After that Marc Berman article, I probably should bring back the David Fizdale Coaching Death Watch, but honestly, after that article, it sounds like it is more like a question of when they fire him rather than if they fire him, so the Death Watch really doesn’t seem to be necessary, as that is more about if he gets fired.
Anyhow, the Knicks host the 76ers, a team that decided to do a rebuild and then continued to collect assets rather than, you know, sign veterans to one-year contracts and refuse to trade cap space for assets. It seems to have worked out okay for them.
But hey, the Knicks just outscored the Raptors in the first quarter, so maybe they’ll surprise me with a win!
Let’s go, Knicks!
99 replies on “2019-20 Game Thread: Knicks vs. 76ers”
Actually, a death watch is a vigil for someone expected to die soon. So, the Fizdale Death Watch seems to be pretty appropriate.
Once I was watching a packers-steelers super bowl in which i had bet heavily on the packers. there were a lot of casual female fans at my party rooting for the steelers for spurious reasons such as “they have nice colors”. it was annoying me that the party was cheering every play that went against me.
so i told them about the time roethlisberger raped a woman in the bathroom and soon enough we were all cheering aaron rodgers.
if you really don’t want to wear that jersey, cdiggy, you know what to do.
Ball movement!!
1 good minute down, 47 to go.
Philly announcers way more listenable than the atrocious homers for Toronto.
Nice start for Frank!
If only they could actually be consistently solid.
Nice open
These kids can move!
Jesus !!!!
What a start !!!!
When can we trade Morris?
These first two minutes have everything huh
San Antonio could still really use Morris, just sayin’, Pop.
Fiz is a Hippie !
Nice challenge
the bank is open
Four strong minutes down, 44 to go.
look at that ballmovement
Looking like a legitimate basketball team currently.
Lol Frank Ntilikina hit a step back. This is a wild time.
Frank is being aggressive tonight.
Frank is looking frisky out there
9 strong minutes down, 39 to go.
Bobby Portis has entered the game.
It’s been fun, guys.
Fiz was concerned we might win this game, so he put Portis and Smith Jr in.
I now know why I hate Bobby Portis so much.
He’s a cross between Jason Smith and Kevin Seraphin.
1 strong quarter down, three to go.
Probably our best quarter of the season?
I really don’t like Embiid… He just rubs me the wrong way.
@27 is this Brett Brown’s burner account?
Nah, I’m just me, a nobody. Lol
Occasionally we look like an actual NBA team.
Doesn’t last long tho.
Sadly, the Knicks won’t continue to shoot over 60% from three for the game, but it’s been fun so far.
Fizdale, facing the barrel of the gun, is playing Mitch through his foul woes. Smart man.
I suspect that you’d have a different opinion if he were in blue and orange, bidiong. Not throwing shade, just saying he’s the kind of guy you hate on every team except your own. He’s a heel.
Also, Morris is exactly that guy, only I don’t even like him as a Knick.
Oh, he’s good. No doubt about it.
Dennis got right what Frank got wrong earlier-when the big stays glued to Mitch the ball handler has got to take it to the rim.
Teams have scouted the Robinson dive. The Knicks ball handler can either get to the rim or pass for a wide open corner three.
The Knicks have made an effort to target Pelle tonight. It’s his first NBA game so they absolutely should go right at him.
18 strong minutes down, 30 to go.
Love Mitch but he sets shit picks
Randle looks sometimes utterly lost
Julius Randle and Marcus Morris are just not smart players.
One strong half down, one to go.
Criminy, that kid just cannot shoot anymore at all.
Who are these guys ?
The end of that quarter was iffy, Ephus.
Randle must have been a swirling dervish in his previous life.
The Sixers are playing so badly, any decent team would be blowing them out of the building.
If I stop watching now, I would be content…
Like avoiding that second plate of Turkey…
But will I?
Who had the crazy eyes?
Can’t believe I am out of market for this
Red Panda gracing MSG with her talents, always nice to see.
Immediately flat
That Red Panda stuff was amazing!
not coming out of the locker room on fire here
Red Panda had me on the edge of my seat.
At first I thought, hokey. But then…
Just pulled up some Red Panda on YouTube. Awesome to see crowds pop big for her!
We set the worst picks…
How you going to take free throws with your headband all fucked up?
Conspiracy theorists would say we miss foul shots on purpose because we’re tanking
39% from two, 53% from three. Wth?
Not a strong third quarter.
Not fouling has made Mitch too weak to score
Except we don’t need the help tanking
Yes motherfucker! Get up to get down!!
There are times when Frank almost looks competent on offense.
frank is wearing fancy shoes like he’s a good player
Somehow every decision Julius Randle makes turns out to be the wrong one
kevin is never gonna get winnie if he’s locked in the dungeon
Will the Knocks get a good shot in this ATO?
