Categories
Game Thread

2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Jazz

The Knicks host the Jazz on a rare night where both of the teams are on the second night of a back-to-back. The Jazz luckily beat the Raptors in the first game of their road trip, so they really won’t be pumped up to get a win tonight, hopefully.

This is a big game for the Knicks, as they could really use an easy win tonight with two really big games for playoff positioning ahead before the All Star break against the Nets and Hawks (luckily for the Knicks, one of those games went from a matchup against Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to a game without either of them).

Josh Hart will make his Knick debut tonight, and that’s such a momentous occasion that I’ll do a poll!

How many minutes will Hart play tonight?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Will Hart play more minutes than Grimes?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Will Hart play more minutes than IQ?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Let’s go, Knicks!

219 replies on “2022-23 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Jazz”

i’ll probably be flamed for this but there is a distinct possibility that hart eats into or even replaces grimes in the lineup given how close they are in usage and grimes recent struggles beyond the arc….

i would also not discount RJ getting sent to the bench outright at some point which if they were in fact targeting OG… they were probably seriously considering it….

Where Jart gets his minutes truly a mystery. May be an eat what you kill situation rest of the way.

Would not surprise me about Grimes either at this point. Disappointing more because I think longterm Grimes will shoot pretty well.

Deuce is almost certainly out of the rotation, or down to 5ish min at most.

Curious if we’ll see Obi lose even more minutes.

The fact we don’t know where Hart’s min come from is one of the reasons I’m opposed to the trade.

Raptors are worse than us and spent more on Poeltl, but you know where his minutes are coming from and he’s a huge upgrade at C. Hart is an upgrade but until I see him play I think it’s fairly minor unless he takes RJs minutes.

Guess it depends on how good you think we are when Mitch comes back

On the Nets game till Knicks come on. I may be a Nets fan now.

Would really love this Nets team to be good just as an eff you to KD & Kyrie who I dislike more than the actual Nets franchise.

Hahahaha

I have a massive massive crush on this Nets team. That meme where the guy is walking with his girlfriend and eyes another girl. That’s me right now

The New-Nets are fun and they’re on a mission.
Shades of Atkinson’s team, but with more talent and depth…

I wouldn’t be surprised if Grimes got moved to the bench either if Hart plays well out of the gate. I wouldn’t necessarily be averse to it, either, though I’d really prefer RJ going to the bench and Deuce losing his minutes in the crunch.

“Washington has picked in the top 10 nearly every year for like, 30 years. That pick is *not* likely to convey.”

They’ve made the playoffs in 5 of the last 9 years. But hey, don’t let facts get in the way of your narrative!

Facts, bitch:

1983
1984
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2019
2020
2022

^ those are all the years Washington’s pick landed in the top 10.

1985
1986
1987
1998

^ 4 additional years where they picked 11th or 12th.

29 picks over the last 40 years.

Great discussion of game theory on the last thread. Apropos of two shot attempts I just saw, I will only add that it’s a little difficult for me to place this team on the win curve because I think it’s possible they’d be substantially better if they simply did not have one of their players.

Randle has gotten so much better at the double clutch pass. Can’t overstate how much better his passing looks.

I love it when IQ does the Dirk pull up transition three

I can also get used to Hart to Brunson

Knicks must have the worst luck in the NBA when it comes to opponents buzzer beating 3pters.

Two incredible shots, one after very good defense and one an Hail Mary, 6 points for the Jazz…
A bit disappointing…

I will die on the hill of us having a horrible Opponent Heave Percentage

We must put it as an incentive on ISM’s extension. 😀

Hart brings an energy nobody else on the Knicks does. Looks like the most explosive athlete on the court. Easily most explosive of the Knicks.

Earlier Randle & Hart switched on D. I think that’ll be big for making Randle more viable on defense. Much better on ball than off

Hart is a much better player than RJ

I think I would use a first rounder to unload RJ so we can keep IQ

Hart & Hart look like a great combo

Hart running some good PnRs

He has the whole team playing with more energy than I’ve seen in a long time. Really opens up the break

Idk if it’s the 1st game’s adrenaline talking but Hart plays very intensively
Love it!

