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81 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.03.13)”
Couldn’t keep my eyes open. Good win, fantastic game thread
For that to be the way that day ended? God is a hacky screenwriter. Not that I’m complaining.
Also? We’ve now gotten three Breen double bangs over the last couple of years: Julius in Miami, DDV against Philly in Round 1, and now this one.
Side by side video:
https://x.com/WorldWideWob/status/1900069288150802745
The buzzer-beating shot from Bridges — who scored a game-high 33 points — was worthy enough to warrant a rare double BANG! from Breen. The veteran broadcaster has broken out the signature call just nine times in his career
https://www.blazersedge.com/2025/3/13/24384726/portland-trail-blazers-new-york-knicks-recap-mikal-bridges-mike-breen-deni-avdija-scoot-henderson
Let’s take a moment to focus on some recent positives for the Knicks:
– Bridges and OG being much more aggressive on offense and bringing it defensively
– Mitch gradually rounding into form
– Shamet contributing off the bench
– Deuce playing some hellacious defense despite a few sub par games on offense
When JB comes back, hopefully we’ll see the fully formed version of this team as we head to the playoffs. Can’t wait!
For all the hemming and hawing, we’re what, 20 games above 500 with a team that had a lot of new players and was missing it’s back up center all season.
Maybe this is one of those season’s where it all comes together in the playoffs. I’ve seen that happen in my life where a team has it’s ups and downs throughout the season, maybe even appears to go into the playoffs with not a lot of momentum and then BOOM, kicks it up a gear in the playoffs. We’ve seen our own Knicks roll off a bunch of wins at the end of the season only to lose in the first round.
The team is a lock for the top 6 and most likely will keep the 3 spot. It’s all about health and chemistry now.
I said this stretch might be good for the team without Brunson even if they slip a little with some losses and I think that is the case. Golden State won’t be easy, though.
Mostly bummed I was asleep, admittedly 1% relieved I avoided the stress and woke up to a win. That’s one way to move past Minutesgate.
Yesterday Mikal spoke up and then he stepped up. This could be the most pivotal moment of the season if this translates to him stepping up the rest of the way.
It has been said that the vibes are off or maybe there just isn’t that voice in the locker room. Maybe Mikal is stepping into that role.
Or maybe PJ did it!
We got 15 bench points in 63 bench minutes (in an OT game!). They got 39 bench points in 82 bench minutes. Of course, Henderson had 30 points in 37 minutes by himself.
last night mikal seemed to be much more engaged in the game and focused on communicating with teammates…
We have 4 guys in the starting lineup that can step up on any night and give us more than 20. Even Hart has his moments. I say this way too often, but there are only so many possessions. There are going to be nights where Bridges or OG disappears, but it’s no big deal. It just means someone else is taking more shots. The thing is, IMO it should be a matchup issue or because someone is hot or because maybe someone is nursing a minor injury. It shouldn’t be because the ball and players are not moving. Last night wasn’t as pretty as against the no defense Kings, but we still got enough ball movement to get off shots without all the dribbling. It’s on Brunson and Thibs to make sure the offense gets back to the way it was during our best stretches early in the season. The talent is there to have a top offense. We just have to play right. Now with Mitch back, we have a solid backup C that’s rounding into form. I haven’t seen anything that leads me to believe he can’t get back to 100%. So the defense should be a bit better.
Is everybody ok?
SHATT!
I am pretty sure every Knicks fan watched the game the same way I did- clutching your chest the whole time. I’m gonna send the guys a doctor’s bill lol. I mean- I knew we’d struggle in crunchtime until Brunson is back, but I didn’t think Portland would push us that hard when they didn’t have Ayton and Grant, plus Simons had an awful game by his standards. What I did enjoy, however, was all the blocks the team had relative to our average. And mostly by non-bigs too! That was nice
That was a nice highlight to wake up to
Yes but McBride was starting and he normally comes off the bench.
Understood about the change in Deuce’s role. Just stating the raw facts. 🙂
My takeaways:
Blazers:
-Billups is doing a fine job of motivating his young team. They played their asses off and deserved to win.
-Scoot, Avdija, Clingan, and Camara were all very impressive. Sharpe a bit less so. They might be next year’s Pistons.
Knicks:
-One of Thibs’ worst games in terms of managing situational TOs both in regulation and OT. A loss would have been squarely on his shoulders.
