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Game Thread 2023-24 Knicks vs. Pelicans (Brunson and iHart-less Opener, which is a bad thing)

The Knicks take on the New Orleans Pelicans with literally a single player available from their ideal starting lineup (Brunson, DDV, OG, Randle and Mitch/iHart). That’s not good.

However, knowing these dudes, I wouldn’t even put a surprise win past them tonight, with, like, 40 points from Burks or some shit.

Let’s go, Knicks!

142 replies on “Game Thread 2023-24 Knicks vs. Pelicans (Brunson and iHart-less Opener, which is a bad thing)”

can we just forfeit now…save ourselves a bunch of time and heartache…

edit: Go Knicks!

ha, good luck with that this evening, huh…

The more distant future is obviously a separate question, but in the 2024 playoffs I would much, much, much rather have Bogey than Quentin Grimes. We’ve got guys who can defend tough wings already. What we desperately need are guys who can take some offensive pressure off Brunson.

That is fair and really the question. If Bojan ends up being good for us in the playoffs and does in fact take pressure off of Brunson then the trade is defendable.

I personally have my doubts partly because I don’t trust Bojan and partly because I’m not sure Thibs does either. But we will see.

Go Knicks!

Donte might break the Knicks record for 3 point attempts tonight, which would actually be ok since we basically have no other offensive options.

I kind of like that the medical staff yanked Brunson and iHart. That’s the benefit of the blown call.

hi raven,

here you go:

@FredKatz
Knicks starters:

Miles McBride
Donte DiVincenzo
Josh Hart
Precious Achiuwa
Jericho Sims
4:10 PM · Feb 27, 2024

i’m very interested to see who leads the team in assists tonight…josh hart probably…

no doubt as precious and bogey sit down in the locker room lacing up their boots for this evening – precious will give a sly wink over to bogey from within thibs’ circle of trust…

One of the all-too-many games that makes me mad we give a roster spot to a Snoopy character

I’m excited to see extended minutes for McBride he is fun to watch and usually steps up when given more rope. It would be nice to get another shooter into the starting lineup. This would be a great low risk way to see what Bojan can bring and what he can handle.

Start:
McBride
DDV
Bojan
Hart
Precious

Bench
Burks
Brown Jr
Jefferies
Sims

That’s better but still pretty rough. There are better or at least more ready to contribute players than Washington Jr, Brown Jr, and Toppin if we want to scour the free-agent pool a little more.

We need to do better at filling the end of the bench with at least semi-useful players.

There are better or at least more ready to contribute players than Washington Jr

Duane is hurt too

Zion slapped Hart in the face and there was no call. At least save the makeup non-call for the next time we play the Pistons!

The Knicks play physical so the refs think that hitting them in the face is not a foul.

PGs: Ish Smith, Cory Joseph, Killian Hayes
Wings: Mo Harkless, TJ Warren, Justice Winslow, Stanley Johnson, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Jeremy Lamb
Bigs: Nerlens Noel, Harry Giles, Tony Bradley, Wenyen Gabriel

Not an impressive list but certainly better than Washington Jr, Brown Jr, Toppin, or empty roster spots. We can do better.

Can Bojan get 30m in a game where we have 7 active players and one other guy who can score?

Thibs is a funny dude, man. He’s gonna just do his thing no matter what common sense has to say about it

You know maybe Zion is the target. I think if we got him in here with the Villanova culture he’d grow up pretty fast.

The trouble with Bogey in this matchup is that if you play him with the starters he has to guard Ingram or Zion, neither of which is a good option.

Also it would be nice to get just an average 3pt shooting performance from the opposition one of these nights.

Well, it’s been awhile since we had a final score in the 70’s. 60’s might be on the table here tonight.

I was thinking this would be the night for Bogey and Burps to prove the doubters wrong, but alas, not the case.

I honestly think we should rest every rotation player at this point and lose by 50. Let some fans suit up and play or something

Is the plan just to play Sims, Precious, and McBride 45+ minutes? Cause that seems like a poor plan.

Has anyone made the DDV/Starks comparison? I mean, I’m talking out of my ass having seen zero John Starks games from start to finish, but seems like maybe a thing.

The trouble with Bogey in this matchup is that if you play him with the starters he has to guard Ingram or Zion, neither of which is a good option.

I’ll fix it for you.

The trouble with Bogey is that if you play him with the starters he has to guard an NBA player and that’s not a good option.

Is the plan just to play Sims, Precious, and McBride 45+ minutes? Cause that seems like a poor plan.

He hasn’t contributed to any of their injuries yet and it’s pissing him off.

Is the plan just to play Sims, Precious, and McBride 45+ minutes? Cause that seems like a poor plan.

I think Thibs thinks there’s a bonus if he gets every single rotation player hurt at once

Not the most aesthetically pleasing group, but they’re hanging tough.

Bogey should try to make things easier on people who have vouched for him on message boards though.

Has anyone made the DDV/Starks comparison? I mean, I’m talking out of my ass having seen zero John Starks games from start to finish, but seems like maybe a thing.

Donte is a much better shooter

TNFH I saw a lot of Starks, not a bad comparison to DDV. Both streaky shooters, hard nosed defenders, and dare I say hustle_____

But yeah so far in his career, Donte is a better shooter

If we only play 7 players I’m worried we are going to run out of gas and get blown out in the 4th. Thibs needs to find a way to bring in someone else from the bench so DDV, Hart, and Precious aren’t completely gassed by the final 5 minutes.

Newest Knicks are 4-11 so far. It would be nice if they shot well one of these nights.

Also the only Knicks with a positive +/-

Bogey shoots well quite often, Burks not so much

Bojan is the game’s leading scorer, like he has a bunch of flaws but the dude is a bucket

Unfortunately this has all the makings of 3 guys playing 40+ minutes in an infuriating loss. Surprise me guys!

