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157 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.04.24)”
The New York Doomed have a 3-1 lead and while we all know this means nothing (because we’re doomed) it’s still nice to be up rather than down.
THOUGHTS:
– I’m getting old and my memory is wobbling but I can’t remember Thibs having a better coached game than this one during his Knicks tenure. He’s adjusting between games and in-games (see Katz’s piece about “RJ Barrett as the first passing option when JB is pressed”).
This bearded version is much better (postgame he did talk about net rating!) and so far he’s running laps around Bickerstaff.
Can an old dog learn new tricks? Please make me a believer Bearded Thibs!
– Another fantastic defensive effort (minus Randle), another under-100 game for the Cavs. IQ did shine on that side of the ball, as did Mitch and the Hart Foundation. It’s time to give credit were is due and stop belittle everything as only a Cavs’ fault.
– I know I sound like a broken record, but our depth is a weapon. We’re up 3-1 with Julius hobbled and out of synch, RJ being awake in two games out of four, Grimes invisible and then injured, IQ searching for his shot with Diogenes’ lantern, J-Hart playing game-2 when he shouldn’t have.
But having a potential 10-men rotation we keep finding others on the bench who step up, a luxury the Cavs haven’t had so far (with LeVert Game-2 being the exception, and now he’s a starter).
Basically we have 8 starters for 5 spots (IQ and the Hart Foundation could start for many teams) plus two great energy guys (Obi and Deuce)… and I’m not even counting Evan and Jericho!
– the Mitchenstein was huge again. Allen and Mobley can be better players but they’re not even close in term of intensity, energy and physicality to our centers duo.
– For the second time in the series (the first was in Game-1, when the Cavs took a late lead and seemed on the verge of closing the game) the Knicks took a hard punch but were able to respond in tone.
We started the 3rd sleepwalking, with Garland slicing us over and over while the Cavs erased the lead and took take their first lead, but this crowd could not be disappointed.
– I won’t talk in depth about the Cavs or their coach… for now.
PLAYS OF THE GAME:
3rd 40.1 Miles McBride enters the game for Jalen Brunson (CLE 71 NY 70)
3rd 27.1 Isaiah Hartenstein blocks Jarrett Allen ‘s 4-foot driving layup
3rd 26.0 Cavaliers offensive team rebound
3rd 26.0 Cavaliers shot clock turnover
3rd 26.0 Jalen Brunson enters the game for Miles McBride
3rd 6.0 Jalen Brunson makes 26-foot three pointer (CLE 71 NY 73)
Defensive-Offensive subs worked to perfection, I-Hart had a fantastic play, defense was ferocius, JB’s shot put the Garden on a frenzy.
After that the Cavs were able to tie it (one time) but never lead again.
4th 1:50 RJ Barrett misses 25-foot three point jumper (CLE 87 NY 94)
4th 1:48 Josh Hart offensive rebound
4th 1:45 Jalen Brunson makes 25-foot three point jumper (Josh Hart assists CLE 87 NY 97)
To me that was the dagger, in those kind of situations a three after an offensive board weights like 6 points. And the Villanova connection is a pleasure to watch.
STATS OF THE GAME
47-33. Knicks’ rebounding domination.
18-28 (64.3). Knicks awful FT shooting. You know how much I hate it.
GRADES:
Brunson A
The Little General had a brief ugly stretch of forced shots and bad decisions but recovered and drove the bus home. He finally found his lost stroke from three and that can make a lot of difference. Turnovers (4) and defense prevented me the “+”, but I have a hard time thinking of a better Knicks PG since prime Sugar Ray (don’t say Marbury please…).
Hart A
What can we say anymore? It wasn’t his best shooting night and he had 3 TOs but he did all the important things when it really matters.
We love players like him: heart, hustle, teamwork, never afraid of the moment and everything in his declared love affair with the Garden crowd seems to ensure a long stay here.
Barrett A
Excellent game.
No turnovers, “aggressively under control”, relentlessy attacking the basket and making mostly good reads on mismatches.
Missed FTs (8-13) and “never the same motion” threes (0-6) cost him a 30-pointer and my “+”.
This version is a useful player that can still become something more if he can find his personal Geschwindner.
Randle D+
He’s definitively still hurt (hence the “+”) and if it’s difficult to get defensive effort and engagement from a healthy Randle it’s nearly impossible to expect it from Randle with a less than 100% ankle.
But while I can respect the dedication to the cause, if you’re not ready to play don’t play, otherwise you must accept the criticism that come after a nothing game like this.
And again, it isn’t the bad shooting but the inexistent defense that hurts the team more.
I don’t think he’s pouting, I think he’s just disappointed because he didn’t help the team, and I hope this 2 full days of rest will help him.
Robinson A
A dominant double-double with 7 offensive boards, the usual activity on defense (2 blocks and a lot of intimidation). Imagine if he had a real offensive arsenal! I’d take shooting 66.7% FT every day and… and twice on sunday (especially in a playoffs game)!
Quickley C+
Best plus/minus of the night (+27) and, while his offensive game is still lost, his defense was phenomenal. Watching him help in the lanes and jump to the corner to harrass their shooters was great. Stop fouling on three pointers though.
Hartenstein A
Only 1 point but boy did he play well.
