2020-21 Game Thread: Winning Record Knicks @ Spurs

The Knicks travel to San Anyonio to take on the Spurs, in a good test of their recent strong play.

Luckily, the Spurs lost an overtime game last night, so hopefully they are tired.

Rose is out due to COVID protocols, so Frank is starting. Good for him.

This would be a huge win. Let’s hope they get it.

Let’s go, over .500 Knicks!

222 replies on “2020-21 Game Thread: Winning Record Knicks @ Spurs”

Just a thought from the last thread…
I think if we add milo’s analysis of our allowed 3P% to JK’s numbers that says we are “worst” at long 2’s, we can conclude that Thibs is applying the strategy to leave open guys on long 2’s, kind of daring them to take the worst shot of the game. And that can be the reason why they always close the 3PAs in a hurry.

It’s quite possible that the Knicks are benefitting from luck with opposing 3pt% but it would be hard to believe that there is going to be a long stretch of abnormally great shooting to bring us all the way to the mean. I would also wonder whether there is some confounding factor that isn’t being taken into account…pt mentioned some examples but there could be others…it’s just hard to believe that at this point it’s anything but good defense in some form.

I also don’t think it’s fair to compare a roster that is tailor made for Thibs’ coaching to one that was clearly not, like Minny. Clearly benching KAT was not an option, and once your best player is not on board with the program and you can’t bench him, it wears away at overall team buy-in. I’m simply not going to believe that all of the Knicks key players are lying or spouting empty platitudes.

Thibs is a quirky coach with some D’Antoni-like negatives, but he is a great defensive coach. But just like D’Antoni, he needs “his” players.

I’m happy Frank is having a chance to shine. Let’s hope he does well.

Knew Your Nicks: Even the eyes of the eyetest haters!!!

They don’t watch the game, to not fall in the eyetest traps. They just follow the gamecast and stats. 😛

it’s just hard to believe that at this point it’s anything but good defense in some form

Nah

I have some thoughts as to why the offense is off to a slow start but they might get me accused of agenda driven posting so I will keep them to myself

thenoblefacehumper:
I have some thoughts as to why the offense is off to a slow start but they might get me accused of agenda driven posting so I will keep them to myself

Are you intimating we forgot to put a point guard in the starting five?

I will say that the drive and pull-up by Frank looked surprisingly like an NBA offensive move.

Well the next austrian that plays in the NBA will have an easy task to be the best austrian FT shooter

Randle and RJ are the only 2 players who should be allowed to dribble with this lineup.

San Antonio attacking under heavy metal and hard rock tracks wasn’t expected!
Iron maiden!?!?

I do not have access to the numbers from Cleaning The Glass, but I would love to see gross numbers and shooting percentages on opponents:
1. Uncontested corner threes
2. Contested corner threes
3. Uncontested threes from above the break
4. Contested threes from above the break.

To the extent the Knicks are giving up a lot of uncontested corner threes, but opponents are shooting poorly, that would seem likely to regress. OTOH, if they are forcing opponents into lots of contested above the break threes, that seems likely to be the product of defense.

A further cut would analyze the shooting % of the players getting uncontested shots. Letting Westbrook shoot is part of a good defensive scheme. Letting either Curry shoot is a mistake, even if the shot misses.

My dad called me today and literally said, unprompted, “this guy Noel is pretty good on defense but he can’t catch anything!”

Butter stumps is excellent

Fitting given the last hour’s discussion that good 3PT shooters for the Spurs are missing wide open looks

This game is an infomercial sponsored by Derrick Rose and Elfrid Payton

Owen: I have never heard of a lot of these guys

Me neither. This looks like those games last year that Brian gave the title “Knicks against Beal and 4 guys from the street”. It’s just changing Beal for DeRozan and we’re there. 😀

Owen:
I have never heard of a lot of these guys

Kevin Knox was a 2018 lottery pick from Kentucky.

Frank Ntilikina is from France and was drafted by Phil Jackson.

Knicks couldn’t have played any worse that quarter and are only down 2.

Lol Hubert

Watching Quick hit two threes and then Toppin and Knox one each, it makes you think, maybe we should shoot more threes?

If Donald Sutherland stepped in for Pop who would know?

Clyde on the trivia question: “and I’m not straining my brain.”

classic.

Owen:
I have never heard of a lot of these guys

Kevin Knox was a 2018 lottery pick from Kentucky.

Frank Ntilikina is from France and was drafted by Phil Jackson.

I almost spilled beer on my keyboard

i like quickley and he should play a lot but dude has to look to pass on his drives once in a while

I like the threes Quickley has taken for the most part, they’re the kind he often passes up. Hopefully the misses don’t deter him.

Ok I’m kinda done with this lineup, bring back the starters minus Frank please.

I heard U2 when San Antonio was on the offense, this will be a guess the music game 😀

Wow, this is capital “u” ugly…

A guard that never shoot and the other that shoots every time he has the ball…

We’ll win this game, no doubt 🙂

BigBlueAL:
Knicks have to lead the league in outlet passes stolen.

