2020-21 Game Thread: Knicks @ Bucks

The Knicks kick off the second half of their season by traveling to Milwaukee to take on the Milwaukee Bucks, who are playing pretty well overall, but a notable step below the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, the Nets and the Sixers.

The Knicks will be without Derrick Rose (still in the COVID-19 contact tracing program. He’ll probably get out of it by Tuesday) and Mitchell Robinson (who is still recovering from a broken hand) but they have the rest of the team healthy, including Taj Gibson’s return to action as the backup center behind Nerlens Noel.

The Knicks kicked the Bucks’ ass earlier this season in what was probably their most impressive win of the season (either that or the Celtics stomping), so it would sure be sweet to see them repeat that feat as the kick off the second half and try to put some distance between them and .500!

Let’s go, get two games over .500, Knicks!

103 replies on “2020-21 Game Thread: Knicks @ Bucks”

I am sure the Bucks remember the loss well. There were reports after that game about how unhappy they were to lose to the Knicks. I predict they come out in the first quarter and play like crazy.

not feeling particularly optimistic about the start of the second half for the knicks…hopefully the team can continue to surprise…slow the pace down, hit open threes and hope like heck the invisible sixth man shows up…

I remember Giannis looking furious on the bench as we blew them out, but that’s also back before we were the 5 seed

Interesting that Giannis doesn’t seem interested in attacking Julius

Wow, RJ!

I’ve read both arguments re: NCAA players and have concluded that both sides are right and both sides are wrong. If students across the country want to collectively bargain and strike, they have every right to do so. There are other venues for basketball…other countries, G-league, or, as Mitch did, just sitting out until you get drafted or make a pro team as a UDFA. And free room, board, health care, training, nutrition, travel, publicity, coaching, etc. all factor in. But so long as demand is greater than supply and the “payment” is greater than the minimum wage, the NCAA has no obligation to share profits. Labor would have to force the issue via collective bargaining.

That’s the best start to a game I can remember by this team. RRRRRJJJJJ with the THUNDA!

I don’t know how you can convince yourself that Mitchell Robinson is worth twice as much as Nerlens Noel. Catching the ball is really important, but it’s not like either guy is anything more than a lob threat on offense.

That’s the worst stretch of play after I just wrote about a great start that I can remember by this team.

I don’t like the cavalier approach as they got ass whooped for 90 seconds or so. Someone shoulda been yelling at someone else on the court. That was pathetic

I absolutely hate that the Knicks don’t pass the ball with purpose. The offensive gameplan is “eat what you kill, or pass it to the closest guy.”

Frank’s testicles must have finally descended during the summer.

(re the drive, that is…)

You live with the missed free throws and encourage Frank to continue attacking.

The numbers truly don’t capture what a pain in the ass Frank is on D

Not sure what Burks was doing there, but this lineup is weird. A bunch of shooters and no real PG.

I’m warming to Taj though

Man, Taj with a passable 3PT shot would’ve been a great player. Hell of a “what if” for his career.

Mitch could learn a lot from Taj. Maybe he did last year and that’s partly what we saw so far.

rama is cautiously optimistic:
The numbers truly don’t capture what a pain in the ass Frank is on D

This is classic Frank. You can tell he’s in better shape and sharper now based on how he looks defensively. So what does he do? He misses a 3 and 2 free throws. lol

Of course Frank has the highest plus minus on the team at the moment without hitting any shots or scoring at all. I don’t know why since I’m at work and can’t watch, but it seems like deja vu.

Pretty easy steal when you know Obi hands the ball off every time he touches it

Obi telegraphs that pass sure… but Thibs telegraphs the offense too. Our bigs save for Randle do the most predictable shit on the perimeter. Study the team for 1 game and it’s obvious.

d-mar:
Pretty easy steal when you know Obi hands the ball off every time he touches it

The old handoff is alive on this squad.

Is this just going to be one of those fake comeback nights where we claw back then just give up for five minutes then start the process all over again

Look I know Giannis put Julius in the toilet and flushed last year, but he’s gotta slow down. This is a terrible match up for him and if we somehow end up playing Milwaukee in the 1st round we’re getting swept.

looks like randle has really found the fountain of youth!

Randle isn’t single-handedly losing the game, but damn if he isn’t trying.

It’s so easy for the Knicks to fall apart on offense because they don’t have a damn strategy.

Payton has taken 11 shots this half. We would be a lot better off if those shots were taken by someone that was not terrible.

It’s so easy for the Knicks to fall apart on offense because they don’t have a damn strategy.

It’s hard to have a good strategy when you don’t have a starting PG or great shooters. Our best strategy is hoping the other defense isn’t any good. lol That’s not the case tonight. The Bucks are one of the serious contenders. We can talk about them in 2-3 years.

Considering how tough this 4 game road trip is to start the 2nd half I’m just hoping to go 1-3.

that second quarter was terrible, so many bad passes, we just got crushed in transition…

interested to see how julius reacts in the second half, hopefully he can get focused…

Payton’s shots roll around the rim more than anyone I’ve ever seen. Even the ones that go in roll around first, like they’re trying desperately to get back out. But most of them just roll around and fall out. It’s like his eyesight is just slightly off.

The amount of times RJ Barrett gets ignored when he’s wide open is exactly why Bullock and Payton will not be Knicks next season.

There is significant room for improvement at the PG position. Even Rose looks spectacular by comparison. It’s frustrating to watch now, but does provide hope for next year assuming they are able to upgrade to competent or perhaps even above average.