Rock of Gibraltar-like screens, rim protection (2 blocks and lots of contested shots), rebounds (8) assists (2), steals (2) thousand of ball touched and/or kept alive. Everything a center must do but scoring.
Toppin A-
Forced to play more he gave us another rock solid game (8 boards!). His steadiness in the series has been a welcomed surprise and a sneaky secret ingredient.
McBride A
Only 5 minutes but great defense and a fearless three pointer. good job kid!
Thibs A+
See above. He’s showing an unexpected but very welcome flexibility.
I haven’t seen our Knicks play defense at this level, and have this much heart and intangibles since JVG.
That is all
Great recap as always Max
You know, one of the reasons we all love sports is the unpredictability. When you go to a concert or a play, you know what to expect. There may be an exceptional performance or maybe a song you weren’t expecting to hear, but you pretty much know going in what’s going to happen.
Never in a billion years heading into MSG yesterday did I expect RJ Barrett to follow up his solid game 3 performance with an even better one in game 4. And that’s what makes sports so compelling, you can’t really predict anything and are constantly surprised game to game.
People are not talking enough about Brunson. The guy is short, slow, and cannot jump and yet he’s playing like an all NBA. Truly astounding. I wish Harvey Araton was still writing his old column for the New York Times, I’d pay money to read one of those about Brunson.
I think Max’s phrase Brunson “..drove the bus home” pretty much nails why we are up 3-1 rather than down 1-3.
Thx, Max! Great cap. Let’s keep rolling (even though we are doomed).
I think the box has IQ at 11 +/-, no?
The boards seem to be the main thing. Our guys are just grabbing everything. I hope it keeps up in Cleveland.
Bearded Thibs is certainly riding the right horses at the moment. He’s risking/trusting our guys, and (so far) they’re coming through.
Even though I’m crazy, I STILL wouldn’t trade rosters with the Cavs — win or lose. Who is with me on that now? 😉
And as someone posted in the previous thread, the Cavs are all young, too, so this could be the beginning of a beautiful rivalry.
Let’s go!!
Macri and everyone on his postgame livestream could not have been more effusive in their praise of RJ, and Macri could not have been more contrite both there and in the newsletter about his long-standing — and extremely well-founded — skepticism of RJ. I fear they are all taking victory laps way too soon. Obviously, these were the kinds of games we’ve always wanted from the guy, but it’s two games, and he’s had stretches of great play before followed immediately by stretches where he looks like he should be playing in China.
One good point Macri and others have made, though: RJ is miscast as a third option in a lineup with two ball-dominant players in Jalen and Julius. With Julius a non-factor in the third and simply absent from the fourth, it put the ball in RJ’s hands a lot more, and gave him more room to maneuver on the court. That circumstance hasn’t always led to effective play from him, but it sure did yesterday.
@KB44
you’re absolutely right, he was +27 in Game 3.
Truth is, I did ask IQ for some of the peyote he ate during the Cleveland trip and these are the results… 🙂
@Alan
I’m with you, I’m very happy for RJ’s last two games but he has already deluded us more than once so I’ll wait a little more before popping my Prosecco.
Macri’s probably right that from a role and space standpoint the absence of Randle makes a lot of difference for him, often in a positive way.
For as great as Jalen has been he hasn’t really gotten the attention he deserved all year… and he’s the engine that makes everything go…. and while he’s been defended pretty tough he’s one of the few in this series who’s been able to consistently find his offense….
RJ when he plays within himself and he’s hunting for good shots and not his shot is a different player…. he’s actually been pretty good for most of the series outside of game 2…. and in a tough defensive environment you need all the guys who can create their own shots as you can get as everyone’s efficiency suffers.. RJ at poor efficiency doesn’t look all that bad in a series like this….
the Randle thing is a dark cloud though but probably something that needs to be discussed after the next loss whenever that is…
RJ was miscast as an ‘any’ option let alone the third one… when he plays within himself he can be that third/fourth option kind of guy… when he feels compelled to throw up his quota of 15-20 shots a game there’s going to be a handful of terrible shots mixed in… when he’s picking his spots he’s predictably a different player… it’s just a matter if he can be that guy consistently….
I agree that we should curb our enthusiasm a bit on RJ, but he is doing this on the biggest stage in back to back crucial games against the number one defense in the NBA.
As Carl Spackler would say, he’s got that going for him.
Diogenes of Sinope getting the shout out. Wow. He was definitely a Knicks fan.
I agree on the RJ victory lap. He scored 26 points on 24 shots for a 54 ts%. He missed all his threes. He missed five foul shots. It’s the same guy.
But let’s accentuate the positives. No turnovers! That is a step forward. And he did it against a ferocious defense in the playoffs. Also, he had a couple of great takes. He took a more direct and quicker line it seemed to me, hard to explain, but it was almost like he took the hitch out of his drives and got to the hoop a millisecond faster.
In sum, great day for him, even if I have no illusions about what it means. Give the man his due, it was a very solid performance, and let’s hope it continues. Forever.
The two things to lean on if you are going to buy into this as The Real RJ: the passing and the finishing have been outstanding these last couple of games. Often, he doesn’t get credit for the playmaking because they’re either hockey assists or the guy he passes to misses a gimme shot, but he was making the right reads most of the time when he knew he wasn’t going to score. And there have been stretches where he’s been much more locked in on defense than I’ve seen him since early last season.
