2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks @ Nets

The Knicks head to Brooklyn to take on the current #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Brooklyn Nets.

The Knicks have a pretty much fully healthy roster for the first time in quite a while, so that’s nice. They have been alternating wins and losses for a while, so let’s hope that tonight they stop doing that!

HOW IS 56 WINS LOOKING? If they beat the Nets, I’d feel good about it again!

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Let’s go, Knicks!

331 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks @ Nets”

We know Durant is gonna get an efficient 35-40 points and there’s not a thing we can do about it.

The key is making sure Harden doesn’t go off. Or Aldridge for that matter

This is entertaining hoop from both teams right now. So fun to watch. And Randall looks energized.

I’ve seen Fournier do that a couple times, jumping before passing without a clear idea of what to do with the ball.

Julius gotta score when he’s got Harden on him, no?

Somehow that ended up with a Burks fling with no time on the clock.

Trivia: how many time did we pass on Cam Thomas on draft night? *

They’re back at whistling fouls on Harden just for staring at him too much…

* three (19, 21, 25)

two shit possessions lead by our fearless leader…wtf

He started very well (6 assists) then he totally blew a cover on defense and from that moment…

ptmilo:
i like putting rj back in with this second unit

No doubt. We’ve been talking about how RJ might like to run with these guys instead of watching Julius pound the ball through the floor.

Did Rose just end Millsaps career? 😉

That was sweet.

Entertaining tilt. Harden has such a non-basketball build. Looks like Russell Crowe in Gladiator. Seems so silly people were worried about his fouls shots.

BigBlueAL:
Cam Thomas has been beyond awful this season.

Yeah, I expected that based on that comment he would be tearing it up. Dude’s got a beautiful stroke tho…

cybersoze:
Over/Under on Harden’s FTs at 15.5? I’m taking the over

There’s no more beautiful play in basketball than James Harden drawing a cheap foul.

Harden breathes and he goes to the line. Early in the year they weren’t giving me every call now it seems to have reverted to norm. Yuck

This lineup looking sharp.
Randle on Harden is working. The Knicks are good enough to beat the Nets. Not saying they will. Just saying they can.

Early Bird: I assume you mean by the half, and yes over

Yeah, i was selling him short. Maybe at 21.5 for the game? And i’m also taking the over. 😛

Getting the attention of national TV has this problem, we have to endure the BS of this moron.

Its hilarious how Reggies impression of a player is whatever he did on the previous possesion

dunno if this is matchup specific but right now looks like iq is getting some rj minutes

edit: rj is sick and out for the game.

Randle with solid D on Durant, who is basically unguardable…

Question: Why don’t we lob it to our Centers anymore? I feel like we did that a ton last year, and plenty of PnRs this year where Mitch or Noel could catch the lob and we don’t feed them.

Which fashion label is hooking spike lee up these days? He’s wearing some outrageous shit to games

Look at Randle with that sly-ass smile… 🙂

He knows he’s got it going on.

MVP chants!

So … Reggie Miller says he told Harden to “score the ball” tonight. Thanks a lot.

Most entertaining half all season. Except maybe the third half in game 1 in Boston. ;-/

During halftime I want to thank Harden and the refs for reminding me why I hate him…

Solid first half, Good-Julius was there most of the time, many players contributing,
Fournier was off, Mitch looks more active and a little bit quicker, Rose was spectacular…

Burks leading the team with 13 shots is too many (for 13 pts). But it seems to be working overall.

No one mad at the offer of a second 3P for Harden in 5 seconds to end the half? Thank God he missed, it would have been utterly stupid.

Minus Kemba Knicks just look like a different team. Joy, defense, pace. I like Kemba but his porous D was just too much of an issue to get over

cybersoze:
No one mad at the offer of a second 3P for Harden in 5 seconds to end the half? Thank God he missed, it would have been utterly stupid.

That’s just what happens when Reggie Miller is in the building *sigh*

I was thinking Harden was playing pretty well and I looked at the box score and he’s got 28 points on 12 fucking shots.

IQ’s energy really helped keep us in the game when we were down 9. The combo of Rose, IQ and Obi brought us back.

cybersoze:
No one mad at the offer of a second 3P for Harden in 5 seconds to end the half? Thank God he missed, it would have been utterly stupid.

