The Knicks host the Orlando Magic, but more importantly, after missing just two games (and even one of those he technically played about a minute), Jalen Brunson is back, which is cause for great celebration.
The Knicks and Magic are close in the standings at the moment, but come on, once OG returns, the Knicks will leave these other teams behind (but okay, likely won’t pass the Bucks or the Cavs), so let’s just be happy that Brunson is back.
A win tonight would be nice, as well, though.
Let’s go, Knicks!
128 replies on “Game Thread 2023-24 Knicks vs. Magic: Brunson is Already Back Opener, Which is a Thing Today”
The Little General is back!
Let’s Go Knicks!
Suggs is out. He is such a difficult matchup for Brunson.
Gooooo Knicks! 🏀
Sounds like OG should be back in either the next game or one after that!
Precious fouled him. Plus one for the Knicks…
Extend the Hustle Bunny!
Hart dominating 😀
Orlando is just 23rd in offensive rating mostly cause they can’t shoot 3s so would be nice to have a game where the other team isn’t shooting lights out for once.
I know it probably hasn’t been very long but it feels like we’ve gone 2 months without taking an early lead in a game
Magnificent start for I-Hart, the waterpolo assist was a beauty!
Beautiful action for Donte’s 3.
iHart looks REALLY good so far.
Great pass by iHart
This looks refreshing compared to what we’ve been watching.
Brunson seems ok
boy it’s nice to have JB back
That Houston ref is back tonight.
Steph Brunson !!! 😀
smh
I swear to you the Magic really do suck offensively…
Don’t like leaving them open from 3
It doesn’t matter what their usual shooting percentages are, Knicks opponents are destined to hit 40+ percent of their 3s.
Ingles x Bojan might lead to the singularity.
That Deuce shot looks so good right now
Did I mention that I love Deuce…
I have expressed Deuce: NBA Rotation Player skepticism in the past that I’m on the road to retracting
Deuce sharpshooter
…and Bogey CAN dunk…!
…barely…
LOL
ISM’s been out longer than Mitch.
Bojan locking up Joe Ingles is like a vision of the Senior NBA Tour
I saw something earlier today on Twitter about opponents FG% on wide open shots. Knicks opponents had 6th highest %.
We don’t funnel like we used to.
Weirdly sensible replacement rotations so far…
It’s like having two real starters available make things start to fit together.
Win the challenge just to have Deuce turn it over leading to a Magic fastbreak.
So this lineup could actually be the bench lineup of the health squad.
Never talk about a player’s FTs streak before a FT…
This might be the longest Brunson has sat in a game since January.
It must have taken at least a year off Thibs life to have to sit Brunson for 8 minutes
I really hope Berks starts not sucking soon because I really don’t like despising his very existence so much.
I was about to say something mean about Precious but he’s made a couple nice plays now
You could see Precious lining up that block from a mile away
lol I think Paolo threw that up to draw a foul but it just went in instead
Maybe give Burks’ minutes to Shake and see if he can provide something.
I wish Leon could find a way to get his hands on Isaac.
How can you not love Josh Hart.
There’s only one Josh Hart and I’m happy we have him
How is that not an and-1?
I’m starting to understand why the refs hate Josh Hart, he complains almost as much as Luka.
Josh Hart is a yapper
Jaclyn Goble
I had to google that. Not gonna lie: thought it was gonna be funnier.
whatever’s going on with donte, i wish it would pass…his timing has looked off a bunch lately…
I think Brunson helps us a little bit
Banchero’s got a lot in his bag but he takes some stupid ass shots sometimes
Best half since Philadelphia.
MUCH better quarter from Precious. He was awful in the first.
Very nice couple of minutes to close the half too.
Good first half, now I want Shake, Burks looks cooked beyond the shooting slump issues…
Brunson circling the Magic players to score was amazing 🙂
Is the Magic’s offense this bad or did we just play very good defense?
I was going to lead off earlier with maybe we give Brunson another day off. I formally and officially take that back.
Apparently it’s Jacyn not Jaclyn. But he was the one under the basket on that Hart drive (I also thought he was fouled).
Bit of both, they really can’t shoot
With Suggs out they have no good outside shooters (incredible to say that of a guy who hit 29% from 3 last year, but he’s a 40% shooter this year). They also take some bad shots. The 8 blocks helped too. I thought the Knicks played very good defense. I-Hart looks closer to his January self.
I mentioned earlier, they’re 23rd in offensive rating and have been in the bottom 10 all season long. They’re 25th in 3pt%. They’ve been a nice story but really aren’t that good, Knicks SRS even with it taking a hit the past month is still double of Orlando’s.
The Magic offense isn’t very good, but we did block 8 shots and out hustle bunny all around effort has been elite.
