No Lebron, so there is a very good chance that the Knicks can sweep the L.A. teams and sing, “I love L.A.!”
Let’s hope that they can pull this off!
Let’s go, get that that #4 seed, Knicks!
No Lebron, so there is a very good chance that the Knicks can sweep the L.A. teams and sing, “I love L.A.!”
Let’s hope that they can pull this off!
Let’s go, get that that #4 seed, Knicks!
359 replies on “2020-2021 Game Thread: Knicks @ Lakers – The Knicks Hope to Evoke Randy Newman and “Love L.A.””
have fun and travel safe cdiggy…when you mentioned going back to new york some weeks ago it got me thinking…hopefully this fall i can make the trip…wanna see the city and visit out by the holbrook and patchogue area i grew up at…
it’s cool to travel to the past and try to connect with an earlier you…
oh yeah, let’s go knicks – win this one for the cdiggy!!!
clinch 6th seed tonight…celts going down
Game starts at 4AM here, I’m already at my third espresso…
Come on guys, let’s give Cdiggy something to brag on…
Let’s Go Knicks!
The sound you hear is the air going out of the Boston Celtics. They are getting crushed by Miami.
If the Knicks win tonight, they’re in the playoffs.
Drago to Celts: I must break you
Dragic, Robinson, Adebayo and Miami’s anaconda defense destroyed the Celtics in the second half…
Let’s clinch!!!
Obadiah!!
Let’s go Knicks!!!
wait max, so did you stay up late, or get up early 🙂
Stay up late, I wasn’t sure I could wake up if I fall asleep… 🙂
That was a stupid play by Miami.
mad max!!!
Max. No dancing in the streets!
Pack your shit, Leprechaun
In the fall of 2019, I had no hope that the Knicks would escape 5th place in the Atlantic division over the next three seasons. Philly had Embiid & Simmons. Toronto had Siakim, who looked like he was a Top 10 player in the first month of the season. Boston had Tatum, Walker & Brown. Brooklyn had Kyrie and the promise of KD. The Knicks had too many overpriced forwards, Mitchell Robinson and a void at guard.
Now, the Knicks are on the verge of the playoffs, they have one of the youngest teams, and they own 5 first round picks in the next three years.
Cue Chic]
Good Times
These are the good times.
https://youtu.be/Er9xGRolrT4
And the most cap space
The only blemish on the Knicks salary cap next year is $6M of stretch payment to Noah.
Really, we have to do post game interviews and delay the Knicks game??
Thank you Bam for running off the set!
Aw, we got the signature RJ blown layup in traffic. It’s the first quarter!
Max & geo yall both rock!
Oddly enough I’m not hyping myself up for us to win tonight, particularly since I felt this team accomplished their goal of this road trip of 3 wins. I almost don’t want to imagine what it would feel like to sweep the Lakers this season, go 4-2 on this tough road trip AND clinch an official playoff berth. Because I literally might dance on this air mattress I’m sleeping on at my sister’s crib here.
RJ off to his usual 0-3 start
Aw, another signature RJ blown layup in traffic! This is great!
RJ as usual with zero respect from the refs, it’s annoying…
is that the ghost of wes matthews?
I’m worried about Bullocks and his two fouls
Is it almost time for Derrick Rose?
I give Ainge a lot of shit (and boy, was his offseason shitty), but I also think we can’t really discount the fact that the Celtics had a really messed up season. I don’t like their chances at winning a championship with their core roster, they still have two excellent core pieces who won’t be dealing with COVID next season. So I wouldn’t count the Celtics out for next year. This year, though, yeah, stick a fork in ’em.
Looks like Randle has his midrange J working so far.
Dont underestimate this to be a revenge game of sorts for him. I hope he knows tonight that every Laker fan thumbed their noses at him regarding him not being their team anymore. “Good riddance” said one of my coworkers.
Eat, big dawg! Eat!
Can Rose play 42 minutes tonight?
Knicks gonna really miss Burks and IQ tonight vs a very good defense.
Elf out of position on defense leading to a 3, promptly followed by an attempted alley oop to the backboard. Sigh.
Yeah. I want exactly that.
Yeah but five years ago they were getting fitted for multiple rings and still had a stash of picks. Now they only have their own picks and Kemba is looking more and more like an albatross. Celtics fans are in despair and are calling for heads to roll.
And then Elf blows a layup. Even I can make a layup!
