka Doncic, so this will probably be a Mavericks win, but the Orlando Magic just gave the Mavericks a tough game and the Knicks played the Magic tough, as well, so this could possibly double the Knicks’ win total tonight!

Let’s go, Knicks!

186 replies on “2019-20 Game Thread: Knicks @ The Team That’s Stuck With KP”

Porzingis is posting a career low in TS%. I wouldn’t worry much.

Doncic, on the other hand… you should be real upset that the Knicks failed to tank correctly that year. He was available at fucking #5. That’s stupid. That never should have happened.

I hope they boo KP all game long when he’s in the garden next Thursday. NO SOUP FOR YOU!

I am really happy with the way Kevin Knox has been playing this year.

Remember watching a ton of garbage and endured many painful nights to draft KP.

I remember the Knicks winning one too many games.

Maybe Morris should be our point guard – that was the best pass I have seen this year from a Knick.

Portis lives

Zo should have taken Tim Hardaway’s lunch. I’m sure he used to smoke him in practice every time.

I’m glad to see we’re taking it to these soft Dallas boys but like, maybe not actually injure them?

Yeah. Dallas is tops offensively but not great on defense. But we knew that THJr and KP don’t play defense (although KP is getting blocks). Doncic tries to outscore everyone.

Dotson, really? Us making weird shots and them missing Luka with that bloody toe, we might get a W tonight.

Not gonna lie. If Frank caught that body we would have had to extend him on a max.

I certainly was not expecting this assertiveness from Frank once he got the nod as a starter. It’s not just the dunk attempt over KP, he takes shots when they are presented and no longer drops the ball off the second he crosses half court.

what a dumb fucking rule. shut up wally

Personally I am extremely surprised that a man who makes a living talking on TV likes a rule that increases the amount of time he gets to talk on TV.

Cole Anthony, Frank Ntilikina, RJ Barrett, and Mitchell Robinson.

Let’s make it happen, tank team!

I hope Mitch can play next Thursday and I’m sure DSJr will want to play.

They aren’t defending Doncic correctly. On one level Doncic has an incredible basketball IQ, but on another level he’s an idiot. He takes a LOT of horrible unforced shots. You have to give him room to
take them or he’ll beat you off the dribble with changes of direction and speed and get a good one or dish to a wide open player.

nice shot by randle before the half. when we start missing 3’s the game is over but I guess we can get lucky. 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists would be a nice line from a shooting guard in a half. Frank certainly looks better out there.

Lost in the Frank kerfuffle is RJ Barrett’s struggles. 1-5 from the field, 1-4 from the line, and 3 fouls in 16 minutes.

Randle really needs someone he trusts to tell him he’s not the next LeBron, please stop trying to take people off the dribble randomly like that. I get that the Knicks don’t have many ways to feed him baskets inside, but everytime he gets it on the perimeter and tries to drive it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Frank is really showing up today, he’s been very impactful. Our shooting will probably plummet in the 2nd half en route to a disappointing loss, but this half was pretty cool to watch.

Yeah, the ship be sinking for RJ. He’s on the the three year plan.

Doncic is so crazy good. I didn’t realize quite how much of a junkballer he is. It’s all 77 mph changeups and no one can guard him.

I’m only half paying attention and I saw Frank draw an offensive foul on Doncic (valuable on two levels) and get a key strip that won’t show up anywhere.

Personally, I love switching, but only when you have MULTIPLE high level switchable defenders on the court (3 or 4). Teams are getting Frank into switches and his player winds up being defended by some doofus that can’t guard. That’s why I want guys like Dotson on the court.

RE Barrett: 40 minutes a night and scouting reports have a way of slowing a player down.

that was not rj’s best half… he kept challenging kp and he couldn’t contend with his length…

i have no idea why we don’t front kp…

I don’t know, Doncic doesn’t look that athletic to me. He just seems crazy deceptive with how he moves and handles the ball….

Maybe it’s the same thing…

Frank looks better from 3 both for team France and now for the Knicks when he’s a little more relaxed about not getting yanked. That’s all I wanted from this season. But he still has a lot of work to do finishing at the rim. Assuming he can get his 3p% into the 33% or even better 35% range this year, he’s got bring a better finish at the basket next year and get it to a solid 35% from 3 next year.