I was just thinking that. It was sloppy and hopefully not a harbinger of the second half. Best not temp the hoop gods…

each game that goes by..i am less impressed with fournier…look at his stat line right now…no rebounds..no assists…no steals…he just doesn’t seem to do much other than shoot…not much d and he doesn’t box out very well either…

cybersoze:
No one mad at the offer of a second 3P for Harden in 5 seconds to end the half? Thank God he missed, it would have been utterly stupid.

yeah, that was disgusting, thankfully a dry heave rather than a full-on vomik…

pepper:
each game that goes by..i am less impressed with fournier…look at his stat line right now…no rebounds..no assists…no steals…he just doesn’t seem to do much other than shoot…not much d and he doesn’t box out very well either…

Yeah, total non-factor so far, but he can get hot…

I feel like that 1st half was two lineups that gelled and spelled each other perfectly.

these refs didn’t get the memo on not calling bullshit fouls this year…hopefully the commissioner texted them at halftime..

DRed: I was thinking Harden was playing pretty well and I looked at the box score and he’s got 28 points on 12 fucking shots.

Might want to add the possessions in which he didn’t shoot the ball. 4 possessions ended in FTs, and 4 TOs.

I was thinking of asking the board the chances Cam Thomas sets a career high in points tonight, but apparently his career high is 13. He already has 10 tonight.

It’s more a question of how many career highs.

Burks shot better than the box score suggests, he seemed to have at least 2 end of shot clock heaves…

Yeah Sims is worth a look if Noel and Taj aren’t healthy. He played well in Atlanta

Z-man:
IQ’s energy really helped keep us in the game when we were down 9. The combo of Rose, IQ and Obi brought us back.

This. And don’t count Fournier out, yet.

With the caveat that I haven’t checked the box score:

-Really like how Randle played
-Felt like Rose saved our skin early on
-Obi was fun
-Might be worth giving Grimes a shot at Harden?
-This crowd is hilariously pro Knicks

cybersoze:
No one mad at the offer of a second 3P for Harden in 5 seconds to end the half? Thank God he missed, it would have been utterly stupid.

We’re often lazy at the end of quarters/half, it’s like they think “we’ll, okay, it’s over, what can they do with 3 seconds?” and become careless with the ball…

Usual shitty start of the third and this time it’s not Kemba’s foul…

Poor Grimes, -6 in 48 seconds…

someone needs to pop patty… team not really showing any toughness right now… getting completely outhustled, they are pushing us all over the place… its embarrassing… im embarrassed as a fan

This feels like game over unless the Bench Mob explode again…

Lazy offense, lazy passes, lazy on Harden’s OREB… what a disaster!

I was going to say it’s looking good so far, but the 3rd is the only quarter that matters… apparently.

pepper:
Fournier is lazy

ive been feeling this way since forever… if he isnt hitting jump shots hes 100% worthless… zombified … completely

i can’t listen to Reggie Miller describe this bus accident for the next hour

EDIT: please do so, KJG

i know hes out of the game right now but i love watching rebounds fall through fourniers hands to the floor to be picked up by someone else…

KevinR:
We should be fined for letting someone named Bembry school us

the hawk will never die… i have to like him as a st joes grad… but not tonight

I’m going full cybersoze and predicting we come back in this game.

Maybe not win tho (-:

d-mar: I’m going full cybersoze and predicting we come back in this game.

That’s it. Let’s do it, team! 🙂

KevinR:
One day Julius will realize him rolling and cutting is his best form

Yeah, you’d think someone would show him some highlights. WTF!

IQ had a very impressive box-out on Bruce Brown on a defensive rebound, he’s deceptively strong…

Wow, we only managed to be at a -5 differential for that quarter after all was said and done.

I am proud of how the team took their best shot and fought back.

Fuck the Nets.

This team and many of his players are an emotional rollercoaster…

It wasn’t the reason for the 0-14 start, but I didn’t like putting Grimes in to start the third,
not when we haven’t used him at all in the first half…
It felt awkward…

And Fournier (finally hitting a couple of threes) always looks a split second too slow when the ball is around, be it a rebound or a deflection…

Gutsy way to hang in there, for better or worse we need Fournier at his best to do anything this year

Fournier is literally the one defensive weak link but if he’s knocking down threes….ok. let’s get it in the 4th!