Again, he has been a huge tease for a long time, but the specific things he’s done, and on this stage, have for the first time in a long time cracked my “What exactly is RJ good at?” shell.
I agree with Owen, it felt like Barrett was a lot less tentative on his drives and it almost surprised the Cleveland defense in many ways.
I also agree that we don’t talk enough about Brunson but I think that’s how it goes with players like him: nothing he’s doing right now feels out of place for him, he’s a leader and a fierce competitor who won at every level, so we very quickly have come to expect this level from him. I haven’t been enamored with a Knicks guard since, well, since my early infancy.
Yeah, RE Brunson: We’ve always had guys who can score but lacked that guy who can score when it’s hard. JB has been that hard guy and more. Love him.
The opening from a David Aldridge paen to MSG :
“The boards seem to be the main thing. Our guys are just grabbing everything.”
I bet Cleveland cares about this useless money ball regular season stat now!
It is imperative that we close out Wednesday and hopefully the Heat/Bucks goes to 7. 4 or 5 more days of rest and recovery would be huge for Randle (and Grimes too although maybe we start Hart the rest of the playoffs?)
I think we should be easy on Randle. As bad as he was/has been, he’s had some important baskets and rebounds in this series at key moments. Some have pointed out too, that even healthy, this is a particularly bad match up for Randle.
Obi playing so well has been a blessing.
Kind of wild RJ had such a good game while also going 0-6 from 3. If he could just become a consistently average 3 point shooter, it would open up so much for him.
Watching meaningful home playoff games on TV and hearing how loud the crowd is, the energy…it’s made me realize how much the NBA has missed having a GOOD Knicks team these last few decades. I had friends who are not basketball friends texting me after the game yesterday saying how crazy that game was, etc. The energy, the celebs on the front row (celebs who are real fans, too, not just there to be seen)…it makes for FANTASTIC sports television.
Even Melo, one of the great scorers in NBA history, was usually pretty bad in crunch time. Ewing was also iffy down the stretch of games. So who’s the last guy we had like that? The healthy version of Bernard King?
The rebounding is hilarious. The Cavs just looked like chumps out there on the glass. It was like the Knicks were just having their way with them.
Of course, the Cavs will still win the series, but still…
A weird thing on NBA Twitter is people sticking up for Trae Young. I mean, sure, he’s doing fine, but he’s losing 3-1, so, like, why make a big deal out of him doing well in a series he’s losing 3-1?
Mitch had a FANTASTIC game yesterday. Him and Hart are absolutely killing it in this series.
No doubt. MULTIPLE times Mitch or iHart out-battled two Cavs. It was a joy to behold, and I hope it keeps going.
For G5, I have to believe Cleveland is gonna come out extra *physical* (like in G2) and that the refs are gonna favor them at home. Next game is gonna be bodies flailing.
With RJ that’s what you want to see from him. It doesn’t matter that he missed all his 3s, that’s going to happen sometimes. But he was aggressive and finished well against a very good rim protecting team. RJ can get to the hoop. If he can finish there fairly well he’s going to be a good NBA player.
Brian I think basketball twitter had been killing Trae all year long after he played like shit against Miami last year. Probably a reaction to that.
i can’t recall the last time we/knicks had the best player in a series…but it is very evident what that means…when you have a guy like Brunson…it cures/covers for many ills…especially in crunch time where we have historically not been real good…
I guess I missed that last year. That makes sense, thanks!
As for the Canadian — and I swear I’m not trying to piss people off — it *does* seem that he rises to the occasion more than some other players. Yes, I realize me saying that is the softest kind of eye-test claptrap imaginable, but, despite RJ’s statistics, his last two games are the kind of games a “winner” plays.
Maybe RJ’s narcissism actually helps him in crunch situations. And, as everyone here has said, if his skills can meet his ego line even halfway up the graph, we may have a useful player longterm.
I mean this is the definition of a superstar. Only top 10 players do that. If we believe this is the real Brunson, a consistent playoffs monster, the whole narrative of this team changes.
Personally I’m still waiting for him to come back to earth, but so far he’s still flying game after game after game while the entire #1 defense in the league is keyed on him.
Mitch was great, IHart was great, and our Okoro was much better than their Okoro.
The addition of Josh has really been seismic. I definitely felt like having him in the starting unit caused some issues for the bench but we worked through it.
Btw, the clip of him telling Thibs he was fine to play 48 is utterly priceless. It’s the kind of clip that makes having a good team so much fun. Hart’s swagger and bravado is almost caricature but it totally works with him.
Garland was pressing him the length of the court for the fourth quarter and much of the third, and still Brunson was able to get whatever he wanted. It’s amazing.
I was really worried about Brunson’s legs holding out. But they did. I was happy to see RJ take some of the burden off him in the 4th. They may even want to have somebody else bring the ball up for portions of the game to give him a little in game break.
And also to cut down on the number of double teams on Brunson. The team is starting to figure out the 5-on-4 situation that leads to, but it’s still a problem…
This is who Brunson is. He isn’t “coming down to earth.” He did it last year for the Mavs and he’s done it all season for us.
Some players take a few years to become stars but he absolutely is. He was overlooked in the draft because he’s short and was an upperclassman. But he has his fundamentals down solid and is a winning basketball player. We are so very fortunate to have signed him. Him not being selected to the all-star team this season was an absolute joke.
