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[news.google.com] — Monday, March 6, 2023 6:00:00 AM
Celtics questionable crunch time choices resurface in overtime loss to Knicks MassLive.com
[news.google.com] — Monday, March 6, 2023 4:47:36 AM
Knicks hero Quickley says they are ‘not satisfied at all’ amid nine-game win streak Yahoo Eurosport UK
[news.google.com] — Monday, March 6, 2023 2:58:28 AM
New York faces Charlotte, seeks 10th straight victory The Associated Press – en Espa?ol
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Immanuel Quickley breaks career best to inspire New York Knicks to … Sky Sports
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NBA: New York Knicks at Boston Celtics | Fieldlevel | henryherald.com Henry Herald
[news.google.com] — Monday, March 6, 2023 1:11:15 AM
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson misses huge win over Celtics with foot soreness New York Post
[news.google.com] — Monday, March 6, 2023 12:41:00 AM
Red-hot Knicks keep defying belief with gritty win over Celtics New York Post Immanuel Quickley’s career game lifts Knicks over Celtics in double OT as streak hits nine New York Post Eastern Conference Recaps, March 5: Knicks Remain The Only Undefeated Team After The All-Star Break After Win … Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Monday, March 6, 2023 12:17:49 AM
Jalen Brunson sidelined with sore left foot in Knicks’ win over Celtics NBA.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 11:23:34 PM
Immanuel Quickley’s Career Game Lifts Knicks Over Celtics (2OT) The Knicks Wall
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 11:15:41 PM
New York Knicks vs Boston Celtics Mar 5, 2023 Game Summary NBA.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 11:10:00 PM
Spike Lee Shows Gratitude For WGA Career Achievement Award But Also Checks New York Knicks Score On His Phone Onstage, Crowing, “Boston Sucks!” ? Watch Deadline
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 10:54:00 PM
Immanuel Quickley’s career game lifts Knicks over Celtics in double OT as streak hits nine New York Post Knicks 131, Celtics 129 (2OT): Scenes from the gargantuan heart of Immanuel Quickley Posting and ToastingEastern Conference Recaps, March 5: Knicks Remain The Only Undefeated Team After The All-Star Break After Win … Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 8:14:00 PM
Knicks Notes: Quickley, Randle, Free Agency, Hart, Brunson hoopsrumors.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 7:38:17 PM
Immanuel Quickley, in for Jalen Brunson, has 38 as Knicks’ streak hits 9 ESPN
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 7:31:00 PM
Kennesaw State, just 3 years after a 1-win season, is headed to NCAA tournament for the first time Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 7:00:00 PM
Game Thread: Knicks at Celtics- 03/05/23 Posting and Toasting
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 6:22:49 PM
The Latest on the Health Front for the Celtics and Knicks Ahead of Sunday’s Matchup, Including an Update on Robert Williams Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 5:00:00 PM
Knicks fans will love Mike Breen’s admiration of Jalen Brunson Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 2:17:00 PM
RJ Barrett Player Props: Knicks vs. Celtics WBNG
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 1:58:00 PM
Trade Breakdown: Josh Hart To The Knicks (Four-Team Deal) hoopsrumors.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 1:36:46 PM
New York Knicks at Boston Celtics: How to watch, broadcast, lineups (3/5) Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 1:30:00 PM
How to watch New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics: Time, TV channel, free live stream syracuse.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 12:04:09 PM
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson ruled out for Celtics showdown with ankle injury ClutchPoints
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 11:41:28 AM
Knicks sign guard DaQuan Jeffries to 10-day contract Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 11:02:00 AM
Knicks Sign DaQuan Jeffries To 10-Day Contract hoopsrumors.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 8:42:23 AM
NBA Week 21: Los Angeles Lakers in freefall while New York Knicks march up the standings Sky Sports
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 8:23:21 AM
“It was eerie” – John Starks on the shot that could’ve led the New York Knicks to a championship Basketball Network
[news.google.com] — Sunday, March 5, 2023 8:00:00 AM
New York Knicks all-time draft bust starting 5 Daily Knicks
181 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.03.06)”
Humongous and draining statement win that put us definitively on the map.
We’re not a joke anymore, League’s taking notes and IQ may have won 6MOTY tonight.
Winning streak hits 9, 7th best record in the League at 39-27 (only 6 wins to hit my preseason preview, hooray).
And we did it without our best player (sorry Julius).
This game was won and lost many times, but every time they hit us we answered back with a stronger punch, this team can lose but simply refuse to give up and this kind of spirit is a joy to watch (even when they do dumb things).
Exausted and sleep deprived thoughts:
– This team is greater than the sum of his part. My individual grades are probably lower than someone could expect after a win like this, but my team grade is a gigantic “A+”.
– We won with a 18:20 AST/TO ratio (38.2% assisted baskets, very low even for us), shooting only 68.6% from the line (22-32. Celtics 22-25 88%), blowing a 7-points lead in the last 85 seconds of regulation, turning the ball over in the last play of regulation, burning 2 timeouts on the same inbounds play and so on…
Winning a game this way is very difficult, but we kept them at 39.5% shooting, hit our freebies a bit better in the clutch and fought like hell on every ball.
– Despite the win we missed JB. His calming influence and steady grip on the rudder are too important.
– The world now knows Immanuel Quickley and his blossoming, after a raw start of the season, has been maybe the biggest surprise of the year. We need to extend him ASAP.
– I was ready to watch Randle ejected, but he did regain his composure and his newfound mental strenght is a huge improvement from last year.
– When RJ plays like tonight our ceiling goes up. Come on kid, we need more of this.
– Next game is like a Wile E. Coyote’s ACME trap.
Will JB be back? I trust Thibs to keep them in the right place. Going West with 40 wins would be huge.
– Let’s talk about Boston a bit.
1. I don’t get why Tatum didn’t attack the rim all night long. He was getting all the whistles and could have shot 30 FTs but he took 17 threes instead. Good for us.
2. Marcus Smart fouled out but he committed 20 other unwhistled fouls and flopped at least 5 times. He’s allowed to play with a special rulebook that stop just short of armed robbery.
3. Sooner or later someone will advice my paisà Joe Mazzulla about the existence of timeouts.
Quickley A+ CUM LAUDE
He played all the 2nd half AND both overtimes, hit the first bucket of the game (was it the earliest heat check ever?), the tie basket at the end of the 1st OT, had 7 points in the 2nd OT including the first 5…
38-8-7, 4 steals, 2 blocks and a defensive clinic all night long.
Randle B+
Some timely baskets, including 4 huge FTs, balanced by some kind of regression to Point-Forward Randle that didn’t go too well (7 TOs, including the one that cost us a chanche to shot at the end of regulation, only 4 assists) and the dumb technical for hitting the ref.
