2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Hornets

Thank goodness the Knicks are once again hosting MLK afternoon games. It was so weird when they lost those games.

Anyhow, the red-hot Knicks host the Hornets with a chance to move up in the standings. The Hornets are luckily probably going to be without their star point guard, LaMelo Ball, tonight, which is quite fortuitous for the Knicks! This should give the Knicks a very good chance at winning this one.

Kemba Walker, though, will sadly miss this matchup with his former team. Seeing him play against another one of his former teams, the Celtics, this would have been fun. Sadly, Nerlens Noel is also out today. That knee of his has been a problem this year. The Knicks really haven’t had healthy Mitch/Noel this year, which is as a shame as that’s such a key part of their defense. Luckily, Mitch has been so good recently that it has still mostly worked out.

As for the poll, Alan wanted to know this one…

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Let’s go, Knicks!

148 replies on “2021-22 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Hornets”

20 years ago today, my daughter’s first and last Knicks game )-:

“Knicks Suffer Worst Home Loss in Team History”

As if a season of brutal basketball wasn’t bad enough for the Knicks, now they’re being humiliated, too.

In their most-lopsided home loss ever, the Knicks fell to the Charlotte Hornets 111-68 Monday for their eighth straight defeat.

“It’s an embarrassment,” point guard Mark Jackson said.

By the end of the game, which saddled the Knicks with their longest losing streak in 15 years, several players on the bench had towels covering their heads.

The real reason we traded for Cam revealed:

Leon Rose didn’t want to throw this game.

People passed over Bane for the same reason they drooled over Frank…
w-i-n-g-s-p-a-n…

People passed over Bane for the same reason they drooled over Frank…
w-i-n-g-s-p-a-n…

Sadly, the same basic reason why Curry lasted almost to #8 in the 2009 Draft (“sadly” because otherwise he would have been long off of the boards and wouldn’t have tormented us all by having him get picked right before the Knicks’ pick).

The balance shifted a lot with LaMelo out, don’t waste the chance.

Let’s Go Knicks!

Edit: Ops!

man, i had kinks in my head all morning:
I remember, when you were down
And you needed a helping hand
I came to feed you
But now that I need you
You won’t give me a second glance
Now I’m calling all citizens from all over the world
This is Captain America calling
I bailed you out when you were down on your knees
So will you catch me now I’m falling

go knicks…

been thinking a bit too of billy preston and john lennon hanging out singing i have a dream over she’s so heavy…

holy cow soze – you just getting ready to sit down for an early dinner…cool you’re getting some primetime playing…a wet and greyish day is just getting under way as we begin to play…

Just a Bush: holy cow soze – you just getting ready to sit down for an early dinner…cool you’re getting some primetime playing…

I should be working, but hey i’m my own boss so i’m allowed. 😀

Wait, whaaaaaaat????? MITCH!!

EDIT: If Mitch unlocks that move consistently. OMG!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a move more inexplicable than that Mitch move.

this offense is bullshit give it to mitch on the perimeter and let him cook

The Knicks have their longterm answer at the point, I guess.

DRed:
this offense is bullshit give it to mitch on the perimeter and let him cook

Mitch gotta bring it up the floor now. Clear out, folks.

This isn’t going well, but on the bright side Clyde and the mayor definitely have chemistry

I wanted Mikal in the 2018 Draft, and had Miles next. Is Mikal still a better option, or has Miles outplayed him after the slow start?

cybersoze:
I wanted Mikal in the 2018 Draft, and had Miles next. Is Mikal still a better option, or has Miles outplayed him after the slow beginning?

You’re a bad man, you’re making me cry… 😉

Miles was the “knicksy” outcome that many here feared months before the draft. I think his stock rose as the draft got closer…

I wanted Mikal in the 2018 Draft, and had Miles next. Is Mikal still a better option, or has Miles outplayed him after the slow start?

I’d still take Mikal, but Miles has definitely made it very close with his stellar play this season. Put it this way, Miles will get a bigger free agent contract that Mikal got in his extension.

Remember when the running joke was that we were going to end up with Miles Bridges in the draft, and that was going to be a disappointing outcome?

#3on3

“Obi” crowd chants per minutes played is a Knick record, perhaps.

EDIT: Meaning – he may be the career leader.

I’m patiently waiting for the day Mitch glances over at Thibs, shoots a line drive 3 pointer, Thibs grabs his chest, and Mitch nails it. 🙂

My beloved refrain: too many missed FTs…

Both RJ and IQ with turnovers on dumb lazy passes…

When Michael Jordan made the decision to draft Miles Bridges, he probably didn’t think the kid would one day score more points than he ever did at MSG.

Z-man:
It’s just uncanny how we can’t corral a defensive rebound.

Time for the Randle/Mitch/Taj/Sims lineup

d-mar: Good idea for RJ to leave that brick layer Hayward wide open in the corner.

Sorry, that’s on me. It looked like a good idea, early on. 😛

People would yell at me if I stated my opinion of Randle’s defense today so I won’t

Back to square one, very very disappointing.

