Is Joel okay?
Will Good Brunson show up?
Is Mitch okay?
Will Maxey supernova?
Where’s OG (offensively)?
Will Josh make four more threes?
iHart foul trouble?

The answer to any of these could turn the game. I’ll be there, but in fear and nausea. (Although I do expect a Knicks victory…)

Edit: And Pags, that was borderline negative… we haven’t even played Game 3 yet… suck it up…

I think we’re gonna turn on the afterburners tonight. And ironically I expect Hart to lead the way. He was dominant in Philly this year. Could be random but I think it’s a comfort level/Nova thing and I expect it to continue. Also counting on getting our maestro back.

While I am (very cautiously) optimistic about our chances to win the series as a team, I am deeply concerned and disappointed on Brunson.

Going into the playoffs, I really thought he had the kind of resilient scoring game that true superstars have, where they can never be truly shut down, only slowed. I was dead wrong.

Philly turned him into a complete offensive liability using nothing more than a couple of extremely ordinary wings and an small guard who is so old that it’s shocking he’s still playable in the league. I honestly don’t know how we stop other teams from replicating that now that the world has seen it on a big stage, because any future opponent will have the personnel to do it and hours of film on it working to perfection.

I think Brunson is just too small and too slow to be that kind of scorer. I thought the craftiness and the footwork and the IQ and the moves were good enough to weather any defense, and they probably would be if he was 6’6″, but as it is I don’t think he can ever be the best player on a championship team. I love his game. He’s as smart a player as there is in the league and IMO he’s deserving of 1st Team All-NBA based on his RS play this year.

However, he’s just a tier below the level of true superstar scorers like Luka, Embiid, Giannis, Jokic, or SGA. Given his pedigree and price, there’s no shame in that whatsoever.

Moreover, I’ve seen enough at this point to conclude that Maxey is the better player and asset — his RS numbers weren’t far off Brunson’s, he has plenty of upside left at 23, and he has dominated the matchup on both ends so badly that I’ve never seen the like in 30 years. Frankly, I’m not so sure Brunson would have carried the gang of corpses that are Philly’s role players any better in Embiid’s absence.

If we are going to become real contenders during Brunson’s prime, I think we now know that we do need that real 1A, a player better than both him and Randle, to anchor our offense.

I expect him to play (and honestly Mitch too, after one extra day of rest).

https://knickerblogger.net/2023/02/10/knicks-morning-news-2023-02-10/

Hey, this is the Hubert bought pool tickets to the Bowl and didn’t invite a date thread too! (I think Hubert might just be allergic to Josh Hart:)

Plus we have the historical market for (I’ll adjust my label for you) wings who cannot shoot league average. How many can you find over the last decade that netted a first round pick?

Gerald Wallace was traded three times for, like, multiple first round picks each time. One of those picks became Lillard, one became Tobias Harris, one became Kyle Kuzma, the list goes on. I’m sure there are others, but man, was Wallace ever a wing who couldn’t shoot for shit. He threw his body around the court a lot too, and hustlebunnied his way to big contracts. So the precedent says Leon could have paid a lot more for what he got.