Knicks Morning News (2022.12.10)

Back to .500 and on a 3-game winning streak we still don’t know if the new-and-improved defense is true or false.
What we know is that a healthy Grimes is a much needed 2-way boost to our starters and Deuce a rotation player with bulldog mentality.

Also, we have won 2 games with “bad” Brunson and we’re unbeaten with 30-plus Randle (5-0, all games where his numbers were real and not the stats stuffing he often does).

The Kings will be a more meaningful test, w/o Fox (day-to-day for sunday game) they just beat the Spida-less Cavs.

Grades:

Brunson C +
Another bad shooting night (5-27 in the last two) but 11 assists. He’ll get out of the slump, the sooner the better.

Grimes B
The numbers aren’t as shiny as the Hawks’ game but he was good. He looks like an above average BB-IQ player and I’m sure more good things will come.

Randle A
Like Grimes less impressive numbers than against the Hawks, but a very good game nonetheless.
I’ve never been shy to criticize him when I felt he deserved it but so far, on offense, he has exceeded even my rosier preseason expectations and in the last few games he played some defense too.
He still makes me mad at least three times a game, but his ratio of good games vs. bad games has been a net positive.
We always knew he’s a good player when engaged, what we don’t know is how to keep him engaged, but we’re trying.

Barrett B
A rare appearance of the RJ Barrett that I expected at season’s start.
Far from perfect but definitely playable, there’s still a lot of work to do on his outside shooting and the defensive committment is on-off, but a step in the right direction, let’s hope he continues.

Robinson B
A beast on the boards and a scary presence on defense, quiet on offense (3-7?).

Quickley B-
Some postgame rumors argue he’s shaken by the trade rumors, it can’t be easy to play serene with all those whispers swirling around.
I liked his 4 assists.

Mc Bride A-
The patented fierce defense and a double figure! The malicious will say it’s because the Hornets were a G-League team, I strongly disagree but I’ll try to find a way to play our home games in Westchester.

Hartenstein A
18 minutes, 11 points (5-5 shooting), 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks. Can you ask more from your backup center? Or was it backup power forward?

Sims C
12 minutes jumping around like a compressed spring, but he had a assist!

Svi NA
Contrary to the siberian exiles, he’s in Thibs’ Circle Of Trust (h/t Mike Axisa) at least in garbage time. Did you know he took 29 shots (15 3P) in 37 minutes during his recent trip to Westchester? Instant offense!

Thibs B
I give him credit for digging deep into the bag of tricks and he’s taking full responsability for his choices.
The young guns’ energy help a lot on defense but I want more evidence that we’ve turned the corner, and our halfcourt offense often is still a painful slog.
I don’t like his exile ways (it’s not a novelty, every year he has at least one, ask Rivers and Kemba) but that’s on me, it’s a matter of taste.

Or just someone whose outside shot isn’t quite as atrocious as it’s been for most of his time with the big club?

I’d lean on the second. The good thing is he isn’t afraid.

He took his shots without hesitation and was cool on a buzzer beater to end the 3rd after a good effort from I-Hart.

Small steps, good steps.

From what I remember from some podcasts (but I can be wrong), SoS is considered a “legit stat” even if it doesn’t take into account injured players and one of his main components (the “rankings”) are “subjective”.

Anyway, I understand the need to acknowledge when other teams are missing players (and I always annoyingly point it out 🙂 ), you need to consider it when trying to extract some “truths” out of games.

But the same Hornets’ lineup we beat came from two contested losses with Nets and Clippers and yesterday we dominated for long stretches.

They’re bad but we managed them in the “right way” and at the end you can only beat who you’re playing.

Players are missing everywhere (the Nets are without 8 players tonight in Indiana) but the Pelicans w/out Ingram and Herb Jones beat the Suns yesterday, the Pistons with Cunningham out beat the full strenght Mavs last week and so on.

That said, I don’t know if we’re real or fake, eye test support the stats and suggest there’s some truth in our renewed defense, the Kings will be a good test.