Barrett B+
I wrote in the thread that he’s a bad rebounder and I still think he is (he often forget to box out and let his man slip behind and take position) but he probably read my comment and after that he went to the boards with a lot more intensity and grabbed 11… and he had a steal!
Botched the pass on 2 alley-oops and hit on 2 others, is that the only way of passing the ball that he knows?
50 very solid minutes on offense, needs to shoot better from the line.
Grimes C
He must be the happiest guy in the locker room because he would have been the scapegoat, his foul on Brown at the end of regulation close to unforgivable (next time if we’re up by 3 let them score a 2-pointer and focus on the inbounds). Took only 2 shots, uhm….
Robinson B+
Huge work under the boards (7 OR 7 DR), very good fouls/minutes ratio, but Horford tormented him all night… until the last shot 🙂
2 heavy misses from the line, this time everything went well but I’m worried for the playoffs.
J-Hart B+
40 minutes of energy, dogged defense, yeoman work on the boards (8) and a huge three in the 1st OT when Boston looked ready to swing all the momentum.
His Knicks’ resumee stays immaculate and I’m very happy we have him.
Hartenstein C
Bad game, 3 terrible minutes in the 1st half, 7 somewhat better ones in the 2nd. He’s always there but this time with less spark.
He’s often penalized by the refs, I’m starting to think he has a reputation and not a good one (he’s whistled even when he defend with perfect verticality).
Team best +11 plus/minus (+/- is a bitch, evidence #1)
Toppin C+
Second in the potential scapegoats’ line, his offensive foul on the pesty flopper Smart, when we were at our high watermark (up 11 with the ball in our hands, with 8 minutes to go), was like throwing a lifeline to the sinking Celts and completely changed the energy of the game.
Sometimes I feel he’s a fish out of the water intensity-wise, like he’s always at the playground with his friends…
Team 2nd best plus/minus at +10 (+/- is a bitch, evidence #2)
McBride C
Talking about fish out of the water… his energy is unquestioned, his defense can disrupt opponents’ offensive flow… but not tonight, I would have rather play Fournier in Deuce’s 8 minutes…
Thibs A-
Without the Little General, in a playoffs like atmosphere he squeezed every drop of energy from IQ (55), RJ (50), Julius (47), Mitch (44) and J-Hart (40)… and he was right, they were the best lineup.
The short-lived super small lineup didn’t work (but kudos for trying), I’m not sold on Deuce over Evan and our inbounds are cringe worthy but…
… This team never surrender, the guys are all in, they’re fearless and these are huge medals on his chest.
@ptmilo LOL 😀
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cpbz1uLD2Rs/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
My favorite part of this is when IQ signs the guy’s hat and is asked if he scored over 40, and he just says, “That’s a W.”
Great recap, Max, thanks. 🙂 And i had to go lookup “paisà”, which means “fellow countryman” because he’s Italian-American, right?
Popper: “After talking in the morning about how much he dislikes the notion of load management, Julius Randle after this double-overtime win: “F***, I’m contemplating it right now.””
LOL
Will also be using this Thibs postgame quote regularly: “Winning is way more fun than fun is fun”
@cyber
Yes, his father is Italian-American (of sicilians origins from what I know).
“Paisà” is the dialect contraction of the word “paesano” that as you said means “from the same country” 🙂
And after a win like this one, i hope the one’s that hadn’t already started to contribute to KB, decide to start now. 😉
For those who don’t read the morning news list, here’s the important bit about it.
Support Mike K, because we need this… at least i do, and yeah i’m already a contributor. 🙂
Thanks, Max. I can understand italian, but you were able to surprise me this time around. 😉 To learn a new word is always nice. 🙂
But it’ll be difficult to beat Jowles’ word – UMARELL – i’ve been using it ever since he wrote it here some time ago. 😀
LOL
This irascible bear would have no problem awarding Leon Rose executive of the year.
Year 2 was an abomination, and I think it was very fair to call it that. Nearly every decision he made was bad and had far-reaching consequences.
Year 3, on the other hand, has been a revelation. He paid the price to undo his mistakes, demonstrating flexibility and a lack of stubborn ego.
I harped on those mistakes for a long time because it didn’t seem likely to me that we would overcome them. Now I’m reaching the point where it’s like, “yeah, it would be nice to have used the 11th pick, but whatever.”
The Warriors drafted Ekpe Udoh at #6 one year after drafting Steph Curry. Paul George and Gordon Hayward went after. That could have been a franchise-crippling blunder. Instead it became a meaningless blunder.
Leon is one or two moves away from putting all his past mistakes into that kind of bucket, and I will be rooting for him to get it done.
That quote from Thibs is pretty brilliant, actually. Change “winning” to “success” and it becomes universally applicable.
Great recap, Max! Farfa who?
Damn, we’d have the 2nd best record in the WC!
I’m always amazed that “umarell” (a word I started using during my Bolognian’s years at the start of the century) has a Wikipedia page with two very appropriate photos that perfectly catch the essence of the term… 😀
I’ll never open an account because (a) I’d be bombarded with emails and texts trying to get me to bet more; and (b) I have heavy suspicions that they wouldn’t let me cash out without massive obstacles if it hit …
However ….
That Knicks bet at 42-1 to win the East is looking pretty nice. They’re really more like 20-1. If anyone here does partake in the world’s favorite sportsbook or its competitors, I’d recommend hitting that bid.
The Celtics don’t really impress me that much and I don’t think they’re particularly well-coached.
In terms of the Cam stalking from the game thread, he scored 16 on 13 shots, two steals and some other boxscore stuff in a road win. TS% of .623 on 20 usage since the trade.
(1)
They have 5 games in 8 days coming up, and one of those off days is a cross-country flight.
On the one hand, it would seem to be a time for load management.
On the other, this is when the old Riley Knicks used to ramp up the intensity to build strength and stamina for the playoffs.
I’ve become ambivalent about the topic. In the telecast last night they said Joe Mezuzah (or whatever his name is) regretted not ramping the Celtic players’ minutes up down the stretch because they weren’t in peak condition for the playoffs.
Makes sense to me. If I’m gonna run a marathon in May I’d want to kick my ass in March to get into shape.
But it’ll be difficult to beat Jowles’ word – UMARELL – i’ve been using it ever since he wrote it here some time ago. 😀
i have a few partners in a venture that very arguably does not exist, and after jowles dropped it here i gave them the bad news. it became such a thing that one of them sent us umarell calendars for the holidays.
Winning is Way More Fun Than Fun is Fun (the Tom Thibodeau Story) written by …
@ Alan. I hope you’re already pitching Random House 😉
There’s been some checkpoints this season when I looked ahead at a series of games and pondered best, worst, and probable outcomes. This latest 14-4 stretch has blown even my most optimistic scenario out of the water.
