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2024 Playoff Thread: Knicks vs. Pacers, Game 2, Win One for the Mitcher Opener, which is not a thing

The Knicks suffered yet another major injury as Mitchell Robinson, who had been playing visibly hurt since his “encounter” with Joel Embiid in Game 3 of the first round, has been ruled out for the rest of the playoffs. Honestly, though, losing a clearly injured Mitch, while certainly a blow, is really not that much of a blow. Brunson, Hart and OG are the only Knicks that they cannot afford to lose at all going forward. Even Donte theoretically could be replaced by 48 minutes of Deuce. There is no way to replace Brunson, Hart and OG at this point.

You’d be talking Jericho Sims, power forward, at that point.

Okay, so after a day of whining, let’s hope the Knicks beat the Pacers’ ass again in this game. Preferably from a reversed offensive foul on iHart in the closing seconds or some shit like that. Let them cry their way to their offseason homes about how unfair it is that they’re sitting at home while the Knicks are headed to Boston. Don’t get me wrong, it sucks when calls go against the team you’re rooting for, but come the fuck on, people, there have been tough calls in, like, every playoff game ever, just suck it up and come back the next game. Rick Carlisle at least seems to get that, which is nice.

So, anyhow, I remain convinced in the Knicks so long as they have Brunson and OG, so I think they’ll still easily take this series in five games or less, but they need to prove that by winning tonight’s game. If they somehow lose this one, I will both be surprised, and perhaps a bit more concerned about their chances in this series (they’re winning this game, though, so it’s kind of a moot point). Basically, if the Pacers want to be taken seriously, they need to win this game. Until that happens, how can I take them seriously? I can’t. They’ve got to change my mind (they won’t).

Let’s go, Knicks!

587 replies on “2024 Playoff Thread: Knicks vs. Pacers, Game 2, Win One for the Mitcher Opener, which is not a thing”

Deuce-Deuce!

Miles-Miles!

James-James! (his actual middle name)

I’ve got Precious for a double double.

Bang-bang! Let’s go Knicks!

If Burks is healthy, I’d like to see him on the court for a few minutes tonight.

Hey did you know the last Knicks win that wasn’t a nail biter came on April 11 in Boston?

I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict a comfortable win tonight.

I think we’ll reduce the dumb turnovers and our defense will improve after watching the tape.

(of course TJ McCurryjordan may have something to say about that)

Each game we play is the most important one of our season, which is a thing…….

I’m praying for a blowout please! My heart can’t take all these close games!

Every time I think it might be time to seriously consider releasing Stanton especially once Jasson returns he hits bombs like he has the past 2 nights.

Do *what* again? Win another nail-biter that nearly kills all of us in the process of doing so?

It’s an 80 degree spring night in NYC. I think this is the night everything goes our way.

Tencent Sports (the Chinese NBA broadcaster) actually has a reporter on site doing an interview in English about the upcoming game and the translating into Chinese.

So now I switched to the English feed and Reggie Miller

Blech, Reggie (but at least he has a few models sitting behind him).

I feel so guilty whenever I’m relieved that someone merely got hit there. Still hurts!

BBA, I was literally going to write that word-for-word.

If you can’t stop Brunson, knee him in the nads.

Every writer at the game thinks Brunson hurt his left hand when what really happened was he got hit in the nuts.

#Do *what* again? Win another nail-biter that nearly kills all of us in the process of doing so?#

Yes!

Feels like the Pacers are getting away with a lot of contact on defense. Knicks need to adjust a bit.

It’s often not pretty, but OG deserves a lot of credit for stepping up his creation with us so decimated

At some point Sims comes in and levels TJ McFuckface on a pick and gets thrown out, right?

Leaving Hali wide open for 3 to double Turner without the ball…

I keep complaining about the defense yet we’re up 11 early!!

we absolutely need to keep matching ihart up with obi/tj; his passing regularly hurts their poor rotations

Maybe hunting JB so much they’re doing us a favor, because we’re playing great team basketball…

As much as I enjoy seeing Brunson break playoff records I wouldn’t mind him having an easy night.

At this rate, we’ll be able to give Brunson a leisurely 41 minutes

These commercials breaks are so long that anyone can play 45 minutes.

Knicks are incapable of keeping the foot on the pedal. Damn it.

Indiana isn’t here by accident. We can’t play any subs it seems.

That was the worst 45 seconds of basketball I ever witnessed

All the loose balls are going to Indiana players.

Well blowing that lead so quickly sucked but at least we discovered Precious can be our backup point guard

Some of our players have big hearts but low BB-IQ (see Achiuwa, Precious)…

Yes. That all sucked but OG and Precious want this.