-Hart is maddening. He may be the heart and soul of the team and all that, but all of his warts were in plain view last night. Everything good he did was undone by the bad stuff down the stretch and in OT.
-KAT continues to be exactly who I thought he would be. That’s not a compliment. Loved the 2 big 3’s that should have iced the game, and the defense in OT. Did not love that he disappears on offense for long stretches and his mostly horrific defense.
-Now that version of Mikal is worth the picks. More, please!
-The sight of OG dribbling into the teeth of the defense is terrifying. It usually does not end well. But beyond that’s he’s awesome!
-Deuce made some amazing defensive plays and hit a ballsy 3 in OT. Love that kid.
-We need better answers off the bench than Shamet and Precious. Payne is at least tolerable.
-Thibs employed KAT-Mitch for a bit, and even Mitch-Precious. More, please!
-The way I see it, our success in the playoffs is 100% dependent on which versions of KAT, Mikal and Hart show up.
Injustice not to mention the lock down D by OG …. Simons was in a straightjacket by OG, he had a bad game b/c he was being locked up in OG jail
“We have 4 guys in the starting lineup that can step up on any night and give us more than 20.”
The way I see it is that we have 4 guys in the starting lineup that can be exploited by good, smart defenses. Teams are going to force Hart to shoot, and force OG into drives to nowhere. They are going to dupe KAT into offensive foul traps, and live with Mikal taking above the break 3’s and contested fades.
On defense, they are going to relentlessly exploit KAT and Brunson in PnR actions, resulting either in points at the rim, fouls, or wide-open looks from 3.
Maybe our first round opponent doesn’t have the ability to do these things enough to win 4 of 7 games. But I don’t see much hope in the second round with the personnel we have.
“Injustice not to mention the lock down D by OG …. Simons was in a straightjacket by OG, he had a bad game b/c he was being locked up in OG jail”
Hence the “beyond that he’s awesome!” comment.
https://x.com/IQfor3/status/1900038334119923718 the Josh Hart problem
I am aware much is missed by catching up via highlights, but my god, can we please switch with KAT more?! That’s a wildly impressive defensive possession in a key moment. He looks much better on switches than he does in drop.
Yea…when OG is locked in and imposing his will defensively, you almost feel like he’s not paid enough. With his length, physicality, and instincts on defense- he looks every bit as good as Prime Kawhi. If he rebounded better, I’d put him up there with Prime Rodman and Prime Green. Not quite Prime Camby, Ben Wallace, Clyde, or Artest just yet. Long way to go to get to Prime Dream, Russell, and Mutombo though.
This order is all over the place, lol.
Kawhi is the guy he looks like. He doesn’t rebound well but a lot of that is the fact he is flying through the air to contest threes, usually ending up in the third row….
It’s strange how Clingan looked like a solid athlete in college but looks like a malfunctioning Frankenstein in the NBA. He’s a lot slower and more clumsy than I expected. Whereas Edey is sort of the opposite. Although I guess Edey performed a lot better than expected at the combine on his agility stuff so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise.
If Brunson was going to be out for an extended stretch, this was really the perfect time of the season for it to happen. We’re pretty much locked into the 3 seed, and it gives other players like OG and Mikal more opportunities to show their stuff.
I’m not in the “Brunson is a ball hog” camp, as I think he dominates possessions more out of necessity than anything, but hopefully when he comes back Thibs will figure out a way to get Mikal more involved in the offense instead of just standing in the corner.
“…when OG is locked in and imposing his will defensively, you almost feel like he’s not paid enough. With his length, physicality, and instincts on defense- he looks every bit as good as Prime Kawhi. If he rebounded better, I’d put him up there with Prime Rodman and Prime Green. Not quite Prime Camby, Ben Wallace, Clyde, or Artest just yet. Long way to go to get to Prime Dream, Russell, and Mutombo though.”
Sorry PJ, this seems over the top to me. He’s an excellent defensive player, but I’m not ready to compare him to the all-time greats like Draymond, Rodman, healthy Kawhi. Clyde is a guard from the 60’s-70’s so hard to compare. Artest is probably the most valid comparison. Camby was not the same kind of player at all but I guess similarly impactful.
Let’s see OG make a first team all-defense team before we start comparing him to DPoY types and all-time greats.
I think KAT is much better defensively in any scheme other than drop. If our opponent is putting their center on Hart. They should have KAT go post up on the low blocks and give him the ball! Those are 2 simple adjustments Thibs should be making.
