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2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Grizzlies

Jalen Brunson, Cam Reddish AND Derrick Rose are all active tonight, so this will be VERY interesting, rotation-wise.

The Knicks tend to play the Grizzlies tough, so this’ll be a fun game, I bet.

Let’s go, Knicks!

146 replies on “2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Grizzlies”

I just want the team to play hard, so let’s do it, Knicks! And please, RJ, play within yourself!

And as i said in the last thread, it’s good news that Brunson is playing because given the state of the team, i think i don’t want to know how the team looks without Brunson. 😛

Great passing sequence there hart to cam to Obi

Hopefully Dillon can help us win this

And that was sublime from IQ

Liking the defense and the swarms of subs. Not sure if it’s an 11-man rotation or just Brunson/Rose needing rest.

Alas, no Sims 🙁

That was funny, Hart with a perfect back-door pass to nobody because the Knicks have never learned to cut to the basket…

So RJ is 5-9 for 10 points. Some would call 10 points on 9 shots a bad shooting game. I wouldn’t. (this is not about RJ, just a general observation)

Lot of amazing comments left on the editing room floor due to a ditzy server.

Back at it. Love that eurostep from Reddish

I don’t know who is getting a Sumner but the three point delta is enormous. They seem to have random dudes popping threes all over the place.

Really depressing to think I gotta watch Randle and rj for the next few years in a knick uni………I mean really depressing…..

I don’t know why Iq doesn’t play more

Let’s win this one for Emily and Pete. True love in the Garden

What makes me sad about this team is they show some signs of the ability to be better than they are. They just tend to play selfish too much.

Mitch got a little tired on that rebound by JJJ.

Grizzlies have a lot of good players. I think it’s a strategy the Knicks should consider. And hit their threes.

How many..”that should never happen folks”…has Clyde said tonight?

At least twice since I started watching right before halftime.

JJJ is good, but he’s really eating Obi up. I think the offensive rebounding by Memphis is hurting more, though. And then the Knicks’ poor 3-ball shooting.

This has been a pretty good effort from the ‘Bockers. They can’t get shots to fall but they’re hanging around and playing hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went on a run, regressed to the mean a little bit on threes and won this game.

Reddish really hasn’t been a black hole this year- he hasn’t forced many shots at all.

Randle tantrum foul here. Mad about the foul he got called for against Aldama.

Our defense and rebounding are so suspect

Grizz announcers saying how happy they are that Thibs took Mitchell out as there’s no rim protection now. And they’re not wrong…

looked like Reddish took a swipe at that ball that may have allowed Ja to blow by him. Tough defensive assignment, either way.

He makes up for it w/the 3!!!

Adams is a tough cover. Especially when. JJJ misses the rim.

Randle has felt pretty absent tonight on defense.

Mitch is playing his ass off and having to constantly help on Ja’s drives is getting him out of position but still he’s been atrocious on the defensive glass this season.

The little jumper that Morant just made– the Knicks don’t ever make plays like that because nobody can set a screen like the screen Adams set

Making Brunson do this every damn night doesn’t feel sustainable, would be nice if anyone else could do anything

Making Brunson do this every damn night doesn’t feel sustainable, would be nice if anyone else could do anything

But at least we now have one player that can do this

RJ has mostly played well, Randle outside of some stupid three attempts early has been largely self-contained, Cam’s done well, Brunson has been brilliant, Mitchell played his ass off.

But Ja Morant scored zero baskets during Deuces minute.

Weirdest thing is that everyone who is out there pretty much deserves to be out there. Cam has been good. Randle, for all his problems, can kinda of play D. And RJ has been closer to Star J tonight.

Brunson trying to win this game for the Knicks by sheer force of will (and some skill).

That was Barrett that backed off Ja after they blocked his initial shot. But maaaannn… Ja freakin Morant….

As well as Cam has played Morant blew by him multiple times late- Grimes was better on the ball.

Look, this is frustrating, but if we play like that every night, I have no problem with however that turns out this season.

aaaahhcckkk. Can’t argue with Brunson taking it all the way the way he’s played. Just wondered if there was a kickout available given how far he had to drive bc of where he had to get the ball off the inbound pass.

I got a peek at Randle on that last possession, he didn’t look happy. Maybe now he knows how his teammates felt last year…

Randle missed an absolutely wide open Cam Reddish on a cut for an easy layup with like a minute to go.

Cam went for the steal on that last actual play. Ja blew by him backdoor.

Cam played well but still got caught trying to make the big play.

Well, it’s 3 clutch shots in a row that Brunson misses, but i think he had to take them. It’s just that they didn’t went in, he usually makes those. And if not Brunson, who would you trust to take the final shot? I don’t trust nobody else.

As well as Cam has played Morant blew by him multiple times late- Grimes was better on the ball.

.

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. I know Cam is supposed to have that versatility but he’s not quite a perimeter stopper.

