2020-21 Game Thread: All-Star Julius Randle and the Knicks vs. Warriors

Congrats to Julius Randle, for making the All-Star team (he made it over Damontas Sabonis, even, who was snubbed in favor of Nikola Vucevic).

The Knicks host the Golden State Warriors with a chance to get to .500!

Let’s see if the Knicks can celebrate Randle’s honor by getting the team to .500 at the same time!

187 replies on “2020-21 Game Thread: All-Star Julius Randle and the Knicks vs. Warriors”

Congrats to Randle, well deserved. Funnest individual season I’ve watched as a Knicks fan since Melo lead the NBA in scoring.

Definitely could be the 2nd piece in a Semis team. RJ, learn how to fuckin’ shoot, you fuckin’ scrub!

i dont think theres ever an excuse to be called for an offensive foul away from the ball… just set a normal freaking screen or dont run a guy over…

geo: is that true max?

is mitch leading the way?

No, it’s a frustration comment 🙂
I’ll search for a reliable source to check…

Our defense tonight is at Fizdale-bad level…

just following the box score – looks like elf is making it to the rim and finishing okay…

maybe part of our almost winning strategy is give a lot of fouls, don’t take charges and don’t go for steals…

does it kind of seem like burks is starting to play better the last several games?

Quickley did a good thing on that three. His pump fake is terrific and he took the three instead of engineering a floater.

No, it’s a frustration comment 🙂
I’ll search for a reliable source to check…

Our defense tonight is at Fizdale-bad level…

i was trying to check our team’s “charges taken”, but, was unable to get that nbaminer.com site to work…it just doesn’t seem like anyone on our team draws charges much…maybe rivers???

IQ gets beat off the dribble way too often. Off the ball he seems to struggle then his man gets the ball and IQ always seems off balance and his man goes right by him.

Rose with a nice recovery game after a couple of duds. I think he’s hyped by the crowd.

marechal:
Look at Haliburton’s first half stats against the Nets and weep.

It would hurt more if Obi didn’t show some signs of life tonight…

Look at Haliburton’s first half stats against the Nets and weep

You mean the guy with the weird hips and awkward jumper? He’ll never pan out. High floor, low ceiling. Limited athleticism. Poor 3-on-3. Lacks elite tools. Mid-major pedigree. If he’s so good, why didn’t he go to Kentucky?

I’ll be surprised if the Knicks find a way to win this game, they’ve looked pretty awful all night.

KJG:
not sure who showing worse effort… the knicks or this blog tonight

It’s all my bad. The wife decided to watch The Last Dance yesterday and today. Released the bad juju. Sorry, folks.

curry: 6 for 10 from 3 – that dude has broken the game…freaking hacker with damn aim bot from behind the arc…

Paschal not at the top of my list of who to take a charge from.

Rose has played well enough.

Taj Gibson a still a good defender. He makes up fir his lack of size and athleticism with great positioning.

Taj Gibson was never a good offensive player. He has not improved with age.

The constant pump faking and passing up on 3pters to just drive into traffic is getting tiresome.

I am not accustomed to watching a team that can play so poorly offensively but stay in a game with its defense.

The fact that I honestly have no idea if Derrick Rose is the best option to close this game or not tells you all you need to know about our offense.

What was that drive there by RJ? Sure, he got into the lane, but that an awkward layup attempt.

Which is more annoying — the pump faking to quit on a 3 pt shot, or RJ Barrett putting his head down and driving impetuously into traffic and throwing up an incredibly stupid shot with no chance whatsoever of going in?

That was bs what Payton just flipped up there but give him credit, he got it to drop and 1

Randle needs to take every shot the rest of the game don’t care if he has all 5 players covering him.

I know we don’t have any good shooters but do we have to close out the game with our worst shooters?

Max:
How many shots at the rim had they missed tonight?

At least Payton is trying…

We’re 21/42 at the rim.

call me a hater if you want, but when we’re closing out games with Derrick Rose, Elfrid Payton, and Taj Gibson, I find myself rooting for the tank again.

Hubert:
call me a hater if you want, but when we’re closing out games with Derrick Rose, Elfrid Payton, and Taj Gibson, I find myself rooting for the tank again.

Bad coaching, no question about it.

Hubert:
call me a hater if you want, but when we’re closing out games with Derrick Rose, Elfrid Payton, and Taj Gibson, I find myself rooting for the tank again.

It kills me. Are there any other former Bulls we can add to the team?