So let’s look at the remaining 16 games. We will be heavy favorites tomorrow. Then a brutal stretch of 4 West Coast games…2-2 would be sort of acceptable. Then Denver at home for a Sat matinee…excellent measuring stick game, hopefully the Nuggets go out on the time Friday night in NYC, but it’s a loss on paper, right? Then the remaining 10 games look 7-3-ish.
So imho 10-6 doesn’t seem overly optimistic. As such, why not feel like 11-5 for 50 wins is attainable?
PS To get there, the critical game seems like the 3/31 game in CLE, which might just determine the 4th seed.
This is really exciting!
thanks @Z-Man!
But believe me, I’m the first that want Farfa back 🙂
Where are you Farfa? We’re waiting!
There’s certainly a sense in which that’s more true than false, but to say it so vociferously out loud in that context is kinda weird.
(2)
not to be the originality nazi but that thibs quote is a stock line from one of those peak performance van down by the river guys
Wait. Isn’t Farfa a paisà?
The thing about “schedule losses”, though, is I think it’s a great benefit to backups and an opportunity to show what they have. We wouldn’t have ever experienced that IQ game, for instance, if Brunson didn’t get hurt. And how valuable is that experience going to be for IQ?
If we scheduled a day off for Julius, Jalen, and Mitch, for instance, we’d roll out:
IQ
jHart
RJ
Obi
iHart
with Grimes and Jericho off the bench, maybe even a little DRose & E4 action.
And as a fan I would actually enjoy that 3 or 4 times a year. It feels like playing with house money.
This is something they do in soccer all the time (it’s called rotating) and it’s usually quite fun to watch the second team.
Cleveland’s schedule is bizarre. They have four sets of consecutive road games against the same team:
3/8 @ Miami
3/10 @ Miami
3/12 @ Charlotte
3/14 @ Charlotte
3/21 @ Brooklyn
3/23 @ Brooklyn
4/4 @ Orlando
4/6 @ Orlando
That’s a huge plus for us. It’s hard to win both those games. 4-4 seems highly likely.
@KBA
“paisà” is a term mainly used to describe italians from the south,
so I wouldn’t call Farfa that way (and I think he’d do the same with me)
@Hubert
“Rotating” sound better than “load management” 😉
FWIW, in 2020-21, home court and the 4th seed vs. ATL (who I believe was regarded as our best shot at a first round win) came down to winning the final 3 game of the season (including a nail-biter win over the Celts in the final game.)
So while it would be nice, I doubt that this coach would do anything to risk seeding unless for a real injury.
With Memphis losing players for different causes the West, outside of Denver, is kind of a blobbing mess.
I’m expecting Phoenix to climb the standings with KD on board…
I was thinking the same thing as E last night but the line shifted since—Knicks odds to win the ECF on Fanduel have jumped from something like +6000 to +3000 (can’t bet on them just making the ECF unfortunately.) To me, the best Knicks homer value bet is (don’t laugh at me) winning it all at +10000. I threw 5 dollars on it just now 🙂
I know Marcus Smart is one of those guys you’d love if he was on your team, but man, is he fucking annoying to watch. Not only does he flop every other possession, but he literally never stops yapping the entire game.
As a referee, I would find him a nightmare to officiate. I’m sure most of the refs’ pregame meeting focuses on him.
And on a positive note, what can you say about IQ? I didn’t realize he had 4 steals to add to his absurd box score and he disrupted a lot of other possessions also
Thank God we didn’t trade him
Oh no, that’s definitely the best value. It’s not going to happen, but it’s the best betting value by far.
Memphis’ situation is nucking futs. Can you imagine being a Memphis fan right now? Even with Clarke out for the rest of the season, that team is still quite good, but with multiple players missing games due to crazy reasons, it has to make you worried as heck. What player truly committed to winning a championship has problems like Ja Morant does?
We’ve all been in agreeance for a long time that Bane would have been a better pick than IQ, but that IQ is nonetheless an excellent pick. How much has the gap between the two closed at this point? Especially since, as someone pointed out on one of the weekend threads, IQ will likely make a lot less on his next contract than Bane will?
Do we know if Morant has a drug and alcohol problem or is he just hanging out with people that are likely to contribute to legal and other problems?
Power rankings are silly discussion fodder, but it nonetheless pleases me hugely to see we’re up to 6th in the latest Athletic ranking, right after the serious title contenders:
https://theathletic.com/4255665/2023/03/06/nba-power-rankings-week-21/
Bane is still a ways better than IQ on a net basis, even if you just compare their age 23 seasons, but this version of IQ (‘this’ referring to 2nd half of the season IQ) is about just as good as Desmond, I think. IQ is certainly the better defender.
If IQ plays like this all of next year he’d be better; and at his contract value he will be a comparative steal.
Thx for the tip! Just did the same. And I’m now working remote from a lawn chair in the Canyon of Heroes. Saving my spot. 😉
Sadly, the gap between Hali and Obi only gets wider over time…
Isn’t it strange that the same FO that was all over IQ’s hidden potential didn’t see the same thing in Hali? They had similar reasons for concerns in scouting…although Hali’s height and elite passing were obviously strengths that IQ did not have. I still don’t get how they were so infatuated with Obi…
The argument at the time was that they had the inside info on IQ, right? And that wasn’t there for Hali.
i won’t go all pump the brakes too hard…. but this streak has been fueled by pretty hot 3pt shooting…. and we were a pretty good offense to begin with DESPITE bottom third 3pt shooting…. so when we do get hot … and this is basically everyone participating esp randle…. we’ve turned from a pretty good offense to a high powered offense….
we’re definitely not going to shoot 40% just like we’re not going to win every game… but that should give you an idea on what exactly we’re missing in terms of what we need out of that 3rd piece….
By the way, if IQ keeps playing like this, is he going to make much less than Bane? Bane will make a shit ton of money, of course, but it’s like how Luka will make the same as, like, Trae Young, just because one guy is better doesn’t mean much if there is a max that both players can make, and sometimes lesser guys hit that number, as well (like Tyler Herro’s huge extension). I mean, Mozgov made mad bank, ya know? There’s a lot of money out there.
HOLY F****NG SH*T!!!!
This team, y’all.
A few thoughts.
I normally would not like IQ taking a heat check to start the game like that but it was so ballsy and I thought it sent such a big message to the Celtics right out of the gate.
“Oh you think you’re going to beat us because we don’t have Brunson and you’re at home. Don’t count on it. Not without a real fight”
Just such a big shot right out of the gate.
Also, please let’s give RJ some love. He played really well last night. Maybe there is some truth to the fact that with both Randle and JB in the starting lineup, he’s having a hard time finding his spots as the 3rd fiddle but he came up big in a game where we really needed him.
