Welcome to the start of the 2021-22 NBA season, everyone! The Knicks kick off the season with a home game against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks will be thin in the frontcourt as Taj Gibson will miss the game due to the birth of his child and Nerlens Noels will miss the game due to a sore knee (not foreboding at all) and Mitch obviously can’t be counted on for a full game at this point.
The Celtics are not an easy team to beat even with their odd offseason, as they still have probably the two best players on the court in Tatum and Brown (I guess Randle is close to Brown, perhaps?), but the Knicks should still take this one.
As part of our all-pol content, I’ll ask how many minutes we’ll see a Randle-Obi 5/4 tandem tonight.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Let’s go, Knicks!
451 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks vs. The Team That Gifted Them Fournier and Kemba For…Reasons”
Quick-Quick!
From what I understand there’s a robust KBloggers contingent at the Garden,
pump up the volume boys!
Let’s Go Knicks!
Let’s gooooooo!!!
oh noooo mister bill…dang, forgot to set my dvr…must work faster to make it home by halftime at least…
So first it was Noels knee now its his foot apparently .
Heeeeeere weeeeeee gooooooooo!!!!
No Taj. 1/2 Mitch. So, Jerichooooo?
Let’s do it!
105-94 NY wins!
one quarter in and duarte’s already realized jeremy lamb’s potential
Around the Conference update: Chris Duarte is 24 year old and yadda yadda but he belongs.
Plus the Bulls high octane offense scored 14 points in the first quarter against the lowly Pistons…
Kemba is really a great teammate, it shows
Mitch Mitch!
Miiiiiitch
Mitch almost had an assist come on evan
Can Randle get MIP 2 years in a row? lmao
Mitch is such an improvement over Noel on the offensive side. It’s not close.
No looks for RJ is interesting
Losing Invisible Sixth Man in free agency was the worst thing…
So I guess RJ Barrett really isn’t part of the team anymore.
Ok..
Where’s the D?
I love Mitch so much.
Brown going for the COVID 19 in Q1?
If this keeps up I’m going to make this name change permanent.
Giving up 22 points in 6 minutes is sub optimal.
From up 11 to down 4. Jaylen Brown took over. Who’s guarding him?
I hate Barrett missed FTs…
Mitch is rebounding his ass off
first rookie off the bench is interesting
Burks subs the ghost of RJ Barrett…
New improved offense is just Randle winning MVP
Anyone thinks the Celtics are going to shoot 66% from everywhere all game? Yeah, that’s what i thought.
Julius Randle is playing Melo ball so far this game. I’m cringing every time the ball goes to him, because he seems to have taken a vow never to pass.
Celtics are heading toward putting up a buck-20.
Julius with sticky hands and bad turnovers,
Jaylen Brown is destroying us mercilessly…
IQ is gonna make a three this year, right?
Better put RJ on Brown
if you’d told me someone would build an obi statue at msg i’d have thought it was good news
Hopefully the Celtics won’t continue shooting 66% from 3pt
Adding Kemba and Fournier was supposed to improve Randle’s shot quality. So far it’s not working. lol
How about guarding Number 7?
The three point aggression definitely carrying over
Can the invisible 6th man regress all of last season in 1 game?
Brien is doing great, but I think also Udoka has the Celtics playing better offense
Reality check first quarter, the Celtics have the two best players on the floor,
we need to do much better and win with strength in numbers.
I don’t expect the Celtics to shoot this well in the next three, but with our wobbling defense who knows…
Randle picking him where he left off in the Atlanta series, forcing things and not letting the game come to him.
Celtics can’t shoot this well all game. And their bench looks weak.
Let’s face it, the only player on earth that could have annoyed the crap out of Jalen Brown this quarter plays for the Mavs now. 🙂
as clyde would say..”inauspicious start”…at least my doordash order is on the way
Disappointing job for the bench unit until now…
Reggie Bullock?
Feeble layups and missed FTs, fuck fuck fuck…
Jesus Christ Quickley! WTF was that shot?
Thibs is going to blow
Some atrocious defense
Good point. That means there are two. 🙂
Sadly I think the Jericho Sims hype train is going to get derailed very quickly when he has to do anything other than jump high
Stupid FGA by Quick, he’s going to hear from Thibs
If Quickley is gonna brick his 3’s might as well give Grimes his minutes
We got this. Jaylen is gonna run out of gas (this time).