Second quarter can’t come too soon…
ah, we need to all get together and celebrate the knicks season with a shot of celtics’ fans’ salty tears…
Julius is playing really great defense on AD so far.
Oh, absolutely. I thought that about them when I thought that they were still going to be a top four seed this year! As a #7, possibly even 8th seed (heck, possibly not even make the playoffs!)? Didn’t see that coming and it’s even more embarrassing. I just doubt they’ll be this bad again next year. And I think Ainge will finally get off his ass and make a move.
We need to stomp on this team when AD goes out
Knicks came through the first 6 minutes (aka “Elf Season”) in good shape.
You’d think if there was such a beverage, you could find it in an LA bar, no?
It’s pretty amazing that the Nets, even after getting raised by the Celtics in that trade, are closer to a title.
At this point I’m really not sure if Pinson or Harper can really be worse than Payton, but I guess let’s trust Thibs and cherish the moment Rose comes in and the offense transforms immediately.
We survived The Plague minutes, we need to pounce when AD takes a breath…
Alas we have a short bench, IQ and Burks are a lot of firepower to replace…
And I mean the Nets had bottomed out with, like, no draft picks at one point last decade. Things that make you go “hmmm”.
After winning on Sunday I said to myself who cares if the Knicks lose to the Lakers but considering no LeBron or Schroeder plus a loss drops the Knicks to 6th and yeah I’d be pretty annoyed if they lose tonight.
Wait… Marc Gasol is on the Lakers now??? When the fuck did that happen???
Having two generational talents fall in your lap in the one off-season helps, but they were on track before that to put together a competitive team with not a great amount of draft assets, so credit where credit is due.
And Frankie from the corner. Life is good…
Wait, what? Frank? He didn’t foul, so I didn’t even see him sub in.
Frankie and the Magic Headband
We need a little Obi spark now
Frank Frank!!!
That was the Frank stretch in over a month. He hit a 3, got an assist to Rose, stole the ball and grabbed a contested rebound to end the quarter.
The Shamrock Shake at McDonalds.
I’m so writing the children’s book.
Can children’s books end tragically?
Without IQ and Burks this won’t be easy. Might need good Obi minutes to pull it out.
LMAO!!
Lmao Hahahaha – it’s not alcoholic but I’ll allow it.
Obi seems to have a little “showtime” in him. Maybe tonight is his night.
RJ gotta turn the motor on, though. Blown by on D a couple times now.
speaking of repeating acts (frank’s first minute on the court foul)…what in the heck is wrong with RJ at the beginning of games…is it mental or some basketball mechanic…
how can RJ struggle in nearly every first half we play???
Rose is, like, automatic
it’s crazy, right?
he’s shooting like sixty something percent over the last month – where did that come from?
i don’t know, i need to start practicing some of his yoga moves…
Losing to Davis having a monster game is fine by me, it happens, we just can’t let the other scrubs get hot and this should be a good game.
It’s a shame we don’t/can’t run because Obi is really good on the break
This is some pathetic defense against the Lakers bench.
The Lakers is big, man
Thibs not too happy with our defense…
Just b/c we’re in town: Obi ~ James Worthy? Maybe?
Having Frank and Obi on the court together is problematic, they both aren’t aggressive and give up the ball too quickly
May the Basketball Gods hear you!
We’re letting the damn scrubs beat us
Frank and Obi sniping
Please ignore my prior post lol
Frank and Obi keep us in the game…
Frank and Obi with all the Knicks 3pters just as we all expected!
I guess our own scrubs decided to score too! I’ll take it
We need to max Frank today.
“Next man up” right? Hahaha.
Back to back Knick 3s by Frankie and Obi… not something I’d ever thought I’d see happen this season. But I’ll take it.
some laker fan on their blog is saying…”oh shit…its the frank nikalina game”
Who among us was expecting to read that line?
If IQ & Burks get healthy, the playoff rotation will not include Frank, so this may be his swan song as a Knick.
Truth… but if his minutes tonight help to result in a win, he’ll earn an honorable mention for the season.
If we lose to Kyle fucking Kuzma I give up on this team
I find Kuzma highly annoying
Our guys know Kuzma’s in the game, right?
OMG Noel…
facepalm emoji…
Tell Rose to just give the damn ball to Frank and Obi, let them take over, and then trash talk James after nailing some more 3s.
Knicks tanking because they want to play the Bucks in the 1st rd.
The Knicks with a sudden hiccup.
FUzma
My poor little Butter Stumps…
“I find Kuzma highly annoying”
This. So much this. I never ever want to root for him.
