2019-20 Game Thread: Knicks @ Nuggets – Can Mike Miller Get Over .500?

After an impressive come from behind victory on Friday, the Knicks finish up their West Coast trip with a rematch with the Denver Nuggets, who destroyed the Knicks the last time these two teams met.

Mike Miller would actually be over .500 as the Knicks coach if they shock the Nuggets tonight. You have to figure that this will be a classic trap game for the Nuggets, so there might be a chance!

Let’s go? Knicks!

144 replies on “2019-20 Game Thread: Knicks @ Nuggets – Can Mike Miller Get Over .500?”

this game screams blowout with murray dropping 10 plus threes…

who knows though, maybe elf rights the offense a bit, randall continues to bull his way to the rim…dot does dot stuff…RJ hits some shots…morris decides to get hot…someone convinces frank that he is in fact getting paid to play professional basketball…mitch plays more than 20, knox continues to protect the rim, and we only lose by fifteen…

Miller can also be the first coach since since Woodson to have a winning record on a 4+ game western road trip (end of the 2013-2014 season I believe).

Okay, actually interested in this game. Despite the fact I rationally know we’re not any better (GSW and Fox-less SAC suck), I’m excited to see the Knicks for the first time in weeks.

Wally is still young, he just needs reps and a producer who’s invested in his potential.

How long before Bobby Portis loses his minutes for being a shit defender?

Glad to see Porter Jr. out there

Denver has taken a pretty interesting route with it’s last two drafts taking guys with long term injuries. Both Porter and Bol seem like low risk/high reward picks given where they sit in the West. Wouldn’t hate poaching some Denver guys for our FO

Wally is still young, he just needs reps and a producer who’s invested in his potential.

I think a stint in the G-League would be better for his development.

I absolutely hate that our “leaders” on offense never make the extra pass.

This is the half that Frank Ntilikina became President

Is Kenny Wooten on a two-way contract? Because if another team can sign him we’re gonna lose him to the Toronto Raptors.

Is Kenny Wooten on a two-way contract? Because if another team can sign him we’re gonna lose him to the Toronto Raptors.

No we went with Ivan Rabb and Kadeem Allen.

Who is Ivan Rabb you ask? I believe he’s most notable for inexplicably not being Kenny Wooten.

There’s definitely a difference with this team with Miller coaching, they look like they actually give a shit.

The Knicks still suck, but at least this is a watchable suck which is more than I could say a month ago.

I wanna give Mike Miller credit, but I really just think we’re better because Elfrid Payton is healthy.

Who was our last point guard as good as Payton? Kidd before he went kaput? Lin for those few weeks?

When you thought the big signing of the off-season was Julius Randle but you realize it was Elfrid Payton….

There is no reason we shouldn’t have a bidding war going on for Marcus Morris.

What the hell is going on in Denver…

And that was a foul on RJ Barrett.

Payton + Frank have 22 points, 14 assists, 4 steals, and 0 turnovers?? Oh, and 10 rebounds.

they had a smart game plan against randle but in transition or as they get tired (or have porter jr in who doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing) they can’t keep it up. but in crunch time they’ll get back to it and he’s gonna have to give it up early.

They’re not calling fouls

First half they weren’t calling fouls on Denver, at least it’s equitable now.

Watching Jokic back Randle down, thinking about all the people who decry the end up post up play, I have to kind of wonder why.

Don’t know what has gotten into the Knicks but I am liking it….

Julius Randle is a ball hog and it’s some of the worst all-hogging I’ve ever seen. It’s like he’s James Harden’s aggressive big little brother.

So, if it stays real close late, do you sit RJB and play both Payton and Frank together?

frank had such a great first half seems so weird he only has 23 min. he and payton should have played more together.

Why wouldn’t Miller challenge that?

Review isn’t going to get them to start calling the Jokic elbow.

RJ icing the game for Denver with the reverse dagger

Looks likely to be a tough loss, but credit to Miller on getting some fight out of the team on the road. I don’t think it really means anything for the rest of the season, but I think we can be relatively satisfied if we a) start playing at least something that resembles NBA basketball and b) the kids play alright.

frank had such a great first half seems so weird he only has 23 min. he and payton should have played more together.

He took a hard hit, who knows.

RJ needs to not be in there. He’s the worst player in the floor tonight and played the most minutes.

Randle shot the ball like shit but when he doesn’t turn it over a lot I can at least live with that.

Payton reminds me of Felton

RJ didn’t take all the shots, but Frank was playing stellar on both sides of the ball. Having a 3pt shooter besides Morris in cant hurt the team.