We can’t make a shot but at least Jeff advocated for violence against people wearing Boston jerseys
Yeah, it was hilarious
Brown is going to the bench, let’s get the lead again
Quickley played like butt the entire preseason and is still playing like butt
Get #5 outta the game
Quickley has been a disaster.
Quickley. Yips? Guy is a mess out there.
Grant Williams can’t handle the Randle
Ok!
Just a run behind
Let’s get serious!
Hey Noble, JVG said you can beat your sister’s boyfriend if you like it! LOL
Quickley lost his shot at the end of last year and he’s still slumping badly,
Offense is 99% of his game so without the shot he’s totally worthless.
I want some Grimes!
Has RJ been canceled?
Goodness, Randle.
RANDLE!
Randle run!
Julius is targeting MVP…
Tatum bricking balancing Brown cooking us
Mitchell!
Mitch!!!!!
MITCH!!
That’s the way it should look!
Should have extended Mitch last week.
Well, this turned around in a very nice way
Was that Michael J Fox?
I’m so happy to see that he’s still doing well enough to get out and go to games. I hadn’t seen him in awhile.
They really should have just offered him it, at least.
At this point, though, he’ll probably just play the season and get some crazy offers.
Cmon Rj
It seems pretty obvious that whatever tier Boston is on, we’re on that tier. These are two pretty good teams.
I was wondering what happened to our defense during the first quarter. Then the 2nd quarter happened.
Looks like Kemba’s left knee got knocked on that.
fuck Schroeder
fun half!
Also, I may have been wrong about Randle regressing on 3p%
Well pretty much everybody except Randle and Mitch played like crap and we’re only down four so that’s cool
This a competitive game between two good teams and one of them is the New York Knicks. Better hope that Mitch can play 40 minutes!
Looks like he was sitting next to Dustin Hoffman?
We managed to keep it close despite only Julius, Mitch and in part E4 been up to the task,
Barrett with a disappointing half, Kemba didn’t play well and the bench unit was terrible.
With a slight regression to the mean we’re going to win this one…
Mitch is a second round pick, so he can be extended at any time, not that I expect it to happen.
RJ needs a coffee
A strong one
If he drinks one during halftime we’ll get this one easily
Really fun first half. From my vantage point it took Mitch all of one game to return to form. Seems like Randle gets better with every new kid.
Our offense still needs work, i didn’t see the anticipated ball movement.
Right, but the best chance of him taking the extension was getting him to take it before he proved himself healthy. At this point, if you’re him, do you really take $12 million a year when Jarrett Allen just got $20 a year for five years as a restricted free agent?
iq turned into Landry fields over the summer…
Once the Celtics cooled off from 3, order was restored…
Who would have thunk it? 😉
You?
🙂
Time to dominate them, now.
Nice look from Fournier to Mitch
Mitch doesn’t look better on FTs…
Too much dribbling. Not enough player and ball movement.
Randle looks great
Mitch is absolutely gassed
Can someone lit a fire under Barrett’s ass please?
Really bad defense on last few sequences. Offense not much better.
So much yuck.
Kemba looks washed.
RJ looks lost.
IQ looks clueless.
Fournier can’t defend.
Ugh.
Kemba has lost almost all his explosiveness. Just no pop there at all.
I think defenders are staying home instead of doubling Randle. So the new additions are making a difference, they’re letting Randle dominate.
Is it too soon to trade all the vets and tank? lol
Grimes in for RJ, as a treat?
Not to sound any alarms, but Kemba looks like he has no explosiveness at all…
As JVG said, if RJ gets lost in the muck of all this, it’s extremely no bueno.
gonna take thibs 15 games to sort this shit out….
can see now why Kemba was put on waivers…
we’re running a lot of my turn your turn out there.
small ball alert
obi…rally killer
Yeah, it’s…ungood.
Time Lord definitely on my Daniel Gafford All Stars
Toppins shot looks fugly
the haters and the trolls are fired up tonight
Obi, Barrett and Quickley, the young guns have been a disaster so far….
THAT should wake up RJ!
Fournier’s defense will not be a problem.
Anyone else notice that the organist at MSG is playing all sorts of weird new stuff when the Knicks are on offense? I disapprove
Signs of life from RJ
Those two Fournier missed threes with Brown scoring on the other side are heavy…
Fournier has looked solid outside of some missed threes
Nice outfit Spike! 🙂
Loved that sequence
Obi!!!!
He’s been great tonight on both ends.