Incredible missed dunk by Noel, stupid turnover by Randle,
two three pointers from the Lakers…
I’m pissed off… just a bit
Lakers shooting 50% from 2 and 3. Gotta tighten up the D.
TBF, the Lakers do have some talented scrubs on the roster.
If he played for the Hornets he would be Dwayne Bacon and nobody would know he exists, just as the Knicks defense apparently today.
This team always responds
Frank 6 points on 2-2 from 3 and 2 steals. He’s on national TV playing for another NBA contract.
Holy shit Randle just straight up bullied AD on that drive.
rj…not good
I nominate the TNT director for a Sports Emmy for getting the shot of Randle sprinting back to check AD after Randle made his free throw.
Wake up RJ.
RJ’s threes are so off tonight
Another nail-biter. Now let’s come out strong in the 2nd half!
it’s just preposterous how good rose has been
If Knicks just defend a little better in the 2nd half they’ll win this game easily.
We wouldn’t even be imagining the 4th seed if it wasn’t for Rose.
He has been fabulous.
Yeah, I was gonna say he was pressing a little bit tonight, but then he finished so strong. What-the-what?
We’re not playing at our best
and we took some hits but we responded every time.
We need to survive The Plague’s start of the third,
then we could try to win it…
I love this team, man. They have these halves where it feels like they’re playing badly but they end leading at halftime.
I mean Kuzma (cough) 18 points (cough) in 17 minutes. Maybe someone take his number?
We can, and I expect we will, play better than that in the second half
uh oh, no reggie tonight it looks like…
Payton is there simply to lull our opponents into a false sense of security. Then POW.
I’m sipping my fourth espresso and outside my windows the sparrows begin to chirp…
RJ and Bullock can raise their game in the second half…
Let’s go Knicks!
A few random unfalsifiable hot takes:
Lakers seem a bit longer than the Knicks. They’re not out-rebounding them as badly as I thought, but it’s still not good. And Bullock and Rose are our leading rebounders.
Rj tries to force his will to start games, instead of letting the game come to him. He’s not big enough, fast enough, or experienced enough to do that. He needs to dump the Red Bull before the game.
Here’s one that’s easily falsifiable. RJ seems to be smooth from the corner, but bring him up along the three point line and he seems to miss a lot. Now I have to go look for a shot map for the lad…
Frank definitely had an impact in that half. He could be a good 3 and D wing for us next season at the right price. He needs to play alongside a point guard like Rose to play well, though.
Channing Frye (!) just explained some finer points of the game to me on my League Pass.
EDIT: I just clicked on Frye’s Wiki page and suffered PTSD — “During the 2006–07 season, power forward David Lee led the team in rebounding and field goal percentage, and was statistically superior to Frye in almost every category, but Knicks’ head coach Isiah Thomas, until February 3, 2007, kept Frye in the starting lineup. Thomas’ rationale was that Frye was a superior perimeter shooter, and his perimeter shooting would make it harder for teams to double team Knicks leading scorer Eddy Curry. On February 3, in a game against the Orlando Magic, Thomas took Frye out of the starting lineup and replaced him with little-used center, Jerome James. James had only appeared in 19 of the Knicks’ 48 games, and averaged 2.7 points and 1.9 rebounds in those games. Thomas explained the change, saying, “I think Jerome is one of the best defensive big men in the game in terms of the center position.”
Where are you again?
Halves, haves or halfs?
Just outside Milano’s metropolitan area, south of the city.
Here’s one that’s easily falsifiable. RJ seems to be smooth from the corner, but bring him up along the three point line and he seems to miss a lot. Now I have to go look for a shot map for the lad…
I lied. It’s not true. Well it’s true in this game, but not overall.
Bullock was in foul trouble early. Only 1-3 from the field.
It’s hilariously sad that stuff like “Have a good game on national TV” actually probably does have an impact on NBA GMs.
I think RJ gets so pumped up for big games he sometimes turns into a variation of bad Randle. He’ll be fine. He’s just a kid. But I hope he grows up a little at halftime. 🙂
Nice. I once met a big Knicks fan in Venezia. I doubt that he’s still awake at this hour though.
True. lol
I think someone is going to give him another contract. He still has a reputation around the league as a plus defender and he’s been good from 3 this year. At his age and probably cheap price, he should find another job.
The defense is locking down now
we are rudderless with payton
Clyde would call this a tumultuous night for RJ
Wake up RJ
The neophyte is discombobulated for sure.
