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2024-25 Game Thread: Knicks @ Nuggets – An Early Statement Game?

It’s still early, of course, but it sure would be nice to see how the Knicks handle someone like Jokic.

The Knicks have played the Nuggets tough in recent years, so hopefully they do well.

Glad that Towns is playing.

Let’s go, Knicks!

196 replies on “2024-25 Game Thread: Knicks @ Nuggets – An Early Statement Game?”

Andiamo ai Knicks!

(Watching with jet lag in Milan)

Btw somehow Google translates “Deuce” as “Devil/Diavolo” which I kind of love.

Il Diavolo è sciolto!

Prediction: down 15 by end q1. We’ll go the entire game without getting 3 stops on a row

We’ll go the entire game without getting 3 stops on a row

They already got 3 stops in a row in Denver’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th possession, so you do you.

Jokic does something on nearly every possession that makes me doubt my eyes

Dislike pooping on Mikal, but really not appreciating his D on Murray.

Might be good to get Deuce on him. Stop the blow-bys.

The book on the Nuggets is get your best shit talker to tell Russ there’s no way he’s going for 40 tonight

Denver is obviously very good offensively but feels like they play a style that the Knicks are much more comfortable defending against instead of having to chase quick guards all over the place.

They finally managed to keep a team under 25 points in the first quarter. It’s been so many games since this last happened.

Prediction: down 15 by end q1. We’ll go the entire game without getting 3 stops on a row

damn cuz was spot on

That’s frustrating to play good defense but have Porter Jr hit tough shots in back to back possessions.

Josh Hart is one of my very favorite players ever, but he’s always good for two intensely boneheaded plays every game.

are we down 15 yet? funny clown hasn’t posted again? we need more PREDICTIONS

The reason I liked the Cam Payne signing so much is because it guaranteed I wouldn’t have to see him hit that stupid ass shot against the Knicks this season

I’d suggest sending Bridges down to the G league for awhile but I don’t want to sabotage the Westchester Knicks. 🤣

I like how Crawford talks about how he took terrible shots and didn’t play defense. Like what if you had done those things?

Except for losing Porter Jr a couple of times Knicks have played excellent defense this half.

The best 2022-2023 Phoenix Sun on our roster is Landry Shamet 🙁

I totally forgot Cam Payne was on that team. I will do better.

So. A bit easier tonight without Kessler out there? Or quality re-set from the Knicks? A little of both, I suspect.

I know Towns was a star, but honestly he’s better at everything than I thought he’d be. His shot is pure from everywhere. I had no idea he had a really effective power game. He’s a very solid rebounder.

His defense sucks, but in fact he looks to be doing a decent job tonight.

I flipped to the channel, saw Thibs looking like he had just shit his pants. Figured things were going bad. Turns out they’re up 20 on the road in the 1st half to a recent champion. That guy is complex.

The defense was not bad this half. Their best half of defense in a long while. Some of it was Denver’s poor 3pt shooting, but it’s progress.

OG 8-10
RJ 7-19

I know which one I think is better

RJ had a crisp 17 points on 19 shots… 3 whole rebounds and 2 assists and 3 TOs sporting a -16 in a 2 point loss….

Well now we know, just give Mikal open layups on passes under the basket.

Amazingly, Breen says he’s shooting 30% from three. It sure feels a lot worse.

Z-Man beats me…

I love this team, we lose to the Jazz and then are just shellacking the Nuggets at home

“RJ had a crisp 17 points on 19 shots… 3 whole rebounds and 2 assists and 3 TOs sporting a -16 in a 2 point loss….”

At least he only cost us one first rounder…

I like Bridges getting 2 layups already this quarter. With his length and touch around the basket he should cut near the basket more often.

That sequence kind of sums up this game – Nuggets miss 4 point blank layups and we get a dunk at the other end

Sucks to be them…

So the secret for Mikal is to only take point blank layups…

At least that makes him better than Jared Jeffries

he (Bridges) should cut near the basket more often

yup, and lotta passers now happy to find him.

@Mike Vornukov

Mikal Bridges is 1-of-5 tonight from 3, after hitting just 30.4% of his 3s in his first 16 games with Knicks. It’s a rough start and maybe concerning, but looked back through
@stathead.com
and he’s had similarly dreadful stretches (sub 31% over 16 games) from 3 in almost every one of his NBA seasons

shooting 29% on 105 3s isn’t a big deal by itself but his shot also looks worse

Or maybe we are just seeing it more often now.

Or maybe we are just seeing it more often now.

ptmilosays:
October 22, 2024 at 08:28
watched some side-by-sides of mikal’s jumper. watching live in the preseason didn’t seem like a massive change, but i think i was wrong — it’s pretty significant. the higher release means he’s bringing it back behind his head by several inches vs even last season and it looks like it’s throwing his balance and timing off quite a bit.

OG = the Claw 2.0

maybe, and wouldn’t that be something…we’ve had some recent guys join the roster and have career years – keep stepping up OG…

I love it when offensively limited players like OG drop 30 points on 12/17 shooting

I love it when offensively limited players like OG Anunoby drop 38 points on 15/20 shooting

just triple team jokic and let russ go to work (off his foot out of bounds)

watched some side-by-sides of mikal’s jumper. watching live in the preseason didn’t seem like a massive change, but i think i was wrong — it’s pretty significant. the higher release means he’s bringing it back behind his head by several inches vs even last season and it looks like it’s throwing his balance and timing off quite a bit.

