2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks vs. A Team They Really Need to Beat

The Knicks head to Houston to take on the shorthanded Rockets in a game that the Knicks simply have to win, even though they are shorthanded themselves.

This would be so darn embarrassing of a loss, let’s hope that it doesn’t happen.

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Let’s go, Knicks!

207 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks vs. A Team They Really Need to Beat”

Will the NBA get through the season without a major COVID stoppage?

sure, why not…

šŸ˜›

Rebecca Harlow entered Health & Safety, but she wrote sheā€™s feeling okay.

Around 40 players in the H&S, some teams (as the Knicks) with 4 or more already, others awaiting for the tests resultsā€¦

Rare Kemba sighting today? According to the Twitter-sphere, Thibs has indicated it’s an “all hands on deck scenario”. Could be in for the Wayne Seldon game folks.

Clyde ā€œdoing very wellā€ according to Breen, rendering everything else gravy tonight.

It’s so funny that we complain about Mitch being injury prone and foul happy and then the other center is Nerlens, who is probably worse at both those things

We have players on the floor who are on the same side of the floor as the opponents basket.

Deuce Hype Train reaching escape velocity.

KJ Martin was the obvious pick for the opposing breakout player. Not sure why I didnā€™t see it.

I hope Clyde is doing ok.

This Omicron stuff is insane. A friend of a friend went to a party. All 40 people at the party tested positive.

This Omicron stuff is insane. A friend of a friend went to a party. All 40 people at the party tested positive.

I went to a party and it seems like 49 out of 50 people tested positive. Iā€™m the happy exception.

I get notices from my office every time thereā€™s a reported case. My notices are off the hook in december.

The good news is that it seems much more mild than previous variants. We should eventually get to the point where a whole team of vaxxed players can be positive and the game can still be played

Deuceā€™s energy is a pleasure to watch.
He and Grimes must be in the rotation from now onā€¦

Randle and Fournier really tried their best to play for each other in the first quarter,
letā€™s see if they continueā€¦

Hubert: I went to a party and it seems like 49 out of 50 people tested positive. Iā€™m the happy exception.

I heard that omicron has no affinity for anal tissue so you should be safe

DRose should be the starter, and Deuce the backup. Find a good home for Kemba because he deserves it. I heard the Clippers could be interested. It’d be a good solution.

KevinR: Randle getting nice open looks with Quick and Mcbride

Yeah, Bad Julius was a brief appearance. I think he’s playing OK tonight.

I think Quickley’s problem is he knows he can’t finish. Or that’s at least part of the problem.

Deuce has two nice (and successful) drives to the rim already.

Who said Knicks had nobody at point outside of Rose who could do that.

when randle and fournier try to play a two man game, it is almost literally a two man game, with the rest of the team playing traffic cone bail out option. that at least in part is probably on thibs.

This team isnā€™t going to start playing well until Randle and Fournier wind up in Covid protocol. smh

Our centers have four points and five rebounds in 28 minutes of play against a bullshit team.

Iā€™ve seen enough of the Noel/Mitch tandem.

JK47:
Our centers have four points and six rebounds in 28 minutes of play against a bullshit team.

Iā€™ve seen enough of the Noel/Mitch tandem.

I’d rather run Mitch/Noel/Taj in a single unit than watch more of Ju & Evan

I just don’t get it. Thibs looking perplexed. Um, Thibs, if you don’t like the intensity, how about trying some players who provide it?

The refs must start to whistle all the plays the same way. Mitch didn’t foul Mathews.

KevinR:
Mcbride has more burst than I expected from him.

His college team played 2 bigs & had terrible spacing. At the end of the season they had some injuries and Deuce got to the basket a lot more

is rose injured…don’t see him on the bench…how walker is not playing is baffling…

pepper:
is rose injuredā€¦donā€™t see him on the benchā€¦how walker is not playing is bafflingā€¦

Yeah his ankle is sore

Not sure what the hell is going on here but I donā€™t like it. We should be winning this game.

Start these two in the backcourt. I have no idea if that’s the most optimal choice but it’s easily the most fun.

Are all the folks who wanted to lock Mitch up for $13M AAV still upset?

No, but we got together and agreed to pull a collective Z-Man and act like we never said this.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you our new starting power forward — Mr. Taj Jami Gibson!

Edit: maybe…

Not to overreact but it looks like we mightā€™ve found our PG

If Thibs starts these two in the backcourt I’ll become one of the Thibs > KAT people.

Not really, but he should.

I know the Rockets stink but McBride has seven assists, zero turnovers and four steals

Play the kids

Iā€™ve seen the future of the Knicks and his name is Deuce McBrideā€¦

IQ with his best Sweet Lou cosplay in a whileā€¦

Mitch is frustrating and flaky and remains, by far, our best hope of getting production from the center position in the short and long term

Watching Randle have to kill the flow of a firing offense by taking the ball from our guards enrages me to no end.