Maybe as a % but they hardly throw any outlet passes

Is it possible that Thibs’ constant bellowing is making opponents miss 3’s?

Eye test we look like a good defensive team, i think someone said it before but barrett tries really hard on d. He’s always fighting over picks. He just makes some dumb fouls sometimes, dbpm is -0.6 seems low….

Thibs is as successful challenging calls as Girardi was when he managed the Yankees.

pretty sure the second half is gonna be 23 minutes of quick and 60 seconds of rose in a hazmat suit

At halftime the cleanup crew will have to clean up bits of Nerlens’ fingernails

Is it possible that Thibs’ constant bellowing is making opponents miss 3’s?

Audible Sixth Man

Knick fan not in NJ:
What’s the trivia question.I can’t watch at the moment

I don’t remember it completely, but it was something like this:
Pop has 9 consecutive seasons with 50+ wins, there are X coaches tied for second with 7 seasons. Who were they?
(i think X was 3)

Frank!!!

Frank is terrible but I will stan for him forever. It’s an addiction

On the road, no point guards and one center, I’ll take down one at halftime

Will be very disappointed if the Knicks lose this game, this Spurs team is not good at all.

What an embarrassing end to the half, Thibs should break something in the locker room during halftime.

After the first 8 minutes or so I thought a win would be downright impossible, but these guys sure do grind.

this is not as deep of a spurs team but they still post solid lineups… they just don’t play that much cause pops is the anti-thibs…

We’re missing players, they’re missing players, awful game but eerily entertaining…

Noel can’t catch a pass to save his life, Burks sleepwalks again, Bullock thinks he plays for the Spurs, Knox’s corner threes are still sweet…

We have no business being down by4, I’m still confident we’re going to win 🙂

A Spur set a screen that, I don’t know, it was like Frank was a mime who couldn’t find his way out of a box or something….

Knew Your Nicks:
Wtf
Missed the Q’s ending

Yeah, Pop went to the referees saying it was still time on the clock when the ball went out of bounds, and indeed it was so they put 0.7 seconds. Then it’s the typical Knicks reaction to an inbound pass – letargy – so Patty Mills drained a 3 pointer.

Trivia question (no peeking!): Who played for the Celtics, was in the Yankees and Dodgers minor league system, and was in the title role of one of the most successful TV series of its time?

(Hint: It’s not Milton Berle)

Boston had a great run with Bird and such. Maybe their coach?

d-mar: Somehow wide open 3 pointers are going in

It’s best to waive the Invisible 6th Man as it’s beginning to be a waste of a roster spot 😀

Z-man:
Trivia question (no peeking!): Who played for the Celtics, was in the Yankees and Dodgers minor league system, and was in the title role of one of the most successful TV series of its time?

(Hint: It’s not Milton Berle)

Another hint: It’s not Chuck Person

Terrible call but this team is in a fog. If Frank is your saving grace on offense… ick

KJG:
Terrible call but this team is in a fog.If Frank is your saving grace on offense… ick

Frank’s 5-7 and 3-3 from three for 13 pts in 17 minutes. The problem is they forgot to put a point guard in there with him.

Raven: Frank’s 5-7 and 3-3 for 13 pts in 17 minutes. The problem is they forgot to put a point guard in there with him.

Great game no doubt. Where’s everyone else.

Frank’s 5-7 and 3-3 from three for 13 pts in 17 minutes. The problem is they forgot to put a point guard in there with him.

Plus 1

We need Frank and Quick.

I don’t like the officiating, but we didn’t come out of the locker room after half time…

Burks is killing us… Toppin with the airball…

This Samanic seems intriguing

Can’t believe we are playing like dogshit like this

The Spurs still have heaps of dudes you’ve never heard of who get buckets

ephus:
Chuck Connors was The Rifleman.

I am old, but not old enough to have watched that show.

My father was a big fan of Westerns so I had little choice….

SAS is 17-13 in the stronger conference, they’re a better team than we are, and we’re out two starters. Still a terrible quarter, but I didn’t think we were going to win this game

Let’s go with a young energy unit and imagine that Fizdale is coaching…

Well the allowed 3P% must be regressing to the league average pretty fast

Z-man: Thibs must have a sore throat…

The man should just get a megaphone and just yell angrily at opposing players when they shoot haha.

If the Knicks lose, I will blame the defensive rebounding. Through 3Q, the Spurs grabbed 7 offensive rebounds, while the Knicks have only 27 defensive rebounds.

Noel is such a huge downgrade from Mitch on offense its glaring. Also might be time for Obi to start getting some DNP- CD.

What’s more comical?
Noel scrambling for a fumbled pass
Knox on a twisting drive
Obi lining up a wayward moonball

I get nervous that this is the real Knicks sometimes. Like have we been lucky this hole time …

Through 3Q, the Spurs grabbed 7 offensive rebounds, while the Knicks have only 27 defensive rebounds.

that’s above league drb% average and slightly above our average

I don’t think Nerlens played wide receiver for his high school football team

toppin needs the all star break to get his head right

u mean like study for the lsat?

I will point out that Thibs is leaving the kids in there this game. It’s not a pretty sight.

