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34 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.04.12)”
Reasons for playoff optimism(?):
Mitch seems to be rounding into form
Brunson will find a way to return to his post season self
OG will play as he did during JB’s absence
Hart and Mikal will give full effort 100% of time
KAT takes twice as many 3’s as he did during regular season
Deuce takes minutes from Hart.
Reasons for playoff optimism:
We’ll shit the bed so bad that Thibs will have to go.
I have nothing against him and he brought us back to respectability, but this is as far as we can go with him. We desperately need something different to justify this roster.
I am feeling swayed by the arguments about taking more three point shots. You have to get the absolute max out of KAT on offense because the defense doesn’t play.
I don’t know that firing Thibs will make a huge difference but I won’t mourn either….
My personal opinion (and just opinion):
-The Minutes Police takes are ridiculous. The team is healthier than nearly every other team going in to the playoffs and will have a week of rest before the games start. The team rarely practices between games. Then there are no back-to-backs in the playoffs. It sounds to me like folks trying to sound smart despite all the actual evidence to the contrary.
-The Knicks are not burnt out. They are not highly motivated right now and their flaws are being exposed. Those flaws? We are not all that big or athletic. Bridges is soft. OG is lumbering. KAT plays smal and dumb on defense. Hart is undersized and can’t shoot. Brunson is a below-the-rim player. Deuce is undersized. Shamet is undersized. Payne is undersized. Precious sucks. Mitch is on a minutes restriction and can’t shoot. In other words, we don’t have a coaching problem. We have a personnel problem. That said, there’s plenty of talent, physicality and mental toughness, and when the playoffs start, I’m expecting them to be far more energetic and motivated than they have looked lately, and to take care of business in the first roung vs. DET. But the flaws are real, and if they arent in peak form, they could definitely lose.
-KAT has to prove to me that he is not a fool’s gold player. He’s fun to watch when he gets on an offensive roll, but there are far too many times when he looks like a dumb, whiny goofball out there. For me, there’s no grace period for him. Either he shows up big time, or he needs to be moved.
-My biggest worry right now is that Brunson looks pretty far from 100%. It sort of reminds me of how Randle looked in 2022 when he returned from the initial ankle injury. When he tweaked it again, he was pretty much done, and had surgery right after we lost to Miami. Hopefully he just needs a bit more time and reps to get back to his old self. But the Pistons are going to try to beat him up.
I agree with Z-man’s view for the most part. My biggest takeaway however–if you can’t beat the best teams, you’re not one of them. Sure, the playoffs can be different, but the mounting evidence is damning. Which brings us around to personnel, chemistry and coaching. I think a reasonably healthy Mitch solves some of the biggest issues, including terrible rim protection, a soft-porous defense and the need for more offensive rebounding. However, if he can’t be fit in with Kat, that will sink us IMO. Of course, if Brunson is suboptimal, we are also kind of screwed. I am usually optimistic, but I am not at this point.
Any word on Huk’s timetable, Z-man?
Clarence, last I heard, Thibs said Huk was nowhere near close to returning. My guess is that he’s done for the season.
Was hoping you would tempt the fates on that one. We could certainly use a lively, willing big to back up Mitch. Towns likes to clown.
This ship be sinking. Kinda hoping we lose to the Pistons so we can move on ftom Thibs and it’s pretty likely that happens. If it doesn’t, a sweep by BOS almost a lock. No punchers here.
Our complete futility against contenders; s actually really impressive. A normal team would at least win one by accident.
You think it’s likely we lose to the pistons? Based on your gut or the numbers?
We have one of the most talented starting teams in the NBA. The bench is a little weak (especially before Mitch), but we are close enough to the best teams that we should beat teams like Boston and OKC via randomness once in awhile and definitely beat the Cavs at least 50-50.
We can’t beat the best teams because we run an unimaginative stagnant offense with little purposeful player and ball movement that can beat the bad teams but that gets exposed by the better defenses.