We had one chance to get back in the game, RJ and Obi missed 4 FT’s and the Hornets take command again…

I wont say nothing about Randle and Fournier, but I’m thinking out loud 🙂

This is kind of classic Knicks-y – get the fans believing again and then let future hall of famers Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier shred you like Parmesan cheese

parmesan is usually grated…mozzarella is shredded….but…this is a pathetic showing so far…

Woeful half so I might as well tackle this (you skip it if you’re not Z-Man).

As to Thibs, you bashed him for being woefully outcoached by Nate McMillan. You took victory laps while prematurely evoking the Skiles effect. You’ve been reluctant to credit him for any successes the team has experienced (except against the backdrop of the Skiles effect) including developing IQ, Obi, RJ, and Mitch, let alone Julius. You went all “see, I told you so” when he brought on DRose. You called him an old dog that couldn’t learn new tricks, even though we are now 8th in 3PAr. And on and on. And you have gratuitously labeled whoever has disagreed with you on these things a Thibs worshipper, further fanning the flames.

I’m certainly to blame for some of the acrimony and am working on being less caustic (but not entirely humorless) with certain posters. Hopefully you can own your share of the blame and do the same.

I am all for more harmony in 2022. Acrimony is tedious.

I gotta say, though, I look at this passage and it does not represent anything I’ve said or believe.

If you do an entire search of this database you will never find the phrase Skiles Effect in one of my posts. I never said it, I never believed it.

I have given Thibs immense credit for player development. I think it’s his most under appreciated skill. I even talked about it as a plus when we hired him. I believe he’s done great work with Obi and IQ. And he was an immense factor in Mitch’s improvement.

I do not believe Randle and Barrett were great last year because of Thibs. This has been the center of our disagreement. When things went bad in the playoffs and I criticized Thibs, you felt I shouldn’t have done that because Thibs was the reason we got there. I didn’t see it that way. I agree that Barrett, Randle, and everyone else on the team needed the step up from Fizdale to Thibs to elevate their game. But I think any above average coach could have provided the same, and many of them could have actually helped more.

I was dead wrong about Thibs and DRose, and I ate crow for it.

And I didn’t say Thibs couldn’t learn new tricks. In fact I even predicted when he hired him that he would embrace the 3 pt shot bc he’s smart and he wants to win.

You’ve taken all the Thibs criticisms you’ve heard and ascribed them to me, but those aren’t my takes.

Hubert: I am all for more harmony in 2022. Acrimony is tedious.

Or, as someone once said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Wasn’t someone supposed to do an incense dance or something? Did that not happen?

Mitch just played the best defense of the day on Miles, too bad Fournier blew the dunk

Randle just letting people drive by him like it’s part of the game plan…

You really need to learn how to throw lighters, coins and bottles at the refs like we do in civil Europe….

🙂

Another hangover. Neither surprising, nor unusual, unfortunately. Name how many times in 20 years the Knicks played well at MSG when the previous day was a weekend or holiday. You won’t find many.

Bridges is playing really well, but i don’t envision that he can do this on the Big3 league. 😀

Just tuned in to see we’re getting killed. Had to work and been on calls all afternoon. No opportunity to do my halftime “Incense and Dance” ritual. Sorry gang. Next game…

They’re not shooting lights-out, but their 3pt% is almost the same as our overall shot%.

Plus 15 turnovers vs. 6 isn’t a good thing.

Max: Crowd too quiet, they played like shit, let them know we noticed.

They played well in the previous games, i don’t think they deserve it for just one game.

Fred Katz @fredkatz

A relevant stat with the Knicks down 18 to the 23-20 Hornets right now:
Since Nov. 9 …
Knicks’ record vs. teams currently .500 or worse: 14-5
Knicks’ record vs. teams currently over .500: 1-12
They beat the teams they should and struggle against good ones.

The only win over an over .500 team is the Dallas’ one.

the non Mitch starters shot 16-47 for 48 points if anyone is wondering why we got our asses kicked

Well now we know what the starting lineup should have been.

Man, poor Miles can’t hit the ocean from a boat right now.

You can tell the Knicks crowd is getting younger and dumber because that “We want Obi” chant was so stupid. Like how is Obi gonna change the game?! We don’t have a functioning point guard! Which he needs to be successful! And he’s not good at defense! Not sure if it was yet more piling on Randle – which is dumb because he wasn’t the only reason we sucked today. Total team failure.

Hit your goddamn free throws Knicks

The Hornets played very well, have to give them their props. They’d beat a lot of teams the way they played today. And we definitely played poorly, especially Julius but he wasn’t alone. The zone really gave us trouble.

SoNiceWeShowItTwice: You can tell the Knicks crowd is getting younger and dumber because that “We want Obi” chant was so stupid.

I hope that’s only because the game was a matinee.

Rob Perez
@WorldWideWob

Updated list of opposing players who have set their career-high points at Madison Square Garden this season:

1) Jaylen Brown (46)
2) OG Anunoby (36)
3) Ricky Rubio (37)
4) Evan Mobley (26)
5) Zeke Nnaji (21)
6) Miles Bridges (38)

Max: The only win over an over .500 team is the Dallas’ one.

