The Knicks bizarrely host the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second of two games, one of the dumber things that you could imagine from a scheduling purpose. The Knicks’ schedule looked a bit tough to start, but with Cleveland so injured, suddenly this is a perfect opportunity for the Knicks to get over .500 by their fifth game, with some room to maneuver in these next few games (stealing that Bucks game on Friday would be amazing).
Anyhow, RJ Barrett is a bit banged up, as well, but luckily, the Knicks are insanely deep, so even if he has some issues tonight, the Knicks should be able to cover for him.
How many losses before the Cavs just fire their shitty coach?
Let’s go, Knicks!
163 replies on “2023-24 Game Thread – Knicks vs. Cavaliers – Home and Home Opener (Also not a thing)”
How long can BC keep this bit going? Can’t wait to find out!
Yeah, Brian is trying to doom our season. No wonder we’re playing so bad. 😀
Gooooo Knicks! 🏀
https://twitter.com/KnicksMSGN/status/1719769477380722941
This is great. I think Leon did great on team chemistry, they look like they really like each other.
Let’s Go Knicks!
Might be tough if he keeps missing easy ones like the November Opener (come on, Brian, that was a layup!)
I like Home and Home Opener, because it’s closer to a “thing”!
Isn’t this the home-and-home finale?
RJ out, Lavert playing for Cavs.
“Whether you think Obi is a good player or a bad player when he was a rookie he attacked the basket, posted up, and showed a much more varied offensive repertoire. Thibs put a quick end to that and forced him to stay in his lane or ride the bench.”
Obi played a paltry 683 minutes his rookie season. His usage was at 15%, a career low until now (it was 20% in his second and third years.) His percentage of dunks was lower last year than in his rookie year. While his shot profile changed slightly, he only took 209 shots as a rookie. Perhaps he posted up a couple of more times relatively speaking, but there was also no book on how to defend him, nor is 683 minutes and 209 shot attempts enough to develop one.
Will there be a Fournier sighting tonight?
Instead of having the 3rd rated offense in the NBA last season the Knicks would’ve had the highest rated offense in the NBA if it wasn’t for Thibs holding them back.
The famous (and controversial) college coach Bobby Knight passed away, he was 83.
“The famous (and controversial) college coach Bobby Knight passed away, he was 83.”
Personally not a fan.
Who is starting instead of Barrett?
Also, let’s see if Grimes gets more usage
JHart is starting in place of Barrett.
Grimes doing the feline quickness thing…
I see you Mitch
Grimes is soaking up RJ’s usage.
Mitch with the feline quickness!!
Shot creator extraordinaire Mitchell Robinson
Grimes gettin Grimey
Amazing how fucking awful Knicks are shooting at home once again.
This game is a mess but Mitch is a force. Love seeing him putting it on the floor.
Mitch is just swallowing up the Cavs…
Did we discuss Tristan Thompson and Josh Hart and steaks? Hilarious
Loving Mitch tonight. Mobley going to be having nightmares about him for weeks.
Niang is not a good matchup with Randle…
Mitchell is something else
if we can just hang with mitchell we should be able to make moves when he has to rest
Knicks miss RJ.
Mobley should start calling in sick for the Mitch games
They can’t possibly win with a 100 point game from Mitchell, right?
This is even uglier than last night.
Are the other Cavs allowed to score? 😀
Blame Thibs.
If RJ is out, you have to start Quickley to get the 3rd scorer on the court. This should be basic. I can’t possibly imagine what he’s thinking. I think the problem is that he’s not thinking.
Randle turning a perfect feed from ihart into a shitty fadeaway is classic Randle
Knicks could use Fournier tonight.
Filet can’t even dribble the ball. LOL
Wake up, it’s gnomeball time!
The offense is a slog without Rj’s efficient scoring
Instead it’s gonna be Deuce….
Josh Hart is a picanha. I will brook no discussion on the matter.
This is too ugly to watch. I hope there’s a holiday baking show on.
Clyde just called this cavs unit ” a motley crew”…..nice
Iso-Josh is the optimal strategy
IHart is looking amazing so far this season
And DDV seems to be settling in
Deuce!!!!
