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2024-25 Game Thread: Knicks @ Lakers – Forever Young

I hate using a Dylan song to compliment a Knick opponent, but I couldn’t find a good song to talk about how fucking lucky the Lakers are (to get Luka for basically nothing, and right before Anthony Davis got his annual major injury), so instead, I’m going to have to pay a compliment to how well Lebron James is playing right now. Dude is putting up numbers similar to his age 25 season and he’s 68 years old! Or something like that.

Anyways, KAT is back, and with the Lakers now the new #2 seed in the Western Conference, it would be swell to show that the Knicks, when healthy, can still kick the ass of any team besides the Thunder, Celtics, and Cavs.

Let’s go, Knicks!

58 would be great!

210 replies on “2024-25 Game Thread: Knicks @ Lakers – Forever Young”

I think it works. Maybe ‘Abandoned Love’ for Luka (plus I just love that song.)

I get the feeling that by halftime I’m going be all liquored up and out cold.

Great. We get to listen to Ms. “I get it, I’m a Bears fan” herself, Candace Parker all game.

Don’t think I can take Luka smiling all game, but it’s kinda inevitable

Thank you for saying this. I thought I was being a curmudgeon for hating his smile.

I am STILL shocked Luka was traded (after how long?)

Geo: different ’Forever Young’!

Brunson gonna get 50 and we’re still gonna lose cause the rest of the team can’t do shit

bob dylan wrote it, and then rod stewart “edited” it?

beautiful lyrics by dylan, sounds so surprisingly positive and uplifting…

Yay another blowout where a good team dominates us wire to wire

Rod Stewart is a crime against humanity.

I take it back. OG is drunk.

You know theoretically a lineup with Deuce, OG, Bridges, and Mitch would be good on defense.

Anyone else annoyed by Candace? Just me?

Mitch coming in helped, and Brunson came out on a mission but the team overall looks scared. Look at the lose balls: all go to the Lakers! It reminds me of the attitude they had shown in the Cleveland and Boston blowouts. No confidence and no aggression. I hope they settle in. It’s a predictable loss tonight but I hope this won’t develop into another national TV humiliation.

Who tf is Jemison III?

And we can’t beat a team giving big minutes to him?

Within four at the end of the first quarter is almost like a huge win these days.

But outside of Cap that was not some great play.

I don’t want to hear shit about blowing it up while we have prime Jalen Brunson. How stupid that would be. If all we get is a bunch of second round exits, so it goes.

What happened to our historic offense? We look like an easy team to guard these days (except for Brunson)

Austin’s Reaves hairstyle headband thing is atrocious. I’m offended.

For most of LeBron’s career, I look at his size, and the way he moves, and I can’t believe it’s not even easier for him to score.

Landry Shamet just surpassed Landry Fields.

Gee, why doesn’t the Knicks bench get more time….I can’t imagine …

Hah, feels like we’re losing by 25 and we’re up one.

I do feel bad about arguing with him earlier. What was I thinking.

Deuce’s numbers are what they are. Fairly solid, don’t blow you away. But it’s just such a relief when he’s in the game because we actually take some damn 3s.

Anyone besides me notice that OG has that jerky form tonight when shooting 3s? I think he’s having issues with the yips at times. When he’s relaxed he looks solid and smooth and shoots way better.

Knicks grab the lead and Deuce’s presence and energy on both ends of the floor has a lot to do with it.

Honestly, they need to go to one of those weird side by side commercials when Reaves shoots free throws. The hair is wrong.

Why blame the bench who all have positive +/-?

Not because of anything Cam or Shamet are doing (despite a 3 from Shamet). Hart and Deuce are making good things happen. Though Deuce is the bench, so I guess I should qualify that it’s Non-Deuce Bench Minutes that are suboptimal.

A little data to support my theory during commercials: Deuce increases the Knicks’ 3PAr by 6.4%, a 95th percentile differential. Payne not far behind at +5.9%.

In the penalty with 8 minutes to go in the quarter is something

Flop by Doncic. There was contact, but it was a bogus head-jerk.

I don’t get it: Mark Williams could have the bubonic plague, and he would still be an upgrade on Jaxon Hayes.

Bridges clearly hasn’t played with Mitch much…bounce pass on a fast break, dude?

Trying to get Mitch to finish on a break with a bounce pass was a notch beyond realistic.

Luka’s always going to get his, but OG is doing a great job on him (by the eye test, I’ll check to see if I’m an idiot at the half)

I don’t get it: Mark Williams could have the bubonic plague, and he would still be an upgrade on Jaxon Hayes.

Aren’t some ppl high on Knecht, who they would’ve given up?

OG was a little smoother on that one and he dropped it. I don’t understand the issue with the consistency in his form.

The Obviously Good version covers up a lot of our flaws, should keep that guy around

Fucking Reaves should get a tech for that hair. My husband had to leave the room.