Good RJ showed up just in a Knick of time this weekend but to keep things Knicksy Thibs benched his leading scorer and All-Star for the entire 4th quater of a close playoff game.
Giannis better play tonight or Jimmy Butler sending him back to the bubble 2.0 in Disney to play with goofy. – Coffee is for closers…
Maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see, but to me RJ’s last two games look different than other “good” games we’ve seen that mostly just boil down to dopey shots going in more than usual.
I haven’t watched the film (sorry Thibs), but it feels like there have been few if any of the weak ass floater prayers and fadeaways he tends to take around the rim and much more actually taking the basketball to the rim.
Two games is what it is and it would be silly to drastically alter your priors on the guy, but datapoints are datapoints and these games count…a lot. There’s no doubt he’s been very good–like djphan said even approaching league average efficiency in this series is invaluable.
The other massive surprise of this series to me has been the way our centers have swallowed theirs whole. You really have to question what exactly Cleveland is building with Allen and Mobley if they can’t win a rebounding rock fight and are in fact getting destroyed in said rock fight.
We probably all would’ve signed up for our centers playing theirs to a draw. Instead the ref might need to stop the fight. The Cavs look utterly terrified of challenging Mitchell Robinson, who is an absolute monster we are lucky to have, and Hartenstein has made it so there’s hardly a drop off when Mitch sits.
Jalen Brunson is the best New York Knick I have ever had the pleasure of rooting for and we should go back and give Portland more than the 23rd pick for the sake of fairness.
lo and behold…we’ve built a good team of role players with a 1A of jalen brunson…a 1B that unfortunately can’t always get out of his feelings (i believe julius will get things figured out – even if i’m not exactly sure when)…
we seem to have 2 1C’s in hart and quik…then we have all these role players who seem to be playing the heck out of their role…
and, who’d have guessed obi would be so prime time…some thing about the spotlight really makes him seem to want to shine…
i don’t even know what to say about jason hart…other than we need more jay wright guys on the team…
Idle question: How many playoff series MVPs have NOT made the All Star team in the preceding season?
i hope everyone is doing well this monday…
read it somewhere – but, supposedly sundays (saturdays for some) can be costly to a lot of folks’ health – just cause of the anticipation of work on monday morning…
from how i felt last night, i can confirm…
heard this notion of “minimum mondays”, wherein similar to fridays – time to dial it back a bit…
the desired goal being to better sustain the workforce…
once again generation ” “, i have no idea, leading the way forward…
Imagine if Cleveland were able to have engineered the Mitchell deal with Allen as the main piece rather than Lauri. This year’s Lauri (or some reasonable 2nd option version behind Mitchell) would actually complete that team on offense and they wouldn’t lose too much on defense.
Very happy they emptied out the cupboard and traded the wrong player!
gonna go listen to thibs’ presser to see what he had to say about leaving julius on the bench in the 4th…
it surprised the heck out of me…i bet it surprised the whole team…
i ain’t back to believing in RJ quite yet – however, he seems to be adjusting to the playoffs playstyle pretty okay…
he’s a physical, not very pretty kind of player, maybe this style of play fits him…in which case: Go RJ Go 🙂
Also happy we don’t have to deal with Kevin Love, exactly the kind of vet for whom playing in MSG is often like shooting up HGH.
BUT — I don’t want the gods to think I’m gloating. We are definitely DOOMED.
And (in all seriousness) that young Cavs roster has years to get good and should make for a tough rival in the East going forward. FWIW Mitch looked completely lost against Capela two years ago. Now he’s more seasoned.
Not sure what the julius feelings comment is all about. He was up and cheering the team yesterday in the 4th from the bench.
He’s clearly not 100 percent on his ankle and this is a bad matchup for him anyways.
Best thing we can do is close it out on Wednesday so we have an extended break for JR to continue to heal up.
Mobley isn’t physically ready to deal with bigger centers on the glass. Give him a year or two to get stronger and I think it’ll be less of an issue.
On RJ- Yesterday he really looked like he’s moving better than he has all year. His defense hasn’t been great but at least he’s back to being functional on that end. More importantly, he’s made great reads offensively- decisive with both the shot and the pass. Has the lightbulb really gone on? If so, and if Randle can get anything going, this team will be a very tough out for anybody, even a healthy Bucks/Celtics team.
Now you’ve done it Nicos, you’ve un-doomed our team.
Cavs fans just started lining up for game 7 tickets (-:
This isn’t anything new from RJ. If you can get him going downhill or attacking an off balance defense, he can usually get the bucket or draw the foul. If the defense doesn’t overload on Brunson and RJ needs to create for himself, then he’s going to struggle.
He did make a couple floaters to boot.
Jalen Brunson is the best New York Knick I have ever had the pleasure of rooting for and we should go back and give Portland more than the 23rd pick for the sake of fairness.
We could always agree to take Cam back.
Remember many aeons ago in here being attacked by stat freaks for just trying to predict Knicks Wins and Losses by picking coloured straws for my frappe coffees!
Now this place has become The Temple of Superstition!
Where is this world is going to??!!!!
Yes, both of these propositions are true and have been all along.
There’s no need whatsoever to apologize for deploying the “eye test” — it’s the primary form of human knowledge. Data and “analysis” are derivative of it and secondary to it.