Losing a game because you can’t make free throws is some HS basketball shit.
I guess that counts.
it’s hard to understand why mitch hasn’t learned to put his arms straight up
Why is Randle arguing that foul? It was kind of obvious.
Embiid gonna foul the whole team out
If Morris is still a Knick in 2020, it will be quite annoying.
I am loving how well Barrett is playing tonight, though.
If Frank wants his defense to keep him in the league, he cannot give up a blow by like that with less than :05 on the shot clock.
Hack-a-Simmons.
RJ going at Embiid down the stretch and scoring a couple times was nice to see
Seriously. That was the best part of the entire game. Unless they do something really cool in the last 32 seconds.
I’m glad they have Ellington on the team to air ball corner threes at the end of the game.
I am starting to doubt that Ellington will be 3pt threat on this roster.
Randle – “I’m going to make the dumbest decision on the court here.”
Harris – “Hold my beer.”
Then Fizdale with the decision to have Randle miss the free throw intentionally. “You both hold my beer.”
The NBA is so stupid when a guy like Ennis is traded from a good team because of tax benefits.
Fucking hit your foul shots!!!!!
Dennis Smith, Jr. with another of his now patented minus-12 in 14 minute performances. Dude’s just terrible.
@85 most players in the NBA have at least one redeeming quality. Frank plays some D, even Knox makes 3’s at a decent rate.
I really don’t see one thing Smith Jr does well or doesn’t suck at.
On the one hand, Portis only played 12 minutes to Mitch’s 29. So that’s good.
OTOH, Portis played 12 minutes to Knox’s 0. So that’s not good.
I am honestly concerned about Mitch. Watching this shit show gave in Tourette’s Syndrome at the FT line tonight.
That’s some serious hitch he developed overnight.
Yeah, that was a bit worrisome. Maybe Keith Smart got to him?
He looked like Sergio Garcia trying to make a 5 footer to win a major championship.
I could choose to believe that these shooting struggles will lead to an eventual improvement in shooting for our players. So in the forthcoming seasons that matter our players will all have pure shooting strokes. Often improvement means taking one step back before taking two forward. However, this is the Knicks so that will never happen. Keith Smart has just broken all our players and ended multiple NBA careers.
Looks like the centerpiece of the Mavs Knicks trade was Tim Hardaway Jr. lol
I just moved so I have no internet or cable other than my phone so I can’t watch the shitshow but I guess RJ played good?
You mean like this?
sorry, this…
It seems like Stefan Bondy is the only person in the media willing to call Steve Mills to the carpet.
I’m starting to think Mills is a bigger problem than Dolan. For all of his warts, Dolan’s primary job as an owner is to spend money and not interfere with decision making. Mills had $70M in cap space and put together the worst team in basketball. The one run we had of playoff appearances happened when Mills left from 2009-2013, and since he’s been back we’re the worst team in the NBA. I’ve seen a moderately successful Knicks team with Dolan as the owner, but I’ve never seen anything but bad Knicks basketball with Mills around.
Fire Mills. Let Rich Kleiman be the POBO or something.
Yeah…. for one of the greatest ball strikers in the history of golf he is well noted for his clutch 5 footers…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. one in a row!
1. The Knicks offense is getting too foolish for me to watch. There’s way too much dribbling and 1 on 1 play. That’s all on Fizdale.
2. I’m too lazy to look it up but I wonder how many games we lost on the FT line by either not getting to the line as often or being badly out shot.
3. It’s painful watching Frank use his much improved handle to get wide open 10 footers and then miss them by a foot.
4. When Payton is finally back someone please put DSJr in the dungeon…in some other country.
5. This is what I was talking about with Mitch. There’s noting wrong with being able to dunk and put back offensive rebounds at a very high rate, but a very good defensive team will limit or take that away on some nights and then you may as well be Frank on a normal night. He has to be able to do more than dunk both for himself and for the rest of the team in the same way Frank has to hit wide open 10 footers or they’ll give him those to make sure he doesn’t make a play.
6. We are going to wind up with another lottery pick. That means we are going to get another 18-19 year old that may or may not pan out 5-7 years from now. smh
7. If we wind up trading one or more of these vets for future picks, it’s about time we tried to combine some of the excess picks in a trade for someone that’s young and actually good NOW. Otherwise we are just continuing the process of getting worse every year for some hoped for theoretical future 10 years from now. It’s idiotic. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future. Move the picks for good young players. Drafting 18-19 year old kids is too difficult and it takes way too long to develop a string of them over 4-5 years. It’s a 10 years process unless you get very lucky.
8. If “has been” Carmelo Anthony was on this team, he might actually be the best player at 35 years old, with bum knees, no lift, and not playing for a year. lol
9. Mills, Perry, and Fizdale have to go. They are terrible. They know nothing about basketball.