Next 3 games are easy then, at home against teams below .500 – MIN, NOP, LAC.

Max, fixed that for you…the Knox pick will haunt us for eternity

Rob Perez
@WorldWideWob

Updated list of opposing players who have set their career-high points at Madison Square Garden this season:

1) Jaylen Brown (46)
2) OG Anunoby (36)
3) Ricky Rubio (37)
4) Evan Mobley (26)
5) Zeke Nnaji (21)
6) Miles Bridges (38)
7) Shai-Gilgeous Alexander (43) on 2/14/22

Max:
Updated list of opposing players who have set their career-high points at Madison Square Garden this season:
1) Jaylen Brown (46)
2) OG Anunoby (36)
3) Ricky Rubio (37)
4) Evan Mobley (26)
5) Zeke Nnaji (21)
6) Miles Bridges (38)

I’ll be monitoring* Mobley and Nnaji’s games to check if they can go 27 and 22 pts, respectively, to reduce this list.
* – No, i will not. Just kidding.

d-mar:
Max, fixed that for you…the Knox pick will haunt us for eternity

Rob Perez
@WorldWideWob

Updated list of opposing players who have set their career-high points at Madison Square Garden this season:

1) Jaylen Brown (46)
2) OG Anunoby (36)
3) Ricky Rubio (37)
4) Evan Mobley (26)
5) Zeke Nnaji (21)
6) Miles Bridges (38)
7) Shai-Gilgeous Alexander (43) on 2/14/22

LOL (but with a tear rolling down my cheeck…. Kevin… Knox…).

The game made it glaringly obvious for the 1000th time how much we need an actual PG. Quickley isnt it so we need Rose back ASAP or a trade for one.

Guys, I finally figured it out:

Miles Bridges did not want to play for the Knicks, so he threw the 3-on-3.

Has to be.

I certainly wanted Miles Bridges over Knox, but that was just because Knox was always a glaringly terrible pick, but I didn’t think much of Bridges and up until this season, he hasn’t been much, so while yes, the Knicks deserve all of the shit they can get for picking a clearly bad choice with the Knox pick, I don’t know if I can knock them too much for not taking Miles Bridges. He’s been a pleasant surprise, but a surprise nevertheless (and he still doesn’t play much defense).

Mitch is like a sunken Spanish galleon with untold treasures hidden within its hold.

jazzfunk:
Mitch is like a sunken Spanish galleon with untold treasures hidden within its hold.

He’s decaying in 100 feet of water?
🙂

Kevin Knox is one of the few times when any of my teams drafted a guy that I flat out “knew” would be terrible. Usually I’ll cross my fingers and figure the team might be right. Not with him… dude looked like a gangly low effort guy at KY. Alas.

dude looked like a gangly low effort guy at KY.

The craziest thing is still that his freshman teammate who had a much better season than him was right there if you wanted to go with an upside guy!

I’ll be monitoring* Mobley and Nnaji’s games to check if they can go 27 and 22 pts, respectively, to reduce this list.

that is not the way it works my dude

To make matters worse on this bad day for the Knicks, Celtics won, Wizards won, Hornets won (duh!). And the Hawks just did the same against the Bucks. Raptors are playing the Heat, let’s hope this game goes our way.

Thanks to the KB community, I read Story of Your Life today, and got two episodes into Station Eleven. It helped that I was able to tune out the Knicks after one half. Really, really solid picks.

Knicks honoring MLK with nonviolent resistance

Comment of the thread

I will agree the Knicks were non-violent. I wouldn’t call Miles Bridges scoring 22 points in a single quarter “resistance”.

The craziest thing is still that his freshman teammate who had a much better season than him was right there if you wanted to go with an upside guy!

Both Shai and Donovan Mitchell in the Frank draft were totally within our range and guys we should have been looking to pick considering we’ve needed a PG forever. I know Mitchell is more of a combo but in both of these drafts we went with measurements and potential over production. It’s not even like Knox and Frank are super athletic. I would say Shai and Donovan are way more athletic in the sense they are faster and more explosive. It’s just that Knox and Frank had the bigger bodies and measurements. It’s so maddening to think we could have had either of those dudes.

And while I like Obi enough, it’s the same wrong thinking when we picked him over Halliburton. At least Obi actually is athletic and I’m pretty sure we picked him thinking Randle was gone. But still. We have needed a point guard forever and yet whenever we have a high draft pick, we don’t pick the best available PG’s. It’s so stupid. Even going back to Jordan Hill. Yeah, we missed out on Steph. Still could have grabbed Jrue Holiday who is quietly one of the better PG’s of the last decade.

It’s why I’m actually cool with us competing and having later first round picks. For whatever reason, going back for a very long time, this franchise just can’t seem to hit lottery picks and does better with late first rounders and second rounders. RJ was an obvious choice so I’m fine with that. But before him, I guess Gallo was the last top 10 pick we made that was the correct choice?

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