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[CBS Sports] – Sun, 05 May 2024 22:02:00 GMT
- 2024 NBA playoff predictions: Expert picks for second round, with Knicks, Celtics favored to move on
- NBA playoffs 2024: Conference semifinals news, schedule, scores and highlights
- Series previews: What to expect in semifinals of 2024 NBA playoffs
- NBA playoffs: Predictions for each second-round series and Game 7 of Cavaliers-Magic
- NBA playoff bracket: Second round updated schedule, games today
[New York Post] – Sun, 05 May 2024 18:41:00 GMT
- Tom Thibodeau swipes back at Jimmy Butler after bizarre Knicks rant
- Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau Reacts to Jimmy Butler’s Video, Jokes He’d ‘Beat Him to a Pulp’
- Heat’s Jimmy Butler claims Celtics ‘would be at home’ if he had played in first-round series
- Jimmy Butler Takes Shot at Celtics After Heat Eliminated by Boston
- Jimmy Butler Bluntly Names NBA Coach He Refuses To Play For
[New York Post] – Mon, 06 May 2024 04:24:00 GMT
- Stan Van Gundy breaks down Knicks-Pacers series
- Indiana Pacers vs New York Knicks May 6, 2024 Game Summary
- Knicks vs. Pacers odds, score prediction, time: 2024 NBA playoff picks, Game 1 best bets from proven model
- Can Indiana slow Jalen Brunson? Will New York contain Tyrese Haliburton?
- Knicks And Pacers Renew NBA Playoffs Rivalry From 1990’s
[Sports Illustrated] – Sun, 05 May 2024 22:04:41 GMT
Philly Radio Host Has Heated Rant About Sixers’ Loss to Knicks
[New York Post] – Sun, 05 May 2024 23:47:00 GMT
- Donte DiVincenzo to guard Tyrese Haliburton in critical Knicks-Pacers matchup
- Fearless Josh Hart is perfectly built for Knicks, NYC spotlight
- What college did Josh Hart go to?
- Knicks’ Josh Hart expects Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton to test his conditioning
[The Athletic] – Mon, 06 May 2024 08:31:10 GMT
NBA Playoffs expert picks, odds for Monday: Pacers at Knicks, Timberwolves at Nuggets
[New York Post] – Sun, 05 May 2024 21:22:00 GMT
- Knicks’ Josh Hart bracing for Pacers fans’ boos after trashing Indiana
- Knicks’ Josh Hart has hilarious praise for TJ McConnell: ‘Annoying little s–t’
- Josh Hart: Pacers’ T.J. McConnell ‘an annoying little s—‘
- Knicks Bulletin: “I’m not stepping foot in that state.”
- Knicks’ Josh Hart Ready For Pacers After Indiana Comments Resurface
[New York Daily News] – Sun, 05 May 2024 20:13:09 GMT
The Knicks have struggled against stretch 5s and Pacers’ Myles Turner is one of the best
[New York Post] – Sun, 05 May 2024 10:30:00 GMT
- Former Raptor stars now squaring off in Knicks-Pacers showdown
- Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton became friends with Team USA
- How the Pacers and Knicks match up position-by-position
- Scottie Barnes ‘can’t wait’ to watch former Raptors Pascal Siakam, O.G. Anunoby face off in 2024 NBA Playoffs
- Knicks’ Jalen Brunson Speaks up on Rivalry With Tyrese Haliburton
106 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.05.06)”
I assume Brian is going to start a predictions thread sometime this morning, but in the meantime, let’s go with a Question of the Day:
What should OG’s primary defensive assignment be in this series: Haliburton, Siakam, or someone else who allows him to play free safety?
I think Siakam is the only one who allows him to play safety.
I would put Hart on Haliburton and Oh Gee on Siakam.
They are going DDV. Mixing up coverages to try and confuse. OG will start on Siakam. Hart will be the roamed. Indy will screen with Brunson’s man to get Hali switched on to Jalen. DDV should try to go under and recover until Hali shows he can hit the 3 off the dribble.
