The Knicks head to Charlotte for a perfect chance to get back to .500 against an injury-decimated Charlotte Hornets team.
Tonight will also apparently be the debut of RJ Barrett, power forward. I have been asking to see if RJ could pull off a little four for a few years now, so I’m curious as to how this experiment will go. RJ is small, but he is strong, and it’s not like the Hornets have some dominating post presence at the four (they start PJ Washington there, who is only an inch taller than RJ), so it should be interesting.
Thibs has actually hinted that he might use Hartenstein as a power forward, though, instead, paired with Sims at the 5. So we shall see!
Let’s go, Knicks!
199 replies on “2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks @ The Vestiges of the Hornets”
Let’s burn the Hive!
Let’s Go Knicks!
“Holzman’s philosophy of teamwork and unselfishness would become the foundation of the Knicks success.” — Thibs, are you watching the pre-game?
Let’s go!
And after posting 4 or 5 comments on the last thread that no one will ever read, here i am… Everything we can do to “shake” RJ and get him on the right track again, is good for me. I’ll be a lot happier if RJ can give me hope again. I have a lot of land on RJ island to sell, if someone’s interested. š Gooooo Knicks! š
Excited to see his PF debut too. This is the perfect squad for it but I am slightly worried about Nick Richards having a career night if RJ canāt help defend.
Not sure how Richards defense is but he has to be a major ray of hope for Hornets fans.
I wish that the Knicks had more success on Friday nights, because the Friday Night Knicks theme song really is quite a good song.
I guess I just somehow missed Clyde using the “feline quickness, canine attitude” line before, because he just used it to describe Rozier, so I guess it’s a standard bit for him.
ugly court…
Mitch is beasting!
Really terrible audio.
Clyde concurs, “Watching this court, I think I’m going into a swimming pool” haha
Something’s off with Clyde’s mic. Tech guys?
Mitch is dominating this game so far!
That background music is annoying
I just burst out laughing after that block š« š¤£š¤£š¤£
It’s brutal.
Does Charlotte just not have a backup point guard? That they’re leaving Rozier in there seems odd.
Grimes not getting over the screen but holding the post down anyway
The kind of shots RJās missing at the rim are infuriating.
Question: youāre in a shooting slump, wtf are you doing taking the first shot of the game from three, with time to spare?
Result: Clunk!
I got my Covid booster yesterday and looking at that court is seriously making me queasy
The Knicks’ transition defense is godawful so far this game. Fucking Plumlee just went full court, for crying out loud!
RJ almost got a steal but then let Plumlee go halfcourt to the basket after the recovery. He couldn’t catch Mason F-ing Plumlee.
RJ’s shot seems to be…you know…not great.
“that court is seriously making me queasy” — haha. Hornets PR guys: if you like our court that much, here are a couple of murals to make your eyes really bleed.
They’re down DSJr & Lamelo… so maybe?
Randle’s stroke seemed smooth, at least.
There ya go, RJ! If you can’t shoot for shit, take it right to the hoop!
The audio, the court, the background music… Hornets are trying all tricks they know to unsettle us! š
Good aggressive move by RJ,
Julius still feelināit from the last gameā¦
Randle’s three ball looks pure right now.
The year 2012 would like its MacBook pro mic back
Plumlee trying to make Mitch feel better about his free throw shooting.
This is a special game
Barrett going right to the hoop is so much better.
Reddish and Fournier discussing France v. England
guyās arm could fall off and roll into the restricted area while missing a free throw and clyde would say that shows itās all mental
This doesn’t seem like the brightest Charlotte team. Clifford must hate them.
Sims and Hart on the floor together giving the site problems š
Rj…got embarrassed…he can’t dribble
Clyde is right these teams are in disarray
McDaniels has taken some of the most fugly threes tonight. Then IQ was, like, “Oh yeah, watch this.”
Wow. Kai Jones just abusing RJ.
Some might say he incinerated him.
U-G-L-Y
deuce, rj, iq, sims, hart lineup prob good for about 75/100 on offense
While true, this is such a shitty Hornets team that disarray ultimately benefits the Knicks.
May have been too hard on Kai Jones… or too easy on RJ which I thought was impossible
Ugly basketball, RJās turnover won ugliest play of the quarter, but weāre upā¦
“They’re playing two bigs, so let’s drive to the middle” – Charlotte smrt.
Tonight Sims must go coast to coast.
CLT…what a weird thing to put on your uniform.
Should still be good enough to win by 10
Quickley broke Oubre’s ankles but couldn’t finish.
I agree. But boy, that they’re trailing now at all is embarrassing as heck.
