Both OG Anunoby and Josh Hart will start Game 7 for the Knicks against the Pacers today, and that just speaks to the heart and the resiliency of this Knicks team, and it is just so inspiring.
You really have to like the Knicks’ chances today with both OG and Hart starting, as even a relatively healthy Knicks team is much better than the Pacers. Of course, you have to worry about whether OG and Hart are going to be effective playing through their injuries, but whatever, Brunson/Donte/iHart alone can win the Knicks this game, especially if Deuce is also there contributing.
I won’t bother saying anything about enjoying the season win or lose, because there is no “win or lose” here, the Knicks are just going to do it, and get this win.
They’ve played the Pacers at the Garden in a playoff Game 7 three times now. They’ve split the first two, let’s get them the historic rubber match!
Let’s go, Knicks!
423 replies on “2024 Playoff Thread: Knicks vs. Pacers, Game 7, Best Of 1 Opener, which is a thing today”
Book of Mormon intermission. See you guys on the other side! LFG, Knicks!!!
Tonight we dine in ECF !
Let’s Do it!
We must!
MSG better be LOUD!!!!!
Let’s go Knicks!
Let’s win this! Gooooo Knicks! š
Let’s go Knicks!
Fire Stephen A
If Spike didnāt hate Stephen A before, he surely hates him now.
Stephen A being a representative for all Knicks fans is just not it…
LET’S GO KNICKS
Reposted from this morning’s thread:
If OGās mobile enough to make defensive rotations, he will have a huge impact. We donāt need him to score 20, even 15 points for us to win. The most important impact he has is how he covers as much ground as two guys and can erase any teammateās mistake as a help defender. He just needs to get into position and his length and size will cut off opposing drives and corral those 50/50 rebounds that the Pacers got last game. And while Iām no hamstring expert, I donāt think that stuff relies on being explosive or jumping.
LETāS GO KNICKS!
We lose itās because Stephen A is in the building and Doris and JJ are calling the game with Breen (0-3 every game theyāve called).
But we will defy the odds (again) and win this. Letās go Knicks!
Shump shump!
Letās farting go Knicks!!!
During the visiting team intros, the MSG announcer always sounds like Richard Kind. Hahaha.
Whatever happens, Iāll be glad not to have to look at TJ McConnellās ugly face for a while after this.
Let’s go Knicks
Glad we’re wearing our home whites. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I appreciate that Breen isn’t even trying to talk about the Pacers.
Let’s Go Knicks!
OG!!!!
OGeeeeee
Hart and OG both moving very gingerly.
don’t think OG is ready
OG Crazy mode!!!!
Knicks defense is still fucking awful.
I think Doris is Pagliacci
Banged up as fuck
We have to defend better.
OG is a huge liability — it’s a clear mistake
Don’t have a very good feeling after the first few mins…
The Pacers arenāt missing a shot, theyāre gonna reverse to the mean, and JB will heat upā¦
Believe guys!
We need you Divo
Not loving how long Brunson is hanging onto the ball.
OGās moving like Willis Reed in the Willis Reed (really Walt Frazier) game.
Awesome that OG hit those shots but we might be better off letting those be his Willis Reed points and going with Burks or whoever else
I appreciate OG playing but he canāt move.
Might need to treat OG’s 5 points as found money and bring in Precious
Deuce in
Why does ESPN insist on putting the distance of the 3 up on the floor? 98% of the time it’s all within the same 3 ft range.
Siakam with a 100% shooting percentage was not on my bingo card :O
This team is disgracing the legacy of the 90’s Knicks with this display on defense so far…
Of course Siakim is playing out of his mind.
They can’t revert that.
First inkling of who gets the good whistle today. Gotta be a foul.
An unsuccessful challenge would be nice
Shit call.
That was a foul. Right?
‘I think Doris is Pagliacci’
OMG
Ball first
Fair is fair
Nice UFO from Obi
Maybe they should change the rule so that a coach can overturn one foul per game, doesn’t matter if the call was correct or not.
Thatās the same exact play SGA made on the ball last night! Ball first, then illegal contact.
My God this is some horrible defense WTF are the Knicks fucking doing.
Can someone on the bench come in and bait Sakaim into a second tech?
Now Haliburton is playing out of his mind. Great.
First quarters have gone this way in our wins
So JBās trying to lose us this game too after his awful 2nd quarter in Game-6?
Insane shooting
These are back to back absolutely inexcusable performances by the Knicks. Unbelievable.
Holding the Pacers to 77% shooting aināt gonna cut it
Wow Tyrese Haliburton got brave enough to talk trash on the road
Last time Knicks were in a game 7, 34 points would have been a halftime score.
As soon as they put McConnell in Brunson gets tunnel vision.
Are we really gonna lose to these prissy jump shooters and that bitch Haliburton.
Letās fucking wake the fuck up!
Why is Jalen bringing the ball up court? Takes huge time off the clock. And energy re the full court press. Deuce can bring it up and hand it off.
Brunson also needs to stop playing hero ball and trust his teammates.
Not sure what is going on. We canāt be ātiredā ā¦ yet.
Yes, Indy shooting lights out, but they are getting Globetrotter good looks.