Solid returns on the Toppin Randle front court so far
Toppin with the finish!! And1
great block by randle
And now RJ
He was invisible in the first half…
Randle gives you whatever it takes. He may soon be my favorite Knick ever.
Obi for the lead!
Tatum’s been killing them. 1 for 10! Yikes!
OBI!!!!!
Fuck yeah
That guy was born to run. His glide speed is tremendous.
Really impressive defense from the small lineup! Props to Thibs for going out of his comfort zone.
Spike Lee is dressed up tonight
I agree. I like Fournier’s game a lot. Seems a very smart player. Always with a nose for the ball. And, as I type, he gets a block.
Obi s moving well!
Update: the toppin-Randle frontcourt NFT sells for 10 million dollars
Gritty comeback! They’re not even hot…just gritty!
So is our future bleak or great? You guys have to make up your minds! LOL
Oh ye of little faith
Yes
I don’t know but this game has been a real roller coaster
The Knicks woke up.
It’s nice to see that Randle doesn’t have to carry the offense by himself. Fournier is a bonafide offensive threat. He’s missed from beyond the arc today but he’ll light it up during the season.
Obi is a factor.
That was Fournier’s MO in Boston, according to a prominent writer on CelticsBlog…smart player, doesn’t make many mistakes
We are up 1 point and I’d be hard pressed to name one thing we are doing well on either side except for in spurts.
I wasn’t thinking Boston was this good. Now I am worried about them.
On the plus side, Fournier is looking good. When the Celtics focus on Randle he can pass to Fournier and Fournier can make them pay.
Boston is, um, good. So I like all our guys tonight. IQ is the only one making me nervous.
Hi RJ!
Barrett and Obi got some Red Bull at halftime…
Barret is back!
RJ was waving at randle for a good 6 seconds
I like 2nd half Barret
That was a hell of a pass, from Fournier to RJ from the baseline
2nd half Barrett lives!!!
So much for that MO
That was dumb but also total bullshit
Grimes sighting!
RJ did this last year sometimes, too, where he just took over games. It’s great to see it this season.
Good end to the 3rd quarter. Defense tightened up. The Randle-Toppin 5-4 is working.
I’m not sure if hitting wide open 3’s and transition dunks off steals qualify as “taking over” but I like it anyway!
On that last three the Celts left him completely open for ten seconds. Curious.
You jinxed it
He should play 12 minutes one on one against Knox every night before the game.
He has “it”. It may take time for his skill to get where we’d like it to be, but when it does he’s going to make a lot of big shots in important games
Lock em up Quentin!
Lob it up near Mitch and Obi and eventually it’s getting dunked
lol
We need a nickname for them.
hey slick pass obi
This lineup wow is it playing fast.
Obi’s putting on a show!
Best Obi minutes I’ve ever seen
Knicks out and running
I think this, let Obi get in transition idea is so out of the box it might just work….
That cut on the out of bounds play was pretty too
Obi raises the ceiling on our offense so much
Huge shot by Rose!
When was the last time we had a team that could run? Right before the Melo trade?
Obi is damned fast on the break
I think we can forget about Mitch stretching his game out to the 3 point line for awhile based on his free throws.
Oh hell yeah
OBIIIIII!
We do have a damn good second unit.
Toppin is a hoppin.
Wow! Over the Toppin!
Obiiii
Gentlemen. This is our team!
Rose has looked really dory. That was a wonderful feed
Only been 1 game but I think this is already the funnest Knicks team to watch in my lifetime.
Randle is gonna get a lot of rest this year
Newsflash:
Obi is finishing at the rim.
4thQ knicks are a different team!
How about “Dunk Dynasty”?
the silence of the haters
burks is out there jogging suicides next to our 4 by 100 road runner death squad
Obi-1 Kenobi!
The Knick 2nd unit is like a good team’s 1st unit.
So nice to see Obi and RJ contributing in this half. Spread the love around.
Not mine, heh heh, but yeah….
LOL
IQ and Sim have been glued to the bench
Basically never. Maybe Linsanity a bit. We have basically never run.
Mitch!!!!
Man, I love when they have Obi and Mitch both there to handle lobs. You can’t cover both!!
Some of these OREBs by Boston are killing us!
Still a lot of time. Gotta play the right lineup down the stretch.
Terrible defensive rebounding and bad offensive possessions. Why is Burks trying to shoot over RWIII?
Those fucking OREB kept them in the game…
For all his strengths defensive rebounding is a bit of a problem for Mitch.
Julius got some rest at least, maybe too much…
Feels like a 15 point lead but just five somehow.
