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2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks @ Raptors

The Knicks head to Toronto to take on the Raptors in a relatively big game, if only because the back end of the Eastern Conference has suddenly gotten a lot tighter (I seriously don’t think the Knicks are in much danger in falling out of the play-in game option because the Pacers are just freefalling without Hali, so I think the Knicks are safe in the Top 10) and, well, obviously, the Knicks have just lost three in a row so it is always nice to stop said losing streak.

We’ve been discussing how well Thibs will be able to adjust the defense with Mitch missing, but honestly, Toronto’s offense isn’t a traditional one where Mitch would be a huge factor anyways, so I don’t think his absence will be felt as much as you would think in other games. However, Quickley is out tonight, so…uhm….I have no idea what they’re going to do tonight. Derrick Rose, I guess? Or Deuce plays 40 minutes? This stupid crazy short rotation is so stupid.

It would be nice for RJ Barrett and Quentin Grimes to kick Scottie Barnes’ ass tonight after Barnes’ trash-talking.

Let’s go, Knicks!

162 replies on “2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks @ Raptors”

We’re down bad with IQ out, but it’s heartwarming the news moved the line by 3.5 points. Vegas recognizes our guy.

True, but, I dunno, if you play a 6-man rotation, lose one and then lose another, then that’s gotta be a huge deal for the game, right? Whether it’s IQ, RJ, Grimes, Randle or Brunson, ya know?

Why are Svi and Archi still on this team?!

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“On the raptor blog…they’re saying this is the “deuce Mcbride ” game…”

They obviously haven’t been watching Knicks games

Uh oh. I just sat down to watch some basketball, but there’s only one game on right now. What to do, what to do…

I guess beggars can’t be choosers. Here goes.

Sims won the tip! He’s way better than Mitch…

(Addendum — clearly on a delay — stupid NBA.com… now caught up…)

There was that one nice contest by Sims. The rest of the defense has been dog crap

Basket didn’t count but Sims finishing that mediocre lob from RJ is pretty impressive

Donnie, I’d like to apologize to you for the entire New York Knicks starting five.

First game this season Knicks playing with the rest advantage but not looking like it so far.

If we get one Donnie viewing per season we should probably save it for a different game

Before the season: Hartenstein will be great to have for when Mitch misses time. Who knows, we may even prefer him to Mitch!

Now: can Sims play 48 minutes?

I actually like the Raptors, so I don’t mind watching this. I always enjoy watching VanVleet, and Siakam when he’s on.

First time seeing Grimes. Though I haven’t noticed him much. Still wouldn’t recognize him if I saw him on the sidewalk, that’s for sure.

All the good feelings for Randle’s dunk erased with a turnover and an offensive foul… and he bitched with Fournier too.

First quarter not even disappointing, just predictable…

The Deuce McBride Game starts out slowly, but he does have the best plus/minus on the team, at -3…

I will say that the Knicks City Dancers could easily kick these Toronto dancers’ butts.

I was the guy here a few years ago arguing the Knicks should throw a ton of money at VanVleet when he was a FA. They threw it at Brunson a few years later instead. I still like VanVleet more, but his shot has been erratic at times. Both are stabilizing presences. Would any of you guys have objectively preferred VanVleet c. 2020 vs how things have turned out?

The only reason this isn’t a complete blowout is that the Raptors bench sucks as bad as ours.

Deuce now at plus 3! Only Knick in the positive.

Best Isaiah game in a long time.

And Obi 3-3 from 3!

Obi paint game is embarrassingly stylish and sensitive but at least he’ss got his 3s back

donnie becoming the main character for actually watching a game has major senator planting a tree vibes

I’m enjoying how they’re not giving up on this one. The Raptors are also flailing a bit when they had a perfect chance to grow the lead. They seemed stuck on 44 for a while.

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Vintage Obi!

I’ve thought about the FVV/Brunson thing before. I think we wound up with the better player. FVV is much better defensively but is so reliant on 3PT shooting on offense that he’s susceptible to outright bad seasons like this one. Not gonna happen to Brunson.

Brunson seems befuddled by Toronto’s D….they are running a lot of straight 2-1-2 zone…

“ Brunson probably glad this is the last time we play the Raptors.”