Its still the rockets but Deuce getting to the rim(and finishing) mostly when he wanted is what he needs to be a good PG

Rose-Fournier
Deuce-Quickley

Those are new backcourt pairings, and I’m cool with that. Hopefully Rose can bring out something better in Evan.

Hubert:
Rose-Fournier
Deuce-Quickley

Those are new backcourt pairings, and Iā€™m cool with that. Hopefully Rose can bring out something better in Evan.

Rose-Grime*

Hell we should probably demote Barrett to the 2nd unit and make this like a hockey team with two five-units:

The Starters/Vets: Rose-Fournier-Burks-Randle-Noel
The Bench/Kids: Deuce-Quickley-Barrett-Toppin-Mitch

Deuce already looks to have one of the highest iqs on the team, esp on the defensive end, just great to see. It’s actually hilarious comparing his instincts and action vs Fournier. So many dumb plays all over the court by Fournier, at one point I thought he was playing for the Rockets, yes he scored 20 but so many brain farts and horrid defense

If we had lost this game I was prepared to spend tomorrow morning posting links to all the quotes Z-Man denied ever saying. You guys really lucked out.

I get it’s one game against the Rockets but after tonight there’s literally no way you can pull McBride from the rotation. He looks…like an NBA point guard. You know, the thing we need just as badly this year as we have the previous 20. I am cautiously optimistic he’ll continue to get minutes, maybe even start, if he keeps playing well.

The Grimes/RJ situation is a much closer call both on the merits and as to what I think we’ll actually do. RJ obviously has the higher ceiling, but generic 3-and-D wing production is a hell of a lot more than RJ has given us this year and it looks like Grimes can provide it.

We literally might be above .500 this year if we had just distributed RJ’s minutes evenly among the other guard/wing types. So it’ll be interesting to see how tempting it is for Thibs to start to siphon off minutes from RJ if he keeps sucking, and if we don’t bottom out entirely.

Only thing missing after Deuce and Grimes breakout games is Samanic getting minutes while Obi was out. Some day soon hopefully.

We definitely should keep playing RJ-he was much better last year and we should be trying to develop him. But there’s no reason he should be playing so much

Hubert:
If we had lost this game I was prepared to spend tomorrow morning posting links to all the quotes Z-Man denied ever saying. You guys really lucked out.

that hate boner is like one of those 4-hour viagra jobs…use it in good health

Agree, Noble, that Deauce goes right in; and Iā€™d be shocked if he doesnā€™t. Rose + Deuce = 48 minutes.

Iā€™ve liked what I have seen from Grimes, but right now I think the best thing he can do is breathe down RJ & Evanā€™s neck. Letā€™s see how they do with Rose as their PG and someone ready to step in and take their spots in the rotation.

I, too, Owen, am unreasonably giddy. I think Iā€™m going to cook myself up a steak of luck.

Post game show ends with votes for Deuce as the starter. Which is what I’ve been hoping for, keep Rose on the second unit.

I get the sentiment, Raven, but I do not want to force Deuce to deal with Randle and his scowls. Deuce, IQ, and Mitch were a joy to behold tonight. Keep ā€˜em together, and let Derrick Rose go to work on the starting 5.

I like to think of Rose as our fixer. Obi got fixed playing with him; IQ played his best ball with Rose, too. Put Rose where something is broken. Right now thatā€™s the trio of RJ, Evan, and Randle. Letā€™s see if he can fix them. I think thatā€™s our best hope.

You might be right, Hubert, and I wouldn’t be broken-hearted to see that happen. But if it ends up being the same old same-old, switch that shit around.

There were definitely stretches where Randle was acquiescing to Deuce, at least in terms of giving him the ball to bring up the court. And Deuce was acting like a point guard, not just handing it back to Randle at the top of the key, but probing and moving the ball around.

And Owen, it wasn’t just a win against the Rockets (although that was nice). It was the way the game broke, and how the kids shined.

ā€œDeuce is a good player, man, a good young player,ā€™ā€™ Rose said. ā€œHis confidence is very high. His defense is top tier. And he just needs time. Hopefully, Thibs gives him the time. But we know how good he is and we know how good the rookies are. Itā€™s all about opportunity in this league.ā€

We arenā€™t going to move rookie players into the starting lineup off a couple of good games. Right or wrong there are politics involved. But beyond that, teams eventually adjust to these successful rookie types, take away their strengths, and expose their weaknesses. Itā€™s encouraging that Grimes and McBride look good, but itā€™s a long trip between a couple of games and actually being good. Iā€™ve been calling for McBride to get a shot for awhile, but that was mostly because we were desperate at PG. So maybe heā€™s going to continue getting more run. But thereā€™s no way they are going to take RJ out of the starting lineup because heā€™s off to slow start or because Grimes had one good game.

