2021-22 Game Thread: Some of the Knicks vs. the Awful Pistons (With No Jerami Grant)

It’s funny, this is one of those games where even shorthanded, the Knicks seem to have way more talent than their mostly healthy roster (granted, the Pistons are missing their best player, future Laker Jerami Grant).

So the Knicks really, really need to pull this one out. I wonder how long Kemba Walker will continue to pull a Garry Templeton…

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Let’s go, Knicks!

144 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Some of the Knicks vs. the Awful Pistons (With No Jerami Grant)”

the claim is that a strangelet is essentially a catalyst. If it impacts ordinary matter, it will make the matter it touches also turn into a strangelet. Following the idea to its logical conclusion, if a strangelet were made on Earth, it would result in the entire planet collapsing down into a ball of matter made of strangelets … kind of like turning the Earth into an exotic version of a neutron star. Essentially a strangelet can be thought of as a subatomic zombie; one that turns everything it touches into a fellow strangelet zombie.

and, the winner of how the world ends – zombie black holes…cuz, it’s science…

oops sorry, go knicks!!!

actually, in particular go kemba…the austin rivers thing went away quietly, this may not…

Voted Knicks. They have Cade, a better prospect than ours (RJ), and they have Jerami. I think a trade around Julius would return more than one around Jerami, so i think we’re in better shape. That, or Julius getting back on track and playing like last year.

INJECT THE #12 PICK RIGHT INTO MY FUCKIN VEINS LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCK YEAH FUUUUUUUCK YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Jowles, I have a really hard time getting that face to match up with the haunches you flashed at us a while ago…

Raven:
Jowles, I have a really hard time getting that face to match up with the haunches you flashed at us a while ago…

Maybe that was his face….

This starting lineup is like watching paint dry. Put in Tyler Hall or some shit.

Fournier has missed some easy shots…

The Pistons are awful, they’re desperately hunting for Banchero/Holmgren.

Clyde’ll be back thursday, good news…

both kemba and taj need to find some minutes in the rotation…same as deuce and grimes…

it would benefit us so much to trim evian’s, julius’ and RJ’s minutes…

Kemba coms in, his man walks him right to the basket then he gets stripped for the dunk. Not good.

howdy pepper 🙂

not really digging the last 2 star wars projects (the mandalorian, and even surprisingly the bad batch)…i don’t know, maybe just wrong time for it for me…the writing and production value versus what marvel is putting out right now…hard to compete with marvel at the moment…loved what if…(some really dark stuff), wandvision, loki, falcon and winter soldier – all really good, interesting stuff…sky high production and writing values…looking forward to catching hawkeye, i’m sure it rocks…

i am though absolutely lovingly: tales from the galaxy’s edge – it’s legit everything i was hoping for from a VR experience, it’s why i picked up the quest, not disappointed in the least…the game is breathtaking, fairly simple and enjoyable mechanics, i don’t play a lot, but, it’s about a month and i’m still getting the hang of getting around in VR…serious stoner’s delight, i spend a lot of time standing in one spot looking around going ahhhhhhhh, wowwwwww, too funny…

Now Leon is going to show if he’s worth the big bucks. Should we keep Julius? Or was it an “Oladipo wonder season” and we should trade him now when his value is still high?

season 6 of expanse has started…it’s real good

i’m debating how many episodes i’m gonna let build up before i start watching…i could binge the whole season in a weekend..

it’s weird, the box score says he has 3 turnovers, it feels like more though…

we’re up double digits, but, it doesn’t really look like we’ve played that well…the pistons are really really bad…

oh well, go knicks…

Geo:
it’s weird, the box score says he has 3 turnovers, it feels like more though…

You’re right, I think it’s because his turnovers are always ugly and feel like they weight more…

I think it’s the combo of turnovers and bricked 3’s that magnify each murdered possession

Z-man:
I think it’s the combo of turnovers and bricked 3’s that magnify each murdered possession

That, but also outside of the Kemba egregious strip, Randle has three turnovers and the rest of the team… has none…

There is such a stark difference between good Fournier and bad Fournier. Such a barometer for this team

I know it’s only against the Pistons, but so good to see proper ball movement today. Good ball movement, is good ball movement.

Geo: i’m debating how many episodes i’m gonna let build up before i start watching…i could binge the whole season in a weekend..