I can’t understand the closing lineup, with no shooter whatsoever beside maybe Randle…

This team has been highly likable and rootable,
the last three games reversed the trend, bad basketball, bad coaching…

Problem was everyone on the Knicks was horrible tonight so good luck choosing a closing 5. Can’t have both Payton and Rose on the floor together though.

well, i do appreciate you all following the game tonight…i’m not feeling particularly interested in doing much more than delete this one…

wow, what is up with mister quickly???

we’re getting consistently very little from the 2 and 3 spots in the line up…maybe our biggest need isn’t even a point guard…

and, a big no thank you to bradley beal…

Groundswell needs to start… need to get word out… Fire Thibs… its not the right direction… maybe we end up with a big 3… if the knicks were in the nets position right now id feel like i have no soul… wouldnt even watch the games… i hate this

Love how Thibs sent his two aging cultists to double Steph on that last big possession and he drove around them like they weren’t even there.

If the Knicks had somehow won that game I would have felt like I should write a letter of apology to the Warriors. We made one terrible play after another that whole second half. Terrible shots, terrible non-shots that should have been shots, throwing it away, having it stripped, and a complete inability to make a layup-layup-layup. Wow. How we ended this close I have no idea.

Knicks defense will always keep them in games, its why they’ve barely been blown out this season.

Luka just hit an amazing shot to go ahead of the Celtics with 15 seconds left and I don’t know how to feel about it

RJ went from forcing the action to REALLY PHUCKING FORCING THE ACTION… he took maybe 2 jumpers that i recall tonight… one was a 3 he hit… i think his only FG… someone needs to sit his ass down… game needs to flow, come to him… Quickley always thinks he can make a better play… well, he cant… its either that or he just doesnt want to miss… Derrick Rose threw up so much trash in that 4th quarter… Randle barely touches the ball late… everything wrong with whats going on her… These games are getting tiresome because of the lineups and Thibs… its actually not that fun anymore, win or lose… how shitty is that

Owen:
Luka just hit an amazing shot to go ahead of the Celtics with 15 seconds left and I don’t know how to feel about it

Yeah, I love seeing the Celtics drop under .500, but I want the Mavs pick to be better…

If it’s not fun for you anymore then stop watching the games. Not fun is the last few years of constantly getting blown out and rooting for losses by this point in the season, getting frustrated by losses because the Knicks are in the playoff hunt is fun.

BigBlueAL:
If it’s not fun for you anymore then stop watching the games.Not fun is the last few years of constantly getting blown out and rooting for losses by this point in the season, getting frustrated by losses because the Knicks are in the playoff hunt is fun.

no, i will continue to watch games, fun or not, sorry

Raven:
We need shooters. Jimmer had those eight games with the Bulls…

isn’t he eating kung pao chicken somewhere in china right about now?

TheClashFan: Yeah, I love seeing the Celtics drop under .500, but I want the Mavs pick to be better…

There’s no such thing as a bad Celtics loss, but this was as close as it gets…

Kristaps missed another game with his fake back injury, I wonder if Dallas just benches him going forward.

I don’t mean to piss off the die hards (sorry, BBA), but this game — even with Randle and Barrett out there — just felt so merc-y. It gave me deja vu and I didn’t like it.

We actually played ok defense in the 4th, Warriors only scored 20 points.

Unfortunately our offense was a nightmare.

Mitch being out is tough because he’s always in the closing lineup. Also not for nothing but this team isn’t exactly filled with a ton of young players who should be playing, thats why the Frank and Knox draft picks is the biggest issue with this team right now.

With RJ, Mitch, IQ and Obi the Knicks have a few nice long term pieces and they’re gonna have 3 picks in this year’s draft. But this team needs “mercs” because unless you just want to play the draft picks and G-League players and have the worst record in the NBA, which I know many here would prefer, then they need veterans to put together a competitive team. Again the biggest thing to me really holding this team back right now are the 2 wasted lottery picks in Frank and Knox, it cant be stated enough how badly they screwed up those picks.

If Bruce Brown is going to score 29 points on 13 shots, the Nets may go fo fo fo fo in the playoffs.

Why in the world didn’t they, like, triple Luka before his last shot?

And with the tip-in rule, why was Tacko left open under the basket?

Knox is 21 and he’s shot 37% from 3 this year. I’d rather see him in there than Derrick fucking Rose.