@56

100% agree. He stops and goes at different speeds and switches left and right really well. It’s not that he’s quick or athletic. It’s that’s he tricky. This is a sick comparison (and it’s not because he’s white), but he reminds me of Bird. Bird was not athletic, but he’d still beat you.

Randle is such a yin and yang player.

In the immortal words of Karl Malone, he’s kind of a Hekyl and Jekyl type of player.

Porzingis is ridiculous when he’s not taking dumb shots, double teamed, or shooting stupid 3s. Only 2-3 bad shots tonight so far compared to 10 a night with NY

Doncic is really strong and I think he’s faster than people give him credit for, his first step is pretty good. But he’s really a master at navigating the floor, keeping his dribble alive and changing speeds and directions. It is unbelievable how a 20 year old can have such an understanding of the game already.

I hope were making a sick mixtape of Morris to trade him in February, he’s got to have value to a good team.

Randle is such a yin and yang player.

In the immortal words of Karl Malone, he’s kind of a Hekyl and Jekyl type of player.

As they say, I am here for this. Although I think it’s more literal than figurative for me. That was hilarious.

Frank with another strip that will probably be credited as a steal for someone else. He’s an octopus. He’s a Franktapus.

Doncic is so good that it seems hard to believe that another star won’t want to come to Dallas to play with him. Why would you not want to play with that guy? Look how good he is and the dude’s 20!!!

KP is welcome to work hard in iso for those long twos every single possession. I guess he really did love Carmelo.

@57, KAT is better from 2, better from 3, and a more effective defender. Plus he’s just a bit more durable.

This really was the perfect game for Morris to show off and I think he knew it, so I’m pleased for him. Hopefully he is not a Knick on December 16th.

Frank now with 9 pts., 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Oh, and 0 turnovers.

It’s amazing how many teams defer defensive rebounds to the playmaker/scorers these days. There can be 2-3 guys in a position to get the rebound and the others will always defer to guys like Doncic, Westbrook, Harden etc.. that can bring it up quickly, make a play, or score. It’s a very smart strategy. These guys are a double threat. Let them get the ball and get it up the court as quickly as possible. It’s even a great idea with a guy like Simmons even though he can’t shoot. He’s a great threat to go wire to wire.

Knox is much improved from 3 so far, but he’s still ugly on defense.

Porzingis hasn’t played for 2 freaking years and he’s already scoring from everywhere on the court in any way asked and also protecting the paint and altering shots.

Idiots!!!

I will be so happy to eat all the crow in the world if we get this version more often

You need two way players.

Frank is elite on one end and showing signs of being fine on the other. There are going to be many more terrible nights for him, but he’s beginning to blossom into a winning player. We just need to be patient. It takes time

we are the only team that lets kp drive from the 3pt line like that…

These are the only refs that let him do that.

One other thing that Frank can fix very easily is that he does not pay close enough attention to the 3 point line. He’s had 2-3 made shots in the last few games where one of his feet was just over the line and he got a 2 instead of a 3. Those are foolish errors, but he’ll fix that.

Porzingis hasn’t played for 2 freaking years and he’s already scoring from everywhere on the court in any way asked and also protecting the paint and altering shots.

He’s playing the worst defense in the league missing its best defender. The tallest player currently on the Knicks is Bobby Portis at 6’10”, the tallest player that can actually play non-chair-level defense is Taj Gibson. KP can score from anywhere because he’s literally half a foot taller than the tallest Knick.

I say let Doncic keep shooting his step back three. Take away his playmaking if he is willing.

Those are the kinds of idiotic shots you have to let Doncic shoot. He does it all the time if you give him some space. It’s self inflicted stupidity.

Then Porzingis does the same thing right after that.

Porzingis hasn’t played for 2 freaking years and he’s already scoring from everywhere on the court in any way asked

If only he could play against the New York Knicks defense 82 games per year

Another great defensive possession by Frank that won’t be on the stat sheet.

plenty of it is on the stat sheet… 4 stls and 3 blks…

i normally don’t think frank is all that impactful defensively usually… but this is generally what an impactful defense game looks like..

If Frank keeps getting all these blocks, should we start calling him Little Mitch or Little Skynet?

