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2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Magic

The Knicks host the Orlando Magic for their third game of the season, with a chance to get over .500 for the first time this season. And since the Magic suck, this is a great chance for the Knicks!

HOW IS MY WIN PREDICTION LOOKING? I’m feeling very confident about my 49 win prediction!

Let’s go, Knicks!

219 replies on “2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Magic”

Classic trap game, even last year the Magic were the 3rd game and everyone know how it went…

Will this year be different? You bet it will!

Let’s Go Knicks!

Wally says we’re gonna win by a lot, so the jinx is in place.

Let’s go Knicks!!

EDIT: Shots of Randle meditating before the game. It’s working so far šŸ˜‰

Hope Iā€™m wrong, would love to be wrong, blah blah blah.

Iā€™m just not seeing RJ Barrett: special player.

Orlando has a pretty good young front line with Wagner, Banchero and Carter Jr. Too bad for them that Suggs seems like a whiff so far.

RJ has still to hit a jumper in three games…

And the spacing problem, with him, JB, Randle and Mitch, is still here, Evian with zero shots…

Panchero is gonna be a superstar. Hard to believe he’s a rookie (even when he gets totally lost on defense).

RJ is starting to pass the ball when he goes to the rim. Last year the play would end with a block.

One day weā€™re going to need a clearer answer to the question ā€œwhat is RJ Barrett good at?ā€

Barrett right now canā€™t buy a jumper to save his lifeā€¦
Letā€™s hope this slump end soonā€¦

Pre-game was all about how RJ *always* bounces back from a bad game with a good one, citing the Pistons game as evidence. I’m not sure that is true overall, but maybe he also *always* follows a good game with a bad one? Ha. He’s 0/4 with a turnover thus far.

Reddish creeping up in RJ’s rearview mirror šŸ˜‰

IQ had a perfect line to the rim and instead threw that stupid pass. He has the opposite of Brunson’s footwork.

The Bench Mob is a real weapon, maybe the best bench unit in the league right nowā€¦
Cam with some nice moves, heā€™s targeting RJā€™s spot in the starting lineup šŸ™‚

I like uptempo Cam a lot more than halfcourt Cam.

He’s looked better going around picks on D

Cam is a better scorer than RJ now. If he can slowly fill out his game and keep moving forward and he can still become a very good player and not just a rotation player off the bench.

I no longer cringe when Rose shoots a 3pter, he’s become a very solid shooter as he ages.

Cam just needed a good development coach like Thibs to get through to him. lmao Some guys respond better to authoritarian coaching.

That kind of shot was Randle’s bread and butter 2 years ago. Hope it’s back but would rather he find am outlet there.

So I guess we canā€™t have too many good things. Randle looks like his 2020-2021 version but RJ looks like shit.

Also, Randle reverting back to a willing passer completely changes how this offence looks.

RJ leads the team in in Plus/Minus so far tonight. lmao

We’d be up by 20 if he wasn’t on the court.

Edit: (beat me to it Owen) šŸ™‚

Is 1 for 9 good?

However, RJ is all about passing out of the drive, like on that last play, which is why he has (looks) zero assists.

Also my new theme, apparently, and glad for RJ now that Cam has erased that option.

RJā€™s forcing everything but the rest of the team looks awesome. IQ is a bit messy but if heā€™s able to post five bounds and seven assists in a half thatā€™s terrific news. Nothing to say about Mitch and Obi besides: yes!!

Iā€™m not worried about RJ just yet, but my god the shooting has been ugly early on.

RJ is going into the same idiot mode he went into in game 1. This is where he behaves like he’s a star shooter/scorer that should just keep shooting and forcing up tough shots even though he’s shooting worse than the Lakers. It’s scary. He needs to be reprogrammed into realizing shooting is not his strength and he’s not a star player. He’s a role player trying to slowly get better at everything and eventually become a major option on a good team. At this point, it’s on Thibs to straighten him out. We have too many good weapons for RJ to be shooting this much.

Favorite line of the first half, from Clyde of course, on that Bol Bol three:

“Banking and thanking.”