Van Vleet on the other hand wishes he could play the Knicks every day

Deuce needs to play 40 tonight. Nobody else can stay in front of FVV.

Not disagreeing with you, but I sort of hate how that’s the only thing Deuce can do. Stay in front of people. He’s really good at that, but it’s such a specific skill. For instance, if FVV wasn’t so short, he’d just shoot over Deuce, which other tall guards simply do.

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I don’t have evidence, but I’m guessing Trent Jr probably makes a high percentage of 3 pointers where no one is guarding him.

The Knicks’ offense seems fine, it really does seem like a defensive problem so far today. Hopefully they’ll tighten things up on that end (or perhaps Toronto will also just start missing shots).

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Deuce being too short was definitely an issue last game. Murray just got to the midrange and hit shots over everyone.

look at sims move his feet against fvv. they need to switch and blitz him like they’re the 5 out clippers.

Deuce being too short was definitely an issue last game. Murray just got to the midrange and hit shots over everyone.

It drives me crazy since it is such a huge limitation in his defensive game, which, when paired with his lack of offensive game, makes me annoyed at his usage.

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I just flew in from Fournier Island and boy are my arms tired. What’s happening?

Having a guy who obviously isn’t your best FT shooter shoot the tech will never not annoy me

Props to our boys in blue and orange, they’ve fought hard to stay in this one. It would be really satisfying if they could pull this one off, would love to see that smug grin wiped off Barnes’ face…

Having a guy who obviously isn’t your best FT shooter shoot the tech will never not annoy me

Haaaaaaaaaaate it. It also speaks poorly of Randle, honestly. He should have the sense to say, “Nah, he should take it, not me.”

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The thing the knicks do where the best FT shooter on the floor doesn’t necessarily take technical free throws is one of the weirder/dumber things.

I’ve come to expect a ’90s-level bloodbath from these two teams. There’s the makings of a great rivalry here.

The thing the knicks do where the best FT shooter on the floor doesn’t necessarily take technical free throws is one of the weirder/dumber things.

It’s an unforced error, and it’s one that the players bear some responsibility for, as well.

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Yeah, I really only want Deuce for this specific game with Brunson & Grimes playing poorly. Raptors only have 2 guys who can beat you in the half court.

I still think Deuce’s ability to stay in front makes him a well above average defender. But even then he’s not so good you can just punt on his offense completely.

Bad sequence from RJ there. Barnes still making him look small.

RJ one of the most mercurial players I can remember seeing.

Although frankly, there seems to be enough blame to go around on this comedy of errors.

It seems like every Raptor has a 10″ wingspan advantage on their matchup. I wonder how much they run that trapping zone against other teams…

The Raptors length at several positions is just too much for us. It’s a terrible matchup that’s even worse without Robinson. If Brunson is going to be our PG, we need more length at other positions. Every time we play these guys it’s obvious what the problem is.

Last night vs Boston the Raptors shot 7 FTs

Tonight they have 29 and counting. You can draw your own conclusions but I think poor defense might have something to do with it.

It’s actually the Knicks archipelago … we’re all just sending bottles back and forth containing TS%

Always a pleasure to have E show up with some unpleasant vitriol.

I blame this one on Donnie. That’s too much pressure for any team.

“I like Deuce and all but he has to be replaced.”

He defense is good, but he’s PG sized without actually being a PG. So there are defensive lineup combination and matchup issues to go along with the huge liability on offense. It’s hard to see him getting past 3rd string on a good team even if he improves his 3 point shot. But it’s good we are giving him a chance. Now we know. If they are serious about competing, after the all star break they have to go back to Rose.

Deuce isn’t any good and it’s ridiculous that he’s in the rotation. I mean, sure, find out I guess — but it’s been found out long ago.

As much as we all love Brunson, he’s a liability on defense and can be shut down on offense against length. Only the superstars have the best of almost every night, but this team has a tendency to expose him.

You know I love me some Mitch, but I don’t see how Mitch would have changed the total defensive breakdown that much tonight. It was just a total collapse. Same as against the Hawks.

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Obi has a nice line in the box. Was that for real? Something to build on?

14 pts, 5/7, 4/5 from three in ten minutes

Sims has made his last 12 shots. Something tells me that if you’re tall and even remotely skilled and all you do is hover around the basket, you’ll make a high percentage of your shots.