Something to watch: Haliburton has hit .303 of his 3PAs post all star break (I can’t check post-injury, but it mostly coincides) and .296 in the first round of the playoffs. I agree with cgreene: I think they absolutely need to see if he is hitting his 3s and then adjust.
Nesmith is another one who hasn’t been nearly as good from deep post-ASB (.452 to .337).
Really, as a team, the Pacers went from one of the very best 3pt hitting teams pre-ASB (.381%) to below average after (.359%). Part of it is Hali and Nesmith’s decline/regression, part of it is getting Siakam in the lineup, but I wonder if some of it is teams figuring out how to guard them better?
3pt shooting isn’t really Indiana’s strength, their 3pt% was only slightly higher than the Knicks and despite playing at a much faster pace they actually made less 3pters than the Knicks during the regular season.
Both in his newsletter this morning, and in conversation with Katz on yesterday’s podcast, Macri seems to think the following, regarding the 8th man:
1. Precious is much more likely to play at center than at backup PF, which means we may only see him if Mitch is hurt or ineffective.
2. Macri and Katz both think Allan Burj Khalifa is the more likely 8th guy, that his minutes will probably be limited — just enough to give Hart or DDV a breather — and that he’ll only be on the court at the same time Brunson is. Point Bergdorf is dead, thankfully.
For once, he may be in a situation too good for him to mess up?
bidiong stated this over the weekend: “Jimmy Butler is running his mouth about the Knicks. L O L”
But then nothing else was said about it? What is the context? What did playoff Jimmy try to say about us, now that he is out of the playoffs and we are…….well, *not* out of the playoffs!
Doogie, here’s a Butler trash talk clip:
https://twitter.com/KnicksMuse/status/1786830933372314070
I had a random thought. I wonder if our strategy of hitting the offensive boards so hard is going to cost us defensively against a running team like Indiana. When we don’t get the board, we also won’t get back as quickly on defense. We could have some transition issues in this series.
Thanks, Alan. What a knob (Jimmy is). Talking about how badly he’d kill the Knicks (and the Celtics) after he’s already been eliminated only enhances his reputation as a “fake tough guy.” Doesn’t he know this?
Kobe cosplayed Jordan to be sure, but I’m getting some distinct MJ vibes from Anthony Edwards.
Strat, I think we can live with the periodic Obi transition leak-out if it means absolutely crushing them on rebounding overall. The Pacers are bad at defensive rebounding, and not substantially better on the offensive glass. If iHart, Josh Hart, Mitch, and OG beast on the boards, there won’t be as many fast break opportunities for Indy to begin with. Play our game, not theirs.
Alan, Brian did the prediction thread on Friday.
And I haven’t seen much evidence that OG is as great on PGs as he is on large wings so it would be Siakim for me.
This is a great series for Precious Achiuwa bc I think he’s really good when switched on to guards and he and OG seem to have a telepathy going.
Oh, right. Senior moment.
I can see the Knicks possibly beating Indiana in five games, but I don’t want to be (or even feel) overconfident about it, so I’ll stick with my prediction of the Knicks prevailing in six games. I was literally going to say “Knicks in sicks” the other day, but being who I am I figured I wouldn’t deserve to get away with an obvious purposeful misspelling. 🙂 I was glad to see that someone else used it, though…….I apologize for not quite remembering who it was (TNFH, was that you?). But I was glad to see it, because, well…….it just kind of works.
How do you feel about rhymes, Doogie?
Knicks in six over hicks from the sticks
Agreed. It’s the natural charisma and general fluidity of it all, whereas Kobe looked downright robotic in his quest to be like Mike.
And what about limericks?
There once was a guy in the big Apple
Whose name was so hard to understand, oh
A marginal player
No king, nor a slayer
Alberto Burrito his name was
I just don’t understand why some team in the West didn’t try to sign Juancho Hernangomez before the playoffs, just because there’s cinematic evidence of him outplaying the Ant-Man.
And what about limericks?
or a haiku?
Spring Knicks basketball!