Deuce on the other hand. Head up ass.

ok, get all these stupid, ridiculous mistakes out of the way now in the 1st, goddamnit. Gifted so many points away for nothing.

Obi Toppin and Rick Carlisle took turns pulling Thibs pants down.

It’s honestly a good omen if we play the Pacers game to a T and are tied, but lord that was a dumb first quarter

Hart can do almost everything on the court…except bring the ball up

Toppin on pace for 60. Only against the Knicks could he score like this.

Hubert your obsession with wanting Thibs pants off is becoming a bit weird.

I don’t get why Thibs didn’t stop the game during that run. He always overreacts, and now he underreacts?

I can’t believe we can’t find a way to stop Hobbit McConnell in all this years…

JB “in the locker room since ~ 3 min left in the first?” No-no-no.

SVG doesn’t know De’Aaron Fox? 😮 He has to be one of the best coast to coast!

Oh how nice, our season ended on my drive home. See you all next year

The lack of news on Brunson while Deuce shits the bed cannot be good.

This is just horrible to watch. I’ll go watch soccer and give up on this shit.

Brunson broke his hand, is my guess

Edit: but it wouldn’t shock me if he played anyway

Don’t want to stole Pags’ job, but brace for it guys, the news will be coming soon…

Rick Brunson and Leon Rose are in the locker room too…

What the actual F is Deuce doing out there? No D. No O. I love the guy but … Migraine? High? Drunk?

Should we try Shake? To see if he can be better than what Deuce is giving us tonight.

This might be the worst defense ever played by a Knicks team in their playoffs history.

Our defense right now kind of, what’s the word… sucks.

Why is everyone still watching at this point? May as well forfeit

Thibs is a defensive coach?

The Knicks haven’t defended the Pacers well at all so far this series

Maybe this will be a miracle Willis Reed moment for us as Brunson gets taped & up comes back. 🤞🏻

How many turnovers for J-Hart dribbling like an idiot?

And please can someone guard Haliburton?

How the hell was it his right foot?

We’ve actually hung in there half-decently…none of it matters though.

The offense is fine without Brunson, but this defense has fallen apart.

We aren’t even missing Brunson, we just can’t defend

Brunson is injured because he has to carry an insane load…

Either Julius is the guy or they get another guy. Brunson will not survive this usage long term

Seriously WTF are we doing defensively????

The wheels on the bus go round and round … until they fucking come off.

Confirmed not to return? I just want this to be over at this point

The defense is infuriatingly bad. It is not that hard to stay with your guy.

Not having Brunson is bad enough, but to add insult to injury we have Miller on the broadcast.

Isn’t a sore right foot at least better than an injury to his shooting hand?

Just trying to be a little hopeful

Confirmed not to return? I just want this to be over at this point

Just go to Twitter/X follow knicks reporters and let
others watch

Hopefully Brunson will be back after halftime.

The defense would be a lot better if we weren’t running around like a bunch of beheaded chickens. We need someone to SLOW things down. We are playing right into their hands.

Sad irony that the team falls apart defensively without its offensive savant.

Confirmed not to return? I just want this to be over at this point

No Pags, he’s “questionable to return”

Isn’t a sore right foot at least better than an injury to his shooting hand?

Just trying to be a little hopeful

I think it is. Maybe he just misses this game.

I just joined the thread and didn’t scroll through but… precious is horrible on defensive glass… he just stands around

Doesn’t the coach aka Thibs know you can’t run against this team with bodies you have? If Thibs can’t make that simple solution he shouldn’t be here long term

Why are they showing Miller’s moments??

This broadcast is almost unwatchable

if precious isn’t going to get back and protect the paint we may as well just let thibs meet his destiny and play 4

BURKS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY

not really but a guy can dream

7 man rotation isn’t sustainable to the body and only 1 day off in between games in the series

Pretty amazing how “injured” Embiid leaves games multiple times only to return just fine, hobbled Hali holds up well enough to dominate us today, but our guy is doing be for. Questionable opposing players have played against us like 7 times in a row so this is a perfectly Knicksy ending for us.

Thibs’ big adjustment is to play Hartenstein and Precious together in the two center lineup 🤦🏻‍♂️

Offense has looked fine. They can’t stop them on defense though

I don’t get how it’s his foot when he was holding his hand…

I think it is. Maybe he just misses this game

This still ends the season. No margin for error in this series.

Serious question: has anyone successfully played zone against the Pacers?