In this vein, I just finished a great book called “How Data Happened,” a convincing history of data, statistics, and most importantly AI. At some point along the AI journey — the authors place it in roughly the mid-1970s — the goal of AI morphed from trying to replicate human intelligence in a general way to attempting to attempting to replicate expert knowledge.
But of course that endeavor struggled because, as the authors put it, experts don’t operate with conscious decision rules like computers do and the effort to reduce the experts’ “eye tests” to criteria computers could use to become intelligent like an expert was very difficult, very expensive and really couldn’t be reduced to simple and concise “rules.” (The technical term is apparently the “knowledge acquisition bottleneck.”)
Similarly, there really aren’t any “rules” that can be stuck in a computer, or that can be told to you by a computer about things like which professional basketball players will rise to the occasion or play like a winner plays. A computer really can’t even understand the concepts of “rising to the occasion” or “playing like a winner.”
As the book put it, “However good experts may be at performing actions or making judgments on the basis of sense perceptions, they all, from art connoisseurs to physicists, struggle to explain their expertise, much less to put it into the explicitly stated rules required by computers.”
That “struggle” of course isn’t the fault of the art connoisseur or the physicists — it’s the fault of the limitations of the computer and the computer’s endeavor.
I do love me some RJ over the last two games, but this kind of stuff had me throwing drinks at my TV during the season (and the shots never dropped), so … we’ll see.
Raise your hand if you’d trade Jalen Brunson straight up for Donovan Mitchell.
Thought so. That’s the starting point. The Knicks pretty much lucked their way into a superstar or, at worst, a player barely distinguishable from a superstar. As several of us have said all along, a lot of association team building comes down to luck. It’s looking for all the world like the Knicks were finally blessed with some.
Brunson has saved our ass multiple times this season but allow me to still believe that this Knicks team is playing Heavily Team Oriented bball to the point that even if our main stars go down or have off nights We still have our chance to win.
Thibs’s knicks before and after the
KembaFournier No D experiment are a tough mfkr to beat nomatter who’s playing…
I can definitely say right now I wouldn’t trade Brunson for Mitchell, no way. In fact it would take an insane offer for me to consider ever trading Brunson. His impact is real, his production is real and it would take an insane offer involving a top 15 player in his prime for me to accept trading him. The plan from now on is building around him.
Brunson is currently playing at a top 5 level in this playoffs at a BPM of 8.1 if you filter for >100 minutes (this excludes mainly Ja and Kawhi).
Obi currently has a BPM of 8.3 🙂
It’s a great time to be a Knicks fan!
Brunson is excellent just on paper, and sure seems to have maxed out the “it factor” to boot. There is absolutely nothing that phases that guy. All the sports cliches I normally roll my eyes at clearly apply to him. He’s a winner.
Mark Cuban is an idiot.
So, the Cavs outbid the Knicks by trading 3 unprotected 1st round picks; 2 pick swaps; a rookie lottery pick; a 23 year old PG who’d started every game he’d played in; and a 2023 All Star for Donovan Mitchell.
The Knicks respond 6 months later by trading the 8th worst pick in the first round and a scrub for Josh Hart.
Josh Hart proceeds to outplay Donovan Mitchell in the playoffs.
I don’t know what exactly is up here, but just hope that nobody unplugs the league and plugs it back in again before Wednesday.
LOL
As everyone’s said RJ deserves his props for how he’s showed up the last 2 games. The thing I appreciate the most is his decision-making in terms of when to pass, shoot, and drive. His defense has also been very solid. Finally, with all the talk of Cavs potentially being “shook”, RJ was one of the least shook players on the floor, played with a ton of (rational) confidence. Hope he keeps the decision-making up, even if shots don’t fall quite as efficiently.
“lucked their way into a superstar”
even when you give them credit you have to do it in a backhanded way.
Are we still “chasing” the 5th seed?
Leon had his eyes on Brunson for over a year. We didn’t luck into him at all. In fact, the reason he signed Kemba at all was to have a stop gap PG for one season. Even if Kemba had “worked out” I’m sure we still would have gone after Brunson and made Kemba the back up.
Leon knew Brunson was a baller. He hired his dad and was willing to sacrifice a second round pick and trade picks to clear cap space to get him. He didn’t luck into anything. He made it happen.
Not interested in these arguments during playoff time.
Not sure what the julius feelings comment is all about.
it’s part of the beauty of his being…julius’ perfromance is very closely tied in to his emotional/mental control…
it manifests within his physical performance, and, it kind of is a “physical” thing…but yeah…he’s off, but, at some point, he’ll get his footing again…
best thing about julius, much like frank he seems fairly emotional transparent and fucking genuine…better than frank – if he gets himself settled – he can physically dominate, just like mitch…
mitch, obi, deuce and even RJ shining during the playoffs on broadway…that’s a best case scenario for sure…
“Jalen hit a huge shot at the end of the third to put us up, so that was big, and fourth quarter, just staying tough,” Barrett said. “Every time they threw a punch, we threw something back.”
That’s the thing about this team that’s different from previous years, and even from just a few months ago. We could go on runs, but then we’d let the other team go on runs, and often lose the game because we couldn’t deal with it. This team punches back, and repeatedly.
“Not interested in these arguments during playoff time.”
Yeah, I’m sure you’re not LOL.