Nova boys two Harts and Mitch
Knicks close out in six
I would love to hear the case for Anthony Edwards being Jordanesque. Looking at his career numbers, this is his first year of being a legitimate star player and a lot of that just seems due to defense and a massive increase in ftr. He still isn’t a first tier guy by any stretch of the imagination.
I get he is good but I feel like we need another breakout before we anoint him.
I feel like there is a strong chance Alec Burks isn’t as washed as he looked in the 311 minutes he played for us and can give us as much as Bojan was giving us off the bench.
I just hope he can prove it in the first 3 minutes he gets because he might not get another chance.
People are getting wildly carried away but there is an undeniable stylistic similarity that is evoking memories in our collective unconscious.
I think AntMan still makes some “young player” mistakes of aggressiveness because he’s capable of doing so much more on sheer athleticism and talent than most players can do. Once he weeds out some of the bad stuff he’ll be more efficient. He’s so young, I’d expect his shooting will improve also. I’m in the camp that thinks he’s a superstar in the making. He can do everything and plays both sides.
The MJ comparisons are kind of inevitable when talking about an extremely athletic, high scoring guard/wing who drives to the basket a lot.
If there’s a chance to get him on the court without much risk we should take another look. We need another warm body. He may have been playing injured for at least some of that 311 minutes .
I’ll go Knicks in 5. It’s a bummer for the sport, but Haliburton has been playing at a pedestrian level for a while now, very much including the first-round. He doesn’t look anything like he did pre-injury and without him in top form I don’t think the Pacers will be able to keep up with us, given how relentlessly I think we’ll be able to exploit their defense.
If Haliburton was healthy I’d lean towards putting OG on him because I don’t think he has anywhere near Maxey’s level of lateral quickness, which is what made that a less-than-ideal matchup. However the hobbled version of Haliburton doesn’t justify the OG treatment, so I’d stick DDV/Deuce on him and OG on Siakam to start. I could be talked into starting Hart on Siakam with OG as a full-time roamer too, basically daring Siakam to try to punish Hart on post ups.
Indy has an interesting mix of guys with some size and mobility, so I agree with everyone saying Precious could carve out a real role.
Ant’s career is a fun Rorschach Test to this point because the regular season numbers, while quite good, don’t justify the hype, but in a growing playoff sample size he’s been absolutely dominant–easily justifying MJ comparisons.
He’s been a blast to watch, and I would feel comfortable betting the regular season numbers start to look more like the playoff ones before too long. My fully eye-test based, probably incorrect stab at what’s going on is he does a lot of dumb stuff during the regular season that he probably knows is dumb to some extent, but brings a new level of focus to the playoffs.
Maybe some guys are just wired that way, or maybe I’m just making too much of a small playoff sample size. Something just seems to click for the guy.
I had written Obi Toppin off as no big loss. There were multiple posts from people throughout the year gloating about how he wasn’t doing well, and I kinda just assumed they we were right so I didn’t bother checking.
This is the first time I’ve looked at Obi’s stats as a Pacer and it’s really pissing me off. Dude was very solid this year. This is a real black eye for Thibs.
(Leon gets a pass IMO bc you have to back your coach in that situation and I can’t imagine there was a robust trade market for Obi. This is why dungeons suck.)
I don’t think you can really make one. It’s just about the fact that nobody ever bothered again to look for the next MJ, and Ant-Man is as organically close to that athletic/charismatic template as there has been in the last twenty years (Kobe was often a carbon copy, but the effort felt too laborious and on the nose).
Obi was just a particularly poor fit here and a particularly good fit in Indiana. The Knicks play the slowest pace in the NBA and the Pacers play the second fastest. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have Obi on this roster right now instead of the handful of stugots we got in return for him, and I think he still could have contributed despite the poor fit, but his numbers probably would not look as good playing at the glacial Tom Thibodeau pace.
Obi was actually even better in his second year on the Knicks than he was this year on the Pacers. That was the Bad Randle year when Obi got to play more minutes and even start 10 games. So there’s proof he could have done it here if Thibs would have tolerated him.
At the end of the day, we swapped Obi & Grimes for Bojan & Burks and that worked out poorly for us.