They really should have either Randle or E4 in the game at all times to close this out
Marcus Smart being the Celtics’ go-to guy is hilarious stupid.
Wow. What a game
I mean c’mon Fournier doubters. That last sequence?
Evan Fournier has won the Garden with this two defensive plays…
is that obi toppin or dr j?
I’m super impressed with E4
Playoff Obi for a whole season doesn’t sound bad
Who said Fournier was bad on D?
Fournier has been sneaky.
Obi Obi Obi
I’m loving this kid. He’s got a long way to go, but what a leap he’s made from early last year.
Obi has been seriously smooth at the rim given how fast he’s coming downhill.
How could Grant Williams be THAT wide open? Damn!
Julius RANDLE!
Mark Jackson saying out loud what we are all thinking: last year was no fluke for Julius Randle
I love this team. I’ll repeat, major props to Thibs for adjusting.
Randle? WTF?
Smart is helping us. LOL
Will Randle win back to back most improved player?
Me. And I stand corrected.
Taj’s baby being born has helped us learn our small lineup is for real.
We are surviving mental lapse after mental lapse.
I’d rather have Rose than Kemba to close the game.
I love Randle, but we got Kemba and Fournier so it would be less necessary for him to think or actually have to do too much. He’s still trying to do too much. He has to make better decisions and cut down these TOs and suspect shots.
Randle stop being Melo k thanks
Fucking Walker with the Hero Ball antics.
Pass the ball!
Randle needs to pass
Stop passing it to 30
I meant Randle.
Randle’s hero balling is costing us a lot…
Great block from Obi
Also, I don’t like Mark Jackson. Still
The offense these last few minutes has been as stagnant as in the playoffs.
Challenging the best shotblocker in the league is not great strategy…
Some of these offensive possessions are dog shit. You can’t just give the ball to Randle and play hero ball. This is atrocious basketball,
The problem with MSG is that it ultimately gets into the head of every superstar who plays there.
Randle so wants to be the hero tonight he is forcing it at a time when the offense had a nice rhythm.
Suck it!!!’n
evan!!
That was a BALLSY shot!!!
Fournier with some onions.
Fournier ain’t shook
The Celtics had no idea that Randle was going to pass the ball right there.
Fournier with a dagger-3
Fournier with a big shot!
Go NY, Go NY, Gooooo
Yeah!!!!
GODDAMNIT
WTF is Kemba doing.
I mean, Jesus Kemba
Walker…no good
Why the fuck is EVERYTHING we do on offense involve Randle?
Kemba with two consecutive bad plays…
I think the Knicks just went into a coma
Oh man that looked clean by RJ
Wtf!?!???
i thought cardiac kemba meant something else
Derrick Rose should have been in this game…
last 3 minutes have been pathetic…Walker is embarrassing himself
Should not be this close
Surprised Mitch didn’t enter sooner when the C’s were getting all their points at the rim.
“Are you not entertained!!!!”
Shouldn’t be this close. Sloppy stuff from Kemba.
Wow. Burks almost didn’t get it in. Fournier with the excellent move to the hoop.
Holy shit what a shot
LOL this is some bullshit.
People blame Kemba, but its clear he’s got orders to get the ball to Randle no matter what.
All of those stupid turnovers.
Lord
Jesus fucking shit
ygtbkm
Fuck my life
Unbelievable.
So much fucking bullshit.
This team went against everything that earned them the lead on offense the last 3 minutes of the game.
I have no idea what the hell that was.
Just terrible
Yeah maybe we suck
That totally sucked. Both Fournier and Kemba kind of screwed up on that last play.
Kemba’s two dumb turnovers killed us, this game was already won, unbelievable…
Fitting that this game goes to OT.
We made a string of the dumbest plays I’ve seen in awhile capped by Brown hitting an absurd shot
#WTF#
It never ceases to amaze me how teams that get a lead immediately abandon the ball movement that gets them the lead in the last 3 minutes. It’s like it’s a thing that you can’t coach out of these guys.
I miss Elf
Not exactly savvy D there by the vet guards…
totally. playing to win -> playing not to lose.
Can someone please get a body on brown?
Boston scored 10 points in the last 27 second of regulation, it’s a nightmare…
Fournier over Bullock idc
Thibs needs a defensive assistant to help these guys out. lol
What a game!
I don’t get why Rose is not playing. He is fresh.
