The Knicks host the defending Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns at the Garden tonight.
Derrick Rose is out again tonight, but Mitch Robinson is back from concussion protocol so the Knicks will have their two-headed center monster tonight, which is very nice. I love the two-headed center monster so much.
The Suns are obviously a tough test for the Knicks, but it’s not like the Suns are unbeatable. I think the Knicks can win this one.
HOW IS 56 WINS LOOKING? If they could pull off a surprise win tonight, it’d look a lot better!
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Let’s go, Knicks!
113 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Suns”
I’m irrationally positive about tonight’s game,
maybe it’s the Rangers’ win in Boston talking…
Let’s Go Knicks!
Voted some other team. We have Dolan, isn’t that an automatic win in the cursed department? đ
Let’s gooooo, Knicks! Quick, Quick!
Exactly! As long as Dolan is owner this team will never win a championship. Heâs the curse. But in the meantimeâŚBingBongBaby!!!!
Yeah. The Knicks needed to be an option in that poll đ
I am NOT optimistic about tonight’s game. I hope to be pleasantly surprised.
Hey BingBongHits, have you noticed that the speaker of MSG says “bing bong” sometimes during the game? Usually it’s after some amazing play… the Obi time! đ
I voted no, but I was thinking of the Sacramento Kings, not the Knicks.
Ciippers maybe but not the Suns. For my money, I’d pick Portland (lost Bill Walton, Greg Oden, and Brandon Roy to career ending injuries); Orlando (Shaq and Dwight forced their way out, Penny and Grant Hill were both decimated by injuries); Charlotte or Sacramento (just brutally terrible teams) as most cursed.
Wally is no substitute for Clyde.
Oh goddammit, Wally is doing color. Might have to switch to the Phoenix feed.
Dolan and Wally… we’re cursed for sure! đ
Just heard it now after that Mitch put back!
We’re playing surprisingly well to start.
Fournier’s demise has been greatly exaggerated.
Big impact by Mitch so far.
Barrettâs shot get a nomination for dumbest of the yearâŚ
Bad turnovers but as a whole a good start,
Mitchâs going toe to toe with Ayton and the newcomers are hot.
I dunno. I canât blame him for taking that. Wide open, whole team was trailing him, shooterâs gotta shoot, and if he hit it and got going the crowd would explode.
Mitch is looking much more athletic today. I like it.
Based on how he’s played this season I have an issue with referring to RJ as a shooter.
Would’ve be nice if the Knicks somehow found a way to acquire Chris Paul over the past decade…
Heâs not a shooter and so open that he barely hit the backboard.
Itâs such a pleasure/pain to watch the way the Suns move the ball. We can only dream of seeing that from the Knicks some day.
Quick is growing before our eyes.
And Barrett is shrinkingâŚ
Grimes sighting
Roseâs absence is hugeâŚ
Grimes with two unlucky shotsâŚ
Guy is career 42% career FG% (44% last year) and heâs not a shooter? Then trade him next month. Hell, even Steph Curry is only 46% right now. Guy is in a slump. Needs to get going, get his confidence back. Not gonna happen if he doesnât take a wide open shot.
What? NO!
P.S. Curry takes 13 three pointers a game, heâs allowed to shoot âonlyâ 46%âŚ.
Looks like there’s a bench team as strong as ours.
Wally not terrible tonight
OMG, who the hell uses FG% to prove someone’s a shooter? Mitchell Robinson’s FG% is 81% this season, he must be the best shooter in the NBA.
Obi stinks tonight.
Grimes is good at defense, that’s for sure.
The guy on the Suns broadcast said Obi is shooting 3P at 21% clip !? :O
Stating the obvious but the Knicks bench isn’t the same plus it usually is without Rose.
Looks like my irrational optimism was⌠irrational.
Stay positive, we’re just luring them to think this will be an easy win đ
Oh RJ, that was a disgrace of a play
The Suns are unfortunately just too good for us.
Geez, we’re being outscored 20-9 so far this quarter.
Knicks are not used to seeing 5 guys that can all move laterally on defense⌠switch and recover whenever they want or need ⌠we arenât matching their intensity or skill level at the moment âŚ
Not fair youâre using the eye test
Just a plain better team
We got âem right where we want âem. And RJ is gonna find his stroke in the second half.
Leave Booker alone and he’ll miss. đ
You mean that a plodding, iso ball offense can’t compete with ball movement and passing? Who knew?
Breen is right, Book looked like he was stepping the line. Don’t the referees look at it and take the point back?
They did.
Oh, ok. Didn’t noticed it, then.
The Suns are too good.
They ride a 14-game winning streak,
were in the Finals last year and are a strong contender this year, they ooze confidence.
Weâre not in their league barring a perfect game for us and weâve been far from perfectâŚ
That said, Iâd like to have a closer gameâŚ
The crowd at MSG is annoyed that Iâm sitting in for Clyde. My suit isnât as flashy. And why the hell did I have to work this game instead of Hahn?
Chris Paul has attempted 1 shot and somehow heâs still killing us
Booker would look good in a Knicks uniform. Unfortunately it will probably be in his 30s with bum knees.
Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks!
I don’t think a Booker Kemba matchup is one we want on defense.
Competitive loss would be satisfying here
A pulse has been detected.
We’re putting up a fight! I like it! đ
Booker gonna get 50?
Barett should never post up
Bookerâs career high is 70. Heâs got 29. At least we
know it wont be him setting a career high at the Garden tonight.
A Noel 3P would ignite the Garden, but no luck
Yeah, if the over/under is at 49.5, i think i take the over.
Fournier is playing really hard out there. I like it.