But man. Just so much grit and determination to win no matter what the cost. Two games in a row with intense playoff atmosphere and we get the win in both of them in nail biter fashion.
guys… Bane is a 4bpm player…. IQ has been great but that’s not even a discussion yet….
this does look like a minileap based on his improved ability to finish in transition although there’s definitely a ton of volatility in what IQ is doing elsewhere but like everyone else he’s been hitting his 3s and that just makes everything a lot better…
Bane is basically a quasi-superstar, agreed, but I’m just saying that the way the cap works, I could still see IQ end up at the same money as Bane, just because Bane is capped out. IQ might hit that same capped out level. In a vacuum, obviously Bane would be paid more, but there are limits that smooths out their pay. Will IQ hit that limit? I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s absurd at this point. There’s a lot of money out there.
So many takes, so little time.
My only issue with IQ is that I didn’t stan him hard enough. He’s just a great basketball player. His most challenging quality is that he thrives taking bad shots that are actually good shots. He is at his most efficient taking what appear to be very ill considered heaves. But it works. I have seen it for three seasons now and I have seen enough to know it’s real. I think he struggled early in the season because he was trying to be a more conventional 3 point option but his core skill set is rising up like a cobra off the dribble when it often doesn’t make any sense at all. The opening play of the game was a great example. The three pointer he hit after that Tatum dagger over Hart with about 90 seconds left in the third was another one.
IQ’s game is career threatening because if those shots don’t go in they look terrible and, you know, he’s not Steph Curry. But if Thibs can trust in him and believe in him like he obviously believes in himself, we might have something special.
Also, he plays amazing defense. It can’t be said enough.
Julius Randle is a warrior and had a great game but watching him without Brunson gave me so much PTSD. I love Brunson, he’s been amazing. But you have to acknowledge that a significant chunk of his value comes from the way he keeps Bad Julius in check.
I also want to shout out Julius for his three at the end of the third. Super tough shot and super important.
Josh Hart – Fuller picture of him is emerging, there are some chinks in the armor, but he came up with some HUGE boards and there aren’t many things I enjoy more than watching him come up with the ball amongst the trees or a live ball or that one possession where he seemed to knock down three Celts like a bowling ball.
Best I have felt as a Knicks fan in something like 30 years. To do that in Boston, against a Boston team that wanted a win bad, and after that Miami win, it’s just amazing. Regular season means nothing they say but I honestly feel like everything else is gravy at this point.
Call me crazy but I expect IQ to be extended on team-friendly terms this summer. I have underestimated him before, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who can afford to bet on himself. Not at this stage of his career, where he’s still one injury away from never making money.
What is a max extension for IQ anyway? They’re not going to pay him more than Brunson. And even though we know IQ is better, he’s not going to make as much as RJ, either. RJ is the starter, plays more minutes, and has the #3 pedigree. It’s silly, but that’s how it tends to go.
the thing holding IQ back in terms of market value is how many teams view him as a starting pg…. the assists rates aren’t quite there to say that’s possible and despite what we’re seeing recently we know there are some limitations to what he’s doing in that role for most of the season….
it’s possible some team out there is desperate for a pg and would give him that bag…. but on this knick team we already have brunson so we know what value he has to us…
more than likely his market value caps out at eric gordon money…. maybe something crazy happens and we do actually max him out since he’s bait for a superstar deal anyway… but once the dust settles i’d wager he gets 6th man money….
I think I put this in the game thread, but no, actually I don’t think I’d love him if he were on our team. It’s just too much – some of it is good, too much of it is embarrassing.
i would say the opposite… he’s gotten so much better just taking out a lot of those curry/trae esque heaves from his shot selection…. that’s not to say it’s completely gone but he’s done a lot more by doing a lot less… last night aside….
he’s doing what RJ should be doing which is being more judicious with his opportunities and his shot selection isn’t that bad because of it… now i’m not sure how much of the running floaters will convert going forward but aside from that he’s adjusted well to a soph slump last year and a change in the foul baiting rules…
the only actual thing he’s added to his game is that he’s just a lot better in transition now and that’s led to his ability to finish better at the rim… but for the most part he’s gotten better by taking things away and that’s not a knock at all…. that’s maturity… and recognition of what good offense is…
Two more pieces to the JHart effect: 1) He hit a monster three in the first OT to stop the bleeding. And 2) he handled the ball nicely on a bunch of possessions late, basically pretending to be Brunson. Eye test says JHart afforded IQ some time off ball and calmed us all down on offense (and in our living rooms).
FWIW I was positive Randle would foul out. Instead, Smart did, but it could have easily been Julius b/c refs were TRASH.
PS — I’m with Rama on the Smart hate. He’s embarrassing and I’d want no part of him on the Knicks.
We’ve been such a bad offensive team for so long that it seems almost wrong to believe we’re good on that end of the ball. But the Knicks are 3rd in the NBA in offensive rating since the fateful December 4 lineup change game, and 2nd if you only count non-garbage time minutes. You look at the guys in the rotation and it doesn’t LOOK like elite offense on paper, but that’s over half a season of elite offensive play.
I didn’t have “Julius Randle outdoes his previous career season and Jalen Brunson scales up so well he becomes a 4+ BPM player” on my bingo card but here we are.
Well, with IQ’s shot selection, it’s in the eye of the beholder a bit. I think the issue with him offensively is that he doesn’t generate a conventional shot mix. He doesn’t create enough off the dribble and doesn’t get as many clean spot ups, whether because of his size, his shooting motion, his movement, his role, whatever. But the way he fills in for it I think may be more sustainably effective than one would think. Not going to say he is innovating and adding something like the transition three to the NBA repertoire but he does seem to have a good nose for spaces in the defense that actually are positive EV.
RJ did have a good game. He hit a clutch clutch three in the fourth. He made a bunch of good plays late. I missed the beginning of the game but he started well too. More and more with him it’s the defense that gives me pause. He was ok but when we face the Celtics and we have to deal with Brown and Tatum all night you kind of wish he were more of an athlete.
Re Tatum, his shooting is just slightly suspect. It’s obviously great, especially given volume, but to be a true MVP caliber player he needs to miss a few less shots.
Marcus Smart, just going to leave it in the game thread.
Also, someone said it last night or this morning already but IQ had one turnover on 30 possessions. Hard to do against the Celtics.
I mentioned before that I believe the plan was to find Randle’s eventual replacement in that draft. I believe Obi was drafted to eventually become a starter – just that no one saw this year’s version (nor the MIP version) of Julius coming. I don’t think it was a bad plan at all… just that we now know the better plan would have been to draft Hali.
I don’t think the Knicks were in a position to be drafting based on positional need at the time, though, so I don’t think the plan ever made sense, especially with Obi being an old rookie.
Hali should have gone in the top 5, that was pretty obvious going into the draft.
As for us, yeah this team is on a hot streak, we’re not the best team in the NBA. But, we have a meaningful sample that says this team is legitimately excellent. Best Knicks team since 2012-13
It’s funny to see most of the older Knick fans in disbelief and afraid to believe in love due to decades of tragic outcomes. This inculdes data driven, evidence based statisticians who have trouble believing the proof in front of them.