I actually like Reggie as a color commentator.

And appreciate what a great fucking heel he was, and how in the aggregate, those battles with Indiana were special.

We need to slow things down, but down 10 we’re in a frenzy to close the gap, we’re basically brainless right now.

Maybe Jericho could come in to headbutt Hali, break his face in a thousand pieces and even things up…

Pags, man, stop. This is not a day for your shenanigans. We’re kind of sad because of Brunson’s injury and it isn’t funny today.

We will find out in preseason Brunson has fourteen fractured bones in his foot

Getting easy buckets while playing fast is tempting But doing it against this team is a fkn trap
SLOW THIS SHIT DoWN Thibs!

Today is the anniversary of the Willis Reed game.

I’m just sayin’.

I’ve seen enough of burks

LOL! Let’s Shake the rotation then. 😉

Is it possibly a groin injury? On the replays, nothing happened to his foot.

Red Auerbach couldn’t win a preseason game let alone a playoff game with the current Knicks roster…

with jalen out we are playing with none of our starting five nor sixth man from opening day

Maybe it’s a “right ball” injury and somebody misheard.

A. A “questionable” based on a “sore foot” doesn’t sound that bad, and

B. This team lost to a Bucks team without Giannis and Dame. The Knicks cab still win this without Brunson, but hopefully he returns.

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In the X video, JB seems to be signaling the bench before the contact that was claimed to have caused the ” hand” injury initially.

Burks started that jump shot from a sideways position … I too, am done …

#With Brunson out might as well let Ben Stiller play.#

LoL!
Next Celebrity Up!

If Sims were to head-butt Haliburton it would be like being struck by a sponge.

If they fix the defense, they can do it, but it’s been discouraging how bad they have been there.

Sore foot = must get X-Rays and hope it is not a stress fracture.

Ben Stiller can (sort of) ball. See “Along Came Polly.” But the guy we really need from that pic is Philip Seymour Hoffman (RIP).

Jaylen warming up!!

We played with discipline for the first seven minutes when we went up 24-13. It was a mess after that. Brunson went down, Indiana controls the pace of the game, speeds it up, and creates havoc. They have 8 (!) offensive rebounds in the half, and have already taken 19 three pointers and made 10. They are picking up apart. It is the control of the pace and defensive discipline we are missing, not Brunson’s points. We can’t win like this.

I’m just stunned that it’s turned out that Brunson is our most important defensive player. I did not know that.

BTW, I wrote a Chrome plugin to block certain Knickerblogger users by name.

In case there are other people who are completely sick of certain posters’ tedious doomsayer routine.

At this point I’m just hoping Brunson can return at the same level next season. Small guards have a tendency to get hurt and never be the same again. See Thomas, Isaiah.

Brunson is back on the court for the halftime shootaround. Thank god.

I’ve been watching the 4:00 left in the 1st quarter play before the transition take foul where Brunson went out, and I’m not seeing much 🤷🏾‍♂️ hopefully he comes back but we’ll see

He looks like he’s trying to fight 👍🏾

Small guards have a tendency to get hurt and never be the same again. See Thomas, Isaiah.

Do not fucking jinx us like that. Jesus Christ.

Warming up but with bad wheel… I’m not confident … I have more hope someone else steps up …

let’s go jalen. think hart needs some rest this half. he’s still hustling but he’s a mess.

Maybe the guys are just tired on defense. Carlisle really pushing their numbers advantage.

Subplot: if Brunson returns for the 2nd half somehow and drops 35 to extend the 40-point game streak and win us the game, that would probably eclipse the Willis Reed game.

“At this point I’m just hoping Brunson can return at the same level next season. Small guards have a tendency to get hurt and never be the same again. See Thomas, Isaiah.”

See Hole, Ass.

FWIW, if you watch the Begley post from Doug it seems to have happened on the McConnell drive, Brunson does a weird hop like he stepped on a foot, although I’ve played it like five times and I can’t make out a particular thing that could have caused it.

Do not fucking jinx us like that. Jesus Christ.

Let me cook, Doug. It should be pretty obvious that all my jinxes are of the reverse variety…

Spoiler alert: You can’t have a Willis Reed game in Game 2 of the ECSFs.

I’ve been watching highlights of Soto, Judge and Stanton hitting bombs tonight to help take away the frustration of the Knicks game.

Just tuning in… was hoping to see Rowdy Roddy Piper and Meadowlark Lemon doing a bit, but unscripted b’ball will have to do.

Watching the video, i think something happens when TJ passes in front of Brunson.