Can’t watch but seems like it’s going well.
From what I understand, the Magic offense is like playing Hart & Achiuwa together even when nobody is injured.
if nobody scores we win so this is fine
Turnover fiesta
January I-Hart is BACK, baby.
This is the best iHart has looked in a few weeks.
haha, stretch precious
Ugly basketball, we made a dumb play after every great play, it’s maddening…
Then Precious hit a three 🤓
What a god awful 6 mins of hoop. Enough with the fucking sloppy rushed turnovers guys! Jesus Christ. Settle down!!
FTs 15-3 for Orlando is a bit silly
Brunson is otherworldly
big sneeze hustling
Light at the end of the tunnel vibes.
Been awhile since Knicks have dominated a game like this.
We deserve one of these games
Orlando is used to bullying teams, and then they come and get bullied by the Knicks.
Yeah really feels that way with OG coming back soon
Banchero reminds me a lot of Melo at times, but I think even Melo had better shot selection.
Seriously how the fuck is Orlando that high in the standings.
Knicks defense has been outstanding tonight
They really miss Suggs tonight.
But I think they are not that great. Their SRS is like just over 1.
Man, Deuce and Precious are two lovable scrubs!
I can’t believe how many UFOs Bojan has shot for us
Really don’t know what is wrong with Bojan and Burks.
I told ya’ll that things would be fine!
How do you not call time out with your player hurt on the floor?
It just seems like when we get lead over 25 points, we chuck bad threes and let the other team shoot threes. It’s happens a bunch of times this year.
I can’t watch. Who was hurt?
Cole Anthony, I think.
I don’t think even the most cockeyed optimist was thinking that way after the Brunson scare, but I applaud your attitude Brian!
Bojan has not been brilliant so far but had his moments, while Burks is a ghost, he sleepwalks through the games, it’s hard to believe we gave away anything (even Flynn or Archie) for him.
Donte breaking ankles out there, not in a good way!
Third best defense in the league wins a lot of games.
Devo commits some ghastly turnovers, including the one that should have lost us the game to the Pistons.
DiVo didn’t have a very good game but knocked down out two opponents without even committing a foul! If he can do that in the playoffs, we will be fine 😊😊😊
They went up by 26 or so and then stopped playing. I don’t like that Thibs is bringing back Brunson but the team looks really bad right now.
Thanks Marechal.
I don’t know what it is about Brunson’s style, but it does feel like he never gets calls.
Brunson has 0 FT attempts lol
Josh Hart raises the roof!
One word you can never use to describe Josh Hart is disengaged
We are drunk from 3 tonight, it’s like all the shots we should have made last game have returned
I’m not watching, but from the ESPN game tracker it looks like Thibs took out Brunson with three minutes left because we are up a lot. Will wonders never cease!
I-Hart only played 20 minutes tonight. Did he play in the 4th at all? I hope he’s ok.
What a difference a good Brunson and a good I-Hart can make! The one settled down the offense, the other settled down the defense, the Knicks got into a rhythm, and the Magic never did! I-Hart played two good games since he came back and we won both times, in Cleveland and tonight. This was a January type defense! Amazing and much needed win!
one of the best played winning games in a long time…
Shake… and bake? 😀
Now if OKC can hold of Miami and the Wolves can beat the Cavs, this would be a fantastic night.
Good win, very good defense, lowest opponent’s score in nearly 12 years.
Next step is getting OG back, 50-wins still doable…
I loves me some Precious!
Awwww we love ya Precious!
Sweep Philly next 2 games and officially put them in the rear view mirror.
And we held them to the lowest score in the league this season 🙂
Philly is in free fall but it’s sooo hard to beat any team back to back no matter how shitty they are.
The Magic don’t have shooters and their offense is not good, especially if they don’t get into a rhythm. We never allowed them to do that. We controlled the paint and dared them to beat us from the outside. They suck at that! Tonight’s game was also an answer to those who were afraid of meeting this team in the post season.
T-Wolves take the lead over the Cavs by one, Gobert fouls out with an offensive foul with 28 seconds left and makes a money sign at the ref and gets tech’d up, what a fucking bozo.
I was about to post the same thing, DRed. So freaking stupid.
And then Garland doesn’t get a shot off!
At least Miami lost
Think he’s still on minutes restriction.
gobert is such a meathead…
Oh, I didn’t think they were going to be fine when Brunson looked like he was seriously hurt, but once it was clear it wasn’t a major injury, I knew things would be fine. They’re likely not going higher than #4 (although, who knows? I’m not ruling it just yet, especially as they have the tiebreaker with the Cavs), but I think they’re definitely getting the #4 seed.
Ideally we take the first game with our team as is, then get OG back for the second game for a little boost to take ’em both.