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2023-24 Game Thread – Knicks @ Hawks – ROAD OPENER (I know, not actually a thing, but just go with it)

The Knicks head out on the road to hopefully make Trae Young’s 2023-24 season start off really poorly, after Young had a terrible opening day of the season, let’s hope that this one is even worse.

Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle had bad starts of the season themselves in Game 1 against the Celtics (and yet the Knicks still almost won the game, and that’s even with the refs screwing the Knicks on a play that could have been a flagrant foul by Jayson Tatum and instead was called a flop by Brunson. Granted, Brunson clearly did do all of the tell-tale signs of a flop, but in this case, he was actually fouled! Awful call), so hopefully they both right their ships in Game 2, as well.

Let’s go, Knicks! All the way to 53 wins!

174 replies on “2023-24 Game Thread – Knicks @ Hawks – ROAD OPENER (I know, not actually a thing, but just go with it)”

I was waiting for the game thread to post this because it belongs here: Rushmore is still great all these years later, but the guy who made it has barely evolved a single iota. Everything is whimsical nostalgia for a quirky time that never really existed.

Pregame TV crew gotta get Pidto out from behind that stupid bar. Chatting with Wally and Alan, he looks like a Hobbit back there. C’mon, folks.

Maybe someone like Derrick Rose could have been useful to us. Maybe we could have even plugged him in at…….I don’t know…….backup point guard for 10-12 minutes per game. He seems fine playing that role in Memphis.

I want Mitch to outplay Capela completely and leave him weeping in the dust. Is that too much to ask?

We can’t shoot to save our lives, but I’m loving the ball movement.

And kudos to RJ for some of his early drives.

Good:
Robinson 2-for-2 from the line
RJ looks like a handful

Bad:
Brunson & Randle look hesitant and can’t hit a shot.

RJ is playing… pretty good? Even had a few plays on defense where he stayed in front of his man.

I agree JK, RJ had an all around very nice first shift.

I-Hart with the steal and the flying slam!

Knicks cruising. Loving the early returns on RJ—hope he keeps it up!

I’m glad Brunson woke up. Randle’s still in a stupor. Mitch’s having an easier time with Capella tonight than with KP on Tuesday.

RJ seems to have a renewed commitment to defense. Him just being ok on that end would make a big difference.

Was working up a vitriolic Donte hate post and then he makes that great back cut layup and a long three. Way to ruin my vitriol, Donte.

Brain freeze turnover: check

He’s playing well but the RJ Experience is always a rollercoaster… 🙂

Might end up seeing some Sims time with iHart hacking and whacking…

Randle looks kinda slow…

Maybe he’s still recovering from the ankle surgery

When our guys play like they’re *supposed to, this is a lovely team to watch.

I’m getting the Hawks broadcast. The announcers are not Clyde, but they are not bad. Two factoids they brought up about Barrett. One, their key matchup is RJ and Hunter because they were drafted three and four in 2019. That never occurred to me. And two, RJ is the first Knick drafted in the top three since Patrick Ewing in 1985. Thinking about that is depressing.

I’m okay with that Barrett turnover, because it was actually a nice pass that Mitch just didn’t think was coming. Maybe ill-advised, but it was an RJ pass. Like, he passed it. I’ll take that little victory.

Also loving the betting odds on Quick’s points early in the season. Great parlay material. Have him paired up with Brunson assists and Wemby points and it’s going well so far.

Porzingis is 1-5 with 2 points and 2 fouls and is a -16 in 10 minutes….

Doesn’t surprise me.

I won 500 on an IQ 20+ points freebet at +900 lol. I rebet 20+ tonight at +500 and that’s still insane value.

Defense is bad but offense is good, would love to see a little more tenacity…

Trae Young should have been called for like 3 flopping fouls by now

I’m okay with that Barrett turnover, because it was actually a nice pass that Mitch just didn’t think was coming. Maybe ill-advised, but it was an RJ pass. Like, he passed it. I’ll take that little victory.

I throw that pass sometime in pickup games because I’m pissed at a guy for not rolling. The fault is still RJ’s and he shouldn’t be sending a message in a game, but Mitch needs to pay attention there (not that I blame him after not getting a PnR pass in over a year).

69pts in a half, 50% from 3pt. I’ll take it. But the lead should be 19. Boyz need to tighten up the D in 2nd half to account for the likely scoring regression to mean.

IQ and DDV did a nice job complementing RJ and JB on offense, Mitch is playing like a beast and maybe Julius is waking up…

Let’s Go!

I’m thrilled that the Hawks decided not to play defense tonight. Will Quinn Snyder self-immolate by game six?