I don’t disagree that his shot looks ugly, but I wonder whether it didn’t look ugly during previous poor stretches.

I know it’s easier to get assists when your teammates don’t miss shots, but 37 assists on 45 FGs is still pretty impressive.

Tonight was ridiculous, but if OG has legitimately taken a consistent step forward on offense (a little better handle, a little better finishing in non dunk situations and better on 3s other than the corner), I think you can argue he’s the best player on the team when you add defense to the equation.

This Knicks team has been very frustrating to watch so far but man their potential really is scary good.

Thibs angry they’re only up 26. I love/hate that guy…

Everyone runs laps after the game!

I really really hope it never happens, but someday a starter is gonna get injured in garbage time and we’re gonna want to kill Thibs.

Nuggets commentary team asking “what happens if a starter gets injured when they are up by 30?”

cut to angry thibs face

thibs has no idea of the concept of diminishing returns…

He has some kind of disorder. 🙄

Kolek…Kolek…Kolek…

I think OG and Jalen playing 37 is good.

And Mikal has 35 more minutes than he should…

— The Minutes Police

The nuggets announcer just said ” this might be the slap in the face they needed to turn things around”

Towns was only “questionable” tonight and not “doubtful” so he can go the whole way.

Jokic is flossing his teeth on the bench…gotta get the kielbasa he ate at half time outta there

Why are the starters still in there?

Someone on the coaching staff needs to smack him in the face.

Knicks record for assists!

One reason I whine about pulling starters is I really enjoy watching the kids.

This might have been Brunson’s most complete game of the season? 23 points in 14 shots, 17 assists with only 2 TOs.

KAT’s line is also kind of ridiculous: 30 points in 12-15 shooting, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals. He did have 4 TOs.

And OG was still better than both of them.

I’d like to see some blood work and urine tests from the Utah game. Someone may have slipped them a “game rape” drug.

If we only figure it out on defense! Tonight, we did well in the first quarter and most of the second. Third quarter D was poor, particularly after Hart sat down with his 5th foul, but offense kept the big lead for us. It’s difficult to judge fourth quarter D as the game had been decided already, not to mention that Denver threw in the towel and Joker never came back on the floor. Denver is a lottery team without him.

Now, offense is where we had them on their knees all night long. What a jaw dropping display! They didn’t know where it’s coming from. It was such a joy to watch! This is no doubt one of the best offensive teams the Knicks ever had.

PS. I still hope Bridges finds himself. He was such a cacophony in the first half. As of OG…wow! We also paid gold for him, but boy was it worth it!

Free Hukporti

seriously tho, that was as enjoyable as the jazz game was miserable

Shooting 60% tends to be a winning strategy

Gotta admit Towns outplaying Jokic handily, in Denver, in the midst of Jokic putting up arguably the greatest individual season in NBA history is pretty fucking impressive, newborn or no newborn. I saw Towns miss his first 2-3 shots and then had to watch my kid. Did he hit his next 10 shots in a row?

I still don’t get how OG has been controversial here at all. Durability aside, even I can’t find anything to complain about. If Bridges was as good we’d have a 60+ win core.

“I’d like to see some blood work and urine tests from the Utah game. Someone may have slipped them a “game rape” drug.”

Hmmmmmmm……. Not well said.

Jordi Fernandez might be the first coach to be fired for being too good.

(I don’t remember whether the coach from Major League was fired… maybe he was the first).

God damn. That is the kind of stat line from OG that will cause me to reconsider my priors. Please keep it up.

It’s a great road win! That said, Denver without Gordon is sort of tailor-made for us…a relatively slow-footed, unathletic, poor defensive team, no rim protection. KAT is not physically overwhelmed by Jokic and defends him reasonably well, and also keeps him occupied on the other end. Gordon is their only answer for OG, probably would have made a difference tonight. It’s crazy how different they look without guys like KCP and Bruce Brown. I doubt that they make much noise this year, they are gonna have a lot of nights like tonight where their offense can’t keep up when team go off on their shitty defense.

Speaking of overpaid, another guy in OG’s salary range is Michael Porter Jr.

More generally, it seems like the NBA has evolved (imo devolved) into a league where games are largely decided by which team is hot or cold from 3. There just doesn’t seem to be a way to defend 4 or 5 good to excellent 3pt shooters on the floor so that one of them doesn’t end up with a good look. Against Utah, they were hot and we were cold and that was that. Against Denver, we went 19-36 and they went 11-33.

Obviously there’s a lot more to it than that, but because effectively defending the 3pt line is crazy hard to do every night, there are games that we are going to lose no matter what. It’s those games where shots are falling at similar rates that become critical to winning. That’s where things like rim protection, point of attack defense, rebounding, free throw differential, and turnover differential become critical. But it seems like the 3 is most often the deciding factor.

Another thing that worked in our favor vs. the Nuggets is that they are 29th in 3PAr at .358.

For reference, in 2012-23, the Knicks led the NBA in 3PAr at .354.

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