Just got in a few minutes ago. So, lot’s of bad shooting, it appears. Probably due.

Well hey Thibs is playing the scrubs in a blowout, we got what we wanted monkey’s paw style

Well, it’s really late here in Portugal, i’m out. See you tomorrow

Thibs’ rotations are so suboptimal lol

#Metallica makes sense because this is… Unforgiven! :P#

Sad but True!

They’re very good at remind us who they are,
an overachieving team that thrive on effort and grind.
Every time they forget that, they’ll crash back to earth.

Burks and Bullock are unreliable, Toppin is close to unplayable, same for Knox,
Noel is good on defense but can’t catch a pass, Quickley is promising but erratic, Rivers don’t play anymore.

Mitch and D- Rose are starters, Payton a solid backup, we’re not build to survive missing 3 decent-to-good players.

Is there really someone that thinks that this team is so close to contention to need a trade for Beal, Lonzo or whoever?

Our talent cup is too bare to give away anything valuable in a trade, be it picks or the few talent we have (IQ, RJ, Mitch, Randle…), the sooner the FO make peace with this reality the better for the future of this team.

One step at the time.

Be patient, draft well, choose wisely in free agency, install a system, build an identity.
And then, maybe, make a mega trade for a star.

Now let’s beat the Pistons and close the first half over .500…

Meanwhile, Obi is currently a very respectable 3-7 for 7 pts from the field with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Until you realize he’s been on the court for over 25 minutes.

Has anyone other than Knox or Quickly taken a shot…or even touched the ball on offense…the last 10 minutes or so?

Raven:
Meanwhile, Obi is currently a very respectable 3-7 for 7 pts from the field with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Until you realize he’s been on the court for over 25 minutes.

I saw his two dunks…he was 1/5 other than those.

Obi has that tweener problem where he needs to play at center for his offensive game to work but can’t anchor a defense at all, so now he’s reduced to being a stretch pf who can’t shoot

So looking at the Spurs roster and their 18-13 record in the brutal Western conference, is there any doubt Pop is the greatest coach ever?

ptmilo:
toppin needs the all star break to get his head right

u mean like study for the lsat?

like study some dayton game film of his glory years and remind himself that he can play ball…he looks funky

Silky Johnson, Fleet Admiral of the Tank Armada:
Obi has that tweener problem where he needs to play at center for his offensive game to work but can’t anchor a defense at all, so now he’s reduced to being a stretch pf who can’t shoot

Spot on Silky.

That’s the difference between college (and other oversea leagues) and the NBA.
A player like Toppin could dominate there but there are simply too many taller, stronger, smarter, more talented inside players in the NBA that your tricks and physical ability don’t work and you need to reinvent yourself to play.

Z-man:
At one point I thought I heard Obi whisper “oil can…..oil can…”

THAT’S who he reminds me of…

I mean you’re not gonna win ’em all. The Spurs are still a competent team. Not a good game tonight but we’ll be back.

Think about if we had just one of Shae Gilgeous, Mikal or Hali.

3 whiffed lottery picks.

Like I’ve been saying, Obi has skills that don’t well translate to the NBA. He can dunk, get transition points, and overpower 18 year old SFs. He has a lot of work to do to become a good NBA PF. Whoever wanted him over Hali made as big a mistake as Knox over Mikal. Both weren’t some kind of after the fact “we could have had so and so situations”. It was obvious to everyone on earth who the alternative was and they chose wrong.

When everyone gets healthy we should try more of Quick/Frank off the bench and “maybe” at least take one look at Frank/RJ starting with Bullock off the bench just to see if Frank/RJ are big enough to handle the defensive assignments. Frank is not a PG, but he’s showing enough improvement shooting to find out if it’s just a short term tease or he’s a real 3&D threat now with upside that we should keep. He hasn’t played in a long time. I’m surprised he looks OK.

JK47:
I don’t want to call Obi a bust but Obi is a bust.

I’d still like to see him undergo a full offseason of pro conditioning and workouts. At the same time, it’s possible that if All-Star level Randle is here to stay, that changes the need for Obi to be relevant for the team’s plans.

Another potential benefit to the organization turning a corner is that they can better withstand draft picks that don’t pan out and pivot from them, especially if they can replicate hitting on late 1st round (and 2nd round) talent as they did w/IQ.

And again, I understand why they drafted him over Haliburton at the time – someone who could be groomed to better replace Randle.

Buried ARivers was a nice sign

On the one hand, I personally think so, too, but on the other hand, how do you sell Rivers as this great guy for the organization, a mentor, etc. and then completely nail him to the bench no matter what out of nowhere? It’s odd.

I didn’t see the game OR read the game thread. But seeing we were playing the Spurs, and reading the box score, I am reminded of several years ago when somebody said: “if we want to see what Frank can become, take a look at Dejounte Murray. Well, in Frank’s pretty decent spot start, Murray had 17/6/6/3 while leading a pretty mediocre lineup to an easy win on the road. Would Frank be doing that if he was a Spur? Would Murray be struggling to find minutes under Fiz/Miller/Thibs? Hmm….

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