Cam has become an excellent perimeter defender but he’s a wing and Ja Morant is arguably the best point guard on Earth. It’s an awfully big ask.

The thing that irritated me the most was the rolling the ball in and the time running off the clock and nobody running up to it. I wish they’d rule change that.

And it’s not like Thibs would ever go Brunson/Grimes/RJ/Cam/Mitch down the stretch…

Another heartbreaker,
we’re always a bit short, a missed boxout here, a missed three there, a bad bounce elsewhere…
As usual too much hero ball and too few ball/players movement in the last shots…
I don’t believe in moral victories, these two games were both winnable and, for different reasons, we lost them, so I’m pissed as hell…

Ja was Ja but the difference in the game was Adams. He absolutely murdered us in the paint.

At the end of the day, even without Bane the Grizz are a sure playoff team and without him they are likely top-4. They made a lot of little plays that make the difference in close games like this.

Yeah, that’s a deeep team they’ve got there.

For whatever reason, the Knicks always seem to play them tough, though. Fun game overall. Just like the opener, this was a pretty good loss. Not a lot of their losses have been good like this, but this one was definitely a good one.

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They made a lot of little plays that make the difference in close games like this.

Absolutely.
On eye test we did lose 80% of the 50-50 balls in the game, most of the time we were a half step slower, an inch too far, a split second late.

Adams alone has 7 offensive boards and taps out at least another 3 or 4…

P.S.
Memphis is a very good team, at full strenght they can be contenders in the West…

More with Brian than Max on these takes (sorry Max). Sure it was winnable and it hurt we didn’t get the W, but it was winnable because the players mostly didn’t do super-stupid things.

If they play like that they can play with anybody. Doesn’t mean they’ll win them all, but it’s good, watchable basketball.

Not quite the platonic ideal of an accidentitank game, in that Quickley got injured, Obi’s 3pt shot remains the property of the Monstars, etc. But entertaining losses where you see flashes from various players is probably the best outcome we can hope for from this stupid season for this stupid team.

The key play in the game was when Ja got blocked and somehow the ball ended up back in his hands for a layup.

If we get the rebound we have the ball up 1 with 14 seconds left. Just kind of unlucky.

Well, it’s 3 clutch shots in a row that Brunson misses, but i think he had to take them. It’s just that they didn’t went in, he usually makes those. And if not Brunson, who would you trust to take the final shot? I don’t trust nobody else.

Yeah, but on all three he didn’t even look at anybody else- it was pure head down hero ball. Iso Brunson has been very successful but running that every time the Knicks need a bucket late isn’t going to work well in the long run.

Agree with that D Mar. Mitch seemed to have sniffed that shot out. Randle and RJ both in the vicinity. But I think it just popped up and Morant was, as always, very quick off his feet.

The positive spin to the season so far is that we’ve moved from zero to one 4.0 BPM Certified stars.

If you view it that way, we’re closer to competing than we were before.

Classic Ben Simmons line tonight. 33 minutes, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 2 points on 1-3.

What a weirdo.

Well we’ve reached the magical 20 game mark. I’m less optimistic than I was before the season, that’s for sure.

Well we’ve reached the magical 20 game mark. I’m less optimistic than I was before the season, that’s for sure.

The only real disappointment to me is that none of the young guys have turned the corner. RJ (fine tonight) has been a disaster, Obi has vanished after a very promising start, and Grimes and Quick have struggled to make shots. On the plus side the latter two are consistent jumpers away from being very nice two-way players but the list of promising players who just never could shoot well enough is pretty long.

Initial thoughts at the 20-game mark:

Record: my “chalk” expectation at this point was 7-13. I had us losing to @PHI, @MIN, and @DEN, but beating OKC at home. Obviously missing stars facilitated all of these extra wins, but they still count. So 9-11 is right about where we objectively should be at this point, and is largely in line with a trajectory towards the Vegas 38.5 number and either just in or just out of the play-in.

Player grades:
Brunson: A
Randle: B-
RJ: D
Fournier: F
Mitch: B-
Cam: B
IQ: B
Obi: C
Hart: C
Grimes: INC (would give him a C right now)
Rose: C-
Sims: A-
Deuce: B-

Thibs:
B for rotations and substitutions
C for holding players accountable
B for pace of play adjustments

The only real disappointment to me is that none of the young guys have turned the corner.

RJ and Obi don’t even have a corner in sight.

My basis for optimism was in part based on RJ taking a step forward. Instead he’s actually surpassed Randle for worst contract on the team.

I don’t think anyone saw that coming. Hard to believe that no one was pessimistic enough to envision our current scenario.

Now that the Lakers have righted themselves, the Knicks are down to 25th in net rating. They’re ahead of one team that’s actually trying — Charlotte — and that team’s best player has played three games.

Maybe we can play the Spurs 3 times in 4 games (crazy schedule) and right our ship too 🙂
But hey, we’re going to Detroit! 😉

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