Barrett shot like shit, but from 5:57 to :37 seconds left they missed 9 straight shots. RJ took one of them. Denver turned up the D and the whole team went cold.

If I was Miller, I’d at least want to try Payton and Frank together serious minutes. I don’t think it would work very well with RJ Barrett due to shooting/spacing. But if we going to be serious, Barrett shouldn’t be starting anyway. He’s only getting this much run because he’s our 1st round pick. If you give Frank and Payton a shot, why not go small with Dotson, who can at least get on a roll shooting at times, try to play smaller, faster, and with solid perimeter D. We could also try RJ at SF if Dotson comes up empty or can’t handle the matchup. If it doesn’t work, big deal. It’s clear Payton is the better playmaking PG and Frank is a valuable piece when he comes out with energy and is healthy. Long term Frank is going to be better as a secondary playmaker on and off the ball. Let’s just put him there now some of the time and let him play some backup PG. I like Miller so far. We are playing better on both sides. I’m also thrilled he’s been willing to bury DSJr.

Frank tried to take a charge and hit the back of his head hard on the floor.

Frank definitely drew the charge, with the small detail that the refs ignored it.

Not blaming RJ. He competed out there. But he was 2-11 before he hit that three with the game decided. He did got mauled a couple of times without a call though.

I can’t believe how much Jokic gets away with. Didn’t realize how sharp his elbows are. Does a lot of hooking.The refs were pretty helpful to the Nuggets overall in my book.

RJ Barrett has also been frozen out of the offense completely. Marcus Morris and Julius Randle almost never pass him the ball, and Mike Miller isn’t using his ability to move without the ball in the offense either. He’s not a reliable spot up shooter at this point so design some plays to get him going. It beats the hell out of “throw it in the post to Bobby Portis” or “ give it to Julius Randle from 20 feet out.”

Are we going to start making excuses for RJ like we have done for Frank over the last 2+ years? I know he’s 19 and all but he is a terrible player right now. If your backcourt down the stretch is RJ and Payton against a team with good shooters, you’re probably gonna have trouble scoring and probably gonna lose. So who would you rather take out on this team, RJ or Payton? If losing is okay, then fine, keep playing him. But he fucking sucked tonight.

Worthwhile pointing out that this team beat us by 37 on our home floor just 10 days ago. That’s a 31 point differential. For team like ours, that is huge against a upper echelon team in the West. I mean I may be clutching at straws and it probably doesn’t man anything in the long run, but it at least looks like there is some improvement.

@120, oh no doubt, that was a very competitive effort tonight. And Miller still has a lot to learn…but I like most of what I see so far.

Last 5:58 of the game:

Morris 0-3
Randle 0-2
Payton 0-2
Mitch 0-1
RJ 1-2

Please tell me which offensive dynamo Miller should have put in once Denver cranked up their defense?

And if you say Frank or Knox, then I know you’re not serious.

RJ got frozen out of the offense because he can’t do anything. Teams are packing the paint against our closing lineup because they know we can’t shoot. I don’t have an issue with playing RJ, or even closing with him, but he also doesn’t need to lead the team in minutes. I think we should taper him down to around 25 min a night.

RJ had the ball a couple times and didn’t make anything happen, he bricked a mostly wide open 3 off the play they did call for him.

RJ was the worst player on the floor tonight. Long term I like the kid, but tonight we would have been better off with literally almost anyone else. On a night where almost everyone was scoring, RJ stunk it up.

How about Dotson? At least you can’t leave him wide open from 3.

In the 8 December games, RJ has gone 6 for 30 from 3 (including a totally meaningless one in the last 15 seconds tonight) and has a TS% in the mid-.300’s. He’s been one of the worst players in the NBA by any measure, yet we run him out there for 36 minutes game after game?

And in a game where Frank was 4-6 and Knox was 5-8, yeah, they were both better options to play down the stretch. And Dotson was a WAY better option.

Yup, Daymean Dotson, a player known for clutch shots in crunch time. And probably true that Frank and Knox would have continued their normal torrid shooting when the rest of the team went cold, despite Denver’s best defensive efforts.

I’m not arguing that RJ hasn’t been bad lately, but Denver is the #2 defense in the NBA, once they got serious we weren’t gonna win that game no matter who we threw out there.

We have no idea what would have happened if RJ sat the final 5 minutes, but playing better players gives you a better chance to win. And that’s factorial!!!