Randle with a good all-around game, he’s a different player when he attacks the rim like tonight.

P.S. And a bad one when he reverts to insane Iso-Ball…

KD really needs to do something with that bald spot. It’s getting beyond Lebron level. He should just go full Jordan and shave it all off.

Barrettcuda:
KD really needs to do something with that bald spot. It’s getting beyond Lebron level. He should just go full Jordan and shave it all off.

Sir this is a basketball forum.

I lost MSG network, so this is only the third game I’ve seen this year…and the team seems really fun and engaged to me. Whatever malaise there was because of Kemba or whatever is clearly in the past.

Max:
Quickley from Manhattan!

Haha. Was just gonna complain that IQ keeps finding people in good spots, but no one every hits him with the “right” pass. But maybe his good spot is Manhattan.

I mean, I’d love to win this game, but if they play like this I’m ok with whatever outcome

This game has been 100X better with the volume turned off. The Knicks made their run right after I muted Miller.

Before the turnover Obi was free in two different occasions, Rose and IQ both missed the timing…

d-mar:
Rose barely touched KD. It had nothing to do with the missed dunk.

Maybe they’ll say it was before the shot?

There was contact so it will stay, but wow is that weak.

Last year’s no-call with Randle shooting (also against the Nets) had more contact than that.

Max:
Bad challenge, a waste of a timeout…

indeed… painfully obvious… emotion gets the best of these fools!

Really idk what rose hoped to accomplish with that half-assed swipe, but doubling down is no bueno

How does Durant get the touch foul on Rose and Randle gets mauled and nothing!

-Also, Harden poked the ball away from Quickley and then basically sat on him. No foul….

No matter the final score, i liked this game a lot. But please team, get the win to be even more amazing.

Come on guys. Quit F-ing complaining about calls. Get your heads together! Win this F-ing game!

He missed the shot on the iso, get scored on by Durant and he got a technical?

That’s a 5 point swing in a close game!

I would trade Randle for a box of Crispy Cream. smh

He’s a big part of why we’ve been competitive tonight on both offense and defense dude

We should have been going for the win there if it wasn’t for that dumbass tech.

rama,

I’ve been a Randle defender, but I’ve had enough. He may be the lowest basketball IQ player among starters in the entire NBA. He’s not keeping anyone in the game. He’s accumulating stats, but we need a player that knows how to play basketball.

we either cost ourselves the chance to challenge the randle block on durant or call a timeout there and advance it

Also as long as KD is on the Nets the Knicks will never win a close game against them.

Randle’s gonna be fined for his spat with the refs at the end…

His tech and the blew challenge that cost us a much needed timeout were huge.

I can’t stand the Nets.

BigBlueAL:
Noel should’ve been in the game instead of Mitch.

hindsight oh yea… if youre gonna reach, noel has the better hands… also, i think noel probably gets out on him quicker and / or doesnt actually reach but jumps straight up… like reggie said, whistle likely swallowed…

Noel is a better defender than Mitch but I’m not sure he’s totally healthy, he looked off tonight

I’ve been a big Randle defender

Not this year. And a lot of is justified, but you dig into a position and don’t respond to the game in front of you. He was really good this game, good D, cutting to the hoop, hustling up court, making tough bailout shots later in the clock. He’s gonna make mistakes, because no, he isn’t LeBron, but put the axe down and spare us the whine of the grind in a great game.

Great game. A lot of mental errors on our end, which only means they can be corrected. Plus BKLN going on a 14-0 run to start the 2nd half? Yikes.

Thibs has gotta get Randle some poise pills or something. That guy is a mess when the game gets tight.

Not only the foul but Mitch couldn’t pick up the loose ball on a steal plus the air ball. Both times the Nets scored off the ensuing inbound pass.

Our defense on the last possession was perfect – take it out of Durant’s hands, force Johnson to do something. All Mitch had to do was stand there.

A win there felt like it might have been season-defining. Instead we get 11-10. What a game tho.