“It’s strange how Clingan looked like a solid athlete in college but looks like a malfunctioning Frankenstein in the NBA. He’s a lot slower and more clumsy than I expected.”
I didn’t get this impression at all last night. He looked very mobile for a guy his size. Just limited offensively. He was dominating on the boards, especially with smart tip-outs. He made Mitch and KAT look small.
I don’t know if he is in top shape yet, but I saw a guy with a very high ceiling…much higher than guys like Mitch or iHart.
“I think KAT is much better defensively in any scheme other than drop. If our opponent is putting their center on Hart. They should have KAT go post up on the low blocks and give him the ball! Those are 2 simple adjustments Thibs should be making.”
The problem with this is that whoever is guarding Hart is sagging off and a) making any kind of entry pass hard and b) in great position to disrupt anyone trying to post up.
One of the reasons KAT disappears on offense is Hart.
When Hart is on the court they can put a big man on him that doesn’t have to defend the perimeter and put a smaller guy on KAT to try to take away some of his 3s. If KAT tries to go inside, the big man just helps off Hart and KAT is doubled. Plus, IMO, KAT may be the most disrespected big man in the league. He gets butchered inside sometimes and doesn’t get calls. The problem on offense (aside from too much dribbling when Brunson plays) is Hart’s unwilliness to shoot and inconsistency when he does. It’s mostly hurting Towns.
Hard to fault KATs offense because he was fantastic, especially with the clutch 3s, but you really want to see him drive more offense and take more shots in games without Brunson. Instead it was all Bridges.
Part of that problem may be that we ran the PnR with Hart all night because KAT can space the floor and Hart can’t.
Edit: also what Strat said. Hart is completely ignored, you’re putting him in a double team and the C doesn’t even need to move
Let me know when you find a team with 5 Larry Birds on offense. 😉
No team has 5 perfect offensive players. Teams will try to take away strengths and force the weaknesses of virtually every player in the NBA. The Spurs used to wall Lebron and force him to shoots 3s.
The problem with Hart is that it’s not just a weakness. He’s so exploitable at times it’s impacting everyone else.
I thought Bridges abused Clingan in drop coverage all night. Made him look like KAT or JV or any other defensively challenged big.
Ultimately, Hart will have to take and make open 3’s or he can’t be on the court, especially in Clutch time.
Boston comes pretty damn close. They have no real offensive weakness and 4 of their starters can run a very effective PnR.
Maybe Brown will see the Hart treatment, he’s shooting 32% from 3 this season. On wide open shots he’s at only 34.9%.
My favorite part of the thread last night, outside of the ending of course, was how it veered and swerved like a little old lady driving home after five old fashioneds from “Shoot the effing ball, Hart!!!” to “Stop shooting the effing ball, Hart!!!”
I want paying too much attention but he looked pretty good squaring up in these situations. There was at least one where the player knocked down an easy shot over him because he played too far off.
Still looks much better than KAT in drop, though worth nothing his DRtg is actually pretty solid.
“Hard to fault KATs offense because he was fantastic…”
I actually find it very easy to fault his offense last night, and didn’t think it was anything close to “fantastic.” He took 12 shots in 39 minutes in a game where your best offensive player was out. Mikal, OG and Hart all took as many shots, Deuce took as many. He had 4 assists and 3 TOs. He was being guarded by a rookie and a scrub. Guys making max money as mostly offensive players should be held to a higher standard, especially when the other all-offense guy is out.
“I thought Bridges abused Clingan in drop coverage all night. Made him look like KAT or JV or any other defensively challenged big.”
Bridges would have abused all but the most mobile C’s (e.g. Bam, Giannis, etc.) the way he was playing. That is less about Clingan and more about Mikal, at least the way I saw it. I’ve seen Gobert get abused many times in those cases where guys get hot in the midrange.
Also with mentioning that Shamet is up to 36.7% from 3 and a .595 TS%. His volume is low, and is therefore killed by AIOs. However, he’s supported higher 3pt volumes in the past.
To the eye test, he’s also been a pretty good defender except for a few bad matchups where players exploit his size. But that has more to do with him playing out of position at the 3.
As Bridges said, our bench is good.
I agree, EB, Shamet has been fun to watch on D except when he’s matched up with significantly bigger players who just happily shoot over him. I do wish we had some more length on the bench, but c’est la vie.