ā€œMitch is frustrating and flaky and remains, by far, our best hope of getting production from the center position in the short and long termā€

That would be Myles Turner. šŸ™‚

Nerlens is still obviously playing well below 100%, but Mitch looks like heā€™s slowly losing some weight. So he might be rounding back into form.

I donā€™t really know who ā€œDeuce McBrideā€ is. I vaguely remember Z-Man clapping his hands for some 2nd round pick back in June. And Iā€™m not sure why he named himself after an obsolete shot in the game that he plays, but, that said, Iā€™d like to propose a few nick-nicknames for the man, in honor of his recent debutante ball:

Deuce McPride
Deuce McBridesmaid
Deuce Skowron
Deuce Ventura
Deuce Ex Machina
Bigalow

Small sample size theater and all, terrible level of competition and all, Deuce obviously has to be in the rotation. Point Burks has failed as an experiment, so now it’s a matter of whether to start Rose or start Deuce. I can see merits to both: McBride would alleviate some of the defensive sloppiness of that starting group, but Rose is probably more likely to help Fournier get going. I’d probably start Rose and artificially keep his minutes to what they’ve been off the bench. I also kind of like Hubert’s idea of keeping Burks in the starting lineup but on the wing, to give us all-vet and all-kid lineups, though this would still leave Grimes on the outside looking in.

Randle and Fournier are the roster’s biggest problems right now, followed by our centers being wildly inconsistent and often just terrible. Macri talks about how tradeable Fournier’s contract is, even with this underwhelming season, but it feels like that would have to happen in the summer. So we’re likely stuck with him for now.

Regardless of how good or bad Deuce turns out to be, it is so refreshing to say “we drafted a point guard that actually can play point guard”

ā€œItā€™s ingrained in my DNA to be a monster on defense,ā€™ā€™ McBride said

Maybe my favorite non-Clyde Knicks quote ever.

And what about the best “worst Knicks quotes”? LOL
I think mine might be “[looking at Mudiay] I’m going to fix you” LOLOL

Didn’t vote on the poll because i sincerely don’t know, i think it can go either way, it’s a really close close call.

I gotta correct myself… forgot about Starks for the most 3P as a Knick! And i lived that era… shame on me!

Trade I’d like to see: Fournier goes to Dallas for Bullock and Willie Cauley Stein (to make the $ work). We’d have to drop Selden. Yes we’d be rostering 5 centers but maybe Mitch goes in a different deal.

Feel like in that DAL-NYK trade there’d have to be a trade asset going somewhere, but I’m not sure I know which side would have to give it. I would be open to removing the protection on the Dallas pick coming our way (so Dallas can trade their 2025 pick, which they can’t right now because o the pick protection), but with Dallas only 14-14, they probably would not do that.

Ummmm so sure it’s small sample size but Quick + McBride (71 possessions) 2 man lineup has a 156 offensive rating. Is that good?

The last few games are giving me deja vu from 2012-13 when Woodson was forced by injury to go small and play Melo at the 4 which basically created an offense that broke the NBA. Of course Woody didn’t understand what he had which led to him starting Kenyon Martin against Indiana, but hopefully Thibs is smarter than that.

I got really into Sous Vide steak over the summer and that comment made me very hungry for one.

Raven, you are right, it wasnā€™t just a win. It was a game changer that gave us a fresh narrative we can ride for 20 games until despair strikes again.

I mean, its nothing fancy but Deuce McBride is looking VERY solid in the minutes he has played so far as PG.

He has a good handle. He doesn’t turn the ball over. He keeps his head up and keeps the ball moving. He recognizes mismatches and gets the ball to players when they have that mismatch. He seems to be able to throw the occasional lob. He plays intense defense and he can hit an open shot.

Honestly, this kid should start going forward. Bring Rose off the bench like before.

A win just makes me happier.

Hey, its not all bad. Fournier may not have worked out and we may have to find a way to get rid of him. Randle might not be as good as he was last year. And Kemba didn’t work out either. Mitch hasn’t really taken a next step. But Grimes and McBride both look like solid rotational players and if you think about it Obi, IQ, McBride and Grimes….Leon has done quite well with the picks so far. Are any of them going to be stars? No. But all are young players who look promising. Throw in Sims and Rokas and you could say the new regime has done well identifying talent later in the draft, which is super important to keep a roster fresh.

I like that Dallas trade idea. Maybe if they unprotected that pick we could give them a second rounder?

I know its the Rockets, but you see Mitch in the 4th quarter last night and it just makes you want to keep holding on to the kid especially if he can be resigned for cheap, which I think he could right now.

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