“It’s raining threes” lol
RJ has to know that’s an easy dunk by Mitch if he makes the pass
Whats Kemba even doing out there
Fatigue. Short shots
Great Fournier game but that last one gahhhh
Where’s Rose?
Jeez what a game…gotta win this.
I would have liked a timeout before that last shot.
Wild game. Fourier is the real Robin to Randles Batman
what the fuck was that shit julius
Such a frustrating game.
At least it’s been entertaining? ????
I really can’t tell whose final shot attempt was fuglier. I vote Tatum.
i’m not in shape for this yet
get rose in there…
This is the first game of the season and I already need my meds.
This is gonna be a maddening, frustrating, exciting season.
That’s gonna be a long tape session.
Who’s in better shape? Double-OT opening night. What could you wish for?
Can DRose play? Kemba’s bringing nothing out there right now.
Let’s burn Kemba out in game 1…
Great D by RJ on that last Tatum possession
I’ve now pulled out all my hair and there’s still 5 min left
Win or lose, it’s a great game
Which team is in better shape?
Double-OT opening night!
I couldn’t wish for more!
This is honestly one of the most wacky games I can remember. Just so much strange stuff going on.
I know they want Kemba to start but Rose has looked way better.
Get Toppin in there and go small. Why not?
Madness
This is some trash ass basketball.
Mitch has been big on defense
Randle should never bring the ball upcourt…ever…
I think exhaustion has set in for everyone.
This game is nuts
His decision making is pathetic at times. I just never ends even when he has help.
The Invisible Sixth Man has been huge in this second overtime!
That was just pure willpower by Randle. He is exhausted
Defense! Defense! Defense!
“Hmm, I wonder if Mitch can play a full game…how about double fucking overtime?”
Ugh.
I’m exhausted just watching this!
Honestly they should just trot the 2nd unit out there and run the Celts out of the building
Back-breaker by Rose!
RJ playing some great D too I should have said too
Evan is going to have a borough named after him tmw
BTW, kudos to the refs for just letting the players play. Not too many whistles.
Rose comes up big when it counts!
Fournier is clutch
Le vengeance game from evan fournier
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Lesson learned tonight: Evan Fournier isn’t afraid of MSG.
What a win!
On the way to 50 wins!
Fantastic game
Great game! 🙂
82*
Over/under on how many heart attacks Knicks fan had tonight? WHAT. A. GAME!
Fournier is underpaid.
What a start for our season, I can’t survive 81 games like this, next time they’ll better tell Kemba to stop doing dumb things…
Yeah, Kemba wasn’t gonna deliver that at the end.
What a game.
And let’s not forget Obi Obi Obi Obi!
Farfa. Paging Dr. Farfa …
I hope we have an easy game against Orlando. I can’t take too much more of this so soon. lol
The true French Prince That was Promised
Jesus Buddha Allah and Zeus!
Great game
Also Fournier>>>Bullock
NEVER IN DOUBT!
(I was watching a lot of the game on a delay, and then had to endure the agony of those last few minutes of regulation and both overtimes live.)
Don’t forget Yahweh and Krishna!
This game will be on Knicks Classics on MSG one day.
What an incredible game.
56, you mean. 😉
Sweet dreams everyone.
We’re in first!
Man, the offensive upgrade from Bullock to Fournier is going to be so big.
#Don’t forget Yahweh and Krishna!#
Threw Zeus in too!
Ha!
Leon, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful season.
That was one hell of freakin’ game right there. Full product.
If Kemba is just gonna hand the ball off to Julius each time dont see why he should even be out there. Need to see more P&R’s with Mitch and Julius
The true French Prince That was Promised
^ that’s good. that’s real good.
What a win! Super hype beginning to the season. Loving Fournier so far, he did exactly what he was brought to do, and having this secondary ball handler and shot maker besides Julius helps solve a lot of the issues this team had last season. Bullock would never be able to do what Fournier did this game, for example.
Let’s get 50!
YES YES YES.
Mitch had 11 points on 5 shots, 17 rebounds, 2 blocks AND 3 ASSISTS against his dollar store equivalent and he’s not in shape yet.
I’m exhausted…
A great win in a fantastic game against a good team… and we didn’t even play “well”!
This team has great potential… and some things to work on…
but that stretch between the third and fourth when we start running around was the funniest basketball I’ve seen us playing in forever…
started watching with a few minutes left in the 3rd, man, that was exhausting…
the only negative aside from the late regulation fluke fuckery is we turned it over too much
RJ can defend. He looks really tough on D right now
Motherfuckers….