I really want RJ to do well, but right now having him on the floor is like having an anvil around the neck, no matter the lineups…

Yeah, a first game, he’s going to be really amped. If Hart is still this energetic in three weeks, then I’ll start to gush about him.

But damn it’s nice to have good players. I can’t help but think the RJ clock is about to strike midnight. It’s hard to imagine 40 mpg to 0…. But I could see it….

Max Josh Hart

I think the Hart trade was a subtle signal to RJ to shape up or he’s going to be replaced in the offseason. Surely everyone sees how not-good he is.

anvil around the neck, no matter the lineups…

With all the bird related names, surprised nobody has chosen Albatross yet… for any of you lurkers out there

I really want RJ to do well

Me too, but if he plays like this, his minutes need to come down.

What I loved about that play was IQ knowing the play to come, pointing it out, and Hart reacting for the steal. Heady player. He, Isaiah, IQ and Obi could really wreck on the second unit.

If this is Hart and this is RJ it would be a joke if Hart doesn’t take a big chunk of those minutes

I’m going to say again that RJ does not look good against the 2nd unit. I don’t think he has what it takes to drive an offense. A lot of his good takes are off the curling handoff from Randle.

Walker is really good.

Clyde points out that there are three 7 footers out there for Utah.

The West is big, man.

Randle isn’t attempting rebounding … I’m keying on him at the moment since I took him for double double … it’s disappointing for me personally, but also for all of us Knicks fans

Apparently Samuel Beckett didn’t want women performing Godot. The estate still enforces it. Kinda disappointing

Yeah, we’re a move away, but this team has heart (Hart and Hart) and is rarely boring.

I fear pt is right about Sims. He’s just not what you need in a center defensively. He may have to develop a stretch 4 game to stick in the league.

Early returns on Hart minutes watch are he gets them primarily from McBride and maybe a bit from RJ if RJ is sucking. IQ and Grimes not really affected.

Sims has a frustrating penchant for taking himself out of the play defensively. iHart should be playing 30+ minutes a night until Mitch gets back.

Sims is quite frankly awful as a rim protector. He’s good on switches and being able to guard on the perimeter but as the last line of defense he has a really long way too go.

Sims is quite frankly awful as a rim protector. He’s good on switches and being able to guard on the perimeter but as the last line of defense he has a really long way too go.

Yeah, he moves his feet well in space for a guy his size but he’s not effective near the basket on defense. He was the 59th pick so you have to tip your cap to him that he is getting NBA minutes but he’s a fringe type player.

I don’t watch many 3rd string Cs, but Sims is probably fine as a 3rd string C… or would be if Mitch wasn’t so injury prone

In total agreement on Sims. His defense is puzzling. Should get much more out of his physical assets.

But I sometimes think his athleticism is missing some key elements.

Sims is a giant kid. Again, remember Mitch as a kid. Constantly off his feet and fouling out all the time.

Almost serious question. Did anyone see SGA coming?

Sims is a giant kid, but he’s the same age as Mitch…

We’re seeing part if why Sims put up underwhelming college numbers.

He would look better, and does when the Knicks run them, om switches and hedges

God you can’t get beat down the floor like thst on an inbounds

The West is big. Monster lineup

Jericho is also a miserable rebounder against size despite his ups

Almost serious question. Did anyone see SGA coming?

Did you not see my post from that draft thread? Someone linked to the thread a while back and I looked and saw that I called SGA as the steal of the draft and probably the third best player in 5 years…

This is a pretty heinous brand of basketball the Knicks are playing here in this quarter. Bring in the guy wearing Starks’ number

I-Hart had a nice shift tonight and he’s outplaying Sims in the last few games, I don’t get Thibs’ fascination with him.

Barrett 1-8 and a Grimes is having a bad game.

Time for IQ and J-Hart to save the day…

It’s small things like the last 2 possessions from RJ. Terrible decision to throw that alley oop to Grimes, who can get up okay but is not the guy you want to throw an oop to.

Before that RJ made a bad commitment to drive and attempt the layup, ended up with a wild shot. He makes fewer “wow” stupid things than Randle, but he still makes a lot of low IQ plays

Finland is not Scandinavia but I was trying to get around saying that was a good dunk for a white guy

There you go, Julius – these guys look to block everything, so get them off their feet and draw the foul

The sooner Thibs takes the sloth out of the lineup, the better we will be. JHart sould be starting the second half.