They aren’t arguments, by the way. You’re just wrong! 🙂
If the Knicks win the championship, I’ll be happy to be the wrongest wrong who ever wronged!
I bet if we were down 3-1 and not up 3-1, you’d be more than interested in having these arguments.
You spent all season stinking up post game next day threads after we lost talking about how futile out plans were, chasing the play-in, etc. Like literally you’d disappear for weeks at a time during win streaks only to show up the moment we lost a game to shit on Thibs and Leon and whoever else. And you expect us to be magnanimous now because we’re kicking ass? Do you know how sports commentary works on the internet LOL? YEah, I’m gonna rub this in your face for awhile because it’s fun as shit to do so. Feel free to do the same when we lose in game 7 of the ECF in our “meaningless” pursuit of a championship off the backs of moneyball worthless stats like rebounds and the sweat or mercs like Josh Hart.
It’s all in good fun, my man. You made the wrong bet and doubled down on it any time the team was struggling. You gotta own it, my friend.
I’m nowhere near as litigious as I seem and I can’t fathom the idea of these internet vendettas and the result of playoff games — playoff games!!! — being either enhanced or diminished by being “right” or “wrong” on the internet. The Z-Man comment from this morning was unfathomable.
Anyway, it’s playoff time. I’m enjoying it greatly and will continue to enjoy it greatly. Happy to be called out, just am not really going to engage with it.
When you give up draft capital to free space to pay someone who you have known literally since he was born 100million and about 20percent more than the market…is pretty much the opposite of luck when it turns out to be a fantastic signing
“I’m nowhere near as litigious as I seem…”
I literally had to choke back some vomik when I read this….
It’s tough for me cause I probably hate the Miami Heat more than any other team in the NBA but I would love for them to beat the Bucks so if we get past Cleveland we’d have homecourt and be pretty strong favorites against them.
Having said that I would love to play the Bucks as huge underdogs and just enjoy the series since we’d be playing with house money. I’m really torn right now…
If the Knicks play the Heat, they will beat them and be in the Eastern Conference Finals. At that point, they are likely to play a team coached by Joe Mazzulla.
I’m not going to modify my opinion on RJ much based on two playoff games. His calling card thus far is inconsistency. I never thought the size of the moment mattered to him very much, he can play well or he can struggle at any time.
My thing is and has always been: He’s 22 years old. He’s improved some things this year. He is still woefully inconsistent, and he has way more lousy games than good. He had 2 lousy games and 2 good games this series. Hopefully this gives him the confidence to be more consistently good without getting full of himself.
I did say “if” and we’ve had 50 years of “if x then maybe y” that have all failed to come to pass. This should be no different. Cavs in 7!
I’m with the consensus on RJ.
It’s only two good games. It’s not even like they were spectacular. IMO we are going to see more bad RJ in this series or at the very least in a couple of games if we get to the 2nd round.
I do want to give him some real credit though. He’s proving he’s not afraid of the moment and can have big games under extreme playoff pressure. Not everyone is holding up as well (Cavs and Knicks).
I agree with this too. 🙂
Please stop talking about Miami or Milwaukee, the Basketball Gods are fickle…
And to reinforce the argument…
News Flash:
DeAaron Fox fractured the tip of his left hand’s index finger (his shooting hand).
He’ll try to play with a protection but he’s questionable for games 5 and 6.
What a brutal turn of events for the Kings.
Man, that is terrible for basketball.
As to Randle, maybe Johnny Bryant needs to have another sit-down with him.
Hopefully he will meet with the press tomorrow and say “I was mad at myself and just needed time to cool off. I’ll be good to go on Wednesday.” If pressed, just keep repeating some version of that.
I agree.
This is far from over. If there were two games left at MSG I’d be pretty confident, but the Cavs are a solid favorite for game 5. If they win, there’s a lot of pressure on NY to win game 6 because if it goes to game 7 we’d be an even bigger underdog. I really hope we find a way to win game 5 because I don’t want to come back to NY. My liver can only handle so much. 😉
The Kings really, really, REALLY needed that win in game 4. I fear they are doomed now, I don’t see them beating the Warriors two more times unfortunately. Heartbreaker.
I’m also not changing my stance on Barrett, but I will give him credit for these two games because he has shown what the best version of him can bring to the table. I still would rather move on from him and find a better, more consistent 3rd option, or ideally a 1st or 2nd option, but I’ll root for him as long as he is with the Knicks and I truly hope he proves me wrong more often in the next games.
That Fox news really sucks. That Kings team is a lot of fun to root for in what has become a great series. I hope he can play well through it and is OK.
“That Fox News really sucks.”
ftfy
With RJ I am not really concerned if he’s turned a corner or if this is real. I’m just ecstatic it happened!
Going against Mitchell and Garland surely has been very helpful. Kudos to Thibs for attacking this weakness so relentlessly. There’s nothing I love more than seeing us run the same play and attack the same guys over and over.
RJ’s 2 strong games have been like finding ten bucks on the street after losing a twenty, i.e. after all the poor offense from IQ and Randle. I’m happy and all, but I’d sure like to find my twenty in game five.
Fixed that fix for you. 😉
“That Fox news really sucks.”
On the other hand, sometimes not so much. Very little surprises me these days, but that headline did.
these internet vendettas
you take it too seriously. That’s you’re problem.