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I’m thrilled that the Hawks decided not to play defense tonight. Will Quinn Snyder self-immolate by game six?

apologize to jalen johnson

Mitch with an amazing half. He’s filling up the box score, and almost at a double-double with lots of blocks and steals.
RJ’s game seems to have taken a step.
Randle is playing like a zombie.
Brunson woke up just in time.
Grime playing just okay.
iHart was out of control.
Dante gets his first points is really pouring on.
IQ looks like someone that wants a mega contract this summer.
Hart quietly effective.

Watched while hashing out some things with the wife. Did not seem like much defense was being played.

Liked what I saw from RJ.

Mitch looked like his normal spry self.

Edit- everyone got there first

Here i am, for the 2nd half. But you’re doing fine without me, so if i see the game slipping i’ll turn off to not bring bad luck. 😛

so if i see the game slipping i’ll turn off to not bring bad luck.

Smart move Cyber 😉

Two very nice assists from Julius….but this quarter is really sloppy so far.

And almost a third, the airball was nearly an assist to Mitch 😀

Dominique correctly critiquing the Knicks offense for taking difficult shots when easier ones were available. And Randle and Barrett are the Knicks leaders in assists with seven and five, respectively.

I don’t know much about Jalen Johnson but I am intrigued

Saw that dunk in the first half on Twitter

At least DDV hasn’t forgotten how to play

I feel a little less bad about the diVencenzo signing. Still makes no sense unless there’s a consolidation trade.

Meanwhile Grimes has totally shut down Trae.

I’m glad we did a Donte panic after one (1) game

I didn’t love the signing. I did expect it to take some time – 20 games? – to build some chemistry and find his place on the team. But really he’s pretty redundant until a trade happens.

He’s definitely redundant, but he’s a good player. There are worse things to have than redundant good players.

I’m glad we did a Donte panic after one (1) game

Panic after one game is a big part of what we do here 😀

Every time they’re on the brink of melting we do some dumb stuff to let them back in…

While the Hawks suck…yeah, the Knicks shouldn’t be thrilled with this ending.

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I don’t think the Knicks can keep expecting the other team to just brick wide open layups going forward. But hey, it worked tonight!

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Brunson reminding me of some point guards I played with in high school at the end here.

Unreal. He really fired that ball at Grimes too.

I will take the W and hopefully some lessons have been learned, or something

Brian that’s true but we (probably) won’t keep throwing the ball to the other team at the end of games like that either

Maybe the Hawks are tired, but if I’m Snyder, I’m throwing stuff around in the locker room.

Quick really threw up some bricks in the second half. Screwed that parlay I was talking about. Lol. Had to score 12. 🤦‍♂️

Ugly win. You win some games that you should lose and lose some games you should win. The Knicks didn’t deserve to win this game.

If RJ can be 9/15 with 6 assists every game, I will be a very happy man.

I think they deserved to win that game. They lead pretty much the whole way through. That’s why they won with the screw ups at the end.

Julius didn’t shoot well but at the end of it all he had a really nice game. We’re going to have to make some 2 point shots eventually this season

If RJ keeps playing like this we win 50 games

You get Donte because he’s a good player. Still not sure why this confuses people.

We also missed easy layups, at least DDV (2 times) and Hart. Maybe we’d still win the game if everybody had scored their easy layups.

Julius didn’t shoot well but at the end of it all he had a really nice game. We’re going to have to make some 2 point shots eventually this season

That three he hit was huge. And it was very nice to see him hit the clutch free throws.

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We also missed easy layups, at least DDV (2 times)

He missed a reverse last game too. This might be a thing

Also regarding Holmgren’s game: It was against Cleveland, a supposedly good defensive team.

Not sure why folks are THAT down on this win. Granted the ending was heart-attack inducing because of Brunson’s uncharacteristic turnovers but the team played well for the majority of the game. When’s the last time a Knicks team had 30 assists?!

The defensive lapses are worrisome tho. Hopefully they straighten those out. But if we make our free throws against Boston, we are easily 2-0.

Not sure why folks are THAT down on this win.

The defensive lapses are worrisome tho.

Sounds like you do know why. 😉

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When’s the last time a Knicks team had 30 assists?!

It’s only eye test, for sure, but tonight I thought our passes seemed more *purposeful than all of last year. Much less handing off to nowhere and more moments with our guys receiving passes in spots that were actually to our advantage. Someone might be (finally) teaching “offense” bts.

had to turn the channel in the second quarter…too stressful…i may not be watching too many live knick games this year…

just checked the stats – wow, jalen hit 8 of 12 from 3…that’s something…not to jinx him, but he’ll probably average 26 points a game this year…that’s crazy, what a jump in 2 years…

If RJ keeps playing like this we win 50 games

I think you can make a pretty good case that that was one of RJ’s best games as a Knick. He was efficient and he also made some nice plays.

Quickley had a rough night.

Hello guys,
family matters eat most of my time today, but the recap will come, my wife torn me from the keyboard with half the grades missing… 🙂

See you later!

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