Kemba with 36 min. Thibs guilty of attempted murder on his knees
Lol, Fournier’s first 2 games are against his 2 former teams
One game and Fournier already has a Knicks record: First player to score more than 30 on his debut.
What about that? 🙂
My fledgling Knicks fan 24yo daughter: “I can’t do 81 more games of this…”
Who was at the game??? Report tomorrow, please. I saw the buzzer beater Friday, and I thought that was crazy. Tonight was nuts!
pretty cool that there’s a huge group of young folks about to become some die-hard knick fans…really good time to start following the team…
And it’s his career high, kinda surprisingly.
Barrett looked great on D and Mitch was immense, what a fun first game to win against the perfect opponents for the occasion
I predicted 50, but I secretly think 56 is in reach.
I need a full report on how it went for TNFH’s potential future brother in law
Thibs looks like an orc from a LOTR movie.
lol
In Fournier’s first game with the Celts he wen 0-10!
lol again
Also gotta discuss our small lineup. Totally changed the game.
Who won the bet at top of the thread on Obi/Randle minutes at the 4/5? Gotta be more than ten, right? More than fifteen?
Lost in the chaos was a missed wide-open layup by Schroder and a missed ahead of the field dunk by Brown…either of those might have buried us…
Yeah, that’s why I said the Invisible Sixth Man was huge tonight in the second overtime.
What a fun game — what a fun team! Love all these guys, Randle and RJ especially. I know it wasn’t RJ’s best night, but his attitude, his moxi, so fun to watch him, and his defense really does show through. Randle too, he can play unselfishly but also dominate for stretches, and he just seems to love his teammates and love playing here. They all seem to love playing together. How can you not love this team?
I would offset those with Kembas mind boggling TO’s at the end of regulation
It’s too early for this game. I’m not ready for 2OT stress!
Looks like Brown handled COVID pretty well. Maybe he’ll demand a trade to NY?
Simmons is right. On a night when Tatum couldn’t hit from beyond the arc, why in the world would he just keep jacking them from up from distance?
I guess I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, we’ll see when they go through a losing stretch if the attitudes remain the same, but I think they will be.
RJ Barrett is the reason!
I would rather have a cohesive team like this than superfriends ala the Nets. I can say that and mean it 100%. Even if we don’t get to a championship with this group, it’s just so much more fun this way.
Obi played 28 minutes tonight in game 1. More than Rose at 22. IQ played 8. Who would have guessed that watching last season?
Completely agree.
It’s so great to have Mitch back. I like Noel but the idea that there isn’t a significant drop off from Mitch to Noel is crazy. We must resign Mitch.
Noel is pretty good and yet he looks so obviously inferior to Mitch in almost every way. Like, Mitch is a really good offensive player between his efficiency, ability to grab anything thrown in his orbit, and offensive rebound. He’s such a beast.
I was at the game and am completely spent. If they had lost it honestly would have been worse than game 1 vs the Hawks.
And thank you Chuck Tatum.
I only watched the game from my house and I’m completely spent.
Great win! This is a very exciting team. The only real question mark is Kemba.
Jokic is a kinesthetic genius
I mean playoffs is playoffs, but this would have been as bad as a regular season loss gets, mostly because we had the game on ice in regulation and blew it in horribly stupid fashion. Which is a quibble I have with Thibs…Rose is so much better of a floor general than Kemba and is a legit scoring threat. He should have been out there to close regulation. It worked out, but that was not optimal.
So instead we’ll be talking about this game for years as a great regular season win and one of the great opening games in league history. As much as I hate the Celts, they left it all on the floor. On that missed dunk, Brown looked like one of those guys in the dunk contest that missed like 10 attempts in 60 seconds and finally gave up because his legs werre shot…
Has been mentioned by multiple ppl on the thread but bears repeating: RJ really impressed with his Defense on Tatum tonight. Without him, would have been a blowout.
This team is going to be so much fun this year. I absolutely can’t wait to see these guys when they get some chemistry together.
I just don’t get the Bulls. They spent their money on DeRozan, who is a fine player, but by doing so, they lost all of their depth. They have one of the shortest rotations of decent players that I’ve ever seen. They go, like, six deep in good players. Two above average starters, two All-Star starters, one decent bench guy and then all garbage.
I didn’t realize Grimes is the new Frank. He played 1 second.