LeBron’s sideline coaching of AD reminds of when I coached travel soccer and all the dads would coach their kids from the sidelines.
Oooft. Picked a bad time to pick up the broadcast on my lunch break. Absolute garbage quarter so far from both teams.
nah, man. we’re not doing this again.
Still waiting for the Knicks to play some defense tonight…
THCJ I thought you said Drummond sucked…
Bad shooting night for RJ, even from the line…
I’m seeing Young Hollywood Smokes.
We would really not be good without Rose.
Doing what? Frank has contributed in this game, hasn’t he?
Drummond is a tough match up for Noel. Outweighs him by at least 50 pounds.
Bullock needs to dunk that shit
Ooops. That’s coming back.
Fucking hell Bullock, finish strong
Sorry Reggie but you can’t do this… dunk that fucking ball!
Pope is infallible
rj…stinking up the joint…
RJ stepped on the sideline. He needs to sit.
let obi run instead of rj…he is elf like tonight
We’re missing too many opportunities after good defensive plays… no good
Jesus, Randle is handling AD.
I can hear Clyde say, “The court is 50 feet wide, not wide enough for RJ/Rose on that play.”
Shhhhh!!
This is the least impressive 11-0 run I have ever seen
Huge block by Frank!
How we won this quarter is one of the mysteries of the universe…
some ugly ball right there…stumbling to the finish line on the long road trip
Knicks have gone on their defensive run but unfortunately their offense hasn’t joined in on the run yet.
More of this Frank, please…
Through 3Q, Payton is -8 and Rose is +11.
“Kuzma, met at the rim by Ntilikina!”
There are a whole lot of weird statements being made in this game.
he’s having his best game of the season! I might even want him to play more 4Q mins than RJ tonight.
But that doesn’t mean we need to talk about extending him.
The weirdest, ugliest 11-0 run of the season to finish the quarter, we take those too
If Reggie and RJ had hit a few shots this game would be over
summer league level
RJ and Bullock a combined 3-19…
we need them, at least one of them, to start hitting shots…
Would love to have Burks and IQ on the floor right now.
Even Rose has been infected by the total ineptitude in this game
Horton hears a who, Frank?
Frank!!!
Hahaha Frank
He’s playing pretty good in this one
Put the hammer down boys!!!
Frank with another block and some swag on an assist!
mustard on that frank
Great D by Frank followed by a no look to Taj for the easy basket!!!
Playing our asses off
Nice no-look pass from Ntilikina to Taj.
I’m ready to accept strat was right, let’s go Frank!
Love that pass to Taj, but holy shit, can you believe how astonishingly telegraphed every Laker pass is? They might as well yell, “Okay, I’m passing to ___ now!”
Frank is filling the stat sheet tonight.
Well they are playing without a point guard
True, but holy shit!
Hahahahah…the Lakers are embarrassing as fuck right now.
Frank from the corner!
my cable temporarily bonked and i watched the last 10 minutes via tnt overtime on an iphone. you need to stream a mosaic of four tiny camera angles to get all the action and constantly move your eyes between screens. i think know how the game looked to jr smith now.
frank!
I love that they’re also possibly pushing the Lakers to the play-in game, too! Imagine Lakers and Celtics in the play-in game! It would be delicious!
Who are the announcers in this game?
fric and frac
Randle! Beautiful turn around baseline jumper.
You would think the Lakers would know how to play in the halfcourt with so many vets and yet they seem like they’ve never seen a halfcourt set.
I’m 100% in on Randle. The hustle, the desire, he just plays so hard. A great leader for this team.
It’ll be interesting to see if Thibs puts RJ back in or leaves Frank out there
This would be the worst loss of the season, there, I said it
come on guys, hang tough
We can do this.
Brian Anderson and Jim Jackson. Jackson is clearly rooting for the Lakers.
The downside of selling out hard on every close out is that the Knicks are vulnerable to offensive rebounds. When Gasol is on the court, it is not an issue because he plays up high and never crashes the offensive boards. Drummond is a problem.
Helluva move by Randle
Frank is crashing the boards
These Laker passes are so insanely bad. I love it! “Three-quarters of the court pass into a double team? Don’t mind if I do!”
Challenge?
I know Frank is having a nice game and RJ is having a bad one but the Knicks’ offense has too many non-scorers out there
You called it!
AD has been thwarted at least 3 times when he leaked out early to basket hang. Twice by Randle, once by Rose.