I also like to do this. I’m not used anymore to have to wait a week when it’s one of those episodes with a super intriguing finish.

DRed: Stat muse says it’s happened 28 times

Yes. More please.

Fournier shooting his way out of his mess? Or crap opponent? Or both?

Between the Pistons and Rockettes… a win is a win but I don’t think you really learn anything from playing these guys…

Totally irrelevant question: why is the Garden all blue on the exterior? I thought the Garden was always blue and orange when the Knicks are playing home.

I don’t think you really learn anything from playing these guys…

i’ll feel a little better about life tonight if we stay ahead of the ants…so goes the scope of my world view…

Observation … I think Burks fits the definition of ball hog time to time … talk about a guy that makes up his mind early and does not deviate from taking pretty terrible shots sometimes ..

KB Apprentice:
We’re gonna learn something pretty bad pretty quickly if we don’t watch out.

Oh yea … That’s probably best case scenario actually if we want some definitive information

The Garden should create a montage of Randle’s high dribble and dribble into 4 guys in the paint turnovers and play it during every timeout.

I mean I’m not an NBA coach, but exactly what is the advantage of Randle bringing the ball up the court when you have Kemba, Burks, and Fournier on the floor. Hell, I’d rather have Taj bring it up. Randle just crossing half court with the ball is a guaranteed 2-3 turnovers per game. And for exactly what? So he can handoff to someone more quickly. I’m really at a loss.

remember when people on this website sincerely argued that Nerlens Noel was better on offense than Mitch?

Randle rarely exits the game because of his ability to eventually hit a long two… let’s stop discussing his PT forever …

Not sure what Thibs was going for swapping Noel for Mitch in the starting lineup but that should be over now

DRed:
remember when people on this website sincerely argued that Nerlens Noel was better on offense than Mitch?

No

Wally kind of arguing Burks > RJ for this starting lineup. Is he right? Did Thibs swap him in for the wrong guy in Kemba?

Remember, it’s the pistons … we need Mitch to do this kinda shit against Embiid, Gobert, etc… or just someone that boxes out

I mean it’s just the pistons but Burks was 2-8, Randle 8-18, Evan 9-24 and Kemba 8-21 so it was good someone was there to cleanup.

Thanks to the basket deities for the Pistons.

Nothing to learn from a game like this except for questions about what Thibs will do when the youngsters will be back.
Grimes and Deuce showed they deserve minutes, Toppin that he must play more.
It’ll be interesting, and very telling, to watch the rotations…

Not one piston fundamentally boxed out consistently … it reminded me of our very own knicks late in games against the good teams …

I mean I’m not an NBA coach, but exactly what is the advantage of Randle bringing the ball up the court when you have Kemba, Burks, and Fournier on the floor. Hell, I’d rather have Taj bring it up. Randle just crossing half court with the ball is a guaranteed 2-3 turnovers per game. And for exactly what? So he can handoff to someone more quickly. I’m really at a loss.

honestly apprentice, it just looks like he’s catching his breath…that’s it…

Knicks marketing huddled right now to credit “the Kemba resurgence” to Thibs’s tough love 😉

I do think RJ might lose his starting job to Kemba now but there is a squeeze coming to someone.

It would be pretty cool if Mitch put forth this kind of game on most nights. This stretch is a good opportunity for him to put his shitty start to the year behind him. He finally looks healthy and mobile. Let’s see if he can stay on the floor.

I mean, yeah it’s the Pistons but they played very hard, especially their guards. Kemba looked healthy and his offense was good enough to make up for his bad d.

Are we actually facing the Hawks without Trae and Capela on Christmas Day? With at least Obi and RJ and probably Rose back? Advantage Knicks, right?

One important stat for Mitch: 24 minutes and finishing on a high. The 4 fouls are worrisome, but still…

Z-man: Would that necessarily be wrong?

Dunno. No Covid; no Kemba resurgence.

I think Thibs stupidly boxed himself in with the whole “Kemba’s out of the entire rotation” thing, but, without the virus, I wonder if Kemba would have ever played meaningful Knick minutes again.

Hahn making a good point…can Kemba play this hard and this well on offense on most nights or will he wear down and get banged up after a few games? You can’t start him if he plays like he did early on.

KB Apprentice: Dunno. No Covid; no Kemba resurgence.

I think Thibs stupidly boxed himself in with the whole “Kemba’s out of the entire rotation” thing, but, without the virus, I wonder if Kemba would have ever played meaningful Knick minutes again.