So, when Randle was our worst player, he was the guy taking the last shot. Now that our worst player is RJ, it’s him that takes the last shot? I see a trend here! šŸ˜›

There were a bunch of Shaqtin’ a Fool moments for the Knicks
-nearly every shot RJ took
-the third foul by Brunson
-the pass to no one by IQ
-Hart inisting on getting a delay of game call
-Julius getting slow roasted by Bol Bol

When people are like “RJ was one of the worst players in the NBA” this is what they’re talking about. He has games like this a lot. Has always had lots of games like this.

I’m tryin’a believe here but the man just might not be very good.

It feels like Brunson is not getting enough space when he drives inside. I thought it could be an issue and I think it is. It’s much harder to get off quality shots.

How is it that Fournier can’t get shots off when he is arguably the best shooter in the starting five?

I think we’re officially in “they’re staying too close” mode.

If things don’t change quickly, will be interesting to see how Thibs chooses to resolve the tension between “win as many games as possible” and “play RJ Barrett a lot of minutes and let him take a lot of shots”

“When people are like ā€œRJ was one of the worst players in the NBAā€ this is what theyā€™re talking about. He has games like this a lot. Has always had lots of games like this.

Iā€™m tryinā€™a believe here but the man just might not be very good.”

The problem is what I’ve been saying.

The normal human being gets a little gun shy when he’s having a rough night shooting. RJ has the opposite reaction. He gets more aggressive and turns what should be a rough night into a disastrous night. It’s a mental thing that goes back to high school or college. He was taught to stay aggressive. He has talked about that openly. That may be OK in high school when you are the best player on your team or if you are Durant, Curry etc… but it’s idiot shit when you are one of the weakest shooters on your team.

“How is it that Fournier canā€™t get shots off when he is arguably the best shooter in the starting five?”

Maybe the defensive game plan is to make sure Fournier can’t get off too many easy shots because he can actually shoot. Other teams know that too.

“The problem is what Iā€™ve been saying.”

Literally two days ago you were telling me I didn’t understand Thibs’ genius in playing RJ Barrett 35 minutes every night. Never change!

“If things donā€™t change quickly, will be interesting to see how Thibs chooses to resolve the tension between ā€œwin as many games as possibleā€ and ā€œplay RJ Barrett a lot of minutes and let him take a lot of shotsā€”

There’s no way he takes him out of the starting lineup, but he has to get him under control somehow without damaging his confidence even more.

On the plus side, Randle is playing like a high-usage player who still plays within a system of sorts. It looks like a good role for him and if he maintains it our offense might be better than I thought.

Someone in the last thread was like, I can’t believe Westbrook has been in the league for 15 years and hasn’t developed a jumper.

Some people just can’t. All the court vision, leaping, slashing, finishing ability in the world, and can’t put a 22 oz. round-ball through a hoop from 18 feet away while five tall men are trying to prevent the act from occurring.

RJB is shaping up into being one of those guys. The problem is that he also lacks the elite court vision, leaping, slashing and finishing that made peak Westbrook so goddamn good. The extension may be a “steal” from an opportunity cost perspective (who really wants to see their #3 overall pick, taken after two All-NBA and future MVP-candidate players, develop elsewhere?) but man, RJ can’t fuckin shoot. He just can’t. You can try to figure out what’s wrong with his footwork, or form, or whatever, but the act just comes naturally to some athletes. RJ… not one of them.

Oh well!

“Literally two days ago you were telling me I didnā€™t understand Thibsā€™ genius in playing RJ Barrett 35 minutes every night. Never change!”

And you still don’t understand what I am saying. I have hope for you though.

He’s not going to take him out of the starting lineup because he’s having a couple of rough nights. That would be lunacy. We know RJ has these periods and then turns it around. What he has to teach him is to back off when the shot is not falling and focus on defense, hitting the boards, passing out of the drives etc… You don’t get more aggressive when you are shooting poorly. You wait for the wide open looks and try to slowly rebuild your confidence and stroke. RJ has to have his “star” mentality tamed because he’s obviously not a star.

“And you still donā€™t understand the game well enough to understand what I am saying. I have hope for you though.”

“Heā€™s not going to take him out of the starting lineup because heā€™s having a couple of rough nights.”

I definitely never said anything about taking him out of the starting lineup, but as you know I admire your dogged commitment to the bit.