I’m just giving you shit. That is all. You took ridiculously negative stances on the team’s short term and long term future and consistently disappeared when the team’s good play went against your narrative only to show up when the lost. So yeah, now you’re getting shit for it. It’s not a vendetta. I literally only think about it when I’m here on the blog.
I’ve been the resident optimist for years and got TONS of shit for it. As the team’s fortunes turned, you were one of the few holdouts who refused to see it. So I’m giving you shit for it. That is all. There’s nothing personal about it.
I don’t know. I’d rather play the Bucks with a healthy Giannis. I’d rather lose to them and know for sure what our current ceiling is and what we need to do to get better than go to the ECF or Finals with people all off season saying “yeah but that’s only because Giannis was hurt and they lost to the heat.”
If I remember correctly when Thibs benched RJ in Q4 of a recent game, RJ was not available to speak to the press. So maybe the Julius absence is more of a team policy thing than a Julius thing.
Yours isn’t a vendetta, Swifty. I was referring to someone else’s vendettas. You’re free to shit-give — not that you need my permission.
Aaron Rogers to the Jets.
Can’t cheer for the Jets anymore.
Never really did, though, so that’s okay.
RJ has not turned a corner or gained confidence. Kid has a fish mentality and has always been delusionally overconfident.
RJ is still the same inconsistent kid. He can’t shoot straight from three and usually takes difficult contested low perectange shots near the rim. Last weekend, they all went in. That was the only difference in his game. Inconsistency and flashes of greatness is what you get with below average young players. Timing was perfect though. RJ is who he is but he’s definitively not Elfrid Payton.
Also, in every crunch time, Thibs should always run Brunson through P/R with the intent to pass to RJ in the corner while their defense is scrambling…RJs delusional super confidence in his ability to attack and score statistically increases the possibility of a positive outcome by at least a standard deviation.
Its also known as, – The RJ Placebo Effect Theory.
Seriously, though, how much of RJ Barrett’s recent surge is on Donovan Mitchell? Seems like every backcourt that has him in it sees an opposing guard go off.
Side note: I am going to Lakers Grizzlies tonight and it just occurred to me that I have never seen LeBron James play basketball live.
Last random thought… should we really be so sure the Celtics are going to beat Philadelphia? I think this might finally be Embiid’s moment.
If Embiid’s healthy, it’s a pick-em series IMO.
Stars dropping like flies from these playoffs. It’s nuts.
Missing DJ isn’t good for Atlanta, but that series was never going more than 6 anyway. Losing Fox is devastating. Feel bad for them…. Who can understand the pain of a Knicks fan better than the Kings?
It wasn’t Murray best ever idea…
Udoka at Houston is interesting, a nice litmus test for him.
And someone else is going to Toronto, that’s interesting too…
And here i was thinking our guys complain too much with the refs! 😛
If at the beginning of the season, someone had told me that late April we’d be discussing opponents for the 2nd round because with the right opponent we might be able to go to the ECF, i’d immediately say “great season, can’t wait to watch it unfold“.
@cyber, didn’t I tell you exactly that 😉
Odd fact- Josh Hart has more techs this year than Julius. Randle complains incessantly but he must avoid hot button language for the most part. I will say whichever ref let Randle intentionally bump him while complaining about Marcus Smart should be the lead official in every playoff game- that showed remarkable restraint.
Also ends my dream of watching How To Lose a Guy in 10 days with Donnie Walsh.
LOL
oh, i am loving the new buttons…buttons buttons buttons…
so, what’s up with the bobby reese thing E…pray tell – what is the connection for you…
I would call him this year’s Elfrid Payton in that he’s been the weak link in the starting lineup all year. If we replaced him in the starting lineup with a quality SF, I think that would have been worth 5-6 wins.
We are lucky he hasn’t been Elfrid Payton the last 2 games.
YEah, I’m gonna rub this in your face for awhile because it’s fun as shit to do so.
wait swifty, ain’t that the part you’re not supposed to be speaking aloud…
whoa, that’s a serious breach of established social protocols right there…
demerits for you swifty…
be honest BC, you have no idea what a demerit really is 😛
Serious? I’d lose the big prize on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? if i got that question. 😛
have fun hubie, actually, i know you will…so, stay safe and enjoy yourself sir 🙂
Hey Hubert, can you shout out to Lebron “Hey Lebron, don’t you regret not coming to the Kniiiiiiiiiiiiiicks?” ? 😀
This site produces more beef than the state of Wyoming. It’s hilarious.
However people want to enjoy this run is fine with me.
Well, i think we shouldn’t be trying to settle the score with the doomsday mob, we should be thanking them. We’re now seeing how powerful the the Knicks are doomed jinx is, and those guys have been doing it since the beginning of the season “we’re in purgatory”, “we have fake stars”, and so on… that’s what brought us to the 5th seed and now will get us to the 2nd round (and beyond?)! 😀
Ehi ehi ehi Cyber!
Today’s “We’re Doomed” gang isn’t the same as the year-long “Doomsday Mob”.
Many of us “Doomed” predicted a season of 44-plus wins, were happy with the J-Hart Trade, the I-Hart signing and the non-trade for Spida…
Now we’re just doing our part during this run, respecting the Basketball Gods and working to keep other teams’ jinx away 😉
Don’t mix apples and oranges 😀
OMG (facepalm emoji)
Lauri Markkanen won the MIP trophy.