We can’t beat the best teams because the Towns/Brunson combo gets attacked and Thib’s defense schemes, well, I’m not even sure what they are because we don’t guard the 3 point line and unless Mitch is playing we don’t protect the rim either.
We don’t beast the best teams because our coach is not flexible with lineups and doesn’t make as many or as good adjustments as other top coaches.
We look like shit the last couple of games because even though we are healthy, we are a tired team. Teams like Boston, Indiana, Milwaukee and Detroit are all peaking NOW. Even Orlando, Chicago and Miami are putting it all together the last few weeks. There are so many good teams out west taking turns beating each other it’s hard to tell who’s peaking, but certainly the Clippers, Lakers and Houston are and OKC is still playing great with all the depth they used all season.
We were trying to win last night. We just got gassed.
We peaked somewhere before the all-star break even before we had Mitch back. We are a tired team. Hopefully we’ll be freshened for the first round and we have so much more talent and experience than the Pistons we should win round 1. But if we don’t, the first big change is to get rid of Thibs.
I’m mind melding with Strat again….I think a coaching change is happening regardless if we squeak by Detroit…as pags said…there is no fantasy of beating Boston…Dolan will want someone to be the fall guy and if he isn’t ousting leon…Tommy T is the fall guy…and deservedly so…
Roster reconstruction should be interesting….if none…better get a creative coach…I would give Jenkins a shot…
The Knicks are one of the worst fourth quarter teams in the NBA. They lose fourth quarters by an average of -1.0 points, that ranks 25th in the league. The five teams that rank below them are all lottery teams.
That seems like an incredibly bad omen.
Seems to me like a few posters are wilting under the pressure of having a 50 win team entering the play-offs at virtually full health. The last 2 years we had the in-built excuse of injuries to key players so we could just sit back and enjoy the ride. But even before the first jump ball we have a bunch of I told you sos, I knew this would happen. Chill out–there is enough bandwidth to be able to complain after the games.
Certainly seems like it could be a lack of depth problem.
Since they fired Jenkins the Grizzles are 3-5 and have dropped from having home court advantage to the #8 seed. Seems like that move could have waited til the off season.
Coaching creativity notwithstanding, no one is turning Towns or Brunson into even average defensive players. I have trouble evaluating Bridges, but he is inconsistent, maybe soft and doesn’t seem to really move the needle on either end. IMV, there are two really good defenders, OG and Mitch, and one good, albeit undersized defender, Deuce. Hart is OK on the defensive end. To me, this indicates some major personnel issues that are beyond coaching schemes. I don’t really think this is a tired team, but one whose flaws have become more pronounced as the season has progressed and other coaches and players have had time to study film. And for a nice Passover treat, it’s freaking snowing!!!
Seems like some folk feel compelled to say others are wilting or panicking or some other crap….please …
Sure you can always dream…but being factual isn’t akin to whatever else you want to frame it as. ……perhaps you can say it is being harped on too much…but you are doing the same…
The thing where all 30 teams played last nite and all 30 teams play again tmrrow, but there are no games today is different. Wish they’d staggered these last games a little more
Happy to be taking our shot with Postons rather than Milwaukee. Bucks are really peaking right now
This is a big Thibs issue. Whether you think the roster construction is bad the coach has not used his roster properly at all this season. Just zero imagination to try different things.
You can slice this however you want, but “Maybe we’ll get it together enough to beat the Pistons in the first round before we get mercilessly crushed in the second” was not the outcome we were hoping for. And that’s pretty much what the consensus is here.
Thibs’ best teams have given us the sense that they were closing the season strong, that they were going into the playoffs with some momentum. This team does not have that kind of energy. Everybody is healthy, but nobody is playing very well (except OG) and the vibes are bad. A deep run does not seem to be in the cards. Beating a Detroit team that was miles behind us just a year ago does not seem like a foregone conclusion. Add it all up and it’s not really a whole lot of fun. I’m thankful for the back to back 50 win seasons but I really hope we haven’t already reached the peak.