I may be one of the remaining few here who isnā€™t all that worried about RJ.

You are not alone

While I am loving the shit on RJ thing, in his defense he can absolutely go through streaks of unconscious shooting where he gets 30 game after game. But when he stinks he really stinks.

He’s one of the most inconsistent players over the course of a season that I’ve ever seen.

And of course he just hit his second three.

And rimmed out his third…

I can’t wait to hear, “The Knicks, man. They have too many weapons.” Hahahaha

There’s being optimistic about RJ and there’s not being worried. Until RJ has a good season everyone should be at least a little worried.

He’s not as bad as this or the 1st game, but these are not games an ascending star should have this far into his career

Count me in the ā€œnot worried about RJā€ camp, heā€™ll snap out of this slump soon.

But Iā€™m gonna give him a bad grade tomorrow šŸ™‚

It doesnā€™t matter if RJ is ā€œstreaky.ā€ If by the end of the season his numbers are terrible ā€” then heā€™s terrible! Itā€™s as simple as that.

Don’t think anyone is writing an obituary, but it’s not crazy to be a little worried that we’ve yet to see clear and convincing evidence RJ Barrett is a good NBA player in year 4.

>I definitely never said anything about taking him out of the starting lineup, but as you know I admire your dogged commitment to the bit.<

The other day we were debating whether Thibs is always trying to win. You were questioning Thibs commitment to winning given that he plays RJ so much.

I think RJ should be starting. Thibs thinks RJ should be starting. But I also think we can improve RJ's consistency by altering his attitude. That's what Thib's has to do. He has to teach RJ.

That has nothing to do with whether Thibs is trying to win games. He's definitely trying to win games and he definitely thinks RJ gives us our best chance to do that on this team at this time. We can win more with an adjustment.

They moved where Clyde and Breen broadcast from. Watch how Breen has to crane his neck around Thibs who seems to plant himself in front of the broadcast table.

Itā€™s not just that RJ misses the shots, itā€™s the way he plays thatā€™s so troubling. He still hasnā€™t learned that driving straight into 1-3 defenders and then throwing up a weak floater or low-percentage layup attempt is not a very good idea. He really makes the same mistake repeatedly.

Max, RJ is still leading the team with a +19!

It’s the intangibles…

I definitely was not questioning Thibs ā€œcommitment to winning.ā€ I was suggesting, accurately, that RJ Barrett gets a lot of minutes and shots for reasons other than his contribution to winning games.

NBA front office and coaching dynamics can be complicated! I have hope that youā€™ll learn this one day, young padawan.

But Iā€™m gonna give him a bad grade tomorrow

Iā€™ll wait for the end of the game to decide.

> I was suggesting, accurately, that RJ Barrett gets a lot of minutes and shots for reasons other than his contribution to winning games.

NBA front office and coaching dynamics can be complicated! I have hope that youā€™ll learn this one day, young padawan.<

You are right that front office politics matter, but wrong on this. RJ got the minutes last year because he was the best option at the SG/SF position. He got the shots because he was 2nd best player on the team at creating his own shot after Randle (other than Rose who was out) and we had no PG to help create shots for everyone that needed help.

The situation is different now.

Brunson is both a PG and can create his own shot and score.

So you have to try to adjust the way RJ thinks about the game. His tendency to get aggressive on his rough nights was already impacting his efficiency, but now we have more options and he has to be tamed.

Don't worry, when I was your age I didn't understand some of the complexities of team basketball either. šŸ™‚

Is it that hard to understand that if there’s 3 guys guarding the hoop you shouldn’t try to attack it?

Big difference this year vs last year is we have Brunson to stabilize things when the other team goes on a run

Nice Mitch.

Running late game offense through a a pretty good PG is so much better than iso-Julius. This is a game we might have dropped last year.

I ā€˜m a bit surprised by Thibsā€™ lineup choices down the stretch,
heā€™s usually good at riding the hot hands,
but Brunson and Mitch are keeping us afloat.

I was wrong, it wasn’t the Cole Anthony game. And Terrence Ross was silent too. It’s good if we keep beating the teams we should beat.

No failing grade door RJ. 20 pts, 6 Reb, 3-8 from 3.