Let me cook, Doug. It should be pretty obvious that all my jinxes are of the reverse variety…

I disagree!! It’s very bad vibes and I would like you to cut it out.

Brunson is so fucking tough that it would have to be, like, a specific major injury (you know, broken bone, torn tendon, etc) for me to worry that much about the guy. He is a little warrior.

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Who else would it be but TJ

Let’s just not lose Brunson for next season. Apprehension primary emotion

Same as last time. Slow. Poise. Chip away. We can still win.

I wanna see the super-cut of all iHart’s passes being assembled by his agent.

Yeah, this does not make me very optimistic about his ability the rest of this series.

Too bad they’re not waiting 4 days for game 3 like in the Nuggets -Wolves series, Brunson needs it

Why is Brunson on the court? Risking further injury? You saw what happened with OG and now Mitch.

Brunson toughing it out but doesn’t look confident. Not jumping on defense. I think he’s playing decoy

These guys make us proud every night, no matter the score or how many mistakes they do, they have beachball size cojones.

I fucking love this team.

Best case scenario somehow win this game and sit Brunson this weekend?

I’m gonna hope by the 4th he’ll get going. Give the 3rd to our role players and keep it close. Brunson with the close

“beachball size cojones.”

That’s probably what happened in that other play where Brunson was in pain…

The Pacers are the dumbest team in the NBA. They play stupid basketball (in the sense that they make tons of mistakes—their SSOL style pushing of the pace is pretty smart) and drag you down to their level. Luckily, we are smarter than them and better than them with only 6.5 guys

This game is utterly unwatchable with these fucking Pacer lovers announcing

IHart looks so much more comfortable tonight

And Willis vibes surfacing

watched a team of crying 7 year olds get an inspiring buck up speech from their 6′ 5″ 240 former college lb coach after losing a playoff game 13-12 tonight. some of you mfers need that speech more than they did.

The Knicks have more lives than that guy from the Halloween movies.

i expect this game to end with reggie standing and saluting jalen rocky iv style

Again, remember, these guys got their asses kicked by a Dame and Giannis-less Bucks team. As Logan Roy said, they’re just not serious people.

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This Knicks team, though, is all serious people.

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Don’t let TJ cut in front of Brunson again or Jalen’s head might explode.

The Knicks have more lives than that guy from the Halloween movies

If this game is Halloween, McConnell is Michael Myers

Our prince is clearly hobbled, but he’s threading the decoy needle perfectly. I’d retire his number between quarters.

I just love how embarrassing this is for the Pacers and Reggie gets to be there for it all.

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You have to be fucking kidding me with OG that looked like a hammy

‘OG is everything I wanted RJ to be’

This made me laugh — it’s funny cuz it’s true.

Brunson being unable to iso score on his bad foot but still having a massive positive effect on the game as a decoy and a facilitator… incredible

Thibs should give the starters rest here at the end of the quarter. Then play them all of the 4th.

Again, don’t overreact. Wait for an actual diagnosis before doomcasting.

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don’t remember anyone returning quickly after pulling up with a hammy like that

Achiuwa definitely isn’t going to be 1/10th the OG replacement.

OG is 100% out for the season, no other possibility

Please stop dude.

I want to beat TJ to death with Precious’s corpse.

Now we just have to outscore a team that literally can’t defend.

If any one of us is at this game, please go over and slap Precious in the face to wake his ass up!

Pull this out somehow, some way, and then maybe just play the Westies in game 3…

I hate to say it, but that definitely did not look like something OG is going to be back from in the next game.

I think he just had to get confidence in his foot back. OG kept us afloat first half, JB with the close out coming. Stay positive.

Brunson on one wheel out there, and we might need to suit up Thibs. Keep fighting …

Having JB off the ball sometimes is wonderful… this OG shit is awful… I’m having a tough time coping with all this… and watching precious not really try to get a rebound is tough

JB, what a great player. Never in my wildest dreams i thought he’d be this good.

Josh Hart has done some breathtakingly dumb-ass things this game, on offense and defense, but somehow he’s 16-13-5 at the end of the third quarter.

I hate to say it, but that definitely did not look like something OG is going to be back from in the next game.

It’s possible, but until it actually happens, you just never know with these things. Just wait for an actual diagnosis.

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Not sure I even want us to come back and win this with OG out for the rest of the playoffs. Blowing a 2-0 lead is gonna be pure torment.

Zero injuries for any of our playiff opponents of course…

“Sore left hamstring” for OG. Given his track record it seems best to not have him try to tough it out the rest of the game.