Trading Obi also gave us the ability to sign DDV. You can blame Thibs for Obi’s trade value becoming as low as it was, but I’d rather have the full Nova trio and a couple of lousy second round picks than Obi, who was never a great fit here.
Well that’s a strong counter, Alan, that I had not considered.
Thank you, I am no longer pissed off.
I think this series might be the opposite of the first round in that the games will not be nearly as close, and you might have a pretty good idea of who will win early on.
Indiana anecdotally seems like a frontrunning team: when things are going right, they can’t be stopped at all, but when things go wrong they will labor and are unlikely to come back. The Sixers and Knicks both struggled mightily to kill games when they were up 10-12 points all series long (a lot of it was boneheaded turnovers, but maybe because it took so much effort to get a marginal lead in that physical series). I think both Knicks and Pacers are more likely to get those leads into the 20s when these situations happen (the faster pace and combination of a high octane offense/poor defense also contributes to this, of course).
Assuming the Knicks are on the positive side of the ledger here, I don’t think I would mind a second round with not nearly as many heart stopping moments.
This series is truly a case of two teams who will really be looking to impose their style of play on the other. If we keep this to a grind-it-out, halfcourt, playoff-style game we win. If they can run a lot and play at a fast pace they win.
Whistle will be important. Indy was dead last in the league in defensive FT/FGA. They foul a lot.
We technically could’ve had Obi and DDV, but it would’ve made us a taxpayer this year. I’m wholly unsympathetic to James Dolan’s financial concerns, but that would’ve started the repeater clock in a way that would’ve realistically been irresponsible.
Now, if we somehow knew 1) we’d get OG and 2) Randle would be out for the season…yeah, I’d want to pay the LT and see what we could do with Obi this year.
I suspect I’m not quite as invested in this as some here, but I suspect there’s a good chance my heart will give out if we keep gifting the other team a double-digit first-quarter lead.
On the other hand, that last game’s first quarter may be the best first quarter I’ve ever seen in my life (admittedly I have the memory of a hamster). Just nearly flawless.
Doesn’t have to be flawless, though. I would happily take tied at the end of the first, or up or down a couple. If we’re there, my confidence level will be high.
Assuming the Knicks are on the positive side of the ledger here, I don’t think I would mind a second round with not nearly as many heart stopping moments.
Yup, not having any L2Rs this series would be great.
I think Alan is correct. We had to use the non-taxpayer MLE to sign DDV.
The taxpayer MLE has been reduced to 2 years, $10mm max.
We could have still sign DiVo and gone slightly over the cap. That would have been a better outcome than Bogey and Burks, however, I don’t think either Toppin or Grimes would have been happy here, not to mention Fournier, so I’ve just accepted it and hope we can replenish the bench this offseason.
I believe TNFH is correct.
If you use the non-taxpayer MLE you are forced to operate with a hard cap at the first apron.
We still had access to the full MLE with Obi because we weren’t a taxpayer, however Obi + DDV would’ve made us one.
If you use the non-taxpayer MLE you cannot be a tax payer at any point in that season. It becomes a hard cap.
Obi averaged 10 ppg in 21 mins and his numbers went down after they got Siakam. He is what he was here, there are nights where he provides a huge spark off the bench then will go games where he’s invisible.
I hope he has a long NBA career cause he’s a great kid who’s fun to root for but his lack of defense and rebounding will always limit him to being a bench sparkplug.
You can go from being a non-taxpayer to being a taxpayer by virtue of using the MLE, you just can’t go above the first apron, which is a higher number than the first LT threshold, after.
The irony is that Toppin wound up in the same position in Indiana playing behind Siakam. The only upside being they play faster. That probably suits his skillset better.
You have to wonder what the Knicks were thinking at the time they drafted him. I guess they were more inclined to trade Randle back then, but then Randle had a big year and they changed their minds. It’s not like Obi’s style looked like a good fit with Thibs when he was drafted.
Grimes may wind up in the same boat in Detroit. The Knicks needed more scoring in the starting lineup than Grimes could give them, but he could wind up as a 3&D player off the bench in Detroit also given their young team. I still like Grimes. I think he’s a solid role player.
