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Game Thread 2023-24 Knicks vs. Raptors (RJ and IQ Return to NY Opener, which is kind of a thing)

The Raptors traded away Pascal Siakam, so that makes this game less concerning, but hey, you know that RJ and IQ will be trying their best tonight, so hopefully that doesn’t cause problems for the Knicks tonight.

It’d be nice if the Knicks could get a comfortable win so that OG can only play, like, 42 minutes tonight.

Even if the Raptors win this, it’s really not a big deal, but I sure would like for the Knicks to take this one in RJ and IQ’s return to New York.

Let’s go, Knicks!

154 replies on “Game Thread 2023-24 Knicks vs. Raptors (RJ and IQ Return to NY Opener, which is kind of a thing)”

Shelled out for the nosebleeds tonight, should be a great atmosphere. The Knicks haven’t had many compelling players for most of my life so IQ’s departure is one of the few times I can recall being genuinely sad about someone leaving the team. The last time was probably Nate Robinson.

Tonight won’t quite be as emotional for me as when Ewing returned with Seattle. I remember the game was on TNT and Knicks won easily, it was pretty sad seeing Ewing in a Sonics uniform but he got an incredible ovation before and at the end of the game. He also seemed genuinely touched and appreciative of the crowd reaction which was nice to see considering it wasn’t a great relationship in his final couple of seasons with the Knicks.

If we had just given IQ RJ’s contract life would be a lot better. Excited to see him out there.

I went to Jamal Crawford’s surprisingly emotional homecoming in 2008. It was one of the best games of David Lee’s career. He had like 38 & 20.

Alex Burcks put up 33/7/6 in a very close loss to Milwaukee earlier 👀

Boorkes’ stock is SOARING.

The Burlks situation has me wondering, how many players have been signed by a team, traded by that team, and then re-acquired by the original team while still on the original contract?

IQ! IQ! Oh, wait. No. Go Knicks!

The game that launched a thousand kvetches ….

It’s been a while since I was so sad watching former Knicks ready to play at the Garden…

(It has nothing to do with the good or bad of the trade, it’s just about emotions)

@Max. Same. I really thought our next championship trophy would be in IQ’s hands on the cover of the NYTimes. Legit sad.

It’s going to be weird watching RJ & IQ in Raptor black and red.

Amazing how quickly the world soured on my guy Deuce McBride. Maybe he’s just not ready yet but I have confidence in his growth. I remember IQ not being a great PG to start.

No Clint Capella any longer. Is that really an advantage?

Hopefully before the night is over the Knicks decide to give a shit about playing defense.

That thing about the Knicks being a low turnover team? Yeah, that’s a last year kind of thing

In the huddle with their new guys, you think IQ and RJ said, “All you gotta do is collapse on Randle … all night long.”

Very uncharacteristic turnovers for Brunson. All too characteristic turnovers from Randle.

Double teaming Randle is like an automatic basket on the other end. You can guarantee he is going to throw some comically bad pass

Promised myself no alcohol tonight….that was short lived after watching the first qtr…

Promised myself no alcohol tonight….that was short lived after watching the first qtr…

LOL

I wonder how they pick these featured dj’s each game…does some msg exec scour the nyc club scene

I know there’s a lot of traffic around MSG but I hope OG can arrive for the second quarter…

Precious making a bit of a case. Clyde noting also he’s the only bench player who scored in the second half last game.

We need the Spider-Man pointing at each other meme for Josh Hart and Bruce Brown when they pass up an open 3.

Come on guys,
they’re a bad shooting team with zero rim protection and rebounding, let’s make it easy…

OG right behind Randle as the “scariest” dribbler in the open court.

Randle finally opened the Magic Johnson DVD box set I sent him.

Knicks dominating every statistical category in this game except for the stupid turnovers.

AST/TO. Knicks 15/13, Raps 17/4, IQ 8/0

EDIT: Haha. BBA, Pepper, beat me to it.

Knicks have 13 turnovers. They averaged 13 turnovers/game last year.

It’s been the story of these last few games.

Who wins this pickup game? 😉

iHart, Randle, OG, Devo, Brunson
vs
KP, RJ, Cam, THJR, IQ

The reason we beat up on bad or mediocre teams is because we have the best player on the court.

Pretty simple.

Brunson is going to be the best player in a playoff series against players that everyone thinks are better than him.

37-14 rebounding advantage for the Knicks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.

I think I had Thaddeus Young on a fantasy team in 2005

Knicks really turned it around nicely

OG does not finish well around the rim unless he has the opportunity to dunk. Good thing he’s strong and can get to the basket and dunk often enough.

Randle might get a quadruple double tonight (sitting at 7 TOs).

Edit: he’s been really good though.

And people still get mad at Thibs for keeping Brunson in the game and benching Deuce…

The bench continues to be a weakness. Once upon a time it was IQ, DDV, Hart, Hartenstein plus a starter. IQ is gone. DDV and Hartenstein are starters now. Now Deuce, Grimes, Hart and Precious just isn’t doing it.