Deuce has a reputation as a good defender and McConnell eat him alive every fucking time…

Can Hart teach Precious how to rebound before the fourth quarter?

Thanks Hart

I just imagine that Carlisle haaaaates so much about Isaiah Jackson.

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Precious has been so bad.

I hope we sign TJ as the backup PG but I hate him with every fiber of my being.

In the sideline interview I’m pretty sure Thibs said “Precious and Alex Burk will need to step up.” Coach doesn’t even know the name.

If you can’t figure out why Thibs basically plays everyone 45 minutes, these Deuce and Precious minutes are why.

It’s amazing how we’re such a good defensive team and still can’t stop McConnell

I don’t understand how a bunch of Pacer fans can be allowed to call the game

It would be very Thibs to specifically say Alvin Books will play and then not play him

I’ll post it again as is everyone else but precious never gets a body on anyone … he just floats in the paint … and he’s too fucking short to do that shit … god it’s maddening

What a shame we are getting these freaky injuries. But I’m with these guys until the end.

It’ll be interesting to see when Carlisle puts Hali back in because we have no answer for future first ballot Hall of Famer TJ McConnell

If you can’t figure out why Thibs basically plays everyone 45 minutes, these Deuce and Precious minutes are why.

But Deuce shouldn’t be this bad. He’s had an extended regular season streak where he looked pretty good.

Precious, on the other hand…

It’s going down to the last 10 seconds again, isn’t it.

I can’t bear it…

Bench is giving us absolutely nothing. Deuce is getting eaten alive

I don’t think i’ve felt as much hate for an announcing crew as Reggie and Stan van Gundy. Fucking hate these fucks. They don’t even try to hide that they are rooting for the Pacers. This is terrible TV and a terrible move by TNT

Precious and McBride giving us NOTHING. Dead weight out there.

Yeah I love listening to the crowd in this game but I keep having to mute my TV because I hate listening to Reggie so much

Siakam just figured out Precious is guarding him.

And I don’t get P. He started out very active and now he’s just ball-watching.

From a basketball standpoint Precious is an idiot, this last foul is beyond dumb…

Precious isn’t playable right now Jesus Christ

Precious is fouling in stupid situations, giving them the and-1.

Whatever happens I couldn’t be more proud of our guys (Precious aside)

Precious is such a negative that it really drags the whole team down.

What about JB, Hart, Sims, Precious, and iHart and just let JB shoot and get the rebound?

Haha, kidding. Unless…

When people wanted minutes from Achiuwa, this is what you asked for

They should hack a Siakam.

To be clear: not joking. He’s been awful all playoffs.

We are so much better than this team it’s laughable

I mean, whatever, I shouldn’t give them so much shit, as they’re just not as good as the Knicks, but boy, this a very gutless fourth from the Pacers.

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Precious … he sux so bad on one end … but I like when he dunks open dunks …

Precious does make sure his dunks all go in. OG could learn that from him.

What’s the usual recovery time for a hamstring? If we miraculously win this, all eyes will be on OG…

My São Paulo won the game, I come back to the Knicks and we’re up 7, Brunson is back but OG is now injured? What the hell.

this team is incredibly tough

SO FUCKING TOUGH

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You ever notice how our guys seem to have more energy at the end of games somehow?

They’re like self charging vehicles

When people wanted minutes from Achiuwa, this is what you asked for

We need his minutes, we just have to pray for him to play better.

Imagine we had prime sweet lou admunson instead of precious right now… would we be up 15?

How the fuck am I supposed to go back to sleep after this game

I was thinking the same, maybe we can meet in Piacenza for a coffee 😁

Please basketball gods, just let us have OG back. Old pagliaccci never asked you dor anything…

What’s the usual recovery time for a hamstring?

I wouldn’t expect OG to be able to play in Game 3 and 4

It’s interesting how OG isn’t a great dunker. He’s a great defender because he’s super strong and covers a ton of ground in the blink of an eye, but he’s not that explosive — he doesn’t need to be. But that seems to hurt him on dunks

I was thinking the same, maybe we can meet in Piacenza for a coffee

Let’s make it Mantova and we have a deal

How the fuck am I supposed to go back to sleep after this game

LOL! Same here! 😉

How the fuck am I supposed to go back to sleep after this game

LOL

JALEN FUCKING BRUNSON!

What the fuck was that Turner shot?!? Hilarious!

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If it’s a real hamstring … it’s long time… if it’s a non track and field hamstring … a few days, week or 3… i was a sprinter in college… I know real vs these other sports’ ones… I had a tweak and I was out for 6 weeks easy…

It’s interesting why OG isn’t a great dunker.