Our inability to inbound deserve an academic studyā¦
May just be out of gas. Very disappointing.
Long way to go still
This is depressing even for me. I’m gonna try and take a nap.
This is disgraceful.
We really aren’t getting the calls
Wasted fastbreakā¦
Wake up Jalen
Hard foul on Hali, please.
Precious the first Knick to say ānoā on D in ten minutes.
It’s like TJ’s full court pressure makes him see red
80% shooting?
Nothing ever easy with this team, huh
I think this must be the ālet them wear themselves out scoringā strategy.
Haliburton is traveling on every single step back three. Three steps every time. Itās so obvious. Make the fucking call
Is shooting 76% from the field good?
Totally. Does Brunson think if he breaks TJās ankles once the game is won? SMH.
Haliburton’s toe dragging on his stepback is something to watch out for, yeah
Have not risen to the moment, but as @tc said, long way to go.
Once again, our defense is horrible. Not the first time, not the first game. The Pacers are scoring on us at will. I can’t believe how confused we are. There is no way we win if we keep playing no defense.
We usually are bad at 1st and 3rd quarters and good on the others. Keep the faith, guys.
Yankees on a 7 game winning streak!
Rough game. Makes us look like roadkill for the celt’s even if we somehow win
I guess weāre just never going to get a stop
Considering the way OG looked he definitely won’t be able to play much vs Boston so yeah in a way this embarrassment would save us from further embarrassment vs Boston.
Half of these guys canāt even walk
disasterā¦ pacers not missing anythingā¦
Rope a dope in play
It’ll make the eventually victory all the more sweet
Not much point in looking ahead to Boston. We play today, we win today. That’s it.
Weāre playing on fumes and the worst part is hearing announcers explain why Indy is āimpossibleā to guard when they will likely be swept if they beat us.
Very disappointing performance so far, blown away by TJ McConnellā¦
Theyāre not just making every shot. Every shot they take is a great shot.
But 80% from the field is no bueno
Indiana shooting 80%
Is our defense overrated?
I’m muting my TV during breaks in play, I don’t want to hear Doris’ gushfest about Indiana’s role players
Weāre down to basically zero healthy players. Deuce McBride and Precious seem like theyāre at full strength and thatās about it.
Iām starting to not believe. We are playing terrible defense.
Weāre playing terrible defense because we have no players left.
Best part about this game so far was the commercial for the new Bad Boys movie.
Ugh, feels like the minutes load and injuries since the new year is finally catching up. We look dead out there.
Doris is awful. And no, it has nothing to do with the fact that sheās a woman. JJ is pretty awful too. But theyāre cheap as ESPN with cuts/unwilling to keep JVG and Marc Jackson
This cannot be an excuse. Defense is less skill and more positional awareness and effort.
Someone needs to start a fight or something, wake these guys up
For such a feel good season to end like this is truly something.
I didn’t think I could hate this vanilla Pacer team, but I do
Like to punch Hali in his big dumb face
Indy’s defense is more intense and physical than our defense right now. I can’t believe I am saying this.
We already did that earlier in the game with DDV and Siakim.
When they miss we canāt get the rebound, itās a nightmareā¦
Hart getting hurt was the last straw. Thatās just too much to overcome
Pacers are already celebrating. Hang around and the 2nd half may look different.
Thibs got that ākindergartner doing long divisionā look on his face again.
One stop!
And Burps shall lead us
Well unless you win the championship every season ends in a depressing loss. This one is especially depressing so far, however.
Let’s put this in single digits before the half.
Two stops!
hopefully the pacers don’t shoot so awesomely in the second half…
they came out making buckets and have not slowed a bit – yet…
āI was there when Alex Burks put us on his back and took us to the ECF.ā – We happy few.
Let’s never do iso-Precious again
We could use Spree right now.
Chants for Alec Burks whoās playing like Brunson should doā¦
No one mentions how banged up we are? All praise for Indy. JJ and Doris are fucking stupid and canāt stand them
Alec Burks chants. Did you ever think you’d see the day
Burks, Precious and Deuce look lively, everyone else struggling
Well. Can Alec Burks do it on his own?
Deuce drives for a layup, gets blocked by Turner but somehow collects his own rebound. Yet Doris only has breathless superlatives for Turner. Weird
I’m fully aboard the NY Rangers bandwagon.
In announcing a game, you have the play-by-play person and the color person. Doris and JJ have no color.
This. Iām still proud of this team.
Got to go pick my kid at a friend’s house. You keep doing the comeback while i’m away.
STOP MAKING BRUNSON BRING UP THE BALL.
Itās 14 seconds off the shot clock every fucking time.
When Breen says before the shot, x player is āfeeling itā he means, ādonāt shoot that.ā
JFC this basket by Turner feels like a daggerā¦ in the 2nd quarter!
Even in an empty gym itās hard to make 81.4 percent
So much for the Pacers being mentally soft…
Welp
Hopefully the Pacers turn out to be the 2021 Hawks.
This is just ridiculous
I wish nothing but bad things for Haliburton. Even if they win this game, he gonna end up like Trae Young. All talk, no heart
Maybe next time Donte will keep his trap shutā¦
I might root for Boston if this doesn’t turn around. Haliburton’s act is making me furious.