Obi is a power forward who can’t rebound or defend.
If we kept him this season, even with Randle injured, Josh Hart would still be playing over him.
He’s good for the occasional 15 to 20 point outburst during the regular season and some dunks that make the highlights.
Good kid but not worth more than a few second rounders.
When Leon drafted Obi he was still early in his GM learning curve. He has gotten better at team building as he has gained experience, and drafting Obi and learning that he was a poor fit was part of that learning curve.
I don’t think he’d draft a run-and-gun, offense-only player like Obi today. Instead he’d trade the pick for heavily protected future firsts that wouldn’t convey. Just kidding sort of not really.
Imagine Obi here after they traded IQ. The already few moments he had to operate in the fast-tempo bench unit would have been gone. It was not going to happen.
The “Obi isn’t a great player he’s just exactly what we need on the bench right now” arguments aren’t doing much for me.
Neither is the tempo stuff. He didn’t improve across the board because he leaked out more. He did it because he shot 40% from 3, and that’s useful in every tempo.
I agree to some extent with BBA that Obi’s box-score numbers will always look better than his impact. His +1.5 EPM feels about right. I’m not sure how many good teams he’d start on given his defensive limitations. A lot of teams probably think to justify playing someone who raises as many defensive questions as he does heavy minutes, you need more genuine shot creation.
Still, without Randle he’d be a godsend.
Except that probably a lot of those are transition 3’s. I don’t know how to look up stuff like that but I bet a fair amount of his 3PA came in transition with no set defense. I’d be interested to see what his 3PT splits look like in the half court vs in transition.
Knicks in 5
Obi shot 28% from 3 vs Milwaukee. He did shoot 40% during the regular season but didn’t increase his 3pt volume so not sure if it’s a true indication he’s really become a great 3pt shooter or he’s still closer to the low 30’s % shooter he was as a Knick.
I had knicks in 7 last series…w/o bogey and the fact that 7 guy rotation is not going to cut it for a full series..this is like a youth squad compared to the geriatric sixers squad..indy will not wear down in the fourth quarter…i will go again with knicks in 7…..I think each team wins one on the other’s home court…
Would’ve liked Ian Eagle, especially now that we can’t choose to watch the MSG telecast instead. Hoping Breen gets some/all of the ESPN/ABC games.
i would have liked eagle/hill as well…also I like when jamal crawford is on the team…not sure when they choose to do that but he is like the 3rd man..
It’s a difference of $7MM and Obi made $6.8MM. I don’t think you can operate $200k below a hard cap when there are potential bonuses and inevitable mid-season signings (like Taj 4X) to meet roster minimums, so Alan’s point still seems valid: we had to trade Obi to sign Donte.
If we really could have had both and chose not to, I don’t want to know.
It’s as much an emotional thing as anything for me — Obi, IQ, and Deuce were my three favorite Knicks since Lin. Obi’s hitting 40% of his threes now, but it’s hard to see what he’ll become/is becoming because I don’t think there’s a good comparison. You can’t really call him a Novak who can dunk.
The fact he could never learn to play defense, even under Thibs, I think will always limit his ceiling. But I wish him well (just not in this series!).
Hey guys, longtime lurker, finally decided to sign up. Fingers crossed for a nice easy series for us with zero palpitations like the last one.
On the flip side, I have to admit it seems possible Thibs’ whole “who needs a bench” thing can hold up. It’s early but those who doubt you can go a whole playoffs with 6-7 men have no ammo right now.
Welcome, CBJ! We’re (mostly) friendly!
pretty sure you could insert “dont doubt” in that sentence and it would be just as valid..
we need a data scraper specialist to properly do this analysis…I just looked back at the laker showtime roster…bulls prime mj…spurs duncan..steph warriors…et al…took me a few minutes…
maybe some of those laker teams but 8 or 9 man minimum seems to be the median..
Morey and Riley doing dueling post-mortem pressers right now.