OG is amazing at so many things but he often has Nerlens Noel’s hands.

These rotations are so fucking slow!! These loser Pacers.

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I wish I never spoke english as not to understand a word of those shitheads announcing the game

Inadvertent whistle?!? Wow, these refs are terrrrrrrible.

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They are just outhustling the Pacers. It is amazing.

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few feelings better than listening to reggie and stan morose because they miss tj mcconnell

Carlisle really should be fired for not playing TJ down the stretch here.

Everyone in the world knows Brunson is taking the shot there, and they just…let him? It’s such bad defense. The Pacers are such weak, simple-minded morons.

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Rick Carlisle is such a great coach he has McConnell on the bench. I don’t want to hear shit about Thibs.

I love Van Gundy calling out Carlisle for leaving McConnell on the bench when he obviously should be in there.

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I-Hart coming up huge tonight.

In Teddy KGB voice “pay the man his money”

… especially bc SVG has been shouting to put TJ back in from about ten feet away.

few feelings better than listening to reggie and stan morose because they miss tj mcconnell

They right though

This is insane, the Knicks are just outworking the hell out of them, i love it.

We would fucking obliterate this team if it wasn’t for the injuries.

This team is built different

This is toughness as performance art. Or trench warfare. I can’t tell.

Team making dumb mistakes, Carlisle gets thrown out – beautiful collapse

Brunson getting to 30 on a bad foot and missing 16 minutes of play should be in the Knicks Pantheon

In a season full of great, fantastic wins, creaming this bunch of arrogant softies stands as one of the best…

It’s insane that they are able to do this in the fourth quarter after all the minutes.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAA JOSH HART TOLD REGGIE “THEY SAID FUCK YOU” AND IT GOT CAUGHT ON THE LIVE MIC

Well, I missed this one because I was laying down some sick guitar overdubs but it seems like it was… a lot

In a season full of great, fantastic wins creaming this bunch of arrogant softies one stand as one of the best…

With Reggie announcing nonetheless

Well, I missed this one because I was laying down some sick guitar overdubs but it seems like it was… a lot

Dude it was almost too much

Imagine being shit on on national TV because you’re keeping TJ on the bench

Good game. Now I’m gonna try and catch an hour of sleep before I gotta go teach 5th graders. 4:35 am here in Germany

The Knicks had no answer for Obi either, and Carlisle just refused to play him. I’m so glad he went to Siakam at the end.

Something that’s so beautiful about this team is that we are playing in what are going to be *classic* games. Win, lose, or double OT, being involved in these things is something we should cherish, championship or no.

Announcers actually calling the Knicks “clutch.” (The Knicks!)

I’m pretty sure that has never happened in my lifetime. I am legit misty-eyed.

Great game, great win! A little more drama than we hoped, but we’re 2-0 so everything’s going according to plan.

Yeah, Carlisle really not riding the hot hands – both Toppin and TJ were killing us.

And Turner was oddly timid – he’s a good 3 point shooter but he was looking scared to shoot.

Just no fear and no quit on that Knicks squad. What an unbelievable treat they’ve been. After decades of misery, it feels so good.

This was a heroic and dramatic victory. After a poor first half, Brunson limping, OG going down, Achiuwa playing poorly, nobody else on the bench, and they still found a way to win. I just can’t believe how the keep doing this.

I won’t be surprised if OG and Brunson are out on Friday. This series is far from over.

In a season full of great, fantastic wins, creaming this bunch of arrogant softies stands as one of the best…

Perfectly rendered!! Miles Turner hoisting 3’s…….. Siakam guarded by Jhart disappearing and the Maestro closing as if he was 100%.

I was confident in betting a few hundred bucks on the Knicks to win this one. 😉

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As I said on Facebook, well, if the Pacers wanted to be taken seriously, that sure wasn’t how to do it.

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I’m pretty tempted to say we should fully punt game 3 but who am I kidding?

If OG is out for the series, which seems likely given how these injuries go, I don’t know what they can do. Precious is just so bad and exploitable.

I’m watching NBA TV were Dennis Scott and Sam Mitchell are praising the Knicks like crazy.

This fucking team has no fear, they never back down no matter what.

Throw Carlile’s theatrics in the toilet. The refs did us no favors. Indiana played Brunson borderline dirty. The only think they didn’t do to him is punch him in the face every time he had the ball.

Well, I guess we’ll finally see Alexander Burkhardt and Shake if OG is out for the series…

Now I’m gonna try and catch an hour of sleep before I gotta go teach 5th graders. 4:35 am here in Germany

Good idea as soon as adrenaline goes down (same time here).