Sims does have 10 boards in 22min. Granted half of them are on 2 possessions. One of them was just him getting blocked 3 times.

Sims plays hard but not yet smart
When he starts avoiding pump fakes and learn C positioning he’ll be fine

Grimes is well over his previous high in minutes for a season. So idk, maybe that’s a thing

The answer to the Scandinavia question isn’t easy… 🙂

RJ with a nice stretch, Grimes still MIA…

Why the fuck let Randle shoot the technical FT?

And then almost hit the referee with the ball, not intentional but still.

How many shots have they blocked.

Does RJ lead the league in blocked shots? That was a foul btw

We won’t have to worry about Hart taking anyone’s minutes because he’ll foul out in 20 every game

This has been a strange game. So much going on. Hard to track.

RJ!!!!!

Always had faith in him. In the second half.

How would RJ feel about only starting second halves?

At this point they should give Jaylen Brown’s spot to Brunson even if Brown is healthy.

Sorry for the young guys but this lineup,
with the Hart-y Boys must start…

(Until Mitch’s back)

Might’ve lost without Hart.

This was the closest thing I’ve seen to Julius Randle closing out a game since he’s been here.

Small but winning detail: Randle takes the ball ob after the ft and sprints to get to position to get it inbounded to Brunson

Josh Hart is going to fit just fine in NY. Terrific debut game. Now we just need Thibs to figure out he should start ahead of RJ until we get our long term SF.

That closing lineup just lacks 3 pt shooting. That’s the issue. And yes. Whoever said RJ is more reliable on open 3’s right now. I agree

Again..pretty wasted right now…but watching on my phone at a bar…this team…at home…can play with any team except the top 2 ….assuming Randle doesn’t turtle in the playoffs

Hart was a delight! Team looked encouragingly good in crunch time with him on the floor.

McBride is probably not going to get a lot of burn now, and it seems like Grimes and IQ are more likely to lose minutes than RJ, unfortunately.

I’m afraid I agree with you, Tasty. Grimes is in a bit of a funk, but nothing like the deep fog that Barrett finds himself in. But Thibs seems to have made his decision clear about which son he loves more.

We’ve all seen this movie, of course. Where the ungrateful son murders his father despite being unfairly coddled.

So there’s that to look forward to, at least…

Grimes still has a 59% ts%. Or did going into tonight. RJ at 53.3.

Quentin was at 56 in January. And 62 in February including his 0-3.

It doesn’t feel like it right now

grimes is your low usage defender that’s supposed to hit 3s… but he’s not really hitting them now and whether he will do so consistently is still an open question and so i think that’s probably where hart will slot into naturally because he just does what grimes does except better….

starting over rj is an option too since that probably aligns the bench usage issues but the reason that’s not ideal is that it probably puts too much onus on randle and brunson against certain lineups… having 3 guys on the court that’s not eager to shoot is problematic especially in the playoffs…. but if that happens i think IQ should probably slot into Grimes slot to fix that issue…

there’s going to be plenty to figure out in the second half but my money is that Grimes sits in favor of Hart either way….

and really all my griping of the hart trade has overshadowed my love for him… he’s like one of my favorite non-stars in the league.. along with tj mcconnell.. positive things happen when he’s out there.. and that gets said alot about some guys but it’s not usually as measurable as it is with hart… he’s like everything landry fields should’ve been….

“I feel like Z-man was beating the Kessler drum..?”

You would be correct, rama. More as a trade-down, but really liked him.

I think this team’s Death Lineup, the one that should close out games, is Brunson-Quickley-Hart-Randle-Robinson. That is a pretty balanced lineup, three good defenders in there and three relatively efficient scorers, with two low-usage, high-efficiency guys rounding out the lineup.

I want to see that lineup. I think that lineup could beat some people.

I think you keep Grimes as the nominal starter. Hart adds too much to the 2nd unit. They get more out of the fast break and need a 2nd ballhandler.

Right now you’re definitely closing with him regardless of who else is in the lineup.

Comments are closed.