Riley, meanwhile, seems to be strongly implying that he is displeased by the number of regular season games Butler plays, and the intensity with which he plays them. Plus…
All the data just points to the fact that teams never do this! There’s hardly any evidence of anyone trying it. I have often doubted Thibs’ Copernicus credentials but maybe he’s not crazy.
so…..never do it …suggests everyone is not aware that “this is the way” or is it never done unless in case of emergency, ie., only have doo doo at the end of the bench and attrition has knocked out the other good guys?
The Ringer did post this but all it does is highlight how unusual it is. There’s nothing about efficacy.
(The point about the Nuggets is cool and all but the Nuggets swept two of the first three rounds and ended the finals in 5.)
“If you’re not on the court playing against Boston or playing against New York then you should keep your mouth shut.”
Riley and Xavier McDaniel. These are the Knicks i truly miss. Obi? Com on! Get a teddy bear if you want to hug something soft while sleeping!!!
😉
last yr’s nuggets are a good example of close to a 7 man rotation…but we don’t have jokic and murray..but in brunson i trust…
l loved x man but similar to LJ…(or most stars we got back then at the end of their prime) his knees were horrible …and he was mostly a jump shooter..didn’t look at the stats but i recall he could still get boards
It’s kinda like the four minute mile pre-Roger Bannister. There’s only proof that it hasn’t been done, not that it can’t be.
If there was every a time to try doing a whole playoff run with 7 guys, this is probably it. The dropoff from our main rotation guys to Albert Brooks is gargantuan.
I’ve also been thinking that our current starting lineup has a lot in common with the pre-Durant Warriors’ death lineup:
Brunson is our Steph, the more talented son of an unremarkable NBA’er whose gravity completely defines our offense. He is somehow able to construct a resilient and scalable offensive game out of what would be considered bad shots for most other players.
DDV is our Klay, a deadly feast-or-famine catch & shoot guy who is also a plus defender.
Hart is our mini-Draymond, a triple-double threat who sucks at shooting but is a great glue guy and secondary playmaker. His defense and rebounding punch far above his weight. If he is hitting shots, opponents are in real trouble.
OG is Andre Iguodala, an infinitely switchable stopper who provides enough on offense to be dangerous.
We do play a real center so maybe it’s more comparable to the version with Bogut vs. Harrison Barnes, but our starters should stack up pretty well against most groups that aren’t in the 10+ net rating club like the Celtics, or the Sixers with Embiid…
Welcome indeed, CBJ!
“Get a teddy bear if you want to hug something soft while sleeping!!!”
However, we’re definitely not always friendly…
(Although this did make me snort, KYN.)
uh yeah…but to say those who doubt it have “no ammo” and the ammo is the whole NBA playoff history …a champion has almost never done it…doesn’t really jibe…if the retort is “well…nobody has tried it”…so that refutes the actual data which that likely nobody thought it made sense…and the nobody being all these great championship coaches….
I mean thibs would be going 8 deep if bogey or booiks was usefull…he just doesn’t want to with the rest of the chazerai to choose from…
#HeatCulture
Wondering if this is Riley preparing everyone for a Jimmy trade this offseason. Maybe Aldridge was right that he’ll wind up being the Sixers’ target?
from espn+ each playoff teams strenght/weakness
New York Knicks
Strength: Offensive rebounding
Perhaps no team in the NBA is tougher or more all-encompassing than the Knicks — something that is illustrated whenever they outmuscle an opponent for an offensive rebound. Put another way: It is seemingly demonstrated all the time, because New York dominates the offensive glass. The club grabbed a whopping 37% of its misses in the first round against Joel Embiid and the Sixers (and nearly 41% of its misses in the clinching Game 6). That came after the Knicks logged a league-high 33.3% offensive rebound rate in the regular season.
It’s hard enough to stop Jalen Brunson, given that he has had 39 or more points in each of his past four games. So, just imagine defending him well enough to force him into a miss, only to then see Josh Hart or OG Anunoby fly in out of nowhere to grab a board and extend New York’s possession. It gradually eats away at an opposing team’s will.