I love threes off of broken plays.
I think that’s the 2nd airball Charlotte has missed by more than a foot
Was thinking the same thing
Their outside shooting has been boooonkers.
This lineup: Brunson, IQ, Grimes, Randle, Mitch. We should get up by 10.
Trivia question – Who has the most 35 point/15 rebound/5 assist games for the Knicks. Gotta be Ewing, right?
Charlotte does not look like a team that’s going to be conveying lottery-protected picks any time soon.
I love the look of Clifford showing his disgust at his moron team.
Yeah. There’s a lot of emphasis on should and really wish there wasn’t
Mitch outworked like 4 dudes on that posession
Clifford’s face says it all… it’s like he’s saying “what can i possibly do with these guys??”
Charlotte clearly didn’t know the shot clock was still running. What a bunch of dummies.
Feel really bad for all the regulars who have friends, dates, or families on a Friday night and missing this, uh, “basketball game”
We should be feeding Mitch the ball down low at least twice as much as we are now.
BC, Melo came to mind but, well, the assists. Could be Ewing for sure, but maybe itās Clyde? Mase? King racked up a bunch in a short time?
I said Ewing instantly upon hearing the trivia question too, Brian.
Robinson is absolutely dominating this game.
You want to talk about player development- Mitch was raw as heck and kind of flighty and heās turned into a really good player
Throwing the ball in the direction of the basket is feeding Mitch.
It’s the reverse Kobe assist.
LOL
brunson just drew his 24th offensive foul. the rest of the team came in with 22. also i donāt know the trivia answer but iām sure itās not ewing.
That last shot by Randle is the one he shot like 20% on last year. He hit it in 20/21 and heās hitting it this year.
Iām glad we didnāt let Mitch walk for nothing
I would go with Bernard on the trivia or Willis…or Clyde
Maybe Jerry Lucas
Randle with 1? David Lee, with like 2?
It’s probably Melo tho.
Hard to score 35 when Ewings team scores 70ish
Grimes is scrappy af.
This is just an embarrassing performance by Charlotte. Thankfully the Knicks are now starting to take care of business like they should. Wow, this Charlotte team is so bad.
Yeah…we need more scrappers like Grimes…
Randle peaking just in time for trade season
Admit it: y’all wanted RJ to be out for the season on that play.
was a pretty nice half until we fell apart in the last 2 minutes
“Thankfully the Knicks are now starting to take care of business like they should.”
Nice jinx, Brian.
@essdog
Was in the middle of looking up championship odds when he got up
I do actually have $30 on Pelicans winning the championship. It wins ~$1000 right now
I’m in favor of ugly wins, I like them more than cute losses.
RJ could lose an arm, and he’d still play 40 minutes.
Not only did Patrick Ewing not do 35/15/5 multiple times, he never did it once. Crazy. He had some monster games, of course, but never in the same games.
They’re up six! They’ll be fine.
Actually probably Willis Reed
Don’t get my hopes up!
Randle > Ewing
Yep, it’s gotta be Reed. He did it twice in 1968-69 alone.
We have this habit of playing to the level of the opposition, so we’re playing like a GLeague team.
McGowens is my bet for the Lord Sumner award
That’s gotta help his trade value!
Come on RJ, sing with me (in Sinatraās voice):
Take me to the hoop
āCause I canāt shoot from outsideā¦
“Randle > Ewing”
dude…step away from the bong…asap…and don’t operate any heavy machinery for the next hour or so…
letās admit that if wally called it a plus minus minus we would riot
Rj finally found a guy he can score on at the rim
RJ showing some life!
“letās admit that if wally called it a plus minus minus we would riot”
Yes, but it’s endearing when it comes from the GOAT
In all honesty, beating up on the shitty teams is what you need to do, and they’re doing that, so that’s a good thing.
One thing not talked about is that RJ is getting better at FT shooting. This is a good indicator for the rest of his shooting, right?
GRIMES!
maybe CLT is their local airport code or something…
Pointing this out only because it’s been rare this year: god awful Randle shot
Let’s ALL go clubbing with RJ after the game!
cue BBA …
Wouldn’t really charactize this as “beating up” on them…
Alright, I am here and excited for some high quality basketbslll.
more likely RJ finally got some sleep away from home…
CLT stands for Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, apparently?
I supported Bill Bradley for President in 2000 š
EDIT: He didn’t win.
Gotta be the first time RJ has ever hit 8 shots in a row
Brunson with his second consecutive bad shooting night.
RJ got his 20 and is playing much better tonight,
maybe Geo is right š
I assumed it was the airport code, yeah. Still weird!