Possibly, but at the same time, is Kemba playing better because now he knows he’s on a short leash? I think these POVs are not mutually exclusive.

Z-man: Possibly, but at the same time, is Kemba playing better because now he knows he’s on a short leash? I think these POVs are not mutually exclusive.

Agree, and as you say: is this possible for Kemba more than once a month?

One of the things I heard from a CelticsBlog author before the season was that the Celts tried to manage Kemba’s game to take pressure off of his left knee by telling him to eliminate some moves from his game that needed more torque, e.g. certain step-back moves. That’s understandible when you’re managing a $35mill AAV asset on a long term deal. Thibs clearly isn’t interested in preserving Kemba’s knee….that was clear from the opening press conference when he said “He’s playin’!” And my guess is that if he keeps him in the lineup, Kemba better go full bore every night with the whole repertoire or he will be benched again. Is that smart, i.e. good for the team? That’s a fair question.

Wonder if Thibs just decides to run Kemba into the ground the next two weeks so he can say he was justified benching him in the first place.

i wonder if the reason no one has come out to do a post game interview is because thibs and kemba are rolling around on the floor some where beating the hell out of each other…

Didnt watch tonight but Mitch being the only interesting player healthy having a great game is always nice.

I didn’t see the first half. Was Kemba getting the ball to Mitch better than our other guys do?

I mean, at times the offense did look like the way Leon drew it up. Again, Pistons, and one game, but …

kemba played well, he can run an offense…evian is actually starting hitting buckets, still afraid of rebounding though…

julius is an absolute fucking mess right now…sorry ju, going forward i’m calling you randle for a while, get it together man…

KevinR:
Wonder if Thibs just decides to run Kemba into the ground the next two weeks so he can say he was justified benching him in the first place.

Well that’s the thing…managing minutes is not Thibs’ style, and he’s already got Rose on a leash. Sounds more and more like Thibs was pissed when Kemba opted out on a b2b when they needed him because Rose was out, not to mention that Kemba was playing shitty anyway, so Thibs maybe made the point that if you can’t play when we need you and even when you play you’re holding back to protect your knee, you’re no good to me. It’s clearly a bad look….kind of like when D’Antoni put Nate in the doghouse for a month for, well, being Nate, or when he banished Starbury even though he may have been his best player in preseason. I think they have very similar personalities.

Postgame conference: Kemba further defines himself as the anti-Thibs, ~ “I’m just trying to be myself, to play the game with joy, to stay upbeat, to stay positive always, even when things aren’t going our way. We’ve been missing that a bit.” Haha.

I think the similarities in their personalities is pretty stark.

You’ve made this point a number of times, and I think it’s valid. Mirror images of each other, though Thibs has shown more willingness to adjust. He just has a tough situation with Randle and RJ being the biggest cause of our trouble.

Z-man:
Man, the names coming out of the woodwork for these hardship deals….

Starks looked pretty fit tonight 😉

wow, kemba’s post game comments very revealing, seems thibs ain’t such a fan of him smiling out on the court either…

it’s like some weird basketball philosophic difference between him and thibs regarding on court “demeanor”…hmmmm, wow…

i’ll be honest, it bugged me too thibs, but, that all or nothing, starter or “exile” thing is stupid sith logic, all or nothing…

thibs needs to humble himself, stick kemba back out there in the starting five, pray evian can hit shots (he is not rebounding, not even a little), hope julius wakes up, count on either one or both of mitch and noel to have a healthy patch…and look to move RJ to the second unit…

Z-man: Maybe Clyde is secretly training for a cameo…

Would love that!

Pretty sure Wally is thinking about it 😉

Mitch was either out or pretty much stationary for most of Kemba’s first run- a functional pnr with those two would do wonders for the offense. Kemba’s probably got one more game in the line-up and with Capella probably out hopefully they can have some more success and force Thib’s hand. I do wonder if Kemba can keep up the energy level he played with these last two games without wearing down his knee.

Kemba has kind of forced Thibs’ hand here. It’s hard to see him getting Pinsoned as soon as the rest of the rotation is available again — or, at least, it’s hard to see Thibs doing that until Kemba hits another slump. That probably forces the rookies back to the bench for now.

