Knicks Morning News (2023.11.01)

New York @ Cleveland W 109-91 Record 2-2

Well done guys!

Just to keep the emotions in check let’s make this clear: the Cavs were missing their starting PG and starting C (Garland and Allen), their 6th man (LaVert) and the 3rd string PG (Ty Jerome, who would have played a little more than usual thanks to Garland’s absence).

The equivalent would be the Knicks playing without Brunson, Robinson, IQ and Deuce and I won’t feel too confident playing without all those players against a strong and full rostered opponent (like the Knicks were to the Cavs)*.

That said, in professional sport a win is a win and this was a professional win, where the strongest team controlled the game all night** and put it to bed before the 4th quarter***.

As Z-Man wrote a well rounded team win with every player bringing his brick at different moments in the game.

Next: a great chance to sweep this crazy B2B on our turf. I’m sure Thibs will help keep our guard up and don’t let complacency set in.

* But I’m pretty sure we would have fight more, so far during Thibs’ tenure we never (or very rarely) let games become practice scrimmages.

** In the 1st qrt Spida capped a 13-3 Cavs’ run to give them the last lead at 21-19 but a three by IQ on the next play gave us the lead for good.

*** At one point in the 3rd the Cavs went 5:54 between FGs and scored only 1 point during a 13-1 Knicks’ run that ballooned the lead from 4 to 16.

Thoughts:

– No knife between the teeth, no blood in the eyes of the Cavs. Where’s the revenge desire? Yeah, they were missing some players but with Spida’s exception they didn’t show much fighting spirit, Mobley has a lot of potential but still looks sooooft and the crowd looked silent and numb like in a preseason game.

– I really like the way different players share the spotlight during the game.
JB lead the 1st qrt (9 points), RJ (10) and Ju (7) took care of the 2nd, Jb again (8) and Mitch (6 pts, 4 rebs) shined in the 3rd, IQ (11) closed in the 4th.

– Only 2 Knicks played more than 30 minutes (JB and Julius). What???
File under “Thibs’ Halloween trick”.

– In a small surprise (at least for me) we barely won the rebounds battle despite Allen’s absence (48-46, and we were outrebounded for most of the game). Mitch and Randle did look a little slow under the glass in the 1st half.

– One of our first offensive sets was a perfect execution of the “half wheel” used a lot by the Russian National Team in the 60’s and 70’s.
It was my under-16 team’s first team option back in 1983 too, so for me it had a strong nostaglia effect.
Anyway our starters’ halfcourt offense is often ugly and cumbersome but I catched hints of them trying to do something new.
The Bench Mob with the Hart Foundation and DDV is much more willing to move the ball (and the players), I think RJ’s slightly better equipped than Julius to play with them.

– My two cent about the (supposed) FIBA effect:
J-Hart said some weeks ago that after a season longer than usual for him (1st playoffs appearence) and with a busy summer with Team USA he couldn’t really “pull the plug” mentally and feel a bit “tired”.
Maybe JB’s feeling the same “mental tiredness”, it would explain his unusual mistakes and uncharacteristic “indecision” during this strange start.
I’m pretty sure both will be okay soon.

Play(s) Of The Game:

4th 8:42 Immanuel Quickley makes 29-foot three point shot (Donte DiVincenzo assists) NY 93 CLE 78
4th 8:16 Craig Porter misses driving layup
4th 8:11 Evan Mobley offensive rebound
4th 8:11 Evan Mobley misses tip shot
4th 8:10 Jalen Brunson defensive rebound
4th 8:05 Evan Mobley blocks Jalen Brunson ‘s 7-foot driving floating jump shot
4th 8:03 Georges Niang defensive rebound
4th 7:53 Craig Porter bad pass (Donte DiVincenzo steals)
4th 7:46 Immanuel Quickley makes 25-foot three pointer (Donte DiVincenzo assists) NY 96 CLE 78
4th 7:45 Cavaliers Full timeout

After a Niang’s 3 cut the lead to 12 and with the Cavs having some momentum and looking poised for a last charge, IQ sucked all the air out of the arena with those two threes. Bickerstaff’s timeout was basically the white flag.

Stats Of The Game:
20-25 (80%) Knicks’ FTs. They made me happy for a day 🙂

1. Knicks’ block (I-Hart). I don’t know and it’s meaningless but to me it feels strange.

Grades:

Brunson B-
Hit the first 4 shots, missed the next 5, hot and cold on offense and sometimes careless with the ball (unusual 2:5 AST:TO ratio). He still seems a bit off.

Randle C+
The shot’s still off (5-14) but he bullyballed to some nice baskets. Not his best passing night (only 2 ast, a little too much iso), at least he took care of the ball (only 1 TO) and was present as usual on the glass (10).

Barrett C+
Only 25 minutes in a tale of two halves. Strong, solid Good-RJ in the 1st (15 points, 5-9 FG in 16 mins), invisible and messy in the 2nd (1 point, 0-4 in 9 mins). Maybe he thought it was so easy we don’t need him.

Grimes B-
Hard assignment on D, only 4 shots, Breen called him “a distant 4th option”. He showed what he can do with his first drive of the game and later with his drive & assist to Mitch.

Robinson B-

A day at the office (4-4 FG, 7 Reb) he suffered Mobley a bit at the start but later adjusted.

Quickley A-
After an insipid 1st half (3 points, 1-5 FG) he microwaved in the 2nd (15, 5-6 FG). He needs to be more careful with the ball (3 TO).

Hart C+
Slow but promising progress (7 Reb, 3 Ast). See above for FIBA.

Hartenstein A-
Game MVP in my opinion, he filled the boxscore except for made 3FG (13 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl) and his behind the back pass to IQ was an hidden beauty.

DDV B-
He’s often getting the short straw in playing time (15 minutes) but he can be useful even without scoring (6 Ast, 2 Reb) and his defense is always there.

Arcidiacono/Jeffries/Mc Bride/Sims/Windler NA
Hello guys!

Thibs B
I’m pretty sure he shouted “Who’s your daddy” to Bickerstaff at the end of the game.
He put the trash men in earlier than usual as if he’s thinking about the B2B. .. Or maybe it’s just a case of Halloween Night’s possession.

Re: The Cavs

I’m trying to avoid hot takes for every team before at least Game-20 if not until 2024.

Allen and Mobley did a poor job in last year’s playoffs but they should, on paper, match Mitch and Julius well.

Garland’s presence makes a lot of difference.

Spida looks poised to have a great season, last year probably still stings.

Their bench changes completely with the two starters back and LaVert leading the bench offense.

Bates and Porter looks promising.

I think a full ranks Cavs team will be a pain in the ass and if not they’ll change coach, because the talent is there and this team is deeper (and better structured) than last year… with Kevin Love they’d be perfect… 😀

I think the spacing has been pretty bad on offense.

Yup, at times unwatchable…
You’re probably right about Randle, but sometimes I reluctantly admit that we’re build this way and will never change too much… 🙁

I’ll like to watch who Thibs will stagger more between JB, RJ and Julius with the quicker and livelier second unit.