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2023-24 Game Thread: Knicks @ Jazz (West Coast Road Trip Opener, which is a thing)

The Knicks kick off their West Coast road trip with the easiest game on the whole trip, a matchup with the Utah Jazz.

Annoyingly for the Knicks, Marqanon (or however his name is spelled) is back tonight, so that’s a bit more difficult than normal, but luckily, the Jazz don’t play a lick of defense, so the Knicks should be able to handle them easily.

Let’s go, Knicks!

91 replies on “2023-24 Game Thread: Knicks @ Jazz (West Coast Road Trip Opener, which is a thing)”

Marqqanonteeon. Get it right!

Yes, he’s back, but I kinda sorta remember (the collective) us saying that in a lot of ways, we’d rather play against teams that were as close to full strength as possible, so as to really get a better bead on where we stand. I’m not sure that the Jazz getting Marqqanonteeon back equates to “full strength” by itself, but it certainly gets them closer.

My Not-Really-Going-Out-On-A-Limb Prediction: The guy we need to watch out for tonight is Sexton. And Keyonte George could be a quasi-Sumner Award candidate, if we’re not careful.

Well, Dray is out “indefinitely” according to Woj. That is a bit of a bombshell. He deserves at least 5 games but I don’t think he actually hit Nurkic very hard. Maybe he did but I thought it was embellished somewhat.

I truly cannot believe Taj is actually back. It’s like when you joke something into reality.

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So is Taj gonna start? If so I feel a bit for Sims. You get an opportunity and a game later a 38 year-old who was unemployed takes your job.

That said, I think all things considered Taj is still probably the better overall NBA player at the moment. Sims can jump really high, but I think I could score on him at the rim.

Sims starting is still surprising to me but it kind of make sense i guess. Hartenstein’s playmaking is more necessary and will get more run with the backups… just give the man his minutes please

No wonder there are no fans there…this team stinks (although they are missing some key players)

There’s only 1 player on Utah we have to cover and the Knicks are fucking clueless how to defend him.

The Jazz are so damn bad that RJ is shooting 1-11 and the game is basically tied going into the half. If this was happening against any half decent team it’s a blow out.

Also it’s funny how Talen Horton-Tucker still has a job in the NBA when his single merit was being drafted by the Lakers and getting overhyped like any Lakers young player gets. It’s impossible to believe that there’s literally no one in the G League or anywhere else who could be less terrible.

They go to the same markenan play .. and we still don’t defend it….good thing thibs made halftime adjustments

Barrett looks like he may have sobered up during halftime…

Not so much.

Thibs playing with fire leaving Randle in with 4 fouls.

But I guess no one else can score.

If the Knicks lose this one they could legitimately be under .500 at the end of this road trip. It’s a tough trip and no Mitch. They have to get this one.

Quentin Grimes got a foul called on him! He’s no longer all zeros!!!!

Well, if we lose this game it’s because we’re stupid.

I think Max may flunk a lot of people tomorrow.

They have dudes in the jazz city dancers…don’t think I’ve seen that for other nba teams…

Seems we can’t hit anything (including FTs) and Jazz can’t miss anything. 🙄

This is going to be one ugly stretch of games. I may have to go into hibernation for awhile.

Quickley played just under 18 minutes tonight. Unless that’s related to his sore knee, it’s criminal.

imagine if we didn’t go into the last minute shooting 64% from FT?
That’s why they call it the “free poirnt” line as Clyde would say

I don’t even know how I would begin to pronounce “poirnt.”

I was very right about Sexton, and very very wrong about Keyonte George in terms of guys we needed to pay special attention to. Didn’t watch the game. Why did George only play 4 minutes? Did he get hurt, or was it because he had two turnovers in those 4 minutes? (I’m assuming the former.)

I don’t even know how I would begin to pronounce “poirnt.”

Ha ha! Reminds me of how Clyde used to struggle to pronounce “Thabo Sefolosha”

Tough loss. Gotta hit free throws. Didn’t get a lot of calls and lived and died by the 3 ball. At least they fought back.

This is a really bad loss, surely one of the worst of this season. It’s much worse that what the score shows. Jazz came in ranked 26th in offensive rating, and 26th in defensive rating out of 30 teams. The Knicks didn’t have it on offense all night, while their defense was once again bad. They really brought it for the first eight minutes, and then the last five minutes when Utah was trying hard to bring them back into the game.

There are several tough games coming up and this team seems to have lost its identity.

What was “our identity,” again? Inconsistency? Not playing the right players at the right times and for the appropriate amounts of minutes? I think we’ve kept our identity just fine.

How long before Quick asks for a trade? I think no Mitch makes Thibs even more reluctant to play IQ and Brunson together.

Let’s start with playing consistent defense. Having energy, pressuring the ball, communicating, having sharp rotations, anticipating the pass, closing out on 3-point shooters, making second and third efforts, and so on and so forth. They had this for the first 15 games or so. Then it all went downhill. Good D creates advantages for good O, fast breaks, easy points, rhythm.

Everybody failed that particular test except for Quick, Donte, and Randle (and he gets dinged for two brain-dead shot clock violations and holding the ball repeatedly until the rest of his teammates stopped moving and turned into salt statues).

I’d give Quentin a D because while he was 1-4, he didn’t even get a shot until the fourth quarter. And I mean like no touches. That’s at least to some extent on Thibs and his teammates.

Look at the beginning and the end of this game. Utah was ready to fold as soon as you put some pressure on them. But the Knicks did not, with the exception of those two segments

Like i said earlier, the only possible excuse for playing Quickley only 18 minutes is the sore knee he’s been dealing with. If it’s not that it’s criminal.

This was old RJ. He couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean. So rather focusing on defense, rebounding, making plays etc… he kept chucking. It’s very frustrating to watch him when he’s acting like he’s some superstar that should keep shooting.

The energy and was not there until the last few minutes.

Missed free throws, dumb ass foul by IHART, a couple of missed calls and we wasted a really good effort from Randle and DDV.

That line up in for the last possession–Randle, Hart, IQ, DiVo, and Brunson–was a fun one. Would be down for more of that while Mitch is out. With their surplus of SGs/SFs, the Knicks could roll out some interesting 5 out lineups.

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