Deuce!!
iHart and DDV look like they’ve played together for years.
They also just…kind of look alike, at least when I’m not wearing my glasses.
Deuceeee
I guess i’m with a 2 min delay, so maybe i should restrain my hot takes. 😀
We really sure trading for Mitchell would be a bad thing?
I love gnomeball, they’re always looking for the open man, Deuce is a beast on the ball, DDV and J-Hart never stop moving and I-Hart is playing like a Godzilla-Sized Hustlebunny.
Bit they need IQ to get hot.
We should have traded for Spida
I have never seen anyone who projects more like a future NBA coach than Arcidiacono.
Archie is going to be talked about more than any player in NBA history who plays less than 40min in a season
Is DDV still redundant?
Neeyang is one of those hatchet men who thinks they never foul anyone
DDV is owning this game
Send Randle down to the G league.
Archie, the new Theo Pinson! 😀
Randle is the most frustrating player…gets perfect feeds and fucks it up
This game has stupid home loss written all over it.
If he’s “DiVo” to Clyde, he’s “DiVo” to us.
Also at a certain point I don’t care how small the backcourt would be, Donovan Mitchell can be a Knick whenever he wants.
Randle was rebound-less so he stole one to Grimes…
Mitch should get 6FTs because they fouled him about 3 times on that offensive rebound. He’ll only make 2 of them anyway so it’d be fair
Randle has to work more on his mental…
Randle has pretty much been the worst rotation player on the team so far this season and I’m not sure it’s even close.
Brunson with 3 charges drawn and 3 and-1’s
I think I’m enjoying my son’s chemistry homework more than this game.
Well, except for Brunson.
Trivia is hard
I remember when Okoro was supposed to be the Brunson Stopper
Randle seems completely lost so far. I know it is early but his handle is poor, over dribbling, and he seem very frustrated. I hope it doesn’t negatively impact his effort.
Okoro hasn’t learn a lick from last spring Brunson’s lessons…
We should trade Randle for Obi straight up. Obi wouldn’t do anything, but less damage is worth something. 😂
Randle doing even more than Mitchell to keep the Cavs in the game.
LOL
Then I paused to really think about it… 😉
Mitch already with 7 offensive rebounds…
Randle looking like a bum again
DDV with a good first half on both sides of the ball. The small lineup of DDV, Hart, Quick, and McBride was fun to watch. Running all over the place.
Chet is tearing it up so far….all-star level production
The every other year Julius betters are looking pretty smart so far…
Can we cut Randle and bring him back on a 2-way?
Grimes this season is mostly just getting cardio
Randle and Grimes should both go straight to the locker room and stay there the rest of the night.
Grimes this season is mostly shooting bricks.
Randle with the matador D on Strus…
I feel like IQ needs to play with this group for another ball handler and scorer.
Someone smack Thibs in the head and tell him to get Quick in there. We need some offense. RJ is out and Randle is the worst player on the team right now. We aren’t going to get scoring from Hart, Grimes and Robinson. Mitch may get 20 OREBs with all misses.
Offensive rebounding only helps if you throw the ball into the basket after you get the offensive rebound
This lineup with Hart, Grimes, and Mitch blows hard
This is another level of offensive putridness…
Anyone know the record for drawn charges?
Brunson is the GOAT of charge drawing
What’s the record for charges drawn?
Niang is shutting down Randle. That is not good.
Too many low usage guys on this team. One of the high usage guys goes down, it’s like a catastrophe because you have lineups with three guys on the floor who can’t to anything on offense
It doesn’t even look like Randle is aiming when he shoots.
Randle is just a hot mess out there…
Hard to blame the low usage guys when Randle is playing like this. They’re not helping, but we’d be fine if Randle wasn’t godawful.
It’s wild the 2 best plays for the Knicks tonight are Mitch offensive rebounds and Brunson drawing charges.
100%
And most of them are guards.
Glitter on the floor is the most exciting part of this game so far.
This glitter thing is something new.
The unexpected RJ Barrett appreciation game.
Randle’s lack of confidence is disturbing.
Max RJ!!!
Maybe we can sub Randle with Indiana’s two 2nds,
they can’t play much worse.