BigBlueAL: With RJ, Mitch, IQ and Obi the Knicks have a few nice long term pieces

Do we? Other than last month RJ’s been abysmal so far and Obi can barely get off the bench.

We have one-fer disease. Today it was Barrett (1-9) and Quickley (1-5). But it seems one or two players on the Knicks get a one-fer every game lately. We need a vaccine.

Knox couldn’t cover me and I’m 5’11 200 lbs with very limited athleticism at 40 yo. Also while 37% from 3pt range is nice he’s still shooting below 40% overall. I would much prefer Knox getting minutes to Frank but the way Knox was playing before they acquired Rose I’m sorry I can’t blame Thibs for benching him. But again that’s the problem, you’re talking about back to back Top 10 picks who wouldn’t be getting minutes on any team in the NBA right now.

Knox was leading the NBA in corner 3 % before he got buried. He’s 21 and in his 3rd year. I don’t think he should be buried yet, especially when we’re not getting stellar play from the mercs in front of him.

Thibs needs to choose his merc. He plays Bullock and Burks. Pick one and give 20 minutes to Knox. He plays Payton and Rose. Pick one and give the other minutes to IQ.

Being the 8 seed ain’t worth it.

Yeesh, the Melo trade was a decade ago? Oh man…

I didn’t watch the game (duh), but it looks like the Warriors couldn’t score for much of the 4th. Isn’t that why Thibs had the players he had in? (Having shooters in the game is always good, but if they can’t keep the other team (with the greatest shooter ever) from scoring, what’s the point, eh?

And, finally, on a previous thread somebody pontificated about a Beal trade to Denver centered around Murray. I understand Jowles’ aversion to a deal like that, but Murray is just so maddeningly inconsistent, and has been since he was a toddler in this league, I kind of feel that a Murray for Beal trade could be a pretty good deal for both teams. Especially with Porter jr in the wings to be the #2 there eventually….

Was lucky enough to be at the game tonight and see Steph up close and personal. The man is a wizard and looks like he barely breaks a sweat as he humiliates your defense.

I say top 10 all time, any arguments?

Why in the world didn’t they, like, triple Luka before his last shot?

Brad Stevens overrated!

Hmm… I didn’t realize (or had conveniently forgotten) that Murray was drafted with the pick NY gave Denver in the Melo trade. I guess that would make a Murray/Beal trade strangely poetic if it happened in the next few weeks…

Donnie Walsh: And, finally, on a previous thread somebody pontificated about a Beal trade to Denver centered around Murray. I understand Jowles’ aversion to a deal like that, but Murray is just so maddeningly inconsistent, and has been since he was a toddler in this league, I kind of feel that a Murray for Beal trade could be a pretty good deal for both teams. Especially with Porter jr in the wings to be the #2 there eventually….

Yeah, that was me and Jowles and I’m for trading Murray in the right trade. Jokic is a 25 year old superstar, MVP caliber player and his team is currently 7th in the West because, like you said, Murray is so inconsistent. They’ve got to do something out there to build a better team around Jokic and the easiest move is some sort of Murray trade.

d-mar: Was lucky enough to be at the game tonight and see Steph up close and personal. The man is a wizard and looks like he barely breaks a sweat as he humiliates your defense.

I say top 10 all time, any arguments?

He doesn’t have a long enough body of work, at this level, to be top 10. You’re basically looking at 6 seasons of elite play because before 2013-14 he was dealing with injuries, Monta Ellis, and Mark Jackson and then last year he was injured the entire season. The top other top 10 guys played at an elite level for a much longer amount of time, even guys like Bird and Magic who dealt with injury/illness. We’ll see how long he can continue to play at this level but he is turning 33 in a couple of weeks. He’s definitely top 25 and could be top 20 though I’d have to actually put a list together. Right now though, I’d put him behind Durant and Durant definitely isn’t a top 10 guy.

I say top 10 all time, any arguments?

Peak? Sure, you’ve got an argument there. For his career? No way. To use a crude stat he’s currently 71st in career WS in NBA history. Like Horace Grant has more career WS than Steph. Ho Grant was a really good player in his prime, obviously nowhere on Stephs level, but it illustrates that Steph just hasn’t played that many minutes. He came into the league at 21, he missed basically two seasons to injury, he wasn’t great until he was 25 or 26, and he was never particularly good on defense.

