Would love to get a W against the Bulls, that would take a lot of pressure off the Nets game.

Watched bits and pieces of the game and actually was pretty encouraged by Julius’s play. He shot terribly of course, but made some really nice passes (the one he made to Burks for an open 3 after attacking the paint early in clock, collapsing the defense on purpose, then passing to Burks — who was red-hot at the time). And I liked how looked on switches against Trae. Thibs really mixed up the PNR coverage on Trae in the 4th and I think confused him, or at least made him hesitate.

I was watching the Atlanta feed. At the beginning , one of their two keys to the game per the announcers was “contain Randle” (the other was something like “maintain focus”. They did contain Randle and Young had a good night too. But we won anyway because other guys in the Knicks stepped up and filled the gap. I have always thought of having other guys step up when you need them being the mark of a good team, but my brain is balking at really believing the Knicks are that sort of team. I’m just so used to them not being that sort of team.

swiftandabundant:
Yeah I was saying the same thing the other day. If a former MVP who the coach also loves canthe bench surely Kemba can.And I think it could work nicely cause rose can still get to the rim and Kemba can sit out and shoot three’s. Start IQ and give burks a few more of RJ’s minutes.

Difference is, I’m not talking about having Kemba coming off the bench in a primary 6th man role where he is a go-to guy in crunch time. I’m talking about benching Kemba, period, except for some token minutes where you either need an offensive spark or the game is out of hand. Frankly, I don’t see any situation where Kemba is a positive asset over either Burks or IQ for the non-Rose PG minutes, and you could probably run McBride out there and get a decent 2-way result. Kemba is so bad on D that he has to be on a 30pts/36 pace to make up for it.

On the other hand, the win wasn’t on the back of Julius going for a monster triple-double or anything like that. I’d refer to it as a “depth” win. When you can be missing your starting and 6MoY candidate backup PGs, and your 2nd and 3rd string Cs and get a win like that even when Randle and IQ go 7-26, that suggests that you are a deeper, more well-rounded team than last year.

And please, let’s put the “Bullock is a better defender than Burks” talk to bed. Burks is aging like a fine wine, seriously playing like an all-star right now. We’d be in really bad shape withoug him.

Nice efficient game from RJ

Quickley also shot terribly but was great on defense. Love his tempo on offense but still gives up his dribble too early. I’d like to see him take it all the way to the hole and get contact / free throws rather than stop dribbling, pick up the ball, and then hope someone’s open to take it from him.

Really thought Obi was hurt on that dangerous foul by Collins. Easily could’ve been a hyperextended or dislocated elbow.

Alternating wins for the win!

Generally not a raw +/- guy, but definitely think Quickley’s +9 is more indicative of his impact than his box score stats (though the assists are nice in and of themselves).

I’ve preached patience to some extent with Kemba, but it’s certainly a look that our gutsiest performance of the season came with him resting. I have no clue how to make this happen with all of the politics, etc. but more of his minutes clearly need to go to Quickley.