Weakness: Short rotation
It is well chronicled at this point that Tom Thibodeau doesn’t mind pushing his top players’ minute totals. Brunson, Hart and Anunoby each logged a 50-minute showing during the first-round series with Philadelphia, while guards Donte DiVincenzo and Miles McBride each had an outing of 48 minutes or more during the regular season. Even if the Knicks’ players have a willingness to play for that long, it is taxing — and perhaps even unsustainable — to do so repeatedly, particularly when the team finds itself so short-handed. (Last week’s left foot injury and season-ending surgery for Bojan Bogdanovic made the rotation even thinner, with the Knicks closing their series against the Sixers with just seven players checking into the game.)
With all this in mind, pay close attention to the tempo in the Knicks’ second-round series. Indiana likes to run in transition, and it played at the NBA’s second-fastest pace, something that could exhaust New York’s small rotation.
Interesting Hollinger piece contrasting the Thunder and Knicks as extreme ends of the rebounding spectrum: OKC builds its attack on not caring about rebounds at all, while ours is entirely predicated on how we attack the boards.
https://theathletic.com/5474311/2024/05/06/okc-thunder-new-york-knicks-rebounding-nba-playoffs/
I’m certainly not going to bust on Thibs’s short “rotation,” but I will note that the Knicks’ playoff pythag to date is 3-3, so nor am I going to declare it a smashing success.
Yet. If it becomes one, I will of course so declare.
I still don’t fully believe in Moneyball, though I of course hope said belief in the next six weeks is shaken if not crushed like an eggplant.
Ok but competition matters, we were playing a team that was on a 65-win pace this season with Embiid.
https://nypost.com/2024/05/06/sports/knicks-may-have-to-expand-rotation-against-pacers-in-nba-playoffs/
The Hollinger article is really good. One fun thing about these playoffs is it feels like there’s a lot of stylistic diversity, and this is one great example.
It’s interesting that our transition defense hasn’t really suffered as a result of crashing the offensive glass. Hollinger attributes that largely to guys like Hart being able to both pursue rebounds and still get back in transition if they don’t get them, and he’s probably right.
The fact that we can still get all these rebounds and now score pretty decently in the half-court gives me a lot of hope for the fully healthy version of the team. Pairing our relentless physicality with the eFG%ing of Brunson, DDV, OG, Randle, and even Bogey could be a really potent combination. Alas, we will have to wait a year…
I think everyone in theory agrees that the players would benefit from more rest. The thing is that in the series against the Sixers, what are the minutes when you would have felt comfortable playing Burks? Or Precious at the 4 (him playing at the 5 doesn’t really address the minutes concerns for the team). The games were all defined by a hair (and usually by the team’s performance in non-Embiid minutes), so it’s very possible that a couple of mistakes in those minutes would be series defining.
I frankly don’t see the need to play Burks at all. If you increase Donte and Deuce’s minutes to 39 and 32 respectively (from 32 and 23 against Indiana), you can give Brunson, Hart and OG the necessary rest.
The minutes load could then be:
Hart – 41 min
Brunson – 40
OG – 40
Donte – 39
Deuce – 32
I-Hart – 26
Mitch – 22
The trouble here is that even if you stagger Brunson, Deuce and DDV, there are at least 15 min/game in which you need to play them together, which might be too small for Thibs (maybe not against Indiana?).
Alternatively, for Indiana, you could also try Precious with I-Hart a few minutes every game, which would make this more manageable.
Hart – 41 min
Brunson – 40
OG – 40
Donte – 39
Deuce – 24
Precious – 8
I-Hart – 26
Mitch – 22
So you only get 9 minutes of those Brunson/Deuce/DDV lineups (basically the time OG and Hart rest).
Mind you, this isn’t ideal, but I think playing Burks might be less ideal.
Another reference to the Nuggets in there:
But the issue here is actually about the extreme lengths we push our top 3 players, and that’s something the Nuggets didn’t do.