Good night boys… 🙂

LET’S GO KNICKS!

This win helps because even if OG can’t come back quickly, worst case is we come back to NY 2-2 and maybe OG will be ready then. We could not afford to lose this and have OG out.

I’m pretty tempted to say we should fully punt game 3 but who am I kidding?

Brunson sat a whole quarter, what else can you possibly expect Thibs to do to throw a game!!!

we rest brunson and og for next 2 and then we just win the best of 3 series…

obi and tj on the bench was not a good look but we have seen thibs do that on occasion where guy is hot but thibs sticks to his rotation…

Going to Indiana without Randle, Robinson, and Bogdanovic, very likely without OG, and possibly without Brunson. Unreal. Wow.

Listening to Chuck and Kenny roast the Pacers for their horrible defense is very satisfying

Post-game is embarrassing. Chuck says Precious had a great game. Among other stupidities (Kennie playing minutes police…)

Listening to Chuck and Kenny roast the Pacers for their horrible defense is very satisfying

They played bad defense all year. The problem is for us to slow them down on offense. We did this only in the second half tonight and this is why we won.

They don’t need OG to win this series. They definitely need him to beat the Celtics, though.

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What’s the over/under that Burks plays more than 5 minutes next game?

Remember way back when we were all kind of hot for Myles Turner?

Glad that didn’t happen

A gutty win in front of the “bogeyman” was fantastic. Reggie and SVG were so anti-Knicks it was an embarrassment of broadcasting.

But our bodies are falling apart. The basketball gods give and take with us. Prayer circle for OG and Brunson’s foot

I’d really just sit everyone for game 3. It will piss the NBA off but we need it.

Carlisle is reverting to Nurse-like behavior on his presser… here we go… the narrative grows… it’s rigged…

Hey Rick, your team melted down in the 4th quarter, stop blaming the fucking refs

Oh my god he’s saying they don’t get a fair shot because they’re a small market team

Guy just asked about 3rd quarter … yea what about it Rick your boys sucked ass all quarter go fly a kite bro

Is he blaming the refs for making a correct call? Refs correct each other all the time, I don’t see what the fuss is all about.

What is he complaining about? This game wasn’t won or lost on any 50/50 calls that didn’t go their way

Apparently with 5 mins left in the 3rd quarter Hart pushed Hali in his bad back and no foul was called. I’m not kidding Carlisle specifically mentioned Hali having a bad back as if I guess he thibks Hart did it on purpose knowing he has a bad back and the refs let him get away with it.

Lol at that moment in the game where SVG chastised Hart for being the big flopped in game 1 even though the NBA confirmed it as a foul

Carlisle lost them the game by refusing to ride McConnell and Obi and now he’s whining to the refs, that’s some Doc Rivers level of bullshit.

17 foul shots for the Pacers, 22 for the Knicks, of which at least 2 were at the end as techs because the Whiners had hissy fits.

Of course, Pacers shot 59% on those, Knicks 82%. Damn those refs for making them miss all those foul shots. And letting the Knicks make theirs.

Josh Hart, on the interaction w Reggie Miller: “I just wanted to make sure he heard what the fans were saying. Just wanted to make sure.”

The whole pick incineration/Cam Reddish fiasco was worth it for this alone. Debate over.

Carlisle, what a pussy move. With the exception of the awful whistle on the non-double dribble, there weren’t any really controversial calls. Taking the weak way out instead taking accountability on your poor coaching decisions and teams lack of defense. These coaches are spineless I swear.

Lol, Carlisle said before the game that he hadn’t read the last 2 minute report because it didn’t matter. It was a good answer. And this is what he says now:

https://x.com/DustinDopirak/status/1788404434092851205

Carlisle goes in on the officiating. Says there were 29 calls they felt went the wrong way in the first game, but they didn’t submit them. Said they will submit after this game. Says the Knicks’ physicality is being rewarded and there’s is not.

29 calls!

Carlisle crying now too, maybe your team should have made their free throws

The Pacers surrendered a .651 eFG% to a Knicks team that can barely field a five man lineup with all their injuries. The whole goddamn team was shooting with the efficiency of prime Tyson Chandler, but with 100% usage.

Rick Carlisle can sit his dumb ass down.

Carlile should be embarrassed about his team’s play in the second half and the way he managed the game. He got badly out-coached and exposed. He lost to a Knicks team which played without their all-start and all-NBA power forward; without their backup (could be starting) center; without their sixth man; with their superstar point guard missing the second quarter and limping the rest of the game; with their small forward and best defender going out in the third quarter. Isn’t it an audacity to blame the loss on the refs?