Thibs plays rookies, idk what to tell you
I listened to the last minute of regulation and the two overtimes on the radio. Had to log on and read the game thread, just to see if it was as absurd as it sounded. Nice start. The Knicks may still be a ways from serious contention, but they are finally entertaining again.
Wrote a game recap for the ones who missed it but I feel like I’m stealing something and I’m not even close to Farfa’s celestial heights so it went in the limbo of forgotten texts.
BTW those are my two-parts votes for the game:
Randle B-
Fingers still sticky (but 9 assists), turnovers still maddening (7) he often stop the flow on offense and had a stretch of misguided dangerous heroball. But he always play his guts out, was there in the clutch, defended the basket well when paired with Obi (3 blocks) and kept us in the game when we were falling. The emotional leader and he’s All-Star year looks like no fluke.
Fournier B
Not scared by MSG’s bright lights, his multifacets offense is effective and his defense a little better than advertised. The cog when the ball moves well on offense. Shining debut, he already won the Garden (and Spike Lee).
Robinson B+
11, 17 and 2. Needs to shoot FTs better or risk the Hack-A-Mitch, can be better on the defensive glass, but he’s an undeniable presence and his 5 OREB show how important he is. Please FO, extend him soon.
Barrett C+
Harsh vote but was invisible in the first half and slow starts has become a bad habit. He expoloded in the third, went silent again, was there for the OTs. He’s defense is real (while not always perfect). Played 47 minutes, needs more continuity during the game, he’s young and has a chance to be special.
Toppin B
A different player from last year. Missed his threes but was a force on the break and held his own on defense in the smallball lineup. We gained a solid rotation piece.
Rose B-
Unusually sleepy like everyone in the bench unit’s second quarter display, energized the team in the second half leading the running unit that was so fun to watch. Banked the layup that put the last screw on the Celtics.
Burks C-
Not his best game but he contributed and in the second quarter was maybe the better bench unit player in an underwhelming collective display.
Walker D
Knees are shot, scored only from three, D is a problem, went in a ten second brain lock that nearly cost us the game. But 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 3-4 from long range. Needs to improve and fast because…
Quickley E-
Lost. Hansel and Gretel lost. Shooting slump is months long, efforts to show he can play PG are mechanical, defense is bad. He’s a scorer that can occasionally handle the ball, let him be it. Thibs benched him for good after 8 horrible minutes. He’s young and I hope he’ll be back next game not trying to do too much.
Sims No Vote
He’s a leaper. Hard stage to debut, will be better next time.
Grimes A
1 Second of play. 1. Second. Just for being ready and keep his composure in this comedy I gave him an A.
Thibs B-
Tried his best to find the right mix, absences forced him to go small for long stretches and apparently he liked it. Went with the starting five at the end of regulation and Kemba betrayed him, but where’s Rose?
Sorry, my tablet’s auto corrector changes “his” in “he’s” and after a 3-hours sleep night I’m too dazed to react in time.
At least this time he didn’t change too many words in italian… 🙂
Only 1 A for Grimes, but no one else? What is this, organic chemistry class??
In all seriousness, I mostly agree with Max’s grades except for RJ. By the eye test it looked like he disappeared most of the game, but you have to credit him for Tatum’s horrendous shooting, and his final stat line of 19pts on 6-11 with 3 3s, 5R, 2A, and ZERO turnovers is actually quite good.
Nice recap, Max. You should do it more often. As rohank i only disagree with RJ, defense was his main task, and he had a great performance on that side of the play. Oh, and btw, anyone noticed that at the end Julius was on Brown to guarantee that we’d win the game?
Really? As he’s mainly a scorer, i’d say he already had at least one 40+ game in his career. But since he didn’t, i’m putting all my money on him doing it this season. 😉
Nice to have you back, Bruno, how’s things in Brazil?
I would have give Fournier an A
Obi & Randle played together for 16:23 last night. Congrats to the 2 people who guessed over 15 before the game ended.
This is nice to see. Reggie is a great guy, and it shows the team is like a family, even away he’s still caring about the group.
I failed big time, voted less than 5 minutes. LOL
Very happy Taj is having another baby, both for him and because it has now given Thibs regular season game evidence of how effective the Randle/Toppin frontcourt can be in spurts.
I don’t think anyone mentioned it, but Fournier actually tied his career high. He scored 32pts twice before, both times for Orlando.
BTW I made another Knicks related sleep deprivation mistake: Kemba had 3 assists, not 8.
Bruno pointed that out yesterday, following my comment that Fournier got the record for the most points on a Knicks debut.