@109

lmao

Give it up dude. He and Doncic will be one of the best 1-2 punches in the NBA in a couple of years if he stays healthy and one them has value on the other end as a rim protector while the other is a great playmaker.

Frank was good on D before, but he’s playing D on another level the last few games. He’s doing everything on another level right now.

Strat, we’re all acknowledging Frank is playing great. You don’t have to point out every non stat sheet play he makes.

He’s playing the worst defense in the league missing its best defender.

But we aren’t the worst defense in the league although we are missing one of our best defenders.

That was a great play by Taj and he didn’t need to touch the ball!

You know what is cool, Trier, who we speculated was discontented, is hyped on the bench.

Payton’s injury and Smith Jr’s personal issues might have been the luckiest thing to happen to the Knicks this season.

@114.

I know you don’t like him, but whatever is on the stat sheet is less than what he’s actually doing virtually every night. You just don’t see it screaming at you unless he’s playing regularly and comfortable like he is now. It’s going to be up and down for him, but now you are seeing the talent that makes patience worthwhile.

They can’t keep RJ on the court in these final seconds with his poor FT shooting.

119

I’m pointing out that he does stuff like this that doesn’t show up more often than is noticed here which is why I’ve been screaming for patience.

Ooph, Barrett was way too slow there.

By the way, the next play Fizdale draws up as good as that play will be the first play Fizdale draws up as good as that play.

Hardaway…..that bastard. I thought he only makes those when he plays for us and we are trying to tank

How in the fuck is THAT the play? Doncic helped the Knicks out tremendously there. What an insanely stupid shot!

But we aren’t the worst defense in the league although we are missing one of our best defenders.

Yeah, but I’m confident that’s a sample size issue. Fizz D!!

Doncic lmao.

I’m telling you the guy is simultaneously brilliant and brain damaged. I’ve been watching all of Dallas’s games and he takes some of the all time dumbest shots several times a game. I’ve been saying it all thread. If you give him space, he’ll do a lot of dumb things. Of course he’ll make a few, but it’s bad basketball. In a year or two when he stops doing that (I hope for him) his efficiency is going to skyrocket.

Payton’s injury and Smith Jr’s personal issues might have been the luckiest thing to happen to the Knicks this season.

Hate to revel in misfortune, but yeah. I want Payton back, but I never liked DSjr game, and will be happy if he sits the rest of the season.

Give it up dude. He and Doncic will be one of the best 1-2 punches in the NBA in a couple of years if he stays healthy and one them has value on the other end as a rim protector

Funny, all I see is a dumb low-IQ player who can’t be arsed to rebound or box out and who endlessly rocks a .530 TS%. Someday though! Someday the unicorn will soar!

The Frank game! Screw Porzingis! We won the trade!

Ugly as hell, but I’m going to enjoy this one!

the free throw thing is a problem for this team.

doncic is still only 20. He tries to do some superhero shit sometimes. You imagine he’ll figure that out as his brain settles down.

Frank never played on this level before, not sustained. Even then, his offense was so bad before that it still wasn’t clear he was worth it.

Finally a hard fought win against a decent team.

strat…. frank has at least a few good defensive plays every game… it never goes unnoticed because we have the frank fan club… what does go unnoticed is he messes up a fair amount on that end or he just isn’t that impactful…. whether he gets obliterated on a switch.. doesn’t contest….

this is an impactful defensive game… mostly because dallas just kept going at him so he had a lot of opportunities to shine and he did… he deserves praise for that… but this usually doesn’t happen…. not by a long shot..

Got to watch only last few mins but saw highlights as the game was going and as ugly as it looked at times especially down the stretch glad for the players they got this win. They’ve looked awful lately but this group at least seems easy to root for if not frustrating. Great game by Frank!

I didn’t watch the game live. Just was on gamecast… Why not put the ball in Frank’s hands for the free throws the way he played tonight?

The way that Frank played tonight was inspired. He was the best player on the floor and that includes Doncic and KP. It won’t show in the box score but he was awesome both on offense and defense. If he could ever harness that…

Frank was 1-7 inside the arc, which is horrible. If he shows he can make open 3s he might get more opportunities to get to the rim and figure that out if he keeps getting steady playing time. I still have him and Knox on the ‘don’t be one of the 10-15 worst players in the NBA’ grading scale this season. And his defense tonight was really spectacular.