I can’t believe Towns is having such a weak game against this team. Hopefully he’ll be better in the 2nd half.

The energy and speed of the bench gave us a lift. The starters showed confidence when they returned on the floor and added to the lead. Much better defensive effort and rebounding lead to rhythm baskets on the other end! I hope they maintain their energy in the second half. I wish Mitch could play more minutes.

Need another angle on that “foul” by OG…hard to see it

Ess-Dog, it works in a Jim Henson production. On a human with agency it is straight doo doo.

OG, 0-5 in the first quarter, 5-5 in the second.

Look at his 3 point form. It’s not consistent. Sometimes he’s set, relaxed and strokes it up nicely and sometimes he jerks it up like he has the yips or like some kid that’s afraid he won’t reach the rim unless he uses more effort.

There are at least two things wrong with Shaq complimenting Thibs for changing up the defense, leading to the Knicks coming back.

I feel churlish for calling out JB on those turnovers, but they were both pretty weak.

Anyway, if KAT wakes up in the second half we could win this one….

If we want to win someone is going to have to pretend it’s the 90s and clothesline Lebron when he drives to the rim instead stepping out of the way. The game is too soft.

Keep protecting the 3pt line! They went 3-16 in the first half. Don’t let them get into a rhythm from outside. This would be lethal for the Knicks.

I feel churlish for calling out JB on those turnovers, but they were both pretty weak.

It feels crazy criticizing him, but sometimes he dribbles too much and other times he tries to do too much. When he’s on one of his heaters it’s all fine, but sometimes I think it hurts the ball and player movement and leads to the occasional dumb TO.

What kind of bullshit calls are they giving Doncic?

If somebody looks at him the wrong way it’s a foul.

Luka’s an amazing player, but he complains so much I’m not sure I really would love him on my team.

I swear I’ve never seen as many strips in a game as the Lakers are doing on Knick drives.

Now this kind of effort is something I can get behind. That feels like what’s been missing too often.

I hope a ref shows guts and throws him out! He gets Embiid like calls and still complains on every play!

Key stretch of this game will be when our bench comes in. Gotta hold the fort again.

Key stretch of this game will be when our bench comes in. Gotta hold the fort again.

Crossing fingers! They turned the game around in the first half.

Doesn’t feel like that big second half is coming for KAT tonight

Unfucking believable

WTF Towns

We have some dumbass players on this team.

Intimations of the Mitch to come on that possession…not there yet, but closer

Some ticky tack fouls for the Lakers this stretch. Meanwhile Luka grabs OG’s arm while OG is trying to dribble, nothing is called.

Reason Knicks don’t blowout teams anymore is they can’t fucking make wide open 3s when they have chances to really extend leads.

Meanwhile Luka grabs OG’s arm while OG is trying to dribble, nothing is called.

And then they call a foul on Deuce which leads to a Lakers 3 pointer. Uneven officiating. Doncic is becoming the new Embiid.

Mitch causing problems for them at the hoop on O, awesome

The announcers are gonna be very disappointed if the Lakers don’t come back and win this game

For the love of God can someone teach Mitch how to set a screen, or at least send him some tapes of Bam?

The Knicks last possession of the quarter was an example of Brunson trying to do way too much. Just move the damn ball.

Long way to go but this is definitely our best defensive effort of the season by far

Common foul…ok then

Do that in pickup and you will be taking your teeth to go

Didn’t think it was goaltending live, but on the replay….

This team is close to impossible for me to watch. They can’t get a key rebound, can’t make a key shot, commit dumb TOs at the worst times. This game should be over and it still feels like we are going to find a way to lose. The effort is there tonight, but the IQ and clutch genes are missing.

Somehow it is hard to feel confident in this situation when you see LeBron and Luka out there.

That turnover by Hart was something out of a little kids’ game. Follow up 3 from Bron was guaranteed. We’re fucked here.

It was close to 100% the Knicks would blow that rebound and the Lakers would hit a 3.

LeBron made a three pointer and pointed to his arm like gloating. But he pointed at the crook of his elbow and I was thinking the gesture meant “I took PEDs”.

For all of LeBron’s greatness he takes some of the dumbest heat check 3s

Great defense on that last possession. And they got the fucking rebound!

It had to end like that.

This is a very dumb team overall with way too many guys that are afraid to take big shots. That puts unbelievable pressure on Brunson who then sometimes tries to do too much and does dumb things.

Hart yipped again…there was at least a viable look to be had with time on the clock

I feel like the blog header was some sort of ironic set-up…forever young?

If only the Knicks had a 2nd All-Star they could pass the ball to once in awhile…

I may not watch the rest of this road-trip. It’s not good for my health.

Why the fuck is Hart still in this game? The offense is garbage and Duece is just sitting there while he can go in for him or Bridges at the point.