And people still get mad at Thibs for keeping Brunson in the game and benching Deuce…

… bc we need guys like Deuce to figure it out (in January) or we replace them so that guys like Brunson and Hartenstein don’t end up in the locker room ….

I just don’t know what’s there to figure out with Deuce, he’s Frank Ntilikina, period. He treats the paint as if it is made of lava, and once his 3pt% go back to normal he’ll be just as useless on offense. There’s not much to figure out, we need better players.

I don’t think we can exaggerate just how good OG is defensively, it’s insane how active he is.

This is why you don’t play 7 footers 40 minutes. Hope it’s not serious.

We are getting good Precious though.

Masai did let Lowry go basically for nothing (Achiuwa and a 2nd?), let VanVleet go for absolutely nothing and traded this year 1st round pick for Poeltl.

Now he got “something” back for his two expiring players (that he should have traded last year), but he has a lot of work to do, they’re a ragtag bunch.

And try to imagine this blog if Leon had done the same things… 😀

Now Precious I’m still intrigued by. He has all the physical skills, maybe he can be shaped into an actual basketball player. No big expectations at all, but I do think he’s worth keeping around.

I just don’t know what’s there to figure out with Deuce, he’s Frank Ntilikina, period.

I be to differ. Yeah, he’s a defense first guard but he can score. It’s just he hasn’t really had opportunities. And as the point guard, he’s showing a lack of experience in running the game. The question is whether or not Thibs is patient with him.

There’s not much to figure out, we need better players.

I may even agree with you, but they’re still on the team, so we should use them (in January).

For example, Precious is having a serviceable night so far. 5/6, 7 boards, 1Blk, 10 points.

The Raptors playing this small has allowed the Knicks to switch much more than we usually see them (or am I imagining it). I think this has helped avoid giving up open 3pts.

I know Grimes has a quick release but he has been rushing his shots. That’s why he’s not shooting well.

Knicks do have 2 days off before their next game, can’t let the starters get rusty!

Have both teams still won the trade?

The Raptors are missing Poeltl tonight and traded Siakim for mostly picks. They are at the start of a 2-4 year reset. We’ll see where RJ and IQ are then.

I understand the argument GoNy and kba, I just don’t see it happening for Deuce because I don’t think he has the instincts to ever attack the basket. You see with young PGs, even when they are terribly inefficient early in their careers, they either get to the rim or they don’t. I think it’s extremely rare for such a passive player to somehow learn how to attack aggressively, it’s not a minutes thing, it’s who he is unfortunately. Love the kid, nothing against him, would love to see him succeed, but I just don’t see a path for him to ever be more than a 10 minutes guy who shoots some 3s and defends.

Watching Grady Dick trying to guard Jalen Brunson is high comedy

Clyde is hilarious.

“Lost to the Bulls of all people.” haha

And, yeah, Bruno. I hear you. I just want Thibs to use all his toys so he doesn’t break the shiny ones.

EDIT: I hope Precious gets the interview with Rebecca tonight.

Jalen Brunson is fucking amazing.

After decades of putrid PGs I’m still in disbelief the Knicks have this guy.

I think Thibs has dark magic powers that transfer his center’s skills to their replacement when they get hurt.

Precious wrecking folks.

Totally agreed on Clyde and Breen although I think we give them their due. We know what we have.

And totally agreed on OG. With IQ, his defensive numbers were great but you never could actually watch it happen somehow. With OG you can. All the time. It’s incredible. He swallowed RJ whole twice.

When this game settled down and turned into more of a half court game the Raptors just couldn’t hang with us at all.

Should be interesting post game comments on here

Will some posters stay hidden in their cave 🤐

Deuce’s bad plays tonight weren’t of the “need more reps” variety, they were of the “not talented enough to play point guard in the NBA” variety. Had trouble picking up a basic dribble and making a rudimentary pass.

He’s not as bad as he looked in this game, but yikes.

Gonna be interesting to see what people can complain about now over the next couple of days lol

was legit surprised to see ancient Mick Jagger was in the crowd

… was overheard saying, “Are they seriously whinging about 40min/game on KB? I’m doing like 120/night!”

And totally agreed on OG. With IQ, his defensive numbers were great but you never could actually watch it happen somehow. With OG you can. All the time. It’s incredible.

He’s quickly become my favorite Knicks to watch. What he does is so impressive. Every game there are like 3-4 plays he single handedly wrecks.

People were saying his defense had declined a bit this year with the Raps, which is hard to believe (maybe he is reinvigorated post trade?).

+30 on rebounds tonight. It’s ridiculous.

I-Hart had 4 rebounds in 23 minutes, which makes me think he was feeling his ankle all game.

MSG was awesome tonight.

— a sold out, standing O, after beating the 7th worst team in the league, in January. You bet RJ and IQ are homesick.

Just finding out now about iHart. Was hoping Thibs was just riding with Precious to give him some rest and because Precious was revenge gaming hard.