We won the challenge
Did Jackson play for the Lakers or something and I totally forgot? Crazy biased commentary.
I love when Randle bully balls like this, it’s his best way to score, and yeah, we need RJ at least to handle the ball a little bit here and there.
Wait a second, did the Lakers seriously call that timeout, leading to the Knicks making that challenge? Holy shitty coaching, Vogel!
thibs…master of the challenge
What a shot by Rose!
He ended his career with them, but barely played in that last season.
These Laker passes are just so insanely bad. Hahahahaha.
seriously, why wouldn’t a team want to make Rose a good offer this summer?
What a bs star call
What kind of shitty foul call is that? If there’s a foul, call the foul, don’t not call the foul and call it after Davis makes a bit to-do about being fouled! I mean, he was probably fouled, but fuck, dude, that’s shitty refereeing.
Very mean of that ghost to punch AD in the face
So it looks like only Rose and Randle are allowed to touch the ball. Is that correct?
If the Knicks make a competitive offer, I have to believe Rose will want to stay with Thibs.
Lakers whistle at its finest, now you can initiate the contact on a static player and win a foul??
I think there is still a big risk you don’t get your money’s worth if he is not all in on his situation. Gotta think a lot of what he has been doing this year goes to playing for a familiar coach and generally having a good vibe around the team.
I hear you guys but I think the chances of us bring Rose back at an $8mm AAV are gonna be nil by the end of the playoffs.
Who calls the plays for the Lakers? What kind of offensive set was that? It was like they played directly into what the Knicks wanted them to do.
Huge miss and rebound. We’ve gotta close this one out!
Frank has gotten a lot of crunch time tonight.
Randle has played amazing defense vs AD tonight.
Wow. Thibs sat Rose for that one defensive play. Nice!
I think it’s Jim Jackson
Take us home Julius!
I love how Randle has been competing on defense, really really good job today.
Randle, buddy, you’re allowed to let a teammate take a shot.
This has been some serious horseshit offense down the stretch
We have to get a shot off there. Just have to.
A little too much “bad” Randle on offense down the stretch
Terrible offensive play…
Well it’s gonna be up to the defense to clinch a playoff spot.
That was the old Melo “no way I’m passing this ball” play.
You’re better than that, Julius
We’ve been running high screens for Randle all night and getting mismatches, why not there??
this game turned when Frank inexplicably left Matthews open for that corner 3. Hope that gaffe doesn’t cost us a W.
Frank with 23 minutes of decent play.
Well, they have 3.1 seconds to win it. Plenty of time.
Some of these offensive boards have killed us. damn it
Wes fucking Mathews are you shitting me.
That was a sloooooooooow count on the in-bounds, right?
3.1 seconds isn’t enough time for us to even set up a play. I hope I’m wrong.
That could have been way worse, Pope was wide open for 3
It reminds me of when the Knicks knew Mark Jackson was going to take the final shot after LJ’s 4-point play game and Ewing was on him and he still tried to shoot it!
Why is Frank on the floor
He had a solid impact on both sides, including with some of his help defense that will go unnoticed. But it’s all for nothing unless we win.
shades of patrick ewing finger roll
blew this one…
OT for a 10pm game on the west coast at the end of a 6 game road trip. OMG.
I think we win in OT. You?
As Ringo sang, “You know it don’t come easy.”
Fucking unbelievable
The offense also died in the fourth quarter because we were playing 3-on-5.
Yay Frank doe!
Ugh. This game would not be close if we hadn’t given up so many offensive rebounds. They’ve basically negated the turnovers.
We blew this game, now we need to win it again…
Bad play after bad play in the last two minutes…
What would the point of fouling there by the Lakers be? Jim Jackson is not good at analysis.
The Lakers had plenty of bad plays, too. Like the pass to Drummond’s…feet?
For all his greatness this season, Randle hasn’t made any game winners or tie-ers
Yeah JK’s right. I don’t care he’s been bad, put RJ back.
i was 5pct worried elf would start ot
Jackson said a lot of things that are just incorrect tonight.
You mean other Knicks are allowed to shoot?
People don’t realize how much we miss Mitch. Noel is good, but just not good enough to match up against the best centers.
Hahhahaha…these Laker sets. Too, too funny.
rose is gassed
honestly our sets are worse
Randle is not a closer yet.
That was a sketchy foul by Bullock.
I wish we’d go to RJ more
Knicks about to kiss any chance of homecourt in the playoffs goodbye.