They are soft. Our defense has just been softer.
Letās take Siakam, Nesmith, McConnell and Jackson off their team and give Obi Toppin an oblique injury and see how they do.
Oh, and also we would get to be at full strength
Wait, did Brunson get a foul call? I’m confused, I didn’t think that was possible
This. We are seeing why. I mean, Brunson is also missing free throws. This is bizarro-world.
And we must suffer Doris, āI think if youāre Indiana you have to be pretty happy.ā Scintillating analysis.
PS ā what happened to the running of multiple screens for JB with Deuce knocking folks on their backs? Did we forget that worked?
Just ride Burks until the wheels fall off
They are really missing Randle in this series
I’m not watching 1 second of a Boston Indiana series. Honestly might take a total break from watching any basketball until the NBA Finals if it’s a Boston Denver series cause that should be a great series.
Brunson has missed a bunch of short midrange stuff he usually makes.
Randle would pulp these guys
My kingdom for cutting the lead to 15 by the half
Credit to Hart for being playable when he just be seriously limited
And Brunson draws another foul. There’s hope!
Indiana did reach the Final of the In-Season tournament!
HUGE turnover by Siakam
Give up your kingdom, Doug
15p
Ok
Possible
But we need to change
Only MSG would be this loud for ā¦ that.
Woulda been nice to get that before the half
Worth it
Siakam straight up shitting on the Knicks.
Pacers should try shooting 3s with their off hand, theyāll definitely go in
Got āem right where we want em
We scoring just fine. The defense needs to step. No way they keep up this 3 point shooting but weāve been screwed by the basketball gods all series
I watch this poor guys running on fumes and playing wounded and I canāt stop thinking about Game-3 and the way the refs fucked us after Carlisleās show in Game-2.
LOL, I caught that one too… Have not been enjoying these three (and our track record in their games is a big part of why).
Fucking miracle to only be down 15 to a team making 98% of their field goals.
not over yet
We scored 55 points which should normally be enough for a team to at least be in the game. However, the Pacers scored 70 easy and effortless points on us and they also killed us on the boards. For the first 18 minutes we looked like hypnotized. It is as if the talk surrounding injuries and the MSG atmosphere affected the Knicks more than the Pacers. We picked it up a bit in the last six minutes after I-Hart sat down with foul trouble. That made us faster and switchable. The hole we are in is big but not insurmountable. If we want to give ourselves a chance, we need extra effort and intensity on defense, defense, defense.
Yeah, lose this one and that game 3 choke is really going to haunt us.
We are better than them at full strength, but no excuses, just go out and win the next 24 minutes (by uh 16 or more)
They’re shooting 76% from the field, 67% from three. jesus.
Meanwhile, we’re shooting 28.6% from three.
Also losing the rebounding edge, 22-13.
With exception of Burks, no one playing above their respective floors due to injuries and whatever. Not much reason to have hope unless a different Brunson emerges and Pacers revert to mean shooting wise.
15 points is nothing.
We need 24 minutes of the best defense these guys have got.
Hartenstein needs to show the fuck up and dominate the boards.
And for fucks sake pass the ball up the court. The Pacers are baiting Brunson and heās been taking it since the 2Q of game 6.
Check your math, I think it’s 106%
Brunson has 8 asts and 0 tos.
Bob Myers really is an idiot.
This desk show much more enjoyable with Stephen A absent. Wilbon annoying but Malika is great and Myers actually knows what he’s talking about.
They look totally unprepared, the Thibs thing may need another look
If Frank Vogel – won a title and got fired by the Lakers
Budeholzer – won a title and got fired from the Bucks
Established coaches who won it all and got fired
Thibs is a defensive coach and can’t figure that side of the court out
Announcers just challenged Indy to shoot 75% for second half. Thanks.
And Malika Andrews likes what she heard from Hali at the half, so Iām never calling her again.
Offense has not been our problem. It is clumsy and at times frustrating, our threes didn’t go in, but we still found a way to score 55 points. This is who we are. The problem is on the other end, on defense. It has been like this for at least four of the first six games of the series. Game 7 is no exception, at least for now.
knickerblogger might not be out on Thibs, but he will have a hard time with the vocal people in the fanbase
Crowd here at MSG kind of stunned but still SO ready to explode with a Knicks run
I did not expect this.
Thibs is a defensive coach and hasn’t been able to scheme this offense the entire series. Why keep him around?
Hartenstein had 0 pts, 3 fouls, 4 rebounds, 0 blocks.
Show the fuck up, dude. Jalen, Donte, iHart is our big 3 today. One of them canāt be shit.
Remember Patrick Ewing had zero points in the first half of game 7 30 years ago and he dominated the 2nd half.
Letās fucking go!
Thibs is getting a contract extension this summer.
iHart doing the Knicks a solid by showing he’s not worth 20-25m per season!
Stunned or pissed? More so the working class. Paying $700 just to get in for this effort is non sense
Hart is.far from OK. Zero offensive rebounds says it all.
Anybody who is willing to give him that is crazy. He doesn’t have much of a scoring game.