Not much to say besides we are deep fried if he misses real time.

JK47 and Bruno,
I feel you but here’s a stat worth considering. Deuce has played double-digit minutes just 55 times in the past 2 1/2 years with the Knicks. He doesn’t get floor time. He hasn’t really had time to gel. They just signed him to a deal so he’ll be around for a bit. If the Knicks can keep winning with him as the backup, he might make it through this initiation period.

Isaiah’s been incredibly durable for a while now…

one or two games off would be nice for him…

shoot, once he gets some rest, sit julius for a couple of games…

this is one of the odder bits of data reference the NBA – from the stuff I read – resting, playing less supposedly is not that impactful…

it’ hard to believe, but i think i’ve seen that written a few times…

so rest isaiah, rest julius, rest OG, then do it again for jalen…

hopefully our focus becomes more and more on the post-season…

Go NY mentioned it, now is the time to give deuce some run and freedom…

oh yeah, OG is the real deal…it’s like his points/rebounds/assists are all gravy next to his defense…

what a joy to watch…

I think Deuce is just a very niche NBA player. He’s 6 feet and change with sub NBA ball skills, but is a good POA defender and can maybe sorta kinda shoot. We probably overpaid a bit for an 11th-12th man, but that’s fine and there’s a little upside too.

OG. Oh man. Just what the doctor ordered for this team. Now the front court is legit. Add Mitch and a true scorer to the bench and we have something.
We all know that Grimes and Fournier plus picks are gone, right? If the Knicks do get Dejounte Murray or another starter-level player, they’re gone. One name I haven’t heard but would be intriguing is Marcus Smart.
And a quick note. Thibs made a point of saying how confident he was in his center position. He added “Sims is ready”. I think iHart is getting some injury rest.

I get the vibe that RJ is relieved to not be a Knick anymore and happy to be back home where he can grow and chill without the expectations and NYC spotlight and has the support of his home country. But that IQ is quite depressed that he’s gone. Just a vibe in feeling and maybe in wrong.

But that IQ is quite depressed that he’s gone. Just a vibe in feeling and maybe in wrong.

Think both Thibs and IQ feel the same way. Thib probably wished he played him 28+ minutes and IQ wished he accepted his extension offer.

you’re probably right swifty…RJ looks right in a raptors uniform, maybe even get another contract or extension from them…

i have a feeling quik may be heading to the western conference after this season…

Katz posted on Twitter that Hartenstein has a sore left ankle and will be updated tomorrow by the medical staff. Doesn’t seem too serious thankfully.

I love IQ. I really think he was great … in his role. But he’s not Jalen Brunson. He’s not the starting PG on a championship team. Brunson can be. IQ as the 6th man is awesome. As a starter? Think Peter principle. He’ll get rich this offseason because someone else loves the stats but I don’t see him as an all-star.
RJ always belonged in Toronto. I’ve always kinda felt he would end up there. Good for him.

This is a fun but tricky trade season for us.

On one hand, we shouldn’t impede our ability to throw the motherlode pick package at the next star because no trade we make is going to make us contenders this year.

On the other, this team could be really good with some added scoring punch, and this market has some pretty solid options in that department between Rozier, Alex Borkelstein, Bogdan and Bojan, and some others.

Something like Fournier, Grimes, and one of the protected firsts seems like a happy medium, though I could be convinced both that we should be more and less aggressive.

Back breaking loss for the packers

They should have won that game..not really impressed with the niners

Ravens seem like the favorites to win it all. Lamar is the difference

All Star voting ends at midnight. Mind boggling that Trae is second on the guard spot. Numbers looks good but is he deserving a starting spot?

Vote Brunson! (He’ll make it as a reserve but he and Halliburton should be starting)

GoNY,

You might be right but IQ is 24 and Brunson is 27 but look at the leap Brunson took in the last three years.

I think ultimately he’s a good starter or amazing 6th man and probably not quite on brunson’s level but he’s also always going to be a better defender.

All in all as much as I am glad we have OG and don’t want to dwell on the past it just SUCKS we had to sacrifice him to trade RJ and get OG. And while I don’t believe Hubs is right about not having to include IQ to get OG, I definitely understand thinking that bc our team right now if we had IQ would be absolute fire especially if Mitch comes back healthy.

But oh well. Getting OG was obviously the right move. We now just gotta find that replacement for IQ.

I think ultimately he’s a good starter or amazing 6th man and probably not quite on brunson’s level but he’s also always going to be a better defender.

Not quite on Brunson’s level is a massive understatement. I love IQ as much as anyone, but he’s not even in the same stratosphere

I was referring to where I think IQ will end up not comparing him to Brunson now.

But look at Brunson’s numbers his age 24 season and compare them to IQ’s now. IQ is actually ahead of him in. A lot of categories vs. what Brunson did that season. But his next season, his last one at Dallas, was when he took a huge leap and then obviously he took another huge one with us.

So it’s not absurd to think IQ can get close to Jalen’s level.

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