You can see it. None of our guys want the shot right now.
Boo-hoo-hoo. The poor Lakers missing all those players. The Knicks are missing 3 rotation players.
I don’t think it’s the sets, I think it’s guys just not passing the ball. The Lakers are trying, they just set up incompetently. They’re acting like they’re going to get to run while the Knicks clearly won’t allow that.
Come on, Rose, somehow win this jump!
That’s a good try, Rose!
Yes, but I don’t care about theirs… 🙂
We had a 24-second violation and conceded a game tying offensive rebound, all in the last 30 seconds…
It’s slipping away
What a three!!!
Rose: cool as ice
The times this team really gets into trouble is when the offense goes belly up and/or runs out of gas. Looking like the case right now.
RANDLE!!!
Julius!!!!!
I just woke some people up
It’s nice when we pass the ball.
Our never say die Knicks
I have to be awake to go to work in 6 hours….
How funny is it to see the Lakers say, “Eh, why feature Anthony Davis? Let’s feature Talen Horton-Tucker”?
And maaaaaybe I spoke a bit too soon 🙂
We would be nowhere without Derrick Rose example one million
Rose!
Holy shit DRose
Maybe they ought to not put the ball in Talen Horton-Tucker’s hands?
I don’t know about using our last time out there.
Derrick Rose with the HUGE steal. Fingers crossed.
Derrick Fucking Rose.
Rose just taught THT a lesson. If you beat someone off the dribble at half court, either go hard to the basket, pass to catch a defense in rotation or back it out.
Rose was looking at THT coming up court like a lion at a baby gazelle
me, too. but at least we’re not Max. Dude probably has a meeting in 10 minutes.
Boo-urns
What is the benefit of fouling Rose there just to stop the clock? It gives the Knicks more time to think, right?
Wut
Okay, I guess you can feature Talen Horton-Tucker sometimes.
I have very little interest in watching the Bucks destroy the Knicks in the 1st rd.
Fuck RJ was terrible tonight
wow
wtf was that
I really don’t get why the Knicks were working away from the basket on that play. I guess the foul was smart.
Dammit!!!
Sooooo close to sweeping the daggone Lakers.
We should have stuck with Frank.
At least they tried, but still an embarrassing loss. If this team wants any chance they can’t be losing to the literal trash tier Lakers scrubs, for fucks sake.
Knicks just went from possibly winning a playoff series to maybe winning 1 game in the playoffs.
Is the bright side that the Lakers could catch Dallas and send them to a play in game?
We were able to lose this game not once but two times…
We got beat by two threes from a 26% shooter…
I don’ know what to say, I’m speechless…
I’m not despondent or anything but that was a cheap loss. Felt like they didn’t deserve it.
I know he played well but I really think Frank blew it. We were up 89-84 and the Lakers had nothing cooking and he ran away from Wes Matthews in the corner to make a low-impact double. Matthews hit the 3. If he does his job there, the Knicks probably defend the play and win the game. It was a very stupid defensive play.
If Thibs hadn’t wasted that last time out when he thought Randle was trapped on the sideline, we could have ran a play. Idk why rose didn’t go to the basket though…
Well, let em get back to the Garden and take care of business for these final 3 games. The 4/5 slot is still very much in play.
They still have plenty of chances to secure the #4 seed.
Look at the Hawks schedule, Heat have tiebreaker with Knicks. The Knicks literally have to win out to have any chance at finishing 4/5 now which they certainly can do but even then it might not be enough now.
We should win all our last 3 games.
You’re being ridiculous.
Oh sure, not good chances, but plenty of chances! We’ve seen crazier things this season, right?
Too much “bad” Randle on offense down the stretch. He’s still trying to do too much. He gets himself tied up or is forced to throw up trash too often. If the double comes he has to pass quickly and not look around for the perfect pass until he’s all tied up . If they move the ball it will find the open player. This was a very disappointing because they should have won this game several times, but they gave up some key offensive rebounds and played way too much iso. They’ll learn from this, but they have a long way to go against good teams that can defend. The Lakers were missing more players than us, but not having both Quick and Burks really hurt given we were struggling to score.
He’s not being ridiculous. He’s being ridiculous squared or cubed.
Knicks now 2-9 in games decided by 3 pts or less, worst record in the NBA.
Heat play Bucks & 76ers. As long as those teams don’t rest their starters, we have a good shot at 4/5
As much as Randle shit the bed he was also exhausted, and he was exhausted because RJ Barrett, and Reggie Bullock to a lesser extent, gave us literally nothing. This loss is on them, not Randle who was out there busting his ass defending and getting defended by the Lakers only good player.