Abdominal strain in the dictionary says “overuse”
Will Leon Rose come out and give refunds to the working class people?
Alright let’s at least make a run in the 2nd half and let the chips fall where they may. Still love this team!
More of this
Good start
They should move on, Thibs shouldn’t be some untouchable force. With him you hit a ceiling as a team. A defensive coach getting cooked an entire series is a bad look.
Two stops in a row!!
The thing to do – in the event that we don’t come back and win – is to overreact.
Fire Thibs (maybe we can hire D’Antoni), trade Brunson for real winners like Durant, rescind Starks’ baseline tickets, and consider moving the team to Las Vegas.
It’s the only thing to do.
Last couple of trips. Hart with an ORB and iHart with same. Getting there. Halftime kool aid.
PS ā ā Itās the only thing to do.ā ā LOL
Deuce !!!!
6 more goaltends and we’ve got the lead!
THAT’S WHAT WE FUCKING NEEDED
My kingdom for cutting the lead to 10
Doris Burke actually questioned that offensive foul on Nesmith?! This is embarrassing, even by her low standards. JJ, for once, disagreed and said it wasnāt even close
Knicks were down 15 at halftime in 2000 Game 6 vs Miami and came back to win!
Better to be silent and be thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt
Praying (the Basketball Gods)…
How many kingdoms do you have?
PS ā long percolating question. Anyone else get a touch of Michael Rappaport vibe from Divo (and Iām not hating on either guy).
As I wrote above if guys who won titles like Vogel and Budenholzer can get fired after they won titles I don’t see why Thibs needs this huge protection shield around him.
tastycakes, your knickerblocker extension is coming up clutch right now, lmao
How many kingdoms do you have? We’re gonna need at least 3 more at this rate
Ha, KBA beat me to it
I have territorial holdings in various assorted fiefs and principalities
YeĆsssssssssssd!!!!
WOW wow WOW WOW
Guard this fkn haliburton
I guess We’re alive
This looks like us now
Deuce needs to start hitting his 3s.
My kingdom for cutting the lead to 5
Deuce and Brunson… these two turnovers killed us
Stupid mistakes
Deuce is killing us.
Sometimes I think *we* should call timeout after a good run to cut the lead under ten bc the resulting claw back from the opponent is a gut punch.
But no one has yet offered me a contract to coach in the NBA
Brutal stretch with the TOs
This is fucking insane!
STOP
MAKING
BRUNSON
BRING
UP
THE
BALL
AGAINST
MCCONNELL
Lucky shots by NeSmith and Turner. Wtf
Hubert that’s coaching…
Deuce looks a little trebuchet again today – really slinging it instead of shooting
Put in Burks for deuce, he’s not hitting anything
Literally doubled their number of turnovers in 30 seconds.
Bruh save it for June. This a game 7 thread
Deuce has the least reason to be fucking up of all our guys. Get some steals. Hit your threes.
Letās hope Alex ācall me Vinnie Johnsonā Burks can pour in another fifteen this half.
That was Brunson’s first turnover of the game…
Deuce with another incredible turnover, from down 7 with the ball in our hands to down 14 in a few secondsā¦
My god. Will someone hire a high school coach to teach our team how to inbound this summer.
Glad to be of assistance! And thanks for the reminder š
What happened to JB?
Com on
Frikn inbound plays
Holy shit, we’re gonna lose because we can’t inbound the ball
This is embarrassing again.
Well doesn’t that all just suck.
Playing hard but playing stupid.
OK nothing
We cut it to 7 and then Brunson took the McConnell bait again and now itās 18. Every fucking time.
Embarrassing play from Brunson
I’m back. This is still not going good.
Yeah this has gotten way too helter skelter that’s more to Indiana’s style.
Long stretch of dumb plays and turnovers, love the guys but this is so sadā¦
Maybe this nonsense about who is the best athlete in NY will end as it’s clear the 2 best athletes in NY play for the Yankees.
Yeah because Judge has been so good in the playoffs BBA
Soto sure
Aaron Rodgers is also around
That McBride turnover down 7 was killer
Julius wouldāve worked these dudes. Sigh.
We showed grit and effort for five minutes to start the third and cut the deficit to six. It doesn’t take much. Indy is soft. Alas, four brainless turnovers followed, including a 5 second violation out of a time out, and those gave Indiana life again. We just shot ourselves on the foot.
Trolling a game 7 thread should be a bannable offense
It’s not just about the playoffs it’s about how good you are compared to the rest of your peers in your sport.
Alas huge turning point of the gameā¦
We had our run and blew it. Mentally shot. Maybe the boys have one more run in them. But then need to get stops and play smarter.
Deuce missing that wide open 3 then the turnover a few possessions later did seem to take the wind out of their sails.
They should be very proud to have defeated Precious Achiuwa, Deuce McBride and no-oblique Josh Hart
Is it.. Harden in Houston was a top 3 player but nobody cared because of his playoff failures..
Embiid is another one- top 5 player/MVP level
Playoffs are meaningful
Nesmith 7-7
Nembhard 5-5
McConnell 5-6
I’ll definitely be cheering for the Celtics.
Wait McConnell missed a shot?
TJ McConnell is plus 25 in this game.