Glittergate 2023: where were you on this historic day???
Miles “Deuce” McBride with the only positive plus-minus.
This game has been the best example of “lid on the basket” that I’ve seen in a long time.
Unwatchable trash
We need more glitter on the court
A double high screen that ends in a Randle bricked three — brilliant gameplan!
We have such terrible spacing. It gets worse when we can’t shoot. No room in the paint.
Going to be a bad loss
Seems like a lot of shots aren’t falling….
Ugly quarter. What’re we going to do about Julius?
RJ has been our most consistent shooter, often keeping us close until the others find their rhythm and stop throwing up bricks. His absence is really hurting us.
If we play JB and IQ and keep Randle and Grimes out we’ll win by 10
Deuce’s hair looks great
DiVo shouldn’t have thrown that one to Hart
We could probably use Fournier right now
IIRC, the first time we all learned Quickley might be something was when he led us to a comeback against the Cavs in the preseason. Maybe he can do it again.
The shooting is like comical at this point…
This is when Cronin shows up to say we are definitely winning this game
Well we’re playing better than the Bucks did tonight…
Maybe we should have played Fournier this game. I find it strange that McBride was the fill-in for RJ tonight.
Why try a shooter when we’re shooting like shit?
It doesn’t make sense in Thibs’ universe…
And by the way isn’t it illegal to use more than 9 players until garbage time?
Some of these lineups are downright hilarious
Obi lighting it up now that the Pacers are down 50…
Well it’s kind of fun watching DDV get in the passing lanes at least
It’s kinda shocking that we are still in this game…
Couldn’t tell ya who had the last non IQ bucket
Should have called a timeout before that last offensive set and run a play
The Cavs are still missing Garland and Allen,
they didn’t close this game when they could and now they’re going to lose…
Let’s Go Knicks!
Mitch is never changing and I don’t care
I hate Spidahs
Thibs would play with 4 men before he inserted Fournier.
this team stinks!
These players don’t deserve to play at MSG, it’s utterly pathetic the way they play at home.
You could say that Randle singlehandedly lost this one…
There was definitely stuff to like tonight… missed foul shots and bad shooting overall will hopefully clear themselves up. Divincenzo was very fun to watch on D.
Randle seems like something is wrong with him
Well hey Quentin Grimes boosted his usage!
Randle: 35 minutes, 6 points, 3-15 FG (0-6 3FG), zero free throws, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers and he missed the last potential tying shot.
And he’s the only player on the roster without a “plausible” alternative in his role.
Randle is 21 for 76 on the season, and I don’t like his haircut.
Randle’s performance was literally one of the worst I’ve ever seen, from him or anyone else.
Just dribble the fucking clock out.
Nice comeback by the Nets…
You should never count on Julius Randle to have two good seasons in a row
We’re only a week into the season and I think I already need a break from watching basketball for a few days….
I needed this to allow me the peace of mind to not watch these games unless I have nothing else to do…that was a waste of 2.5 hours of my life…pathetic…and that’s coming from a lifelong jet fan who really knows “pathetic”…
At least we’ve got the Jets and Giants
NY Rangers are off to a great start.
“You should never count on Julius Randle to have two good seasons in a row”
Right now I’d settle for two good games in a row…or maybe even two good quarters…
amazed thibs stuck with randle tonight. not talking about the 3-15. he checked out so hard in the second half they turned his room. could have just pulled out an easel and painted lilies at center court. maybe this is just what it looks like for him to pivot away from overt frustration toward rookie stoicism when things are going south on back to back. but damn if it wasn’t an absolute spectacle of ennui.
If we hadn’t traded away OBI we could have used him tonight… (checks box score of Pacers V Celtics)
-41?!
never mind
“Their defense was tough. It was a defensive-type game,” coach Tom Thibodeau said after the Knicks scored just 13 points in the third quarter, when a one-point lead became an eight-point deficit that was not overcome. “Needed more easy baskets — we didn’t get those. The third quarter was a problem.”
Master of the obvious….even Thibs mailed it in tonight at the post game presser…
It really was so unusually bad.
I fell asleep on the 2nd half, i guess it was for the best.
Yes it was 😉