Julius looking like all-NBA again. Another double-double. Bol-Bol is for real.

Brunson is so key to this team.

Obi is something else in the open court.

RJ was a lot better in the second half,
maybe those threes snap him out of funk.

Depth will be our strength all regular season long.

“Big difference this year vs last year is we have Brunson to stabilize things when the other team goes on a run”

100% agree

It’s huge.

Over and above his own play relative to the garbage we had last year at the PG position, he’s taking pressure off other players and controlling the offense in crunch time. We lost a LOT of game last year very late because we couldn’t execute down the stretch without a PG. It’s early, but so far he’s controlling things well. So we are not melting down late.

We have to get Fournier going a bit or it may make some sense to try Cam in the starting lineup eventually (not right away) until we see what Grimes has. It’s not like Cam is going to hurt the defense much relative to Fournier, but he’s better at creating for himself if we can keep him under control.

For his 4th game in the NBA, Banchero looks quite impressive. I’m still not sure if he has the extra gear to eventually become a mega star but he’s got a lot of skills and he’s more athletic than I thought he was.

Solid win overall, impressive just how well Brunson has fit into the team exactly how we expected. Feels weird to watch a real competent ball handler after so damn long.

Last 2 games Knicks played Pistons and Magic who have a bunch of lottery picks past few years and supposedly have bright futures but the Knicks look so much better than both and you can’t really say it’s only for this year.

tbf to RJ 20 points on 19 shots is not good but itā€™s not terrible

I get the sense that he actually believes it’s good, that he’s in an alternate universe where scoring 20 points is a significant achievement and the team is better off if he keeps attempting to.

I wonder if anyone here still feels that Randle’s contract is the worst in the NBA…

I don’t think RJ feels his shooting was good tonight. I think he feels relieved that some 3’s went down.

I wonder if anyone here still feels that Randleā€™s contract is the worst in the NBAā€¦

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The and-1 by Brunson on Ross was the key play in the game for me. He just has unbelievable confidence in himself in those moments. It’s nice to have a guy who pressure doesn’t seem to faze.

Glad RJ cleaned up his line. That was a first half to forget.

Banchero does look good. Getting to the line at his current rate is pretty impressive. I share the sentiment that he seems way more athletic than he did in college.

Bol Bol, I feel like getting him when he was injured was something people talked about a few years back.Going to be an interesting follow.

Brunson is really good and I am really enjoying watching him. Best point guard on the Knicks since…..?

What we learned tonight:
Philly won’t go 0-82
Boston won’t go 82-0
Utah peaked at 3-0
Terrence Ross is not Knicks Kryptonite
Bol Bol is fun!
Banchero was a good pick at #1
RJ sucks
RJ doesn’t suck
Obi has eyes behind his head
Brunson don’t need no stinkin’ bandages when he’s in foul trouble
The new and improved Julius Randle is looking like a thing
Mitch only needs 30 or 40 more offseasons to work on his FT shooting

I guess Minny didn’t get the memo that when you go all-in, you are supposed to beat tanking teams at home…

RJ with a .482 TS%. That’s terrible in a vacuum. But its especially terrible on a night that most other Knicks were on fire.

And that’s leaving in his garbage time buckets. People probably differ on when the garbage time started, but he scored 6 points in the last 2 minutes while up 10.

At minimum his last layup was part of garbage time. But hey, he got his 20.

RJ played 38 minutes and was a plus 22. They were -9 in the 10 minutes he didn’t play. He didn’t shoot well but unless they are playing 4-on-5 he must be doing something positive out there…

“He did a great job of standing on the floor while other players went off”

Right. It’s amazing how oblivious Thibs must be not to notice that…

Michael Porter jr is such an interesting player to watch. Every time he shoots, I think he’s going to miss, and every time it goes in.

Every time he shoots, I think heā€™s going to miss, and every time it goes in.

r/meIRL

The Blazers have been surprisingly good, but they’re basically the western conference version of the Chicago Bulls, pretty good starting lineup but they’re paper thin in the rotation and as soon as one or two injuries happen they’re going to struggle a lot. Nurkic gets injured all the time and their only backup is Drew Eubanks, for example.

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