Ahem. Yes. I know one guy who predicted 44 or more 😉
Max is exactly on point. This year there is/was a vociferous We Are Doomed Group and now there is a somewhat sunnier rival We Are “Doomed” Group. Keep it straight. 😉
But it’s all narcissism of small differences. As Owen says above, we are all brothers (sisters) on this ride. Let’s keep it going.
There’s nothing quite like knowing you’re going to be among the 5% of teams that blow a 3-1 lead.
De’Aaron Fox’s injury, all but ending the How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days prophecy, seals our doom.
Jimmy Butler en fuego.
Not to try to doom us, although we know we’re doomed, but is that percentage higher if it only takes into account the team leading not having home court advantage?
So… What do we think Brunson’s little 3 point thing is? I’m guessing it’s inappropriate since he wouldn’t answer about it. 😛
Allen and Mobley on the court together during the playoffs doesn’t appear to be working so well for the cavs…
Whether it’s the Knicks defense (my vote) or the ISM, the Cavs’ shooting has been atrocious in this series. other than Mitch-like Jarrett Allen, not a single player in the Cavs’ 7-man rotation has a TS% above Garland’s .544.The Great Evan Mobley is at .491.
And believe it or not, ours is actually worse! We have a .520 TS% as a team, to their .535.
Every time I see Max Strus I just chuckle to myself and say “Max Strunz.”
Anybody who grew up in an Italian household will understand
Dammit Miami, win!! It’s the only time I’ll ever want you to win!
Been a long time since as a Yankees fan I can say thank God I have the Knicks.
Holy crap Heat!
FINISH THIS JIMMY
Jimmy Butler is pretty good.
We’re gonna have to trap and double Butler like crazy.
Knicks-Heat followed by Knicks-Celtics.
Playoff heaven.
It would be kinda cool if Jimmy Butler demanded a trade to the Knicks.
Hmmm… maybe I don’t want the, erm, “Cavs” to play Jimmy Butler. Specifically Jimmy Butler, the rest of the team is basically 14 Isaac Okoros.
The Bucks were coasting. Then Jimmy Butler punched them in the face over and over.
How the fuck do the Bucks let Butler go one on one all game with no double teams or traps plus not once did they put Giannis on him.
The 76ers had Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid on the same team and said “I think we’ll go with Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris.”
Wow, heat taking care of biz. Bucks could still win three straight tho. We need to take care of biz and rest up a lil (please)…
#JimmyBuckets reaches down the Bucks’ throat and rips their hearts out.
I’m saying Giannis isn’t fully healthy… you know, despite the triple-double.
Butler is the single scariest player in the NBA during the playoffs
I’m still perplexed how a team can let Butler go one on one that much especially with Herro out. Butler has less perimeter help than even Donovan Mitchell right now, you have to force him to give it up.
That was a hell of an ending by the Heat.
Next highest scorers behind butler, adebayo with 15 and martin with 12. Assuming we best the Cavs (let’s not get too ahead of ourselves), I’d rather play the heat out Tyler Hero. Heat did shoot 40% from three so maybe that’s why they didn’t trap / double?
Duncan Robinson is 13/17 from 3 for the series, a nice 74%.
Hopefully that’s a random hotstreak that will last only till the end of this series, not a revival of one of the best shooters in the league.
That was an all-time performance by Butler, to do what he did would be hard in any circumstance, let alone as the 8th seed where none of his teammates would crack the top 5 best players in the series, maybe Bam if you’re feeling generous… just insane.
Yeah that was incredible. And as dangerous as Butler is, I would much rather face the Heat in R2 – with home court!
Still a long way to go in both series but man that would be fun.
Jimmy Butler is 33.
The best scenario is that we win game 5 against Cleveland and the Bucks push it to a 7 game series and end up losing, and both scenarios don’t seem that far away from happening. I’m just glad we are able to have this sort of discussions in late April instead of just watching other teams have them.
Pretty much every time Butler is awesome (which is a lot), I think of this thread…
https://knickerblogger.net/2018/09/19/knicks-jimmy-butler-steve-mills-scott-perry/
I thought I was the only regular in favor of trading for Butler in 2018, but in reading that Great Jimmy Butler Test thread, I realize it was actually me and Bob Neptune. Which kind of makes me smile, especially because I was thinking about Bob earlier today when someone here wrote “that Fox news is horrible”, as I imagine that’s how he felt today when he heard that Tucker Carlson was fired.
The Grizzlies getting torched in the 4th by D’Angelo Russell is a new level of depressing, damn. So stupid.
According to Brian’s impressive memory, Lawrence Funderburke led the Kings to the finals that year. So don’t count out Davion “Not Donavan” Mitchell yet!
NBA traditionalists will love it when the #7 seeded Lakers to play the #8 seeded Heat in the finals
I’m not a traditionalist but I’m a hater, so that’s a nightmare scenario for me too lol
It is disturbing just how well things are working out for the Knicks right now. It doesn’t feel like this is the right universe. Don’t get me wrong, things will still end up with them being doomed, I am not being optimistic about them at all, but, like…wow, right?
I still think trading for Jimmy B when we had no one to pair him with would have been a recipe for disaster.
Hes a great player but he wanted to be on a contender.
Jimmy B with a virtuoso performance but I’m astonished by the Bucks defensive choices…