Giannis just evaporated all hope of Julius Randle’s All-NBA bid.

There is significant room for improvement at the PG position. Even Rose looks spectacular by comparison. It’s frustrating to watch now, but does provide hope for next year assuming they are able to upgrade to competent or perhaps even above average.

As a reaction to this game, I literally just said to a friend “I would give up an embarrassing number of non essential body parts for Jalen Suggs”

yeah, it kind of seems like giannis was making it a point to let julius know what’s up…

on to the next game…

As a reaction to this game, I literally just said to a friend “I would give up an embarrassing number of non essential body parts for Jalen Suggs”

I might question your sanity, but I would definitely thank you for your sacrifice…

Nba should pay us for watching this one just like the marathon runners!

Knicks offensive play: Obi 10 feet behind the three-point line. Gets a pass, takes three quick dribbles to the left, pivots, takes three quick dribbles to the right, hands the ball off.

Great use of a tall, athletic power forward.

Reminds me of the first few years of Frank. They must teach rookies to do this.

I really believe if you sat Randle one night and let Toppin play 30 minutes it would do wonders for him.

Every other team rests their stars, but Thibs will never do it

After watching that game one could get the feeling the the Bucks have been taking it easy so far this season and are now ready to make their run after the all-star break. Maybe I should start looking for games to bet them the rest of the way in the regular season.

Brian Cronin:
At least the Thunder are kicking the Mavs’ asses!

Prozingis and Doncic BOTH out for a scheduled rest on a B2B?

How do rest both of them and give away a game during a playoff drive when you are coming off the all-star break and another break of about 7-8 days before that because of game cancellations? Even Pop would have played one of them.

Z-man:
Kemba held Kyrie to a cool 40

Smart is back. The Celtics will start playing better soon. Jaylen Brown had a rough night. The east is a lot tougher than it used to be.

RIP Joe Tate. I used to listen to him on three w e long distance on the radio as a kid.

How do rest both of them and give away a game during a playoff drive when you are coming off the all-star break and another break of about 7-8 days before that because of game cancellations? Even Pop would have played one of them.

Agreed. Very odd.

***I wish that it were in the main area of the arena so he could point up to his jersey while telling security to fuck outta here.***

In the book Lonesome Dove, there’s a chapter where the aging Texas Rangers get disrespected by a bartender. They bust his nose up with their gun barrel and point to a picture hanging on the wall. ”It’s just a picture of us boys, back when you wanted to make us senators,” they say. ”We was the law around here when you was still sucking the teat.”

Sorry. The Ewing thing made me think of that. If only Larry McMurtry was writing Ewing’s Twitter feed.

Carry on.

(Edit: man, it’s a good thing McMurtry wrote that before auto-correct. It took me several edits just to get the vernacular right)

hey donnie…gus mcrae, what a great character, in a series filled with great characters…i just loved mcmurtry’s indian pov – it was so mundane at times to be absolutely hysterical…half the time famous shoes or buffalo hump were just thinking when will the people around me just stop talking…

have you ever watched Dead Man’s Walk or Comanche Moon…steve zahn did a really good job, not david arquette’s best work, if there is such a thing…

i was very pleasantly surprised with james garner in Streets of Laredo…he did a great job…

i don’t know whom the best clara was…personally i liked jennifer garner in the role…if you say angelica huston – it’s pretty hard to argue…

***have you ever watched Dead Man’s Walk or Comanche Moon…steve zahn did a really good job, not david arquette’s best work, if there is such a thing…

i was very pleasantly surprised with james garner in Streets of Laredo…he did a great job…

i don’t know whom the best clara was…personally i liked jennifer garner in the role…if you say angelica huston – it’s pretty hard to argue…***

Dude, you are talking to someone who doesn’t watch television, remember? Not even when the Knicks are on TNT. (Are the Knicks ever on TNT?)

Jennifer Garner played Clara Allen? Steve Zahn and David Arquette(!) played young Gus and Call? Oh man. (Zahn is at least a Texan, I think, and if not, at least he’s played one a lot in Reality Bites and in Linklater movies. JG is a a doll, as nice as they come, but I can’t imagine her as Clara. Clara has to be larger than life for Gus to want to even consider settling down for. I reject it sight unseen. (As for Davi Arquette, I don’t even know where to begin.)

I like the original miniseries, which I caught in 7th grade, peripherally, over my mom’s shoulder, back when Dukakis was running for president and Pitino was coaching the Knicks. In retrospect It’s probably about as good of an adaptation of an epic as one can do, but it certainly benefitted from having 6 1/2 hours to do it, haha. Jones and Duvall were great. (Even Ricky Schroeder was good. Turns out he’s good at acting, just bad at real life.)

Dude, you are talking to someone who doesn’t watch television

good for you Donnie…better to live life than watch it…that shit most likely rots your brain…i’ve loved tv since i was kid 🙂

Jennifer Garner played Clara Allen? – yes, and she was very charming…

I reject it sight unseen.

ha…

Steve Zahn and David Arquette(!) played young Gus and Call? – they each played gus mcrae in Comanche Moon and Dead Man’s Walk respectively…Karl Urban and Jonny Lee Miller (???) played woodrow call…neither really stood out…Steve Zahn did a pretty good job at mimicking what duvall did 20 years earlier…

no doubt, robert duvall and tommy lee jones made them famous characters…

despite the leads in Dead Man’s Walk not being so terrific – it had a phenomenal supporting cast…

12 of our remaining games are on either NBAtv or ESPN…if we were ever any good – we’d be on tv all the time…

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