Here, a piece from The Ringer on NY Sports writ large, to remind us how privileged we are to be here complaining about Hart’s shooting (or lack thereof) or KAT post-ups.
“I noted in my eventual story that the longest-tenured Knick at the time, Toney Douglas, was a second-year player who had suited up alongside 33 different teammates over the course of two seasons. I summed up the state of Knicks basketball since the dawn of the 21st century as this: “A prolonged scorched-earth campaign marked by mammoth contracts, personal vendettas, botched drafts, illegal operations, and outright hostility.” (Man, to think that was all written years before the Phil Jackson era.) “
Shamet has played better lately. He and Cam are a decent second unit backcourt. It’s when Deuce is out there with Cam and Shamet plays wing that his defense becomes a problem.
Cooper Flagg is now in a wheelchair.
Yeah, that sucks. He is back on bench and smiling at least.
Duke still good. Maluach really is an enormous dude and this James guy is seriously athletic.
At least it wasn’t BBA who killed it this time.
Clingan just showed that, in the modern NBA, dudes with legit size can still be very useful, even if they’re mostly just stiffs at the moment.
Back in late December I posted this:
As it turns out, we went exactly 17-13 in that stretch. Which says to me that we neither exceeded nor fell short of expectations. The most disappointing thing is that we went 0-5 vs. OKC, CLE, and BOS. The losses to LAL and GSW were kind of balanced out by the wins vs. MEM and HOU.
At the end of the day, I still don’t think we have a firm handle on the upside of this team. Mitch seems to be healthy, and OG seems fully recovered from the worrisome foot thing. but KAT, Hart, and Brunson are all banged up. I’m guessing that we wind up going something like 10-7 +/- 1, finishing with 51-53 wins. Hopefully Brunson will be back around April 1 and we can build some chemistry going into the playoffs.
Seems like we did an awful lot of transactions just to yield a 1-3-game win increase over last season.
I agree that that is what it looks like, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted Cleveland being this good. Leon realistically figured that this would be a #2 seed team, with a great shot at taking the Celtics on in the ECF, and who knows what happens when you get there. Instead, they’ll likely be facing the Celtics in the second round.
Net rating/SRS are more meaningful than record.
We did all those transactions for a team that is actually worse. When you factor in the minutes distribution and the difference in injury luck between this year and last, it’s significantly worse. Out ceiling is a 2nd round exit and I don’t think we’re over 60% to even make it there.
Part of that was we couldn’t help loseing Hartenstein. The team from last year without him would have been a lower baseline.
We did many of these transactions b/c of a stupid rule that allowed us to not be able to retain our starting center. Had we been able to retain Hartenstein, we add Bridges to the team from last year , with room to maneuver and add more talent later (like Hunter). The challenge was we lost Hartenstein and Robinson would be out for 3/4 of the season, so had no center. We made the best move we could given the circumstances, we now need to figure out how we pull off another trade to build around Brunson or Brunson+KAT better than we are. Trading for a Giannis (or Durant in my opinion) could get us moving in a better direction, but this is not a finished product.
I don’t understand. Did the league suddenly invent that rule out of thin air or did we know full well how it worked when we signed Hartenstein?
It seems to me we did know, in which case failing to prepare our team to benefit from iHart’s upside if he should turn out to be highly undervalued, which his numbers up to that point strongly suggested was the case, is a collossal blunder.
The frame of reference shouldn’t be relative to last year’s team without Hartenstein, but whether the team is objectively where it needs to be considering it gave up all of its draft picks. I’d argue that it very clearly isn’t.
Fun enough team, but I think we’d have been better off waiting for an actual star to become available or to just keep the picks and see who you can fish out of the draft.
Alternatively, maybe Thibs just needs to go or we need to move Hart and Mitch for a better 5.
For those with a strong enough stomach, the Roommates podcast with Jim Dolan as guest is up. Have not watched it myself, not sure I will.
Who would willingly subject themselves to listening to him?