Was at the Garden last night – crowd was electric through regulation but literally by 2nd OT I think even the crowd was exhausted lol.
For me – the good:
1) Randle’s 3 pointer is real. I liked him taking it to the hole a few times. 8/8 from the line with what, maybe 4 or 5 of them in true crunch time – nothing but net. Feel like he struggled in those situations last year.
2) I really thought RJ played well. I was a little surprised at the 2 pull-up 3s he took in the 1st half – he missed them, but the fact that he felt comfortable taking them probably means he is hitting that a lot in practice. Really let the game come to him, and his 3 ball looks automatic right now. Defensively, he really had a lot to do with Tatum struggling and also Brown cooling off as the game went on (wow that dude is GOOD).
3) Mitch was amazing, all things considered. If that is 80% of peak Mitchell Robinson ie. being rusty, out of shape, etc, the league is in for a big coming out party. Leon should lock him up now for 4/54 or whatever it is.
4) Fournier – really great despite that brain fart at end of regulation. 6/13 from 3, just knows how to get good shots up behind the arc. The difference between him and Bullock couldn’t be more clear – made some great passes, really crafty around the rim. Defensively he seems ok but not great. They really will miss a 2nd wing defender this year.
5) Obi – wow – that kid lights up the garden. Any time the Knicks are in transition… watch out. Becoming a 35% 3 point shooter would make such a difference.
Nice Max!!!
And I like the no grade inflation approach. No easy A’s anywhere.
Broadly agree with your grades. It was a great game but winning in regulation by six would have been a lot better.
I think Toppin really stood out. Why not let him do the stuff that made him the college POTY? Makes too much sense. He really is amazingly fast in the open court.
And RJ and Mitch brought it on the defensive end.
Also, I would bump Evans grade. He hit some huge shots
I actually meant the tying part, instead of the career high part. But my post was ambiguous
The bad:
Julius’s isolation stuff against a really good defender (Robert Williams) just needs to stop. Run some action, get some open shots. I did notice after one timeout they immediately went to the DHO with Fournier and Randle with Fournier promptly drilling a 3 (seemingly the same play he ran with Bullock a bunch of times last year).
Kemba – a little worried he is cooked. He used to be able to get stuff off inside against centers – no chance tonight. Williams is really good though. And the TOs at end of regulation — even if his knee is holding him back physically, there’s just no excuse for nearly losing the game with mental errors as a 9th year guard or whatever. Pretty bad.
Thibs – as much as I was impressed with him giving a lot of leash to the Obi-Randle front court (which was really fun by the way!), I thought his sub patterns were really odd. When you need defensive stops, which is what we needed at the end of regulation, I just don’t understand why you would leave Kemba in the game.
The defense overall was pretty rough. So many open 3s and missed rotations. Lots of guys leaking out behind Julius.
But at least we won!
Also, Sims and IQ plus minus numbers really stand out in the negative category.
He didn’t. Mitch was on the bench for the Celtics comeback. Their 8-0 run prior to the Brown & Smart 3’s was all shots at the rim bc no one was there.
Obi had done a great job but by this point we were running an ISO offense and the Celtics had limited the effectiveness of the small ball lineup bc Williams was able to defend Randle on the perimeter.
It was bizarre to see Mitch not in the game. Maybe Thibs was afraid of hack-a-Mitch?
Frankly, even Mitch at the free throw line would have been better than that offense we ran the final two minutes.
Oh i see, that is news to me, yeah. Thanks.
Around the League:
We MUST sweep Orlando
Duarte is good, Lamelo is a star (I was skeptical of him, I stand corrected)
Toronto is a surprising mess, the Wizards are annoying
Morant is back
Are Towns & Edwards for real?
Zion is more important for the Pels than Simmons for the Sixers
Really, we MUST sweep Orlando
Are the Thunder a G-League team? No one in the League’s offices has something to say about it?
Harrison Barnes? That Harrison Barnes?
The Plague: DNP-CD
Did I mention we MUST sweep Orlando?
Good to have some eye witness feelings Frank!
Max, there’s no “E” on the american grades, so you probably meant the only possible grade for Quick’s horrendous performance – F.
So let’s give him a F+
🙂
Thanks Cyber, I went to read the reasons for the omission and what can I say?
This goes straight to my list of “Strange things about the USA”, just under the “every State has the same number of senators whatever its population”…
🙂
Will SGA be happy with how things are going, or will he demand a trade anytime soon? To the Knicks, please. ;D