Not upset they turned an immanent blowout into a reasonable contest, not second guessing the lineup choice at the end when the real culprit was desperation and the team stopping the team play that got them caught up.

it’s been said a bunch already, but, yes – less would probably be more for RJ right now…

it’s tough having a shooting guard that can’t really shoot…I understand there’s not a plethora of better options…

not sure though I see the benefit for logging all these minutes when he’s shooting this poorly…

Dotson was completely listless last night and that was being kind. He did not deserve to be on the floor last night. Frank was playing his best game of the year and didn’t get a sniff of the floor near the ned. He might have gotten hurt when he got thumped.

Please God…. Dolan please make Allan Houston’s dad a coach so he can teach there Mooks that pretty shot he taught his son……

Again someone needs to tell Barrett not to chuck up 6 threes when he is hitting 30% for the season…..

I looked up individual Knicks three point percentages. Aside from Morris and Trier, a lot of the Knicks rotation is pretty close in percentage. Frank is actually fifth, at 0.328. In the second half before he hit his head Denver often wouldn’t guard him at all. But the Knick’s didn’t pass to him. I think it would have been worth a try.

Note: for some reason basketball-reference includes Kadeem Allen who apparently played a game and hit three out of four shots. I left him out when I labeled Frank fifth on the team. .

Fun game last night – -nice to see the team compete against good competition.
We lost a ton of 50/50 balls last night, or else it may have had a different outcome.

Anyway – interesting conversation on the KFS podcast this morning – namely how much would be reasonable to give up to get Ujiri this offseason (ie. not waiting until his contract expires in 2021)?

To me it depends on who the other possibilities are. If Presti and Morey are also on the table without requiring large compensation, I think I would rather go that direction. The key really is to have someone who is respected around the league (for future FA purposes and to hire a strong support staff), is a smart executive, and who has enough clout to force Dolan to give total autonomy*.

in a vacuum I would easily give up two top 10-protected first round picks for Masai. But if you can get Daryl Morey for nothing but $ I would definitely do that.

* how would one enforce the “total autonomy” thing? Would it be a clause like if evidence can be produced that Dolan overruled him on something, he’d get like a balloon payment of $50MM per occurence or something?

Yeah Kadeem managed to make it into a game when we were down to DSJR at point guard. I suspect Allen is better than half the players on this roster.

We’d have to wait 2 extra years to grab Masai for nothing. In theory we can install someone decent for 2 years, then offer Masai the front office equivalent of Mega Max Melo contract. Sam Hinkie anyone??

Again someone needs to tell Barrett not to chuck up 6 threes when he is hitting 30% for the season…..

It’s better than him shooting anywhere else but at the rim. He should shoot as many open 3s as he can.

I say, wait to grab Masai. You might not have to wait two years. If it becomes clear he won’t renew, the asking price will probably come down.

I’m not saying Masai should be The Guy, but whoever The Guy is, we need to get him in here ASAP, lest the Interim Guy do the kind of damage that many of our past guys have done. And if you think a temporary boss can’t mess things up, I give you Ed Tapscott drafting Frederic Weis over Ron Artest, or Steve Mills giving Tim Hardaway and Ron Baker the contracts he gave them.

Masai should def be the guy. The raps can have the two Dallas picks. Back the trucks up and pay him

I do, but once Perry was there they stopped killing themselves with one sided deals. And it’s hard to believe that Masai is the only competent GM out there. So why give up two first round picks. I’d rather trade them for a decent young player.

We need to clean house and start now. Trade Morris for a late first, maybe to the raptors, and start changing the culture.

rj hasn’t been getting calls but that’s kind of what happens when you’re a rookie… his ftr is still pretty good tho…. and eventually he’ll get more calls as long as he’s aggressive without forcing things….

he hasn’t been good this season but this is what happens when you play 19 yo rookies… what’s important is that he’s shown signs of viability and as long as that’s the case then he should see the floor to work out whatever he’s struggling on…

some important markers are trending in the wrong direction tho and he and the coaching staff are going to need to adjust… right now his game is exclusively driving to the basket off a pick and he’s getting less and less efficient at it since he’s getting more and more attention…. you just don’t get free reign to get to the hoop whenever you want in the nba and rj is facing more and more resistance… and he’s responded by putting more floaters up and challenging length which hasn’t gone all that well lately…

if he continues to struggle against high resistance then he should see less floor time until he does… but given what he showed earlier in the season he should be given opportunities to work through his struggles… especially since his development is way more important than our record…. he’s also shown ability to adjust.. he’s already tweaked his free throw motion with some better results lately…. so i would be more patient with him….

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