Lmao 29 calls, he’s got to be fucking kidding, the league will laugh at his face.

Now listen, what if Josh Hart is just prime Russell Westbrook, and all he needed was the opportunity to show it?

I guess it’s galling to see Knicks players dropping like flies and still losing game after game

Josh Hart is just an exceptionally beautiful human being. He spontaneously guides those around him to full appreciation of their reality when all they they want is to avert their gaze from the clear bright light. He can’t help it. It is like listening to the singing of the Vedas.

You all will be happy to know that all I caught of this one was a few seconds of halftime commercials, so, unlike Carlisle, I won’t be complaining about anything.

Just got home from msg. I’m delirious. It was like a morgue at halftime on the bathroom line. I was with my childhood buddy Dave. We were despondent. No updates on Brunson, most likely done. Season over. No hope. My spirits were lifted when I saw a couple of buddies from college I hadn’t seen since 1997 (the year I graduated from suny Binghamton). As we were catching up and catching a beer in the 200 section. Someone said Brunson came out for the second half shoot around. Word spread. The entire hallway was chanting mvp, and the energy level went up exponentially.

Brunson seemed hobbled but was successful as a decoy. And the Knicks made their charge. OG was seemingly on his way to his best offensive game as a knick. The kind of game that you look and say, maybe they have a punchers chance against the Celtics. Even without Mitch, Randle, and Bojan. Then he pulls up lame with a hammy. Gut punch again. Game tight. Precious in. This team has no quit, makes no excuses, and Brunson starts coming alive. They grab offensive rebounds. They dive on the floor. 6’4” Josh hart guards 6’9” 7’2” wingspan pascal siakim. Former nba champion and nba all star. And somehow he matches up with him. Precious gets some dunks, key rebounds, and generally plays competentenly and mistake free. Brunson gets raped every time he touches the ball. Doesn’t get a great whistle, but attacks that little gnat TJ McConnell, and scores inside and puts that annoying mother fucker on the floor. He roars, and we roar with him. Beastial. Primal. Tribal. Territorial. My base nature felt satisfied.

They tore the heart out of Indiana. You could see it. They had no fight left. 5 Knicks left standing (McBride is in the dog house and slumping). I don’t know what happens next. OG is so impactful. But he seems to be made of glass, like Mitch rob. I can’t even think of the next game. This was the most meaningful win for me as a Knick fan since the LJ 4 point play. I love these guys. And they believe in themselves. Even if it means having precious Achuwa play 48 minutes in the next game. And Brunson playing on one leg. They believe so I believe. The vibes post game outside the stadium. In the subway, at the pizzeria, the cops on the street, the bums, and hooligans, were utter pride for our gritty beloved Knicks. If you had your Knicks gear on, nobody was fucking with you tonight. It’s the great uniter. I don’t care what anyone says. No team captures this city like the Knicks. This is a basketball town full of people that love nba basketball. The city just feels different when the Knicks are good. I felt like I was transported back to my younger days in the 90’s. Please god let this run continue. It’s an elixir for my soul.

“Tuesday marked the fourth time Josh Hart (19 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists) has played all 48 minutes of a game this postseason, making him the first player since the Thibodeau-coached Jimmy Butler in 2013 to do so.”

I see I posted the same video CFB did. I thought Halliburton was fairer than other pacers in his thoughts. He did complain about the refs but he didn’t think
It was the difference in the game.

He did ask why the refs could reverse a wrong double dribble call but not a kicked ball call, which is a fair question.

That was hilarious bullshit, right? “Oh, it was an inadvertent whistle instead of saying I just blew the call.”

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Brian Sutterer is a sports doc with a side hustle posting armchair diagnoses on Twitter and YouTube, which are often quite accurate. (I’m pretty sure he’s the guy who figured out a few months back that Brunson only had drop foot, and would be fine within a game or two, rather than the devastating non-contact injury we all assumed.) He posted this video about the OG and Brunson injuries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L56zusTjqV8

I’ll leave him to speculate at greater length as to the specific nature of each injury. But he thinks/hopes Brunson can just play through the discomfort. With OG, he at first starts to suggest that he might only miss a game or two, and then seems to pull himself back and be a bit more vague about duration. So we’ll see.

One of the beat writers likes to joke with me that only having five guys he’s willing to play is the ultimate Thibs fantasy. We are getting perilously close to that being a reality.

Wrt the double dribble call — can the refs overrule anything if it is done in the court without a review?

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