I also hope Haliburton takes a vicious foul before this game is over.
Brunson went to the locker room.
I’m rooting for Minnesota or Denver to beat down whoever comes out of the East
Role players always play better at home, right???
The defense has been awful plain and simple. Way too much scrambling and running around like chickens with their heads cut off, that’s not the type of defense they excel at. They’ve been on skates for 3 of the last 4 games.
One more quarter. Do we have a run in us?
Maybe we need to draft a defenderā¦
Burks is
12:00
Quite possibly the luckiest path to the conference finals in the history of the league.
F*ck.
Self inflicted inbounds daggers
I was trying to explain to the stepkids how Mase and Oakley would have handled this situation, ended up sounding like a fucking lunatic.
I’d like the Pacers if they played out West. I still hate the Spurs for beating us in ’99 but otherwise I can basically pick and choose.
Dallas or Minny or Denver over Boston would make for a great final.
Rick Carlisle runs a spread it out fast paced offense
Knicks play at the slowest pace in the league
Have to slow down the game and they decided not to
Brunson went to the locker room and hasn’t returned…
It happens. Atlanta a few years back. Portland. Could have said the same about the Knicks if we made it – Giannis injured, Embiid not 100%…
I want to see this team in the playoffs at full strength. This is such a bummer.
Denver vs Boston would be a great series so I guess I’ll root for that scenario cause if not don’t think I’ll be in much of a mood to watch basketball rest of this season.
Sequences like that…just not our game
McConnell singlehandedly stopped that fastbreak lmao.
Breaking News
Jalen Brunson has a fractured left hand
It had to be TJ
OMFG apparently Brunson fractured his hand.
Brunson broken hand.
Breen choking up. āBrunson fractures left hand.ā
Fractured left hand.
Is that an overuse injury?
It’s over.
Great season, guys.
How long does a fractured hand take to heal
and the last wheel goes
I’m legit shook by the Brunson news, that fucking sucks he doesn’t deserve his season to end like that…
I gently propose a āthread of silenceā with respect to the minutes until tomorrow.
I wouldn’t be surprised it happened early. Probably why he shot so terrible.
Donte & the backups
It took Brunson to get injured for the Doris to remember we’re without several players. But kudos to her, JJ still hasn’t noticed.
Silver lining: no one will respect the Pacers for winning this game 7 now
I hope we get these pieces of shit next year at full strength.
Team deserves better.
Normally I’d say “tip your hat, the other team was just better” but in this case, it’s just not true.
I mean, I guess shooting 104% in a road playoff game is somewhat skillful. But still – fuck Indiana.
With tastycakes’ browser extension, I can make my own now lol
Heāll be ready for next seasonās Revenge Tour.
Sad ending but great season, standing ovation for the guys.
I take back what I said about Brunson. Obviously he couldnāt play with his hand like that.
Listen of course Knicks win this series easily in 5 if healthy or even as healthy as they were going into the playoffs but fuck we gotta give Indiana props for the way they’ve played today.
JB and The Straight Shot has played their last gig this season.
Up to 4 months for a fractured hand?
100%
I want to be at full strength and obliterate them
You know what, you guys can do your āIām so proud of this teamā bullshit.
These guys choked in game 3 and then got blown the fuck out in three out of 4 playoff games, all while playing some of the worst defense Iāve ever seen from a Knicks team.
We are not close.
This ^^^^^^^^^^
Great szn.
We found our long-desired true 1A. Got a game-changing 3&D wing. Weāre a lot closer to title contention now than we were to start the season.
Sucks to lose today, but Iām happy overall.
Fuck it, let’s get Alec Burks 40
We still have Burks
NY Rangers..
I think he broke it in the third quarter.
Standing O +1
Celtics fans praying for a Knicks miracle comeback
Itās official: God hates Knicks fans.
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Burks dropped 43 and we won? You know, as a bit.
Hubert, come on. It was still a great season regardless. There was no championship coming this year. They’ll be better next year. They’re exhausted. You can see it. They left it all out there. They deserve credit.
Hey Hubert, Fuck You!
Celts in 5?
knicks showing true grit to the bitter end, a reminder of a positivea future despite losing due to unprecedented injuries.
Home court is what you work for in the regular season and the team chokes it away.. feel bad for Starks and all the legends courtside
Hubert, man. The proper phrase is, āSorry for your loss.ā
Make your case tmrw.
So thatās 4 out of 5 starters with season-ending injuries. Get Donte a police escort after the game!
They showed a replay looks like he hurt it contesting Haliburton’s layup off one of the turnovers.
I hope this brutal injury-riddled exit just gives the guys who could leave – OG and I-Hart – the taste of what it could be like, and convinces them to stay (I-Hart, mostly, as I’m sure the Knicks will find a way to keep OG).
Yāall havenāt lost this series yet.
Yeah, Hubert. Iām usually pretty laid back. But get lost with that nonsense. Go take a walk or something.
Gonna fight to the end. Respect.
What do people think getting Randle back is going to do? A guy who isn’t good in the playoffs
My fear is people think getting Randle back means championship. They need to make moves
When I was 16, the Knicks lost a regular season game to the Heat when Glen Rice went nuclear.