Durant and the refs bailed them out. Their offense went very iso in the 4th (sound familiar) and only KD’s brilliance saved them. With the exception of the first 7 minutes in the 3rd, I thought the Knicks, as a team, played better. We more than hanged with the best team in the East. Now to build on it

we either cost ourselves the chance to challenge the randle block on durant or call a timeout there and advance it

Yeah, making a challenge out of emotion is a mistake, and in this case, a really costly one

@MikeVorkunov
· 4m
Julius Randle had to be held back and walked off the court by Knicks people after the game ended. The Knicks star looked heated and talking at someone from midcourt. Kevin Durant helped calm him down with a big bear hug. Randle obviously unhappy about something.

pt I’m all over that shit with you. It was not only a dumb challenge, it was a colossally dumb technical by Randle and a terribly foul by Mitch. Bottom line is we put on a great show on national TV and Durant is given another reason the rethink the “Knicks ain’t cool anymore” comment.

Such a missed oppy. Esp when you beat yourself

BingBongHits:
A win there felt like it might have been season-defining. Instead we get 11-10. What a game tho.

pepper:
these refs didn’t get the memo on not calling bullshit fouls this year…hopefully the commissioner texted them at halftime..

You were right, he did it, Harden 0 FTs in the second half….

Phenomenal game, some tough calls that were a bit soft at the end, but still, this was great basketball back to front. This game had ECF energy, and if the Kemba change pays dividends (and early returns look great), it might be a nice preview of just that.

@MikeVorkunov
Julius Randle had to be held back and walked off the court by Knicks people after the game ended. The Knicks star looked heated and talking at someone from midcourt. Kevin Durant helped calm him down with a big bear hug. Randle obviously unhappy about something.

Silky Johnson, Fleet Admiral of the Tank Armada:
Phenomenal game, some tough calls that were a bit soft at the end, but still, this was great basketball back to front. This game had ECF energy, and if the Kemba change pays dividends (and early returns look great), it might be a nice preview of just that.

Totally. Playoff energy … in November! Ha!

lotta guys played well tonight. effort was there pretty much all game. someone who was at the game texted me that obi screamed at thibs in the 4th. anyone see that (seems unlikely)?

@FredKatz
Tom Thibodeau not happy with the officiating tonight: “I’m gonna take a look at the film, but there was a big discrepancy in free throws. I can tell you that…I don’t care how the game is called. You can call it tight. You can call it loose, but you gotta call it the same.”

Ugh. I really wanted that win, not just the moral victory of “KD, don’t you wish you had come to the KniiiIIIIIiiicks??!”

One consolation is that Game 1 of the Point Burks experiment, 2021-22 edition, has been a success.

It’s going to be overlooked bc it happened at the end of the 3Q, not the 4th, but stupid foul Randle committed (the one Z-Man noted) was just as costly as the T. The Knicks were in the penalty and Randle stupidly fouled KD out of frustration 40 feet from the basket for two free points.

Randle had an excellent game but he was also off his rocker.

ptmilo:
lotta guys played well tonight.effort was there pretty much all game.someone who was at the game texted me that obi screamed at thibs in the 4th.anyone see that (seems unlikely)?

When he came out in the 4th for Robinson … I saw Thibs yelling at Obi. Not sure what else happened … definitely an exchange though …

@SBondyNYDN
Julius Randle said he was told by officials he’s not getting calls because he’s stronger than defenders and contact is not affecting him:

“That’s not how you’re supposed to referee a game.”

I thought that the Knicks played well, the Nets just eked out a win over them. The Nets are really good. I think that this game bodes well for the Knicks in the near future, especially how much better they look without Kemba (now we know why Kemba was so willing to commit to two years, huh?).

If the comment from the ref is true that should be investigated. Julius would be justified for the T

that sounds like artistic license from Julius. or maybe that’s just what it sounded like to him. I can’t picture a ref being that stupid.

Hubert:
that sounds like artistic license from Julius. or maybe that’s just what it sounded like to him. I can’t picture a ref being that stupid.