No one guessed Bellamy right?
good for them for marketing their community…
still don’t look cool…CLT sounds like some kind of unpleasant illness…
like an affliction or something…
sorry, not sorry, cause it’s the truth…
“cue BBA…”
Knicks aren’t losing this game!
I am really having some feelings about/for Grimes
DEUCE!!!!!
He is basically playing a G League team so this makes sense
Deuuuuuce!
D3uce!!!!
shit, NYK even sounds out as knick…
I really wish they’d drop that upside down triangle in the back of the logo…
thankfully there’s plenty of gear with other style logos…
Edit: okay then, just sounded out CLT, and – I’d like to apologize to any offended, and um, retract and forget, this whole logo convo…
Right there Grimes and Deuce showing the wisdom of the change on D
That was a dazzling steal by Deuce
Young’uns gettin’ it done
Guess a lot of teams accidentally book flights to Chattanooga
Great effort by I-Hart and Deuce was ready!
Deuce…coming out party
Deuce with the pretty last second jumper
Deuce has gotta be near his career high
Great to see the confidence Deuce is beginning to play with offensively.
Hart is like, “I can jump, too. Where’s my alley oop?” Hahaha
EDIT: “And, oh, perhaps you’ve heard of my 3 ball.”
Idk, Deuce played a full game against Houston last year and they were probably worse than this team
hart and sims is working for the moment, against the clts…
just so desperate for deuce to be tolerable on offense bc his motor is just incredible to watch on d
RJ is playing great so that layup he missed just made me chuckle.
Hornets really look like ass
I’d like to be able to enjoy this game, but since our FO has laid waste to all of our hopes, alas…
RJ isn’t that bad with this group…hopefully they all play together most of the rest of the game…
I bet hart would love to hang out around the arc on offense…
The Knicks hadn’t let a team score under a hundred before three games in a row of dominating defense. That’s interesting.
Troll
Deeefense
Deeefense
Deeefense
Itās a wonderful thing.
So wait, if Randle > Ewing, and RJ > Randle, then …. š
The best part of this is Brunson laid 2 eggs in a row shooting and we still won. Deeefense baby!
100% agree on Deuceās D.
Love Clyde mentioning the obvious about the starters being in the game
The Hornets are garbage but we’re on the road so blowing them out is a nice result in my book
Hey Hubert, go fuck yourself.
Thibs literally brought the starters *back in* with 6 minutes left, up 23 against the 7-18 Hornets. You can’t make this shit up.
Randle the albatross..
Ok..so..I just got home with my daughter from daddy-daughter date night, and I check the box score to see that it looks like our Knicks are playing like we should for the 3rd straight game. Is this..is this real? I mean..I know there’s no LaMelo and Murray went out early on Wednesday, but usually we slip up after a game or 2 of good play and lose a game we shouldn’t. At least this season. Is this a player effort/Thibs coaching chops game, or a Charlotte sucks game?
Yeah, let’s bash Thibs on a 3-game winning streak…sure, there are no agendas here…
Randleās 5th 30-plus points game of the season and weāre 5-0 in those games.
Nice.
“Maxsays:
December 9, 2022 at 22:19
Randleās 5th 30-plus points game of the season and weāre 5-0 in those games.
Nice.”
Can’t be nice. Just ask Hubert, TNFH and E…
I love clyde
RJ on track. Hart very strong tonight. More, please.
Hart — 11 points, 5/5, 1/1 from three, 8 bounds, 2asst, 2blocks, in 18 minutes.
31 wins to go.
Knicks back at .500, are 9-6 vs the East and have a positive point differential.
“BigBlueALsays:
December 9, 2022 at 22:32
Knicks back at .500, are 9-6 vs the East and have a positive point differential”
Stop trying to paint things in a ppsitive light. We are doomed and laid waste, no cause for optimism whatsoever. Please stop with the rosy takes!
Z-Troll taking victory laps around the people who thought the Knicks would be .500 when the Knicks are .500 is very on brand. The brand, of course, is being an idiot and a narcissist.
I trust Z-Man is not driving tonight
RJ to Charlotte, done somehow, would be perfect…
he loves north carolina…it is a really pretty place to live…
No real way to tell, honestly. The Sacramento game should show more.
I love how the negative nellys try to twist a nice stretch of wins to suit their piss in the punchbowl narrative. Z-man must be drunk because he’s not making sense…
No, we’re not dicks!
wow, listening to thibs…thinks numbers and stats are basically bullshit…
basketball analysis takes place, pretty exclusively in game, “practice”?, video recordings analysis…
that’s scary…
You being drunk is the charitable explanation
Z-man, chill
I am glad he played who he played…particularly the sims hart combo…
that’s gotta be a bit of a weird vibe traveling together…I don’t know, maybe not…
this season just became infinitely more interesting…
“Early Birdsays:
December 9, 2022 at 22:46
Z-man, chill”
Why? Do the folks I’m targeting ever “chill”?