In turn, I went nuclear on my bedroom – landed myself in therapy for the first time. Not my finest hour, but hey, I was an angry teen.
I have felt like breaking stuff during this game, but I’m a grown ass man now, so I’ll vent on here and get on with my life.
A little bit of perspective maybe?
Def a good season, amazing first round. All was really lost despite appearances when OG went down. During the season with both OG and Randle out, we’ve normally looked pretty pedestrian at best. Pacers should have been embarrassed they lost to us by 30 with no OG or Randle
I’d say Celtics in 4 but they’re weak sauce, too.
Ihart is shit today
Can’t fault DDV today.
I’m here for the “get Divo to jack 3s every time down the floor” strategy.
If we get the ball back, we should try that
Please, can someone break Haliburtonās leg and ruin his career?
Donte and Burks with great performances tonightā¦
Another positive is that Divo showed he’s a legit starting 2-guard. We don’t need upgrades, just need to stay healthy.
Hali is a clown. Grow up, today is not a day you prove whatever you think you need to prove.
AWOL today: Deuce and iHart (0 points!?). Not sure whassup with that.
It’s going to be sick when Alec Burks hits the game-winning shot in Game 7 of the Finals
We lost this one in the first quarter.
May as well go with the high variance strategy and have Donte and Burks bomb 3s
Hopefully this is a repeat of Knicks losing Game 7 in 1992 then making the Conference Finals and NBA Finals in the following 2 seasons.
Happily and vociferously participated in the standing ovation for Josh Hart. Extremely well-deserved.
āJosh Hart, Josh Hart.ā Knick fans, man. Whoās like us? Damn few.
In the end, I can only feel marginally better about this year than last.
Despite all the heart and excitement, we only got one game further than last year, and still lost in the 2nd round. Yeah, there were unprecedented injuries, but we were up 2-0 and 3-2 and failed to close the dealā¦again.
Pacers were better coached and made the defensive adjustments they needed to shut us down. And they hit their shots and stayed cool under pressure, winning on the road.
They had more physical size and talent, more energy, and played better team ball. Their non-stop movement and passing put our Brunson isolation action to shame.
Losing Brunson at the end was just the cruel ironic icing on the cake.
It was fun to watch but just ridiculously disappointing in the end.
The Dolan curse continues.
See you next season, fellas.
Itās a Hard Knicks life.
Josh Hart, 10-8-5 with two steals. Warrior.
I feel I owe our guys to watch until the last second, no matter the score.
Damn man looks like Hart was crying into his towel.
Same.
This was a great season. Weāre
Coming back stronger. Championship in sight, just not this season.
Nice. So don’t join the ovation, stay on your seat.
Hubert, you’ll regret those words a couple days from now, but I won’t give you a hard time about it. The agony of defeat is hard to deal with.
It ends on a sour note but it a quick look at the season as a whole brings you back right away. This is the best we felt about the Knicks since the Ewing era. Respect and only respect for them! Give them players, coaching staff, FO, their flowers!
Let’s extend Thibs, keep building, adding pieces, and we will be a true force in the NBA for years to come. I couldn’t be more proud of them!
Respectfully disagree. The big āifā is what the injuries look like next year, but this team today IMO is ten times the team from last year.
And I can finally start getting some work done. Hahaha. Love you all. Talk āsoon.ā
ššššššššššš
loved OG starting the game out there…
ouch, just read jalen broke his hand…
time to rest and get healthy…
Who had Alec Burks & DiVo leading the team in points in a game 7 at the beginning of the year?
Julius Randle hasn’t been a good playoff performer. Putting all your eggs in the Randle basket isn’t the way to go.
Same here. It’s hard but i’m staying until the end.
But thanks to Tastycakesā extension nobody will know ššš
Yeah man I stayed to the end and will watch the MSG post-game show.
LMAO I wasn’t gonna say it
Itās done. Too many injuries. Great season ends in a whimper. Still proud of our guys.
I wonāt give credit to the Pacers at all until they beat us at full strength. They still almost lost to a team that didnāt have its starting entire front court and other injuries throughout the series. Still a soft team to me. Boston might give them a game or two of how mentally weak THEY are but it should be easy for them.
Till next season. I know there are gonna be trolls and losers on this thread talking about Thibs, strats, or whatever but at the end of the day if you are a true fan you just gotta accept it and go forward.
The past becomes prologue. This loss will light a fire in our guys. That’s just who they are.
Glad to see the absolute majority here in a positive spirit. This reflects the mood of the Knicks fans as a whole. Please, do not pay attention to those two-three brainless gravediggers. You know who they are. Just do not engage, do not respond. Keep it positive. Lets go fucking Knicks!
I’m excited about the future. These guys will be in the playoffs competing for the next set of years. It’s awesome! Hopefully no major injuries next year!
Ceteris paribus, a Josh Hart with intact guts and we take game 7.
Frustrating loss. The defense was inexcusable. We needed to do better. With Brunson going down we probably wouldnāt have won anyway, but to lose like this kind of puts a shadow over everything weāve done. Our injuries might excuse running out of offensive firepower, but we scored fine. Our injuries by no means excuse a complete lack of defensive effort. Brutal.