We’ve been hurt so badly before, Director.
And on top of that, this team is winning in such a strange way, even with what the data says. It’s such an outlier on offense relative to what the rest of the league is doing. Not a lot of it seems fluky, other than the occasional Julius or Brunson circus shot that goes in, but there’s a whole lot of, “This shouldn’t be working, but it’s obviously working” anxiety, on top of our history with this franchise. I believe they are good. I believe they can give almost any team in the playoffs(*) problems. But I’m also braced for the Knicksiest outcome, because it’s the way to be hurt the least.
(*) Other than the Bucks, or, if we somehow wind up playing each other in a later round, the Raptors. Teams that can throw a ton of length at us in general, and at Brunson in particular, are just a bad matchup. And Milwaukee has the added benefit of a superhuman MVP-caliber player who plain does not like our team because of how we treated his brother.
My takeaways are (1) that was as close as you will get to a play-off intensity game in the regular season and they found a way to win, and (2) we now have a 3rd player who is willing to put the team on his back to get the win.
Both are very positive for the post season.
Milwaukee has the added benefit of a superhuman MVP-caliber player who plain does not like our team because of how we treated his brother.
I thought we treated Robin ok…
LOL, Bernie.
Well to be honest I’m half paisà, since my mom (as Mazzulla’s dad) comes from Sicily.
But the most important thing is that umarell is 100% a Bolognese word, and being that an umarell is someone (usually pretty ancient) who watches over a building area while making all sorts of retorts about how the construction workers are failing at their job, I feel like I was primus inter pares among an army of umarells during the Fizdale years.
Ps: Max… great job as always!
What a wild game. I thought they won and lost on numerous occasions. My emotions were so up and down.
Welcome back Farfa!
And thanks, you’re too kind Master…
Howdy Farfa, glad to hear from you. I hope you’re good and that you can come here more often. Quick comments, i mean, because the recaps probably take an amount of time you’re not able to spend nowadays.
This being the first Monday of the month, I was considering my contribution to keeping this blog up and running, but frankly it just hasn’t been the blog I signed up for lately. Gone is the endemic pessimism; the incineration obsessing; the pedantic deconstruction of the term purgatory. Hatchets are being buried. We rarely even discuss TV sitcoms from the 90s anymore.
Success is ruining you.
Any injury update on Brunson? (I’m confronting my deepest fear).
PS — big think piece on Dolan/MSG posted in the New Yorker.
Was looking at the standings because i’m rooting for the Nets to keep the 6th place (have i already said that i hate Miami? LOL). I think their team is a lot more of what NY is about, than the KD/Kyrie teams were. But i can’t root too much, because i don’t want them to catch us. 😛
But looking at the standings i noticed that the Warriors are 27-7 at home and 7-24 on the road!? 😮
Oh, and btw, the Knicks are 2nd in the league on the road (20-12), between the Celtics (20-11) and the Bucks (19-12). What about that? 🙂
Don’t look now, but…CBS HAS US #1 IN THEIR POWER RANKINGS!
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-power-rankings-knicks-surge-to-no-1-kevin-durant-led-suns-enter-top-five-clippers-in-free-fall/
BTW Is this the new and improved the Double Nickel Game based in IQ’s 55 minutes? The old one sucked. I know bc I was there.
LOL. Don’t forget the several definitions of the term mediocre. 😀
What a run! I guess it is my lingering Knicks PTSD that has me wondering now that the Knicks might be peaking too soon…
🙂
I think at this point with the offense, we’re playing with house money. I don’t see a noticeable change in patterns or set plays that can explain a better offense, but it just feels like there’s a rhythm to it that works so much better than the past Knicks teams we’ve watched. Small things, like Randle trusting Brunson and IQ to go to work later in games, great hustle for offensive rebounds like the ones Mitch has yesterday, it just feels like this is a group that trusts each other and understands the rhythm of the game without trying to force things too much. Yes of course Julius is still prone to taking things too far down the isolation turnover route, but I think the players have bought into this team, we have a very healthy shot chart and the rotations are working very well.
Whatever happens from now on, if this is sustainable or not, frankly doesn’t matter as much, even if we lose in the first round it’s not the end of the world because this is the building season: we still have all the assets, the core of the team is locked up and there’s plenty of room to make the next move towards contention.
So I’ll enjoy this immensely fun season for what it is, then this offseason is going to be the crucial decision point going forward.
A couple of other interesting pieces from CBS:
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/knicks-win-streak-hits-nine-as-immanuel-quickley-sparks-thrilling-double-overtime-victory-over-celtics/
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/how-immanuel-quickley-seized-control-of-the-sixth-man-of-the-year-race-with-the-best-week-of-his-career/
It continues to be somewhat infuriating that as legitimately good as we are, almost all of the teams the numbers say are better than us are in the East. So we can be the 7th best team in the NBA and still validly be considered first-round underdogs. Whatever, who wants to bet against this group of guys as underdogs?
I would take Bane over IQ (in the world where I was a cold-hearted rationalist anyway, the real version of me would probably make IQ downright untouchable due to his 100th percentile vibes), but pretty miraculous we’re even talking about this.
I’ll take it a step further and say it wouldn’t shock me if Quickley can make the question increasingly difficult going forward–he’s a year younger and seems to be addicted to getting better.
Hart annoyed me by passing up some good looks from 3, but some of his boards were huge and he might be the best wing defender the Knicks have had in my lifetime. Very easily worth a late-first IMO.
RJ is the X-factor. We’ve built a very strong resumé with him mostly playing like shit. If he can instead just be a bit above average like he was last night, we’re a very different team.
Donnie, all of NewsRadio is streaming on Amazon now. I would argue that the only 90s sitcoms on NBC that were clearly better than it were Seinfeld and Frasier.
Now pay up!
I do worry we might be peaking too soon. A couple of losses here in the next week or so might be good. The superstitious side of me would be really worried if you go into the playoffs on an 18 or 20 game winning streak.
But I think what is so good about these last two wins was that they were definitely playoff level intensity games and we won both of them. Playoff level teams playing hard for whatever reasons (trying to make the playoffs, positioning, revenge, pride over a rival, etc). We won both of these games. One without our best player and staring PG.
GOOD GOOD STUFF.
From the CBS piece:
😉
Last 8 games, we have 6 tanking teams, Cleveland and Miami. Would love to go into playoffs with an 8 game winning streak. Also, that would statistically put us ~52 wins and put us somewhere between the 3rd and 4th seed.
https://theathletic.com/4280264/2023/03/06/knicks-celtics-nba-cba-talks/
Interesting discussion of what we do and don’t know about load management in here through the lens of last night’s game. Tl;dr we don’t know much.
Really impressed that Randle trusted IQ to take over. Never saw that coming, I would’ve put that below Mitch driving by Derrick White for a dunk.