But if you had to pick a player based on his absolute peak in my lifetime I’m going Lebron, Jordan and Steph

I was just reminded of one of the funniest NBA tweets of all time:

@SIChrisMannix
You are the GM of an expansion team. You have your choice of any NBA player—or Brad Stevens. Who do you choose?
The Player
65.8%
Brad Stevens
34.2%
20,878 votes
·
Final results
8:06 PM · May 5, 2018·Twitter for iPhone

Hubert:
I don’t mean to piss off the die hards (sorry, BBA), but this game — even with Randle and Barrett out there — just felt so merc-y. It gave me deja vu and I didn’t like it.

Would it help to think of them as placeholders instead of mercs?

I mean, the team was ass offensively and they were within a bucket of tying it up until the very end. None of the guards could convert when they got into the lane in that fourth Q – that’s where RJ needs to make his $ and he sucked at it tonight. They also couldn’t/didn’t get the ball to Randle enough down the stretch.

My takes from this:
-We worry about mercs and players like Rose being win-now moves. I’ve said before that our mercs aren’t good enough to win games on their own w/o significant contribution from the young guns. This game was Exhibit A of that: We closed with a backcourt of Rose and Payton (bleh) and still couldn’t pull out the dub.

Owen:
Not many guys have changed the game like Steph. That will be his legacy.

I want to find one credible person who saw Curry becoming perhaps the greatest offensive player in league history, and doing it with shit that no human being should ever be able to do. It’s not even that he hit so many threes. It’s the threes he actually hit. I just still can’t believe he hit that weaving-dribble turnaround three against the Clippers. I keep expecting it to not go in when I see replays.

i think Curry is the probably the greatest pure shooter who ever lived. However, he doesn’t dominate on both ends. He’s in the James Harden class of player, although clearly better than Harden in my book.

Jordan, Kareem, Wilt, Lebron are my Mt. Rushmore. You probably have to include Bird, Magic, Russell, Kobe and West. Then Oscar, Shaq, Duncan, Durant, and Hakeem. That’s 14 players. I don’t think you can knock 5 of these guys out to bump Curry into the top 10.

I think he’s a lock for top-10 of the 2000-2050 era, along with Durant and LeBron.

DRed:
I was just reminded of one of the funniest NBA tweets of all time:

@SIChrisMannix
You are the GM of an expansion team. You have your choice of any NBA player—or Brad Stevens. Who do you choose?
The Player
65.8%
Brad Stevens
34.2%
20,878 votes
·
Final results
8:06 PM · May 5, 2018·Twitter for iPhone

Holy shit, not even a GM/POBO who actually builds the team. Like it’s not totally unreasonable to say you’d want Masai or Riley or someone but a coach?

Z-man:
i think Curry is the probably the greatest pure shooter who ever lived. However, he doesn’t dominate on both ends. He’s in the James Harden class of player, although clearly better than Harden in my book.

Jordan, Kareem, Wilt, Lebron are my Mt. Rushmore. You probably have to include Bird, Magic, Russell, Kobe and West. Then Oscar, Shaq, Duncan, Durant, and Hakeem. That’s 14 players. I don’t think you can knock 5 of these guys out to bump Curry into the top 10.

I think he’s a lock for top-10 of the 2000-2050 era, along with Durant and LeBron.

He’s unquestionably the greatest shooter of all time. Not even taking into account degree of difficulty, just based on percentage and volume no one’s really close. Add in the crazy 30 footers that he hits regularly and I don’t think anyone will ever be able to catch him.

I can tell you that the ~7,000 voters who picked Brad Stevens weren’t posting on CelticsBlog this week…

So who predicted we’d be 0.5 games behind the Celts 32 games into the season? I wonder what odds I could have gotten in Vegas for that bet…

While pondering the Steph question I looked David Robinson’s numbers and holy shit was he good. I assumed Hakeem’s career numbers would be better but Robinson was solidly better- 7.5 career BPM 82 VORP vs. 4.7/74.4. That he was better in VORP despite playing almost 10,000 fewer minutes is really impressive. His career best BPM matches Steph’s from 15/16. If he’d started his career at 21 rather than 24 he might have had top ten numbers- I didn’t appreciate him enough at the time.

just wanna give credit where credit is due…

having a much more pleasant knick fan experience this year, in part because of their improved play – but, also a result of adapting a modified version of the donnie walsh fan plan…

I think I may have seen the final quarter on perhaps 2 or 3 of the team’s losses this year…I’ve most definitely watched every win, start to finish to post game when available…

thank you donnie, for helping to get me to knick fan nexus…

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