Sure you can always dream…but being factual isn’t akin to whatever else you want to frame it as. …
JK posted something factual. And Z man peppered (no pun intended) facts in his post to support his views. Zero other facts (not a bad thing, as this blog is about opinions). I wasn’t targeting either of them in my post…
Fact – Eddie Murphy’s Boogie in Your Butt is objectively good.
I agree with most of this. Their offense is quite frankly offensive. Almost no ball movement or continuity.
The “tired” argument is, IMO a load of crap. Bridges leads the league in minutes and 4 games ago he was playing the best ball of the season and OG the best ball of his career. They all of a sudden got ‘tired’ when JB reentered the line up.
This team is just playing out the string with no discernable difference between the 3 or 4 seed. Their effort level will go way up during the playoffs. That I am 100% sure of as we saw last year.
The question is, if this mix of good players playing in a sort of non system is up to the task.
Warriors situation is interesting, if they win tommorow against the Clippers they play the Lakers in the 1st round. If they lose they drop to the play in and have a chance to play the Rockets . I wonder if they end up tanking.
Warriors situation is interesting
Silver needs a Warriors-Lakers matchup, the later the better. Conundrum for him too. Wonder what he tells/instructs/ mandates/threatens the refs to do?!
One of the traits that seems to characterize this team is that several key pieces ( notably Hart and Bridges) seem to modulate their effort based on what I surmise is their perception of what is needed to win each game. They are often wrong.Hart’s comments during the season where he claims the team knows what its doing when it seems to be falling short of reasonable expectations supports this. The other factor which seems to impact OG and Bridges is their lack of involvement in the offense when JB is playing which in turn effects their defensive effort ( although OG seemed to really be busting his butt vs the Cavs last night). KAT’s effort at least on the offensive side seems consistent, but his physical limitations and his penchant for dumb fouls seem to place a hard cap on his defensive contributions. That said, I agree with Bob’s premise and that JB will find a way to get more out of OG and Bridges. I’m cautiously optimistic that we beat the Pistons in 6 and take the Celtics to game 7 before losing. ( Absent a serious injury Boston’s O & D is just too much for Knicks to overcome, especially with Thibs’s lack of ability to adapt to what Celtics are doing).
Wildly optimistic to think we can rake 3 games iff if BOS when we’ve mostly been effortlessly blown out by them in most games with us playing our game 7 rotation and them cruising, depleted, or both. A sweep is far more likely.
The Celtic aren’t sweeping anyone outside of the first round If Brown is hobbled. You don’t take pain killing shots to your knee a week before the playoffs for a minor issue. Boston is known for playing fast and loose with injuries and player’s careers.
Brown is their weakest starter and worst shooter. Pritchard is putting up BPM comparable to Brunson rhis years and BOS probably improves by starting him
We’d be lucky to lose in 5 if we even make it there.
giannis averaging 31 15 12 over his last five. glad we’re not seeing him
Must be an anti-tank measure. Makes marginal sense, kind of. A bunch if teams threw games on the last day last season to get the matchup they wanted.
Pags, we’re 7 or 8 days from game 1 vs Detroit, maybe you can take a break from the constant posts about how badly Boston is gonna kick our ass?
There will be plenty of time for your gloom and doom shtick when the time comes.
I’m starting to wonder if the reason we’re kinda backing into the playoffs is because we’re focusing on bringing Brunson up to speed more than actually winning. There’s little to no practice time at this point, so maybe these last few games were really chess not checkers? Or is it that my glasses are a little too rosy? I dunno..but we’ve been waiting all season long to see what this roster can do at full strength. We finally have it, and the playoffs are here.
I’ve seen pundits talk about how Detroit probably can beat us in the 1st round all because of the physical win they pulled off the other day. I can’t see that happening with all of our guys available. It may take us 6 games, but Detroit goes down in round 1. I still think the Bucks are a better matchup for us though. 4 or 5 games, that series.
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