RJ is 20 and still has a long road ahead but he can’t be this trash in such a crucial game for this team to have any real aspirations.
The most painful part is AD had a pretty bad game and we got beat by Laker scrubs
Obi should have gotten more burn. He did all the right things, and he’s often a big help on the D boards.
Frank had a good game, too. Gotta give credit.
If anyone blew it tonight, it was Brian. We were up five then he started making fun of the Lakers’ sets and their passing. You know the rest 😉
Don’t worry. We’re gonna win out. Playoffs here we come.
Knicks lost because of an offensive reb by Wes Mathews, even during a feel good season we are reminded how cursed we are rooting for the Knicks.
Just to be clear, strat & dudes…
you think it was smart to leave Matthews open in the corner just to wander ineffectively into space?
Let’s not make this a Frankie Smokes thing. He played really well, then he made a terrible mistake that turned the final minutes of the game completely around. The Lakers hadn’t scored in 3 mins and suddenly they were given a gift.
Didn’t know this. They’d best pull it together.
The TNT guys were saying Randle needs to take that last shot. How?!?
What’s preposterous is the Knicks are in a 3 way tie and have the best point differential and conference record of the group yet finish 3rd in the current scenario.
The Sixers’ loss to the Pacers tonight was huge. That means that they need to win another game to clinch the #1 seed, so they’ll be playing to win on Thursday. Big, big big.
I agree with you about the bigger picture, but Randle is our #1 and we were in a position to win despite some bad performances elsewhere, If he’s the #1 and they double he has to make the quick pass. This is why I don’t consider him a real #1. He’s way better than we expected, but he still reverts into “bad” Randle too often and tries to do too much. He’s not a “take over the game” superstar, but that’s what he tries to be. He has to learn to stay within his circle of competence and stop either throwing up trash or allowing himself to get tied up.
agree…he takes way too long to punish the double team…that shit when he ran the clock down in regulation…we win the game if he makes the right pass…I mean he lays it on the line every game but that is one area where he still is deficient…
So in a game where Julius Randle bossed Anthony Davis, Strat is here to cast shade on Randle and stand up for Frank’s shitty defense. Okay.
I’d have to look at the entire play again to see why Frank was where he was, but even though Mathews was open when he got the ball, Frank closed out really well. It wasn’t an easy shot. That said, either way it’s silly to say he blew the game. He played great defense overall and did exactly what you hope from Frank on offense. He hit his 3s, made a couple of really nice passes, and kept the ball moving when he got a touch in a non shooting situation. We have a few guys that played sub par tonight and the offense sucked down the stretch. Thibs deserves some of the blame tonight for what we did out of timeouts. You have to run something coherent once in awhile instead of just giving it to Rose and Randle.
Randle still reverts to bad Randle sometimes, but I’d still argue that it happens a lot more when no one around him is doing anything. We’ve seen Randle finding open shooters all season long, but these shooters couldn’t even be on the floor today because they were shit, and as much as Frank played well today, the Lakers defense barely acknowledged he was there in the 4th.
It’s a thing Julius has to think about for the future? Absolutely yes. But today I’m willing to cut him some slack and say this was on Barrett, Bullock and the lack of IQ and Burks.
I totally agree on this too, but the only two guys who hit their threes tonight off kick outs were sitting on the bench: Frank and Obi. I get it. That’s weird, but, by the end, it was just Randle probing and passing back to Rose, or Rose probing and passing back to him. There was no relief/scoring from RJ or Bullock at all, so making the “right” pass prolly seemed useless. Arguably, the right pass is never useless, but I get why Randle takes the garbage himself in that case. It’s still ugly and doomed to fail, but I understand his dilemma. No one else wanted the ball.
Really can’t say enough about missing IQ & Burks. Sorely missing a 3rd shot creator down the stretch.
The game is 100% on Bullock & RJ. You don’t win many games with your starting wings shooting 4/22. Really should have stuck with Frank.
This loss is wholly on the shoulders of RJ (2-13. 0-7 from three, 2 missed FTs, the obscene last shot) and Bullock (2-9 including the “you can’t do that” blew fastbreak basket),
with a little help from Noel (how could he miss that dunk?) and the usual shitty performance by Payton.