And Julius should do it all the time. đ
That sequence with Paul guarding RJ was extremely depressing
The Suns have chemistry. They do everything with intention.
Oh well, it’s over. Can we see the kids?
Edit: Maybe we should wait a minute.
Now we’re done.
RJ will shoot his way out of this slump! Or maybe he wonât.
The gap between the best teams and us is HUGE!
Toppin with his worst game of the season so farâŚ
Mac has a portuguese Knicks cap!? Red and green?
Weâre probably going to have a losing record in half a weekâŚ
No, we’re not. Stay positive.
âWeâre probably going to have a losing record in half a weekâŚâ
We arenât good on either side of the court. At least year year the defense might be able to keep us in the game and then you could hope to grind it out or get lucky.
Oh Grimes, you can’t foul on a 3P
The Suns are a very excellent team. They are exposing the Knicks who are showing that they cannot handle defensive pressure.
Blind faith aside do you think this team can win tomorrow in Atlanta or in Brooklyn (our next two games)?
I liked the way we played, i think we’re getting there. Losing to the Suns leading to hot takes is quite amusing. There are probably another 14 lousy teams out there (hint: it’s their current winning streak).
Itâs ok, we got an easy one tomorrow
In Atlanta? Yeah, i think we can.
Pros:
-Immanuel Quickley
Cons:
-Everything else, but specifically I am coming around to the idea that our defensive scheme is fundamentally broken and our success on that end last year was almost entirely due to anomalous opponent 3PT%. This, more than any personnel changes (Reggie Bullock is not a DPOY candidate), is the difference between our defense this year and last year.
If you concede open threes and your opponent misses a lot of them, of course your defense will be pretty damn good. We’re not doing anything differently this year–our opponents are just hitting the open 3s we give them, which, yeah, is something NBA teams should anticipate.
Knox coming in and promptly chucking a shitty floater made more angry than it should have
Quickley is all over CP3 and not backing down an inch. Love it.
Ok, Iâm convinced. We need to start IQ at point for a few games.
Gotta love Quick tonight, major silver lining
I think that Grimes is going to be an excellent player over time. That shot is smoooooth.
Quickley is our best young prospect
Running into a juggernaut like this makes you realize how far we have to go to and how futile this season will be.
Deuce.
Deuce sighting. Nice.
Monty channeling Thibs leaving the starters in
Booker, Ayton and CP3 against our end of bench is quite amusing
Nice to see the rookies get a chance to guard CP3. Valuable experience
Deuce stole the ball!
We arenât just missing Bullock. Itâs Bullock + Payton, but itâs worse than that. On defense, 1+ 1 is often = 3. Thatâs why it looks broken. It is. If we knew all the assignments and rotations and watched all the game film, weâd probably understand it all, but at a more basic level we have two negative defenders out there and thatâs a problem unless you have some great defenders to cover for them. We have RJ and Randle (who are OK) and Mitch and Nerlens have been playing hurt.
You liked the way we played? What did you like?
The Suns are really good but this was a non competitive game aside for the first quarterâŚ
Sunsâs last single digit lead was 40-32 with 8:26 to go in the 2ndâŚ
Thanks to Monty: The Plague DNP-CD, classy move.
I liked the defense, it’s just that they are amazing and executed better. On offense i think we were having good looks, but we weren’t draining them at the same clip. All this until mid 3rd quarter, then the game became lopsided but i liked the way we played until then. I think we’re getting better, but maybe that’s just me and my blind faith.
Grades for tonight:
Wayne Selden: A, for not playing.
Everyone else: F
Breen and I agree. Knicks are making progress, learning a little from each opponent (especially the good ones like PHX). It takes time to build chemistry and the second half of the season it will all come together, just like last year, with a strong run to the playoffs! Mark my words. If Iâm wrong, Iâll eat Hahnâs tighty-whitey briefs.
72-61 with 5:52 left in the 3rd quarter is not too far from a single digit.
LOL
Oh well. Tonightâs more about Gonzaga-Duke anyway.
Yes you’re right, it was a roaring comeback.
3 minutes later we were down by 22 after a Suns’ 11-0 run.
We weren’t watching the same feed probably.
@Barlowe500
Knicks got one in Rokas Jokubaitis⌠Heâs carving up his former club tonight⌠Barcelona hasnât missed a beat with Calathes out. Really impressive for a kid that just turned 21 to be quarterbacking arguably the best team in EuropeâŚ
https://twitter.com/EDemirNBA/status/1464380587112869895
If I eat crow on Andrew Wiggins, Iâm going to retire from having basketball opinions
three big positives from tonight’s game:
1). quik’s consistency
2). no one played more than 32 minutes
3). i didn’t watch the game
The one good thing for me about the slump is that maybe we could get “Bing bong” retired before the Knicks get good again and that when the Knicks get hot, people just celebrate it normally. I don’t even really have a problem with “bing bong” in a vacuum, but when everybody starts doing one guy’s shtick? It’s weird.
As for the defense, it really looks so much like the defensive change from 2011-12 to 2012-13. Chandler was still Chandler in both of those seasons, but in 2011-12, the entre roster was supporting him on defense and the next year it was…not. Here, Mitch/Noel are still doing strong work in the middle, they’re just not getting support at all. The scheme around them defensively is awful.
Good news, Zalgiris is dead last (and they cut Mudiay three weeks ago) but Rokas is showing impressive progress.
He’s growing so fast that at the end of the season my 2022-2023 NBA prediction can end up being very conservative.
Tonight he finally took some threes (3-3) and I’m going to repeat myself, the kid can really pass (7 AST).
Watched bits and pieces of the game. Pretty disappointing. They looked much better than us.