I’m interested to see him behave in that type of atmosphere…
perfect stuff is boring, tuning in to train wrecks seems to be some kind of not so secret sauce…
same reason there are so many more dystopia versus utopian sci fi stories…when all is well, what’s there to care about…
my imagination is that jimmy d isn’t such a well educated, or even self educated kind of guy…
hard to imagine him being people dumb too, he’s just been around so many different kind of people, lots and lots of social situations, he’s had to have learned something…
i wanna see how he comports himself sitting down in a chair and speaking with jalen, josh, and matt…
i expect it to be casual, hoping for awkwardness…
maybe they’ll ask him who will get the team when he passes…what’s the succession plan look like…
I kind of think having the venal, hyper-narcissistic and known grudge-keeping team owner on your podcast is about as smart a move as discussing in a press interview how you criticized your immediate boss to his face.
The Nova Gang out on the edge taking some big ball-swinging risks…
I’d be interested to hear a recap of the pod but not sure I can face listening to it all.
And you have to give Dolan some credit. He’s been a better owner since the Sphere appeared.
Apparently Bridges travelled on the final shot. According to PTI anyway.
I dont know, looked well within NBA standards
OMG, I was just watching a replay, didn’t notice it until you said it Owen, but it looks like he starts the play carrying it like a football around the pick before dribbling it once and shooting. He’s just running with the ball in his hands.
The original Thomas Crown Affair is such an awesome movie.
The last 3 minutes report disagrees! https://official.nba.com/l2m/L2MReport.html?gameId=0022400953
RIP, the great John Feinstein.
Alan, I’m no ref (and it’s why I try not to criticize them, although I’m not immune to that particular disease), but take a look at this. Watch what he does going around the pick and before his one dribble.
https://www.nba.com/news/horry-scale-mikal-bridges
I don’t think he travels after the dribble — that looks fine. It’s before that.
I see the argument, but I think he definitely lets go off the ball after the second step. I’ll note that he does carry the ball bizarrely in those two steps, to the point where I’m surprised he didn’t travel, as the movement in those first two steps were so odd that I can’t believe he was able to get rid of the ball in time.
I am with Brian here. It looks bad but might not actually be.
I don’t think that ever gets called though. While with Hart the announcers (maybe for Portland?), suggested it was unusual he got called for running the baseline, which doesn’t seem unusual. You just can’t do that.
Fun fact – last night’s game had the second most lead changes in an NBA game since they started keeping track in 1996.
The most was in a game between the Nets and the Hawks in 2023. Final score – 114-113 and guess who hit the game winning shot?
Mikal Bridges
Yeah, I saw that about Bridges” game winners
Also, I saw Rutgers finished with a losing record despite having two top 5 prospects and I am calling bullshit for the second time on those prospect rankings.
Something stinks
There was no travel on that last play, not after the handoff and not on the shot.
In the first case, according to everything I have read re: NBA traveling rules, the player receiving a hand-off is allowed to complete the step in which the gather is established (called the zero step), then take two steps before dribbling. This was not even reviewed the two-minute report, indicating that it was clearly a legal gather-dribble sequence. The misconception here is that the gather step counts.
In the second case, the TMR comment was: “Bridges (NYK) gathers the ball and legally takes two steps into his jump shooting motion.”
Thanks, Z-Man. Knew the last bit, and agree it was fine. Did not actually know the first part, that you got two steps to start things off. I’m a wiser man due to Knickerblogger today.
Doncic putting up a pretty alright half.
Thanks Raven, it seems that is strictly an NBA-only “interpretation” that was instituted due to the speed of the game. I would guess that keeping track of which step is the pivot foot when a player is running full speed around a screen just got too hard. TBH I thought it was a travel as well until I looked into it.
Not to beat a dead horse, but I looked at the replay in slow motion and here’s the sequence:
-When Mikal gathers, his left foot is on the floor and right foot is raised. So when his right foot comes down, that’s the “zero” step.
-Then his left foot comes down, establishing his left foot as his pivot foot.
-Then the ball clearly leaves his hand before his left foot comes off the ground or moves (is dragged).
Starting to look like the Lakers may have won that trade
Apparently the best part of the pod is Josh asking Dolan what he thinks about when he’s making moves to make the team better and Dolan says Leon is the architect and he’s not responsible for anything.
I think we need to wait a few years until the pick conveys…oh, wait….
They do actually have a pick – in my memory it was so bad, it was just the players. But only a 2029, still a travesty.
How the hell do the Pistons lose at home to the Wizards?
Villanova has a starting PG named Jhamir Brickus.
And his backcourt mate is Wooga Poplar.
Anyone seen that show Paradise?
Quotes from Dolan from the show, per Tom Hanslin at SNY:
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