Also, those of you poo-poohing the Hall of Fame nominees in yesterday’s thread clearly never played as Tom Chambers in NBA Jam. Among the best video game athletes ever.

Alan:
Kemba has kind of forced Thibs’ hand here. It’s hard to see him getting Pinsoned as soon as the rest of the rotation is available again — or, at least, it’s hard to see Thibs doing that until Kemba hits another slump. That probably forces the rookies back to the bench for now.

Agreed. Although with Thibs you never know. But in the short run, it seems like the negative PR of benching Kemba again would not be worth it.

Most importantly, this certainly has done something positive for Kemba’s trade value. He definitey looks like at least a $9 mill player. Barring a scenario where the Knicks go on some magical streak, I would expect that the FO will work the phones to find an off-ramp for him. Thibs has probably seen enough of McBride to want to roll with him and he clearly doesn’t care for Kemba’s game.

One possibility is that Thibs plays Kemba as his primary 24mpg starter and McBride gets opportunities when either Rose or Kemba are getting rest or are nicked up or when Kemba is ineffective or overmatched by bigger guards.

That’s the thing right now, there is no clear vision beyond the trade deadline. Who knows where Thibs/Leon will go with this mess?

Most importantly, this certainly has done something positive for Kemba’s trade value. He definitey looks like at least a $9 mill player. Barring a scenario where the Knicks go on some magical streak, I would expect that the FO will work the phones to find an off-ramp for him. Thibs has probably seen enough of McBride to want to roll with him and he clearly doesn’t care for Kemba’s game.

Yes, I assume this is the plan. Kemba is clearly not long for this team, and in some ways we might be better served by another Pinsoning while he still looks good. While I suppose it’s possible Kemba could be part of a larger package (say, as salary filler in a Turner deal), anyone want to propose fake trades where we’re just shipping out Kemba (and maybe Knox if a small additional salary is needed)?

The main problem Thibs is going to have going forward is too much depth. He likes to settle on a rotation of 9, maybe 10 players, yet there are clearly 12-13 guys who are good enough to play, and the guys he either defers to or is pressured to defer to are underperforming. Yanking Kemba for a rookie is both unseemly and could have backfired to the detriment of the rookie and the locker room, so I sort of get the Burks experiment. Same to a lesser degree with Fournier and Grimes, you wouldn’t want to put Grimes in a position to fail and have to deal with the “I told you so” shit in the locker room. And Julius and RJ were his biggest minutes-getters last year, so benching them is sort of self-defeating.

He’s in a really tough spot. COVID eliminated choices for him and gave him some reasons/excuses for lineups. Within 3-4 games, everyone will be back. It will be interesting to see how this ends up.

If Thibs plays Kemba, even in the short run, I’d like to see him paired with spry Mitch. The pair showed some nice chemistry last night and Mitch can cover for some of Kemba’s defensive woes. To Z-man’s point about having depth, this seems to be somewhat positive during this omicron phase of the season as it appears there will be a rolling entry into H&S protocols.

Omicron/depth are the only reasons I’d be reluctant to move Kemba — or, if the FO is already thinking about it, to move Fournier. The group that hasn’t tested positive yet is largely made up of our more exasperating players, but at least we can still field a lineup that can beat the Pistons. If we do some 2-for-1 trades and the roster gets hit by another Covid wave, I could see us fielding some absurd lineups that will one day be the subject of “Wait, he started five games?” trivia questions.

. It’s clearly a bad look….kind of like when D’Antoni put Nate in the doghouse for a month for, well, being Nate, or when he banished Starbury even though he may have been his best player in preseason. I think they have very similar personalities.

They are soooooooo similar. I’m still mad about that Nate thing.

Alan: anyone want to propose fake trades where we’re just shipping out Kemba (and maybe Knox if a small additional salary is needed)?

I love to propose fake trades, but assuming you don’t want a veteran back (to try to win at all costs), i don’t think Kemba and Knox will net us young prospects with potential. Let me check if there’s some young prospects that are failing to look like they have potential.

I’m starting to worry if we’re missing the opportunity to trade Julius (and maybe RJ) when they still have some shine. Because if they fail to reach the level of play we need them to, we’ll be in mediocrity land for quite a while, a la Pacers and teams like that.

Cant trade Julius til February, thanks to the extension. He’s still reasonably priced if he’s not utter garbage. But there’s definitely a danger of having to attach a sweetener to unload him if he can’t get his head on straight.

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