IQs defense is on a level I’ve never seen before… or at least never paid attention to before. It’s the first time I’ve honest to God believed it when someone has said a player “knows what the other team is going to do before they know it”. IQ can see the future and you can’t convince me otherwise.
IQ is now the odds on favorite for 6moty at FanDuel. Probably didn’t need to be said, but I figured I’d say it anyways.
Brunson better get healthy soon or he might lose his job.
So from now on I’ll call him The Seer (an homage to an old Big Country’s song featuring Kate Bush 🙂 )
It begs the question again.
Do we switch up the starting line-up and put RJ and Grimes on the bench.
Brunson, IQ, HART, Randle and Mitch are our best 5.
RJ had a good game last night and I think some of that was because Brunson was out. Would it be better for him and for the team for him to be the 6th man and not IQ?
If you think Bane is better than IQ, you better start getting your 1,000 comment thread arguments ready 😉
I don’t think the turnaround of our team from a sheer marketing/respect angle can be overstated. Leon/WWW had lol here we go again written all over them. Now we’ve become must-see TV on nationally televised games, and even haters like Richard Jefferson are becoming believers. I know we all want more, but just taking in the accolades and leaving the laughingstock/circus atmosphere behind (other than Dolan’s facial recognition stuff) is pretty freakin’ cool.
This isn’t the Willis-Clyde Knicks by any stretch, but it’s the closest thing I’ve seen in terms of chemistry I’ve seen since then. The ’90s Knicks were amazing, but this feels different in sort of a good way.
FWIW update:
After a rough-ish few days upon getting back home here in LA, the sun is shining a bit brighter.
1. the lil one seems to be turning a bit of a corner in establishing some level of sleep patterns over the past few days. We’ve hit a groove where the right combo of feeding and diaper changing can put him down for 3+ hours in the late morning, and potentially the same at night.
2. I couldn’t watch the Knicks OT thriller win Fri, but I got to watch another OT thriller Saturday: I popped up on campus by request of our play by play guy to watch ELAC men’s bball host a playoff game. Our opponent was a fellow LACCD school in LA Harbor, who has some really good guards and a real solid team – they beat us at their place 2 months ago. We had a 10 point lead with 4:15 left when Harbor stormed back. We were down 4 with 35.6 left, and somehow made a series of clutch plays to tie the game (a missed FT by one of our guards could’ve won in in regulation). Thankfully, we got out in front in overtime and held on. 99-91 in OT. Our boys now go to the State Championships to play the quarterfinals on Thursday.
3. I woke up from my evening nap yesterday to see the Knicks win in OT in Boston? With no Brunson??! And HIMmanuel Quickley having a MONSTAH game and getting his flowers for it nationally??? I spent like a half hour straight grinning while my lil boy fell asleep on my chest.
A good weekend, indeed.
Desmond Bane came in with an NBA-ready body and game. I think who he is right now won’t evolve much more, but hey, you never know!
IQ still has lots of room for growth, both in his body and game. If he can stabilize at where his numbers are at for his last 30 games, it definitely can become a conversation.
But Bane is pretty elite right now. I don’t think many folks in FOs would prefer IQ over him, even with the upside factored in.
Can we talk about why we run the worlds worst inbounds plays?
BTW: IQ’s ascension hits me different bc his mom played ball at Morgan State while I was there. So basically he’s an honorary Morganite. Which is part of the reason why I was his first stan (yeah I said it, lol).
The feels, man. The feels.
@CDiggy
I’m glad to hear things are getting better, stay strong!
***we’ve become must-see TV***
Slow down there, buddy. I will be the judge as to when this team becomes worth watching.
You mean the article about the Penn Station renovation and MSG relocation?
I’m proudly wearing my Knick’s sweatshirt. Everywhere I go someone makes a comment about the game. The excitement is palpable.
Memphis now says no timetable for Ja’s return. This is really one of the craziest NBA stories I’ve ever seen, and that’s in a season that already had Kyrie have one of the craziest NBA stories ever.
Not sure which is worse: Ja brought a gun on the team plane, or Ja just had a guy in Denver who could get him a gun for the night.
@Cyber — yes. Including nuggets I did not know like:
“The Garden’s operations require a special permit, and the permit was running out in 2013. The arena’s owners, the Dolan family, wanted a new permit to run “in perpetuity,” and the Dolans, who pay no property taxes on the Garden—a little-known arrangement that has cost the city more than eight hundred million dollars—customarily get their way in their dealings with government.”
And that the current permit for the Garden runs out in July. So we better win quick. 😉
Did someone post the New Yorker article? Pretty eye opening.
More on IQ’s defense last night, while Twitter links still work…
https://twitter.com/ACE_ZULLO/status/1632758629035040770
I think that won’t be a problem, they have to renew the permit because there’s no new arena to move to. That article goes deep into the subject, i heard the audio of the article and the duration is 55 minutes. 😮 What shocked me the most was that the public interest seems to be at the bottom of the list of priorities for almost all of the people involved in the matter. That is a grim look on politians and businesses/billionaires.
Wow, 7 of 25 with IQ as the closest defender is awesome defense.
Link to NYer article
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/13/the-fight-over-penn-station-and-madison-square-garden
Yeah, I’m fairly cynical and left of center economically, so I expected all the graft and (soft) corruption stuff they describe. The blind spot on my end is that I LOVE the Garden. I have since I was a kid, so I keep forgetting it is generally considered an architectural eyesore and “in the way” of so many projects that could improve the lives of NYers. I’m stupidly reluctant to lose/move it.
And, yeah, like you I expect the MSG permit will be extended, but how crazy lucky would Dolan be to have a great Knicks (and Rangers) team exactly during his negotiations.
Julius named Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
If anyone can find the name of the Denver strip club Morant went to, I can go there for “research” on this topic
Let’s just say I’m quite happy when we run out of timeouts.
Just sit him. Let him heal, and let IQ cook. Trap game or no.
that’s a great article about MSG and Penn….. i’ll add that it’s not really the politicians fault about not prioritizing what to do with that situation…. the problem is that people don’t really care about rails/subways… politicians don’t prioritize it because people don’t prioritize it….
and so you have the people who care.. the people who own these things… wielding most of the power… and that’s probably why you won’t see anything change as long as Dolan is owner….
we don’t actually run plays… we run some action that gets the ball into the hands of our offensive guys and mostly either iso or a screen…. very rarely do we even run things like a curl… split action… or any exotic off ball movement…
that’s mostly a thibs thing since it’s generally dribble penetration and let that guy cook offense going all the way to the derrick rose era…. and so the out of bounds stuff is basically get the ball to one guy and let him figure it out…. which is also a hallmark of knicks out of bounds plays too throughout our history… so at least we’re onbrand here….