Deuce should have been back there to close the half. Burks has been putrid.

Edit: thanks, Thibs.

Starks is my favorite Knick (which requires a lot of therapy). Both guys have/had similar motors and toughness. IMO Donte has a higher BB IQ.

Me: why the fuck is Bojan guarding Zion
Me watching Alec Burks guard Zion: Why the fuck isn’t Bojan guarding Zion

Me: why the fuck is Bojan guarding Zion
Me watching Alec Burks guard Zion: Why the fuck isn’t Bojan guarding Zion

Me: why isn’t Zion attacking Bojan every single possession.

This is the way to use Bojan. Every minute he is on the floor he needs to be the 1st or 2nd option. If he isn’t he gives way too much back everywhere else.

We also shouldn’t be playing anyone over 20 minutes in the 1st half, we have 3 over 20. I have a feeling we are going to get destroyed in the last 10 minutes of this game.

I will say though, we are fighting hard. It feels scrappier than many of our recent losses. It’s good to see.

Other teams have to be so embarrassed by how the Knicks outwork them every time.

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Unfortunately this has all the makings of 3 guys playing 40+ minutes in an infuriating loss. Surprise me guys!

The surprise will be 4 guys playing 40+ mins in an infuriating loss.

Bogey Hive is back up after the 2nd quarter. We’re basically pretending he’s Melo tonight and he’s holding up okay. He might be the second best scorer on the team even when we’re fully healthy.

I agree that both teams are probably being a little foolish with minutes.

I think if Thibs could have bought DDV, Precious, and Hart 3-4 more minutes of rest this half by playing Burks a bit more and then also playing one of our other bench players (Jeffries maybe?) 4-5 minutes it would give us a lot more potential gas for the 2nd half. Then ride those players for 20+ minutes in the 2nd half. If they end with 38 minutes it’s fine, if they end up with 42 minutes it means they were probably less effective down the stretch.

Donte might play less if Burks weren’t garbage, but Burks has very much been garbage

They’ve had to dig pretty deep as well. I just can’t help but think how much Justice Winslow or Stanley Johnson or Ish Smith would help us right now and instead we converted Toppin to a ten-day and resigned Jeffries to get us to the roster minimum.

The next 3 minutes is the game. If they get it over 10 I am worried it will get out of hand quick. We need to score a couple baskets soon.

At least we are not Brooklyn. I thought they would be a little better but they are trash. If I was Bridges I would be making a stink over the summer, especially with all his friends thriving right across the river.

Oof. Missed the first half and as soon as I tune in they go from “hanging tough” to “unable to score”. Maybe I’ll turn it off again.

I really don’t get Thibs sometimes. Zion is sitting so Bojan gets a good matchup on defense if he’s on the floor. Sigh.

I’m wondering how many coaches would have this team playing this hard and being 8 points down vs. Pels at this point in the game…

Some one did predict Hart would lead the team in assists and if he gets that he’s likely to be close to a triple double since he gets so many rebounds. But we only have nineteen assists as a team so far, so it’s likely no one comes close to ten of them. But it’s more than the Pels have

Note, I’m only reading the box score. I’m not in a position to watch.

7 going into the 4th is nominally very much a game, but with this group it’s an open question whether we can score 7 in a quarter

It’s a minor miracle it’s only 7 points when they are shooting 29% from 3.

Edit: oh well that didn’t last long.

The fight remains but having no center isn’t great when it comes to defending Zion.

Bogey Bogey.

That was a dumb foul by Deuce on Zion, Precious looked like he was in pretty good position to contest

This might be Ellis Burks’ worst game as a Knick but picking his worst game is like trying to pick your favorite Beatles album

You guys love effort so much but these other teams keep coming in here, work half as hard, and leave with W’s because they play their lineups that can shoot over the ones that hustle.

You guys love effort so much but these other teams keep coming in here, work half as hard, and leave with W’s because they can shoot.

To be fair we’re trying to win with Jericho Sims and Precious Achiuwa, and the third best offensive player we have available is Miles McBride

You guys love effort so much but these other teams keep coming in here, work half as hard, and leave with W’s because they can shoot.

That might be one of the most cynical takes ever considering we’re literally missing our entire starting lineup

That might be one of the most cynical takes ever considering we’re literally missing our entire starting lineup

That’s some Donte erasure right here!

To be fair we’re trying to win with Jericho Sims and Precious Achiuwa, and the third best offensive player we have available is Miles McBride

We chose to play Bojan less minutes than those guys.

Dude’s our best offensive player, he’s got 20 pts, is plus 3, and he’s sixth in minutes played tonight!

They played hard tonight but the miracle did not happen. The thing I did not like the most was that a lot of those Pels threes were uncontested. One the other end, we missed a ton, literally a ton of makeable shots, including open threes. Brace yourselves as we are inside a totally brutal stretch. Nobody knows where we will be in the standings at the end of next week.

Leon and Thibs will soon be able to use the injury card for the season falling off the cliff

Bojan would’ve played more than Sims if it weren’t for garbage time

Fournier & Grimes a combined 0-7 and I don’t expect them to re-enter the game. They can’t touch the human torch that is Asmodeus Burps and his 1-7 night

“Holy crap Strus just made a half court shot at the buzzer to win it for the Cavs”

That was sick…and sickening!

Even though we know we’re ridiculously shorthanded, it still sucks to have teams like the Mavs, the Pacers and the Pelicans come into MSG and kick our ass.

I really don’t get why they didn’t prioritize getting a real backup point guard. Seeing Deuce as the only point guard in a game is sad.

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