I really hope Brunson is okay. A broken shooting hand can linger. Hopefully itās not a big fracture.
Our team showed a lot of heart for most of the playoffs but we did not bring any of it today. That was the worst defensive performance in any game 7 ever. They shot 67%. Shameful. I can take losing but itās hard to take a team with zero fight after showing so much all season. Injuries are no excuse for a complete lack of pride.
I am disappointed in this team for the first time this season.
We will bounce back next season but that was rough.
Itās been great going on this journey with everyone. Next year should be fun.
Tomorrow we can talk next moves.
We lost our starting center (defensive player of the year potential), our All-NBA all star power forward, our defensive player of the year challenger wing, our sharpshooter three point specialist, our lunatic hustlebunny, and finally Brunson broke his hand (after earlier damaging his foot). What a shit show. The only starter who was still able to play at full strength at the end was Donte, and he wasnāt even a starter when the season began.
In the end a pretty fantastic season given all that.
I can’t wait for next season to start with everyone healthy and our whirling death machine from January/February fully operational again. METAL BATS for the rest of the league.
Great season. Too bad we didn’t have a little more health to go to the ECF, but this way i hope they start next season hungry for the 2025 Playoffs to show the world their value.
Great season. Says something that I thought we should have won with 3 of our starters injured.
Maybe Indy pulls a Spo Special and the make the finals somehow
There was no ceteris paribus in these series dude, none whatsoever. Nothing was equal. Alas. But that makes us even more proud of those Knicks.
Great Knickerblogger season as well. You guys are the best.
Fitting in that we lost Brunson to injury – pretty much the story of our season. I am excited to see the January team next year. iHart should be back. Mitch should be healed. OG will be signed. Julius may take a little longer, but he will be there. It’s a big, dominant team when healthy. Still not as talented as the Celtics, but we’d walk all over these Pacers.
Be an asshole today if it’s your thing, but you are indeed an asshole if you can’t appreciate this team, this effort, this heart. I’m grateful for all the joy they gave me this year, and the hope for the future I have for the first time in 20+ years.
By the end of this game, not a single starter from the beginning of the year was still playing. And yet there we were in game 7 of round 2. So much to be proud of with this particular iteration of the laundry.
Love you all, even the ones that talk sh*t about a team decimated by injuries. I agree that one or two players out is not an excuse, but come on, we had 4 players out, it’s half of the 8-man rotation for the playoffs. See you tomorrow, good people of KB.
I hope I didnāt upset anyone. I really am not trying to be an asshole.
What our team did overcoming all the injuries to make it this far is really something. Brunson emerging as one of the 10 best players in the NBA is fantastic.
That was just difficult to watch and I am disappointed. Losing is one thing but losing like that is hard to take.
We should be proud of our team even if today was not a good showing.
I just think the team was cooked. I thought they were two days ago.
Hart’s standing ovation really got me
Expected a more competitive and thrilling finale tbh but didn’t expect such an outstanding season!
Can’t wait for the next one!
Extremely Proud of These Bad Motherfuckers
Thank You All for this great sports journey
Honestly, we needed iHart to have a big game today and he didn’t have it in him. He had to be the king of rebounds today.
Classy post by Hubert. About what I would expect
I was watching Thibsā postgame presser on NBA.TV and a though hit me*:
why would OG risk his free agency so much, playing with this kind of injury, if he isnāt sure of re-signing with the Knicks?
I think thatās already a done deal.
* I know, Iām slow to reactā¦ š
We only had 2 more offensive rebounds despite missing 23 more shots. They beat us on both execution and hustle.
They shot over 72% on twos.
I donāt know how not to be upset about our teams performance today. Game 6 wasnāt much better.
We have 3 legitimate stars on this team now. Then you have Donte and Hart as super role players. Hopefully we can get the 2 headed center role going again.
Iāll be proud tomorrow. I think right now Iām just disappointed. With the loss and the defense.
I’ll tell you how to not be upset:
It’s a basketball game. It literally has no effect on the outcome of your life. None. If it really upsets you so much you should cut it out of your life. They lost, it won’t even be a discussion outside of this blog in another week and some lowlifes on Twitter.
Because he wasn’t risking anything by playing today. Other than a complete rupture of one of the 3 muscles involved his rehab time would increase from 2 weeks to 6 weeks
The season basically ended when OG fucked up his hammy. We all kind of knew it at the time but were hoping against hope we could advance.
I actually feel fine. The character on display through this entire series was amazing. Forget a team bus, our entire roster arrived for this game in an ambulance. A little healing and we will be treated to an amazing season starting in 5 months. I really hope we keep and use our picks.
Was one hell of a year. Shame to go down like that, but this was the most I’ve enjoyed the Knicks since the days of Spree and Houston – and it hasn’t been particularly close.
If I were running things, I’d bring everybody back, invest in some cryogenic technology, and try and get some rotation depth to help manage the load. I believe that this exact group of guys at full strength can go on a Finals run.
Appreciate the fine folks on this goofy 1990s-era message board as well – thanks y’all!
Iām not that upset. It was just a disappointing game. I am mainly sad I donāt get to watch them again for 5 months. These playoffs were fun. That opening series was awesome. And Brunson is a star.