I think we can all agree that Charlotte is in a worse place as a franchise than the Knicks are- it’s LaMelo and nothing. Of course now they’ll probably win the lottery.
And we can all agree on Deuce and Grimes and Mitch and Brunson. Let’s focus on what truly unites us- that we’re all posting to a message board on a Friday night. About the freakin’ Knicks.
Z-Man, my “narrative” has been correct about pretty much everything during the Leon Rose era, and this team is exactly what I predicted it would be (with the exception of RJ… I was high on him).
I don’t know who you think you’re taking a victory lap around. You’ve not gotten one thing right over me since Leon took office. Not one single thing. And you’ve been wrong about 100 times.
Z-Man’s performance in this game thread is helping me understand what watching the John Starks 2-18 game must’ve felt like
You boys stop fighting!
Next 8 games we have only one opponent more than 1 game over .500, if we’re going to make a run at a mediocre playoff spot this year now is the time to put in some work.
I hope he is.
I’m gonna enjoy the rest of my Friday. Have fun y’all!
legally obligated to inform you that de’anthony melton has become the third player in nba history with 7+ steals and 7+ threes in a game
We love radio says: https://youtu.be/jagGVq_GmUw
And. Terrible opponent and the Knicks actually played with purpose. As Brian says, next game will tell more.
“Hubert IVsays:
December 9, 2022 at 22:56
I trust Z-Man is not driving tonight
I hope he is.”
…says the guy who was knocked unconscious by a biker because he was too drunk to pay attention, and who was blindsided by learning he was a father, whose best friend stabbed him in the back…
You shouldn’t be targeting anyone, you dumb motherfucker. No one else does that. We talk about basketball, and you’re just a troll.
“TNFHsays:
December 9, 2022 at 22:55
Z-Manās performance in this game thread is helping me understand what watching the John Starks 2-18 game mustāve felt…”
Really? How about making some sense instead of being a snarky bitch?
“You shouldnāt be targeting anyone, you dumb motherfucker. No one else does that.”
Of course not.
And honestly, Hubert, I never wished any ill will upon you beyond typicak cursing out. You wishing that I was driving drunk is beyond the pale.
Actually Starks at least did hit 2 of the shots
Incredible double meltdown in Philly, with the Lakers missing 2 FTs in the last seconds to miss an insane comeback W
“TNFHsays:
December 9, 2022 at 23:10
Actually Starks at least did hit 2 of the shots”
I’m sure you are an authority on the subject being that you were an at most an embryo when that occurred…
Their embrace of Melton has gone well. When Maxey returns, they will be interesting.
That I wasn’t alive to see the game is clearly the point of the bit!
Dunking on me by pointing it out is like trying to dunk on me for predicting the Knicks will go 41-41 after they get off to a 13-13 start.
Hope you’ve got nothing to do in the morning. Gatorade, ibuprofen, and caffeine tend to do the trick for me big guy.
Love that Monica McNutt is getting some run at ESPN. Who says the Knicks can’t develop talent.
Good win, good winā¦.
I see the Meltwagon already passed through.
Didnāt watch the game, but I see the Russian meddlers that have been attacking Mikeās site were the real winnners, turning otherwise nice, normal, and commonly united Knick fans into warring tribesmen. Yay internet!
We know, Donnie. You donāt have to tell us, kinda like how MBunge doesnāt need to sign his posts.
You should tell us when you do watch a game.
“Hope youāve got nothing to do in the morning. Gatorade, ibuprofen, and caffeine tend to do the trick for me big guy.”
I’ll be fine in the morning. And one thing I’m sure of. I’ll be better than you…relatively speaking…
PS I’ve said over and over that the Vegas line was realistic.
Where we diverge is what it means for the future. I think the the “laid waste” narrative is total bullshit. Feel free to disagree!
And please stop with the bullshit about one’s relative sobriety. That is about as dickish as one can possibly get. Do you not realize that?
Zion’s dunk at the end of the Pellies-Suns game was preposterous. Can’t wait for them to play again on Sunday.
Luka with 21 in the half against Milwaukee. I wish I bet more than 50 bucks on him winning the scoring title.
And the Pels beat the Suns without two of their starters! I hate how good that team has become.
Wow, what a choke job by Dallas.
Shades of Nick Anderson!
Viva Morocco!