@157

Stick to music. You know way more about that than valuing players and building basketball teams. :-).

When you have time, I’d like to ask you some questions about playing lead guitar. I’ll let you know who the good basketball players are.

The great irony here is that strat’s boy KP sucked on defense but it won’t show up in the box score.

Kristaps 28 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks. . .not bad at all
Timmy 14 points on 15 shots, 2 rebounds, 1 assist. . .that’s my guy

and for all the frank talk… we won because of morris who hasn’t gotten mentioned…. randle had a half amazing.. half wtf game but contributed enough….

this rj game wasn’t good… and the trend is concerning….

@167

He has LONG way to go finishing at the rim or off the dribble. He’s terrible. I said that earlier in the thread. Let’s hope he keeps hitting 3s at 33% clip this year (hopefully 35% but that’s a lot to ask) and adds one thing a year on offense. Then by age 23-24 he can be a key piece on a winning team. A key is confidence and he has it now, but when Payton and DSJr return, the hook may return and that will hurt him.

Tonight was the first time this year we actually looked like a basketball team. It’d be pretty fucking great if that continued.

RJ might be a bit overwhelmed right now. He took pretty good shots tonight he just missed basically all of them. He was 2-15 when you include his nightmare at the line.

Re: Reasons to not play RJ 41 min in a blowout. See today.

Morris has been our best player the last few games. He’s just a dumbass and hits a lot of terrible shots off isos so no one likes him. But yeah he’s been killing it so far.

Also Taj is one of those guys who plays within himself and makes smart basketball plays.

More Gibson and less Portis please.

@127, Gibson had a good steady game too, with some heady plays that kept things under control. And the offense actually generated some looks, which I think is a first for this year.

Fiz in post game intv: “Marcus Morris is our leader.” I’m gonna stick with Otis Campbell.

Stick to music. You know way more about that than valuing players and building basketball teams. 🙂

Ok Mr. “Phil Jackson was a B minus GM.”

You’re utterly full of shit 90% of the time. Let me know the first year Porzingis actually earns that contract.

Frank is a goddamn sorcerer on defense in games like this, and he looks so much better on the other end. A great night to be a Frankophile.

Meanwhile, Randle is so exasperating. I screamed “SIT HIM, FIZ!” on at least four different occasions where his over dribbling screwed up a possession.

still at halftime for me – I gotta say though: if frank ever dunks the ball – the whole neighborhood will hear about it…

you know, I don’t know all of mitch’s measurables – I can tell though by watching him, he’s an elite athlete…

frank moves his feet and tracks the ball a whole lot better than most other human beings on this planet…I just can’t answer for any other planets though…

I have no doubt that dude could crush a baseball – and, tell you the pitch before it even leaves the pitcher’s hand…

imagine frank at 23 or so and “swoll” up…not just physically but more in exerting his will around him…imagine the refs starting to give frank a little more leeway on d…

oh yeah, kudos to the coaching staff and vets, trier actually looked to pass the ball the first few minutes he was out there…he went back to doing his thing after that, but, it was nice though to see him looking around and occasionally loosening that death grip he usually has on the ball…him and dot seem to compliment each other…

I’m not sure RJ plays so well with frank…doesn’t seem like anyone is helping RJ to get an easy shot…frank can’t do it yet, that’s for sure…

just one dunk – once this season, make it happen frank…

back to the game…

I’d take trier and dot over payton, ellington and DSJ seeing anytime on the court…

trier is the only guy on the squad who can go wherever he wants around the rim…hopefully he learns to pass…

forgot what a willing defender dot was…

going back through the thread now – ditto on all the taj talk…he is the vet we need…good to see morris behaving better out on the court…

oh yeah, frank ntilikina is a starting NBA point guard…he’s just still really young…

what he does on the defensive end though – could help him reach one of the all defensive teams sooner than later…

I think I even saw frank grab a rebound tonight…

I don’t know what got into Frank Ntilikina, but that is the guy who needs to show up every night for the Knicks. Make your wide open shots and be a presence on defense; that’s the kind of game that will make him the 6’6” Pablo Prigioni I hoped he’d become. It seems like our friend Ntilikina was really motivated by having Dennis Smith Jr back with the team.

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