Randle, Rose, Frank, Taj were not perfect but without them there’s no game tonight…
And Obi was used too little, he had a fairly decent game…
I really hope that Burks and IQ are going to take away The Plague’s minutes, he’s becoming more and more frustrating to watch as the season goes along…
We can’t give away first and third quarters starts every single time…
Yeah, this was one case where Thibs may have crossed himself by not doing what he’s been saying publicly: letting the next guy step up. Both Frank and Obi had solid games for their minutes. Thibs could have made better use of them in the second half once it was clear they were hitting and RJ and Bullock were gassed. I know that’s a tough call, especially bc we’ve seen RJ have some monster fourth quarters, but it wasn’t happening tonight.
Still we’re only a proper box out from winning tonight and celebrating all things Derrick Rose. His timely three. His steal, etc. We’ll get there.
Tough loss. Killed on the boards again. Mental breakdowns from RJ. They need to run some kind of offense at the end of games. Maybe try a Rose/Randle pick and roll with whoever is shooting well. They should probably platoon Taj and Noel with Taj playing on offensive possessions down the stretch.
Miami will lose at least one more. Knicks just need to take care of business at home to get the 5th seed.
Sorry CDiggy, if anyone gives you crap just tell them we want LA to beat out Dallas and we’re gonna kick the Bucks ass anyways
We had our chances to get this one but blew them.
That’s basketball
Next game
The worst part about waking up in he middle of the night is waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to go back to bed. The second worst is loading up that game result after waking up.
Don’t watch it, especially the last two minutes of regulation and the last of overtime…
This one started at 5:45 in the morning here.
Woke up at 7:?? and took a sneak peek at the score (87-84) and decided to let it end before watching it from the start without knowing the final score.
We may lost the game but We won Frankie Headband and i won some sleep!
Dissapointing ending but going 3-3 on this West Coast Trip was a Trip to Paradise if we want to be fair.
This is a great season, the team made miracles all year long and the road trip was good,
yesterday they have a lot working against (last game of a long road trip, important rotation players missing and so on), but the feelings watching the game live are always affected by situation and opportunities,
We had a chance to clinch a “real” playoffs spot plus to send both the Lakers and Celtics to the Play-in. We lead most of the game but were unable to close both in regulation and overtime.
With an average shooting night from RJ and Bullock it’s an easy win, alas it didn’t happen.
I’m sure Thibs will have them ready for the homestand.
Let’s beat the pesky Spurs, clinch at least the 6th seed and then let the chips fall for for the first round matchup.
P.S.
I feel for CDiggy, we were so close… 🙂
Well, that game thread was a journey….
Very tough loss, but hey, can’t have tough losses without having expectations. Most of us would have signed up for 3-3 going into this trip, so let’s come home and finish it out.
BTW with Kyrie’s injury, maybe if our destiny to play the Nets in a 3-6 matchup, that’s not such a bad thing….OMG imagine how many Knicks fans there would be in the Barclays Center!
The loss sucked but this is why I ain’t bugging about it. Going 4-2 would have been amazing but yes 3-3 is perfectly acceptable.
We need another legit shot creator & playmaker – something we all know. And as painful as it looks, in a weird way part of me is OK with when the the offense grinds to a halt bc I feel Knick management will have no illusions on where to upgrade the team.
And thanks so much guys for thinking of my dealing with LakerLand… which thankfully has been awfully quiet lately. I think many of them are being blasé until LeBron gets back. Frontrunning-ass fans… remember these the same folks that “protested” outside Staples Center after LeBron’s first season he didn’t lead them into the playoffs. Nvm that that team was injury-plagued.
I mean I’m a Yankee fan, but I don’t recall us protesting outside the Stadium bc we haven’t won a World Series in over a decade.
Nothing tougher than staying up until 1:30 AM on a weeknight only for that to happen.
At the end of the day, without IQ and Burks we basically have no margin for error offensively and won’t win many games in which Randle is subpar and Barrett is awful. Gotta replace Knox/Frank/Harper/Pinson with guys who can help out in that regard, whether it’s through the draft or free agency.
Our destiny is still mostly in our own hands, as it seems unlikely Miami wins out. We’re better than all 3 teams we’re playing to finish the season and it’s incumbent on these guys to play like it. Meanwhile I am happy to donate my left knee to Alec Burks and my left ankle to Immanuel Quickley.
I’m not sure the regulars around here realize just how miserable this place was in recent years…
How many Ntilikina arguments can one person reasonably process before losing their sanity completely?
Hell, I can’t even remember how to post in the right thread. Oh well.