Well, todays Wall Street Journal has an article about our Knicks. As Jason Gay writes, “[i]t was Quickley who sent the Celtics to the showers, waving an impish goodbye and joining the John Starks Hall of Knicks Players Knicks Fans Will Irrationally Fight Strangers Over.” Pretty cool stuff.
On the other end, though, Mazzulla got the exact result he wanted every time he drew up a play…and yet he barely calls timeouts to draw up fucking plays! It’s such a bizarre thing for a guy to do. “I’m really good at drawing up ATO plays. I’ll also not call timeouts much late.”
The hilarious thing is that the Celtics really look like they need him to draw up specific plays, because otherwise, they just freelance all of the time. What an undisciplined team on offense.
CDiggy my wife as Morgan state from 1996-1999. What years were you there? She’s from pikesville Maryland.
OAKAAK
“ if anyone can find the name of the Denver strip club Morant went to, I can go there for “research” on this topic”
The technical term for this is citizen journalism in the public interest and I know I speak for all of us in expressing gratitude for anything you could uncover.
Okay, “Ja Warrant” is an epic piece of mockery.
Interesting with Keels, but not the biggest surprise to me.
I mentioned the other day that if they get the Wizards draft pick they don’t have room on the roster for Keels & a MLE player, not that there’s any chance the Knicks hold onto both picks.
It was kind of surprising he came out of college after an underwhelming year. He was heavier than he should be and it showed in his combine scores. His metrics were great so he made sense as a young 19yo flyer.
He still doesn’t look in shape, so I wonder if he has the drive to improve. The Knicks value players who show they can overcome struggles—IQ & Grimes—and we’ve seen those players pay off.
ESPN reports Ja’s “gentleman’s” club was Shotgun Willie’s in Glendale CO outside Denver. 😉
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35799370/colorado-police-investigating-ja-morant-ig-live-video?platform=amp
“gentleman’s” club ” the ultimate oxymoron…
Kind of cheesy to pose with a handgun instead of a shotgun, no?
Everyone worships IQ
https://twitter.com/duglust/status/1632588301558333441?s=20
Obviously, 42nd picks usually amount to nothing, but this whole Keels situation feels weird to me. This FO has its flaws, but they tend to be good to very good at drafting. Obi over Hali or Vassell was obviously an enormous error, but Obi is at least an NBA rotation player, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him play much better in a new situation next year. And everybody else they’ve picked has at least one carrying skill in the league. I’m just not sure what they were expecting of Keels, nor why they seemingly gave up on him so quickly when he was obviously a big developmental project.
Not a bad thing, given how well all else is humming. Just strange.
Shotgun Willie’s is iconic, right between Target and Chik-fil-a, next door to Cherry Creek, the upscale part of town.
I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s nothing more gentlemanly than a flaccid shotgun sign:
https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/9.13R-Shotgun-Willies-scaled-1.jpg?w=1024
i like the sign “liquor in the front and poker in the rear”…that’s classic…
The Last of Us has hit the rookie wall *hard*.
(2)
I have no comment, but I want to watch this on repeat for all of Happy Hour. Who says we don’t have an inbound play?
https://twitter.com/nyknicks/status/1632552373452173312?s=20
According to Hoopshype, Keels is with Westchester now. Maybe he already reached the limit to be with the big club and this way we can fill the 2-way spot with a player that can be with the big club. But only on a GLeague contract, any team can call him up.
Llcoolbp (ltns) I’m Class of ‘99. I knew a few local Marylanders. Was she a Telecom/Comm Studies major?
I have no interest in Keels. Doesn’t seem like an NBA player, at least not yet.
I saw that Mitch inbounds “play’’ on Twitter and holy shit it was glorious.
Quickley’s play has been awesome on both sides of the ball, but I would still use him as a sixth man when Brunson is healthy. We need his ball handling and scoring off the bench. I would just give him 30 plus minutes a night and have him in the closing lineup. Did anyone else notice how despite having played the most minutes, he had by far the freshest legs on the court in the second ot? That is a performance I’m sure we’ll be talking about for years to come.
“I saw that Mitch inbounds “play’’ on Twitter and holy shit it was glorious.”
Mitch does something crazy like this about once a year. I hope he gets the green light to try it more often.
No Tatum, no Horford for BOS at CLE.
It makes sense to keep starting RJ, as the former 3rd overall pick, over IQ, and from that perspective it makes sense to play him and Grimes for usage reasons. If he insists on starting give it to him now, but he also doesn’t seem like he’s going to be picky as long as we pay him.
Mitchell-annis Robinson-mpo
“I have no comment, but I want to watch this on repeat for all of Happy Hour. Who says we don’t have an inbound play?”
Maybe we are underutilizing him a bit.
“i like the sign “liquor in the front and poker in the rear”…that’s classic…”
With that combination and Shotgun Willie it should continue… “dead people in the alley”.
I don’t really have any opinions on whether RJ Barrett starts or not, but EB’s comment reminded me of how Riley used to use Charles Smith in ‘94/‘95. He’d start him, and run the first few plays through him, then he’d put Mason in half way through the 1st Q and basically leave him on the court to the end.
Jerk move by Boston.
Jokes on Boston when we run the table and take 2nd
I’m very pro giving RJ the Elfrid Payton treatment
IMO, RJ is not a starting caliber player on a very good team. But part of what’s going on is lineup construction. We don’t really have a legit sized SF than can handle some of the bigger SFs around the league. RJ is the closest to it size/strength wise and there’s some kind of institutional pressure to start him after the #3 pick and extension.
The best lineup is probably Mitch, Randle, Hart, Quick, and Brunson, but that lineup is on the small side. Teams tend to go smaller at the end. So that’s a very good closing lineup.
I know that RJ, Brunson, and Randle have typically not looked good together, but a lot of lineup combinations with RJ haven’t looked good. So I just assumed it was all RJ. Maybe Thibs needs to rethink some of his current patterns because RJ looked better last night. Maybe he’ll be better with one out of the two of them but not both.
I think Mitch has dribbled from the 3 point line for a dunk now twice this season?
I wouldn’t mind julius resting also…
let’s see what quik, grimes, RJ, obi, jhart, ihart, sims and mitch can do about putting the ball in the basket more than the other team for 48 minutes, or so…
if not tomorrow, somewhere on the trip hopefully…
Eye-test-wise, Last Night’s RJ is a player I want on the team. I know that’s prolly a minority opinion by now, but he did some things in the right spots that really helped us.
Despite all his tunnel-vision (or because of it?) RJ plays more “downhill” than IQ and even Randle or Brunson at times. Sure he gets rejected like a child, but his determination *does* get him to the hoop and/or to the line in some clutch moments.
That’s nothing we don’t know, but RJ looked on point last night. Of course advanced stats will show we could have won with a ficus tree in Barrett’s place, but for now, I still like the kid.