….picture Tim Donaghy and you can get there…

iq with 38 minutes…wonder if that is his most as a knick…also was our 2nd leading rebounder tied with Mitch…

Fournier…did hit some shots…but he still had zilch assists, zilch rebounds and zilch steals…hmmm

It was easy to see from the nosebleeds that Randle was getting mauled on multiple drives with no call. It was pissing me off because I don’t want him to be deterred from driving more, and obviously it affected the game. Good on Thibs for drawing attention to it. Nine times out of ten I think complaining about the refs is whiny loser shit, but tonight the difference was truly noticeable.

As others have said, encouraging game at the end of the day. I thought Thibs coached well so this is more of a nitpick than anything else, but I thought putting Obi in sometime during the 3rd could’ve stopped the bleeding a bit. Who knows though, I don’t feel terribly strongly about it.

On the way out of the building, the Knicks fans (i.e. the clear majority) were the ones emboldened to talk shit FWIW.

Randle is right to be pissed.

I am still fuming but it was a great game.

Otto Porter must be so fucking happy to be in Golden State.

Also, my take about Chris Paul? I did not get that one right. He’d look pretty good in the Garden right now.

Both Nash and Harden complained early on about the foul calls and now hes getting them again at his career levels. So it might be good to bring attention to it.

Noel just looks plain awful right now just sit him until he gets his health right

It was like earlier in the season where Mitch was also playing through injuries, I just don’t get it. Why ever play guys hurt in a long ass regular season?

The Suns defense was amazing, wow. If they can bottle what they did in the 4th q, they won’t come up short again this year.

I imagine there is a degree of Julius hearing what he wants to hear with that alleged quote from the refs. And famously muscular players like LeBron and Karl Malone got plenty of whistles over the years. That said, refs could call a foul on nearly every play on a basketball court and have to exercise discretion on when and why. And in previous years, it felt like RJ — similarly built like a tank, albeit a smaller one than Julius — wasn’t getting foul calls simply because he looked impervious to harm. So I wouldn’t be surprised if refs in general have a bias, conscious or unconscious, against blowing the whistle when the fouled player looks too strong to be hurt, and when that player is not a superstar. Hopefully, Thibs and Julius complaining about the refs has the same result Harden got when he did the same recently — or that Strat’s old friend Phil Jackson did when he would publicly complain about officiating back in the early 90s Bulls-Knicks rivalry — and the whistles will be a bit more even for our guys going forward.

the quote has been cleared up a bit. the refs didn’t say they were denying him a call bc he’s too strong. they admitted they missed the call bc they didn’t notice any affect. in other words, the refs are calling fouls more based on the offensive player’s reaction than the defensive player’s action. makes more sense then.

Let’s not forget Nate McMillan preemptive whining last year before the start of the Atlanta series.
He basically won the series with that act because we weren’t allowed to defend on Young all along.

Let’s hope this legitimate protests from Thibs and Jules have the same effect…

I thought that the end of game foul call on Mitch was iffy too. He got a lot of ball.

Missed almost the entire game yesterday because of work so can’t say much about that but I did watch the Suns-Warriors game which was great. The Suns and Chris Paul are incredible. They just went undefeated in November and this is the 3rd time a Chris Paul team has won 17 games in a row.

DudeInKnicksTown:
I thought that the end of game foul call on Mitch was iffy too. He got a lot of ball.

Mitch tweeted — and then deleted, presumably at the request of either the team or an agent who doesn’t want him getting fined — that he got all ball, and then was pushed in the back by one of the Nets, causing him to bump into the arm.

Hi Phatt, Thanks for the bucket hat link! As to Mitch’s fouls, Thib’s point about the ref’s inconsistency in foul calls seems valid based on eye test ( caveat: sub-optimal old-man eyes). The Kemba benching seems promising as does Randle driving and cutting more. Looking forward to the Bulls game.

Hi Phatt, Thanks for the bucket hat link! As to Mitch’s fouls, Thib’s point about the ref’s inconsistency in foul calls seems valid based on eye test ( caveat: sub-optimal old-man eyes). The Kemba benching seems promising as does Randle driving and cutting more. Looking forward to the Bulls game.

Alan: Mitch tweeted — and then deleted, presumably at the request of either the team or an agent who doesn’t want him getting fined — that he got all ball, and then was pushed in the back by one of the Nets, causing him to bump into the arm.

That’s what I saw too. For the refs to make an iffy call like that with 3 seconds remaining in the game was wrong.

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