Change it up Thibs

Get Towns involved. Get Bridges on the mid-range. Something else for fucks sake

Twisted ankle. Feels he has to do everything because our coach can’t draw up plays for anyone else

Feels he has to do everything because our coach can’t draw up plays for anyone else

I know Thibs is not going anywhere. At best maybe the end of next year if things don’t go well . He just signed his extension. But imo he has to go. This team has a lot of talent but the offense we run is often horrible. I have to think a lot of coaches could get more out if this talent on offense just by running anything that makes some sense.

What a pathetic flop by LeBron and the refs actually called that on the rebound.

We should have won this game. After five nightmarish minutes at the start, we were the better team for most of this game. Our offense absolutely stalled in the fourth. That was our problem. The Lakers had Bron, Luca, and the refs. They were calling fouls on us for nothing. Not the same with the Lakers. We had Brunson and nothing more. They played him like kickboxing until they took him out. I don’t understand why that foul on Hart was not a fragrant. And so on. We should have won this game. I am proud of this team when they fight like this.

Hmm, maybe in 2025 your defensive plans should include the 3pt line.

God, what an irritating team. I hope OKC pummels them… we had a good chance. A bounce or two in our favor would’ve done it… ankle injuries are a real bitch. Hope JB is right for the playoffs.

God, what an irritating team. I hope OKC pummels them.

Amen to that I might hate them more than the Celtics

Knicks should just forfeit tomorrow if not the rest of this road trip.

Very winnable game lost by terrible coaching and the continued disappearance of a second scorer in crunch time. Why have KAT out there if he’s just gonna stand around on both ends? OG seems fully back but Bridges looks absolutely lost, another single digit scoring effort.

Teams have figured out the Hart won’t shoot and are playing off him. And there is no adjustment on our end

Amen to that I might hate them more than the Celtics

The Celtics are a 300 pound bully. Luka just looks like he’s perpetually laughing while the teacher’s back is turned. Great player, but he reminds me of Anora’s husband.

This is almost a repeat of 2022-23 when Randle twisted his ankle vs. Miami right in front of me at MSG.

The Knicks should have won this game by 10 or more points.

This was a night where the defensive effort was finally there, but there were way too many really dumb TOs, there was no semblance of an offense other than Brunson dribbling around and we just played generally low IQ non clutch basketball. When they were up by 10 in the 2nd half it felt like we were going to lose because of the way they were playing.

I love Josh Hart most of the time, but he’s a dumbass too often and his fear of taking a shot is too damaging.

Mikal wants no part of being a closer.

I don’t know whether to blame KAT or the offense, but he can’t disappear. Run a damn play for the guy. He’s not an ISO player.

I’m so done with Thibs. There are just way too many negatives. We are not going to win with Thibs even assuming he doesn’t break everyone down eventually.

Our defense was fine tonight. Except the first five minutes. Probably one of our best defensive performances of the season. No team can avoid giving open shots in 48 minutes, but overall we contested their shots well. The problem was our offense in the fourth and overtime, otherwise we would, and should, have won. KAT was a non factor on offense, unfortunately.

Also: our 3pt shooting is not as good as we think. We missed many open uncontested shots. Not the same with the Lakers. Gabe Vincent killed us.

Well one microscopically thin silver lining is that we’ll get a better handle on the rest of the team.

The rest of the team just vanishes in high leverage possessions. Hard to see how that’s going to work well in the playoffs, even if Brunson does get back to full health, which seems very questionable at the moment.

Don’t forget we were playing against the hottest team in the league, on their home floor, against two superstars who get all the calls. The whistle was not 50-50 tonight.

Mikal is like Roberto Alomar or Jason Bay or Robinson Cano or some other veteran player who was perfectly fine until he came to the Mets. He’s just not working out here. He’s the one core player here who seems extremely replaceable.

I’m still not sure what I would do in the off-season, but imo there has to be a change from what we are doing now if we want to contend.

Rebounding is still an issue. I don’t care what the data says. We don’t get KEY rebounds. We need a starting PF. Then we can slide OG back to SF, Bridges to SG, send Hart to the bench and decide if Towns and Mitch can work.

My guess is that it will work better overall (better defense and rebounding but worse offense with a small net plus), but even if it works we still have to worry about how many minutes Mitch can play and whether he can stay healthy. That’s not ideal.

Leon better have his thinking cap on because even the Nova boys have to be on the table.

We are not far away and have the assets to get where we have to get, but finding the right players (and coach) is a problem.

Thibs’s match-up coaching was stellar tonight. I am saying this for those who understand basketball. I wish he’d had given a few more minutes to the Deuce and Shamet for the energy they bring, but defense was overall fine tonight, so I can”t complain much. Hart was late on close-outs down the stretch — this must be noted, and it cost us.

That one hurts, but the Lakers have an 8-game win streak going. We have stuff to fix, but we did a lot of good things too.

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