More important: When can we get impatient with Grimes? Next January?
g-man, you’re right, that did strike me as odd that he was so bouncy still after the game…
wow, he and jhart have become set pieces, along with jalen and julius, for end of game lineups…
not to bemoan what we don’t have, but a solid starting small forward would be really useful…
ha ficus versus maple…
yeah ficus mamba does not sound so cool…it would seem to be more garden snake like…
@Geo — hahaha. right? Actually, I wish RJ would just accept that his nickname should be — Guy Who Scores Fifteen Every Game, Makes Smart Passes, and Gets Rebounds While Playing Head’s Up Defense.
I do think that demoting Barrett from the starting lineup is not the right choice right now. I think putting him a majority of minutes with the backups will only exacerbate the bad aspects of his game, trying to score every time, not passing well, not hustling as much etc. And if he can’t show anything and we end up wanting to trade him next season, we need him to at least keep the ppg up to entice some team out there into thinking he’s a guy they want.
I don’t think we can replace every minute he plays with just Grimes and Hart, and I don’t think Fournier is a much better choice anyway, so let him play and hope he figures something out. As long as Thibs is willing to sit him when he’s playing badly and finish most games with Hart in his place, I’m fine with it.
Agree that the Keels thing is weird. Almost feels like there are off-court considerations. I’m pretty sure he was the youngest player in the draft and he underwhelmed, to put it nicely, as a freshman. So it was well-known from the start that this was going to be a long-term project, if it was going to amount to anything.
Last night’s RJ was the player I’m hoping RJ can become long-term, since I’ve given up on any higher-echelon outcomes. An innings-eater type who can relieve some pressure on the team’s better threats. The Wiggins role, basically.
The thing is, at least last season Wiggins really did dedicate himself defensively in a way you don’t see from RJ very often. Assuming RJ is able to get his efficiency to acceptable innings-eater levels (big assumption, to be clear), his willingness or lack thereof to bust his ass on defense might determine whether his contract is fine or clearly bad.
https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1632894892719456256?s=19
Last season I remember seeing similar stats. Its odd that his defensive rating and on/off numbers are so poor when his individual FG% defensive numbers have always been pretty good. Frustrating cause you can see the defensive potential.
Innings-Eater is prolly a good way to think about RJ. Maybe also “lunchpail” kind of guy (despite the draft pedigree and the Duke connotations).
Honestly, there were flashes last night where (I think) RJ actually *saw* he was outclassed by IQ — i.e. that Quickley can simply do things on the court that RJ will never be able to do.
We’ve waxed ad nauseam about RJ’s lack of even one elite skill as a basketball player. Maybe he finally *gets* that and becomes a useful innings-eater, as you say. In truth, I hope JHart’s attitude and intelligence rubs off on him.
Cleveland down double digits to the Tatum and Horford-less Celtics!
Boston beating the Cavs and Atlanta up on Miami
I think I’m more Bruno than Noble on RJ right now. I do not think he was great yesterday, he did well in spurts, really terrible in spurts, and got ‘lucky’ in spurts (e.g., when he crashed into double teams but got fouled while getting blocked, instead of just blocked). I wish I had time to go back and count the number of times he was blocked yesterday, it felt double figures (if you include the fouls, too). And his defense — he was trying, but it wasn’t great even though.
But I don’t think you move him out of the starting lineup. For various reasons. I DO think you give him max 30 minutes a game, preferably less, and don’t have him on the court to end games if it is close. If it’s a blowout, give Deuce some run.
What a delicious morsel over in Cleveland tonight. We either get a chance to overtake the Cavs for the 4th seed tomorrow or we get to gleefully fap to another late-game Boston collapse.
I’m honestly not sure which of these outcomes I’d like to see more.
Edit: Decided I want the Celtics to win. Collapse fap would be blunted by all the load management.
I’d rather face the C’s in the second round than the Bucks so I’ll be rooting for them the rest of the year.
I would prefer for the Cavs to lose and will pretend I don’t know who they are playing.
Shit, they’re collapsing! Come on, you smarmy green fuckers!
I actually like the way the seeds currently break out. If we beat Cleveland and lose to the Bucks in 6 or 7 games, that’s a great outcome.
Are they throwing this game on purpose?
so weird how different traditional knick narratives are getting broken this season…
the knicks are 10 – 4 this season in games decided by 3 points or less…
the bucks are the only other team in the league that good in close games…
with jalen bruson leading the team, a championship in the future doesn’t seem so crazy anymore…
C’mon Boston just need 1 stop!
Big shot by Derrick White
The Cavs have a pretty shitty bench…
Why isn’t Smart covering Mitchell?
Grant Williams seems dumb…
Frustrating…
Refs taking over this game down the stretch.
Celtics a bunch of chokers.
Wish they could both lose.
I thought RJ had an excellent game vs. Celts. He wasn’t hunted on D and he got downhill a lot. Playing 50 minutes vs. the most lethal wing combo in the NBA is no easy task. And he was way better than Grimes who had zero rebounds, one assist, and 4 points in 25 minutes.
I don’t understand how Brogdon hasn’t touched the ball on offense the past few minutes.
damn celtics choked again
If nothing else, if the Celts could threaten the Cavs without RWIII, Horford and Tatum, that says a lot about how soft the Cavs are.
Quinn Snyder hasn’t exactly saved the Hawks yet.
you
love
to
see
it
Isn’t it weird that they couldn’t use Kevin Love at all?
#forthecelticshaters
https://twitter.com/TheHoopCentral/status/1632933540986773505
Maybe the Celts find some magic when the playoffs come around but it’s looking more and more to me that they will be highly vulnerable in the playoffs…even in the first round. Mazzulla looks over his head and it seems that their vibe is souring at the wrong time. I also thought we beat them up physically pretty good yesterday. Josh Hart took out both Tatum ahd Brown on the same sequence, Randle kicked Smart in the nuts, and Mitch beasted on the entire Celts front line…and RWIII looked compromised in the last game he played.
As to the Cavs, that’s a lackluster effort by them. Their bench sucks and I think Okoro is over his head.
The two teams I don’t think we have any chance against in a 7-game series are the Bucks and Sixers. I know Philly has had their fair share of rough stretches, but Embiid and Harden are monsters and they can piece together a formidible 5 down the stretch of playoff games.
I like our chances against anyone else.
I need to stop looking at Pacer box scores.
Hali….smh….
Hali is totally going to give it all back on defense.
The point totals lately seem crazy. 40 is the new 30. It’s like there is a gentleman’s agreement not to play any defense until the extensions are signed.
my six year old writes better than some of you dawgs posting on this thread tonight. shit lightweight hilarious.
Why have the Nets played so few games?
Giannis has two MVPS, a ring and a Finals MVP, and he’s still trying to gimmick his way to a triple double? That’s weird.
They rescinded Giannis’ triple double. Officially, he ended up with only 9 rebounds.
If your 6 year old can write at all he is quite far ahead of the game!!!