I donāt know what happened defensively this game and the last. Our bigs totally broke down and we had no resistance in the paint.
This team will be a joy to watch next year. Absolute joy. I can’t wait.
This is a false take bc this is now Brunsonās team. So the prism of āride or die with Juliusā is outdated. Now, if weāre not convinced Randle is the right 1b for Brunson, thatās another issueā¦
Ben I really just think they were straight tired.
I work 10 hour shifts and the past two weeks I’ve been working with 2 inch rigid conduit. They’re heavy. By the end of Wednesday I’m exhausted. I start falling asleep in my recliner when I get home from work. My legs are still worn out when I get up.
I imagine something similar has been setting in with the team in the past week with all the injuries wearing them down.
Iām in the trade Randle camp. Not because he canāt perform in the playoffs. I think that is not true. He had one bad series and was hurt for another. I think he stops the ball too much and with Brunson also stopping the ball creates too much of a my turn, your turn type of offense. We need free flowing shooters around Brunson. I think OG at the 4 is perfect.
It’s easier for me to get over this loss with how good the Yankees are this year. But I can’t wait until the draft and July 1st to see what this team will look like next season, could be a very interesting summer.
You are probably right but if thatās the case, thatās on Thibs. We won game 5, if we did not have the legs for game 6 then rest our guys or something.
We punched them in the face game 5 and then they straight rolled us two games in a row. Dominating in the paint and winning the rebound battle. Those should be our strengths. We failed to adjust.
This team was under .500 without OG, once he got hurt it was gonna be tough winning 2 games without him. The Pacers style of play is an awful matchup for the Knicks without OG. They should’ve won Game 3, that was their chance to win this series. The other 3 losses they didn’t really have a chance at all.
What happened is Josh hart was hurt. He led the playoffs in rebounds and heās a hell of a defensive player. Plus the pacers are a really really good offensive team and hella deep. They were the worst match up for us at this time with us being so short handed.
Were the better team healthy but we werenāt. We literally were missing two starters and two rotation players for basically the entire playoffs and then hart got hurt was the straw that broke the camelās back.
I canāt be mad. We got a complete team. We got lots of picks to make moves. Iām fine to run it back to start the season but I donāt expect Leon to be complacent.
Whatever. Iām glad I missed this game but Iām so fucking proud of this team.
Also sorry but we got fucked on the schedule. Less than two days off from the last game with travel included. Itās bullshit.
You are not wrong. I think once OG went down it was going to be a tough road.
I feel no need to re-litigate past mistakes. I just hope next year we have a better and more seasoned bench.
But alas. The team is going to be better next year and hopefully we both stay healthy and run our guys a little less hard.
Walker the NBA prioritized the reigning MVP and Champions and the second coming in Edwards. They got the proper schedule.
I love this team, and they went about as far as we could have reasonably expected, given all the injuries, if not farther. Today sucked, but we were running on empty, and it doesn’t take away from how special this season was.
Onward and upward! Now Leon has the tough challenge of taking the team from very good to great, and deciding whether to run it back (plus draft picks) in hopes of what we do with better health, or if he wants to make one more big move.
One small silver lining, I suppose ā we donāt have to watch this shell of a team without Brunson go up against the Celtics.
I’d rather get swept in the Conf Finals vs lose in Rd 2…
Bitter end to a very fun season. I will look back on this team fondly, it’s one of the more enjoyable Knicks teams of my lifetime and most of the time it was a pleasure rooting for them. It would have been great to shut up Haliburton but we would have gotten absolutely rinsed by the Celtics anyhow, so perhaps this is for the best. Get everyone healthy, make a couple moves and try again next year, we’ve still got Jalen Brunson.
My entire interest in the NBA is now rooting for the Celtics not to win a championship with every fiber of my being.
Our best players, in order, are:
Brunson
Randle
Anunoby
Hartenstein
Divincenzo
Robinson
Take three of any teamās six best players away, and theyāre gonna have a tough time winning. Add in injuries that cripple the seventh best player (Hart) and eliminate the eighth best (Bojan) and it gets that much harder.
You can make the argument that the coachās proclivities were a major cause for this, and you can also argue that some of these guys are injury prone to begin with. Both of those things are probably true to some extent. But itās also true that we had some bad luck at a bad time.
I still believe we need another shot creator and thatās the most pressing need for the team. This offseason is the time for the consolidation trade. I donāt think weāre quite good enough to run it back and just draft a couple of guys late in the first to fill holes. We need another significant piece and that piece should be a shot creator who can allow us to give opponents different looks. Randle would have helped a lot in that regard but Iād like another scoring guard/wing who has some speed and shooting.
Haliburton is a corny frontrunner but he’s very good, the Pacers might be able to give the Celtics some problems without Kristaps. At least one of those teams is going to lose.
I will not regret it all, Doug. This team couldn’t figure out TJ McConnell in a game 7, and he’s like 45 levels away from the final boss.
With the money they will have to pay OG you would hope he could up his shot creation.
TJ McConnell destroyed Duece all series
Duece being a very good defender took a big L
Guys, new thread.
Okay
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