Knicks Morning News (2023.01.12)

Important wire-to-wire win, albeit with a scare, against a direct contender.

One of the best first half of the season, fueled by JB, Grimes and the returning RJ, tricked us into a state of relaxed confidence that became first a 40-points allowed 3rd quarter and then a drop by drop bleeding that lead to a frantic finale.
In a thrilling twist of the script the Pacers never lead and never tied it, but Hield (7 made threes) missed the shot to do it with 49 seconds remaining and only a grotesque Grimes’ sequence(*) saved us from giving them another chance.

At the end it was a Knicks’ win, temporary giving us the 6th spot in the East over Indiana despite the same 23-19 record because of the tiebreaker.

Anyway, while I’m happy with the win and the record, I don’t give a fuck if all the league give away large leads (just as lot of people making “wrong” choices doesn’t make them “right”, for instance voting for Bolsonaro), so I’ll always be a bit nervous when we squander a 25-points lead against a Pacers team missing Turner and with Hali out down the stretch.

Next stop Washington, to face a Wizard team that just beat the DeRozan-less Bulls despite missing Beal and Porzingis, with Taj Gibson starting and renowned rebounder Dani Avdija pulling down 20…

Plays Of The Game (In chronological order):
– Randle’s block on Mathurin
– Grimes’ aforementioned three.

Stats Of The Day:
– 0. Pacers’ largest lead. Imagine losing a game like this…
– 28-33 vs 15-21. NY shot more FTs and shot them better. Free thrown are a very important part of a game you know?

Surprising Stat Of The Day:
– 54 vs 38. Pacers’ lead in points in the paint. What?!?

Grades:

Brunson A
Another game that we’d never have won without him. 34 points on very good efficiency, low assists number but the FT-yips looks like a distant memory (19-19 the last 2 games).
He’s really making the difference this season with his clutch play (4th in NBA in clutch points).

Barrett B
A good return, had a nice first half and a decent 3rd then his legs gave up (1-6 in the 4th) but he took almost all good shots even when missing. He ended up playing 41 minutes and got heavily criticized, but this time the sin is all on the coach.

Randle B-
One of the most Bad-Julius game of the season (6 TOs, he was often slow on the double-teams), he still get a pass because:
a) he rebounded very well (16)
b) he took only 12 shots
c) As I wrote above he made a huge play that stifled Indiana’s tide, blocking Mathurin’s layup (Brunson hit a three on the next possession).

Robinson A-
With Turner out I would have expected even more dominance. 38 good minutes with only 2 fouls, very active on defense (5 STLs), forgotten on offense.

Grimes A-
18 points for Glue, with a clutch three, 5 boards and above average defense (2 STL). You have to love this kid.

IQ B
Back to his 6th man role, he goes on with his usual hot&cold fluctuation from outside (1-7 3FG or -5 °C/23 °F) but he found other ways to score, putting in his usual effort on defense and filling the boxscore (4 REB, 5 AST).

Toppin C
Morphing into a three-pointer only shooter. His weak rebounding and wobbly defense prevents him to ever earn Thibs’ trust and while he’s maybe still rusty from the injury I can’t imagine, barring foul troubles or injury to the starters, Thibs using him if not with the dropper.

Hartenstein C-
His ordeal goes on. He can’t move, he can’t jump, he doesn’t shoot. Let him heal and play Sims you (evil) Genius…

McBride C-
A great steal in an otherwise vapid game.
I love his energy and I know he’s a decent jumpshot away from a solid rotation spot, but that decent jumpshot isn’t close (36% FG, 28% 3FG, 68% FT).

Thibs D
His roster’s back at full strenght but he used a 9-men rotation with an hobbled I-Hart instead of Sims, played RJ 41 minutes despite his heavy legs and squeezed JB for 42 (Deuce 6) and Randle for 39 (Toppin 9).
In the best case scenario I still have 122 regular season games left with him to bear.
I hope my yoga and breathing exercises will help during this enduring test, and when this is over I’ll be ready to open my own school of “Thibetan meditations”…

* Grimes had an easy layup but, In a crazy perfect “new basketball style” move, he refused it (even the Pacers’ broadcasters were astonished), reset to the left corner and later, after an IQ’s drive-and-kick, buried a three (earning him a “Play Of The Game” star).
Had he missed the three I’d probably killed him.

Later in the postgame he claim that he did it because Mathurin was running at full speed to contest him.
I watched the sequence in slo-mo two times and to me he had the time to shoot (back when I played they did teach you that in those circumstances you should bank the shot, thus denying the chance for a block because it’d be interference).

Please Q-Dot, next time take the easy basket, make it a 2-possessions game and let the other team think about how to score…

I love JB, in a league of waning fundamentals his craftiness and footwork are a pleasure to watch (and he shoot threes too 😀 )

Although, it looks like there was a defender there ready to contest and the pass was the right play.

I love him but we have to agree to disagree 😉

P.S, Where’s the possession? It looks like in the clips there are only first half actions.