Man, why in the world didn’t Obi play more? The defense sucked either way, they could have at least outscored them maybe.

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“Deuce isn’t any good and it’s ridiculous that he’s in the rotation. I mean, sure, find out I guess — but it’s been found out long ago.”

Yeah it’s been kind of obvious for awhile now. I’m not sure what Thibs is thinking. If I saw a future there, I’d be ok with it, but it’s time for Rose while we continue looking for upgrades.

Grimes’s defense has been meh the last 5 or so games. Nothing much there since around the time Jrue lit him up down the stretch of the home Bucks game.

Toronto shot 44% from three. I guess Thibs was out late partying last night instead of watching film.

Don’t question the rotations…we’re 6th in the league in some offensive statistic that suggests we should be better than our record…

“Man, why in the world didn’t Obi play more? The defense sucked either way, they could have at least outscored them maybe.”

Finally looking like himself and Thibs doesn’t play him more?

Don’t ask me.

I still think Deuce’s ability to stay in front makes him a well above average defender. But even then he’s not so good you can just punt on his offense completely.

Yeah, staying in front of guys is clearly an elite skill (heck, I can think of less than a handful of Knicks in the last 20 years who actually had that ability). But it’s just not enough with all of his other deficiencies.

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“Toronto shot 44% from three. I guess Thibs was out late partying last night instead of watching film.”

Based on this result he was probably doing crack.

These guys are a HORRIBLE matchup for us.

Sims has made his last 12 shots. Something tells me that if you’re tall and even remotely skilled and all you do is hover around the basket, you’ll make a high percentage of your shots.

You mean like Hartenstein? He’s tall, he’s remotely skilled, he hovers around the basket and he has a FG% of .488

“he’s remotely skilled”

Very remotely lol. His relationship to skill is indeed very remote.

By no means am I saying this to trigger anyone and in fact I hope it doesn’t trigger anyone because it’s a pointless hamster wheel discussion, but Cam Reddish should be playing for this team. Simple obvious fact.

Hartenstein is taking a lot of those short mid range floaters as opposed to using athleticism to get dunks.

RJ was fine outside of a 4 possession sequence where he single-handedly swung the game by 8 points

I still think Deuce’s ability to stay in front makes him a well above average defender. But even then he’s not so good you can just punt on his offense completely.

I like the kid a lot, he’s full of energy and I love his defensive intensity, but in today’s NBA, with offensive numbers exploding, he’s a situational player useful if you try to stop the Trae Youngs of the world for 5 minutes, not a regular rotation player.
Taller guards shoot over his head and his offense is a level below, at least so far.

RJ was fine outside of a 4 possession sequence where he single-handedly swung the game by 8 points

*****************************

He had 30 points on 18 shots, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Those are star numbers. Fifty percent on 8 shots from downtown. Three turnovers. He certainly can’t be expected to singlehandedly carry this group of chuckleheads, especially when Brunson isn’t playing well.

Next 3 games are at MSG to host the Cavs, then we’ll fly to Boston and then we’re back to play the Nets in Brooklyn. If we go 0-3, we’ll end this stretch with a losing record.

By no means am I saying this to trigger anyone and in fact I hope it doesn’t trigger anyone because it’s a pointless hamster wheel discussion, but Cam Reddish should be playing for this team. Simple obvious fact.

Not triggered 🙂

Right now we’re under-sized and/or under-athletic at three positions.
To me RJ, who’s playing well and had a good game tonight, isn’t a “3” (he was the “2” in the magical short season, with Bullock as the “SF”).

We need a 6’7-6’8 athletic SF (“3” or “wing” or whatever) with some shooting ability and just a bit of defensive zeal.

As much as I wouldn’t like playing with him ( 😉 ) and I hate his low BB-IQ, Cam is the closest thing to that profile on the current roster.

I hope we can draft someone to fill that role.

I like that Hart seems to fight for rebounds more with his teammates than his opponents.

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Well, for what it’s worth, what I watched of the Knicks game was a lot more entertaining than what I’ve seen from the Grizzlies.

Well, that shot by Zaire Williams to end the 3rd was entertaining. Too bad it was only worth 3 pts and not 15.

What is the longest shot in NBA history? That’s gotta be close, but I doubt it’s the record.

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Thanks, I figured that was just a bit too close to be the record.

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