2023 Nuggets:
1. Murray – 40 mpg
2. Jokic – 39.5
3. Gordon – 35.7
2024 Knicks:
1. Hart – 46.3 mpg
2. Brunson – 43.8 mpg
3. Anunoby – 41.7 mpg
#Although this did make me snort, KYN.#
I liked Obi too and wanted him to succeed here since he seems like a good kid.
BUT playing like Novak & antilope without having the desire to play also post or midrange made me lose my faith in him
Expected him to go to the gym and put muscles and become a tough PF to deal with. He didn’t
Last meetings with Randle seemed tensed and gave me the impression that they hated each other. All these made me lose my interest in Obi
Too much style and not much substance imo
@Raven
Sorry for the teddy bear mocking but I’m tired of Obi’s softness..
KYN, by ‘snort’ I meant laugh. As in you’re not wrong…
Unlike some here, I put root-ability up near win-ability in terms of what I want in a team. Which is one reason I love this team so much, as it has both. Likeable underdogs actually winning games.
I was just thinking how much of a sour taste it would be if we were here in the second round on the backs of Kyrie and Kevin. I mean go laundry, but ugh.
X-Man was never a good rebounder in the pros, and he was worse than Obi Toppin if you compare their New York tenures.
#KYN, by ‘snort’ I meant laugh. As in you’re not wrong…#
Thought so.. since that was my intention but after googling “snort” a bit i felt guilty!!!
;-p
Forget the stats
X-Man has the kind of mentality i love having on my team.
#I was just thinking how much of a sour taste it would be if we were here in the second round on the backs of Kyrie and Kevin.#
Lately I’m thinking if i prefer to win a chip with Durant or Embiid OR Lose the Finals with the ones we got now …
Believe it or not haven’t decided yet ..
“BUT playing like Novak & antilope without having the desire to play also post or midrange made me lose my faith in him”
I didn’t see an antelope on the court at any time. I would have definitely remembered that!!!
I simply see no way we continue to play 7 without a drop off in production and/or an increase in injury risk, and I would feel that way even if the Pacers weren’t a high-frequency transition team, which they are–#1 off made baskets, in fact (H/T to Katz’ article from today).
It’s also a strategy that leaves little room for error. If one player is having an iffy night, we’re almost precluded from winning comfortably. If multiple players are having iffy nights, it’s hard to win at all.
I wouldn’t play Precious at the 4 much at all, maybe see if you can steal 2-3 minutes with it if the matchups make sense. I mainly think we’ve just got to hope Alecto Bobneptune can hit some threes.
#I didn’t see an antelope on the court at any time. I would have definitely remembered that!!!#
He’s THAT fast!
If your PF has many times in a game the time to dunk like hes in the contest then he’s Not playing PF.
He’s playing Novak- Antelope Fast Break attacked by Lion
X-Man was basically invisible for 82 games as a Knick. He had less impact on the team that year than Gerald Wilkins. This isn’t a stat thing, I was there, he did virtually nothing. (Turns out he may have been terrified of his own teammates, as we have come to learn that Mason beat him up in a fight on the first day of practice and Oakley didn’t speak to him all year because of a previous fight they’d had on the court).
Those rosy memories of his mentality were created from his resting psycho-face and from just a few high-profile incidents when he got caught up in a moment.
If you fight Mason and Oakley there’s one word written on your forehead:
*BALLS*
How do you feel about palidromes, Doogie?
Pacers stun niks, level skin nutss recap.
Rosy memories blended with a google search on Riley, Playoff Stats, interviews and videos from games tells you all you need to know on Why a guy that lasted only one yr was so beloved by a fan many miles away.
Welcome CBJ!
And for today i expect our usual gameplan, to trail almost all of the game before taking the lead at the end to win it! 😀
New KB username alert.
PS — Knicks in 4
i want whatever your smoking…
“How do you feel about palidromes, Doogie?
Pacers stun niks, level skin nutss recap.”
I guess I actually like palindromes, and although I do appreciate your exceedingly creative attempt at one, I’m not going to really enjoy one where the Knicks lose. The part after the comma is a bit difficult to parse, as well. But hell, it’s better than my attempt at one, because I don’t even have it in me to try. 🙂