Knicks Morning News (2025.05.20)

Just watching 1999 Playoffs highlights nonstop the last few days, and, well, that was an unusually historic playoff run. You rarely have THAT many crazy ass endings in a single playoff run.

By the way, I forgot that the NBA Finals was in the moronic 2-3-2 format at the time, so the Knicks played more home games in the NBA Finals that year than the Spurs!

I’m okay with the Knicks winning this Eastern Conference Finals without last second four-point plays, though.

LJ morphing into a modern day stretch 4 during that series was crazy to see. In Game 5 he hit back to back huge 3s late in the 4th quarter to help win that game, Antonio Davis kept helping in the paint off LJ who just spotted up for wide open 3s.

That finals run kept me alive. Literally. I was very depressed at the time. I wasn’t doing what I loved. I was working in manhattan as a paralegal. Felt like a cog in a soulless corporate machine. I remember the day of the 4 point play well. It was my dad’s 60th birthday. And we threw him a surprise party. Everyone at the party was watching the Knicks by the end of the game. I did shots with my dad after LJ hit the big shot and free throw. My dad is 86 now. I still like watching the Knicks on TV with him. The Knicks picked up my spirits, and I picked myself up, and applied and got into med school the next year. The rest is history. Now it’s the Knicks turn to complete what they started. Let’s go Knicks!

Awesome story, thanks for sharing!

My mom had three sons, and we were all big fans of the Knicks, Yankees/Mets (2 Yankee fans, 1 Mets fan), and the Giants/Jets (2 Giants fans, 1 Jet fan). So she decided around 1990 or so that she would pick one team to read up on and follow in the news so that she could relate to her sons, and she picked the 1990s Knicks.

So it was such an oddly special thing when we were all freaking out about the LJ 4-point play that she actually kind of understood what we were all excited about (she had gone out to a book store for some quiet time, as we were a loud bunch during big games, and she had arrived home RIGHT after the play, while we were all freaking out). I mean, by that point, Ewing was the only guy she still really knew (and he wasn’t even playing due to his season-ending injury the previous game), but still!

An Indiana vs. OKC/Minnesota Finals must be giving SIlver nightmares, so I imagine that the ghost of Hue Hollins will call every game this series.

The 99 run was when I truly became a Knicks fan.

I’m from TN and loved NBA basketball from a very young age. The first games I truly remember watching were the Lakers/Celtics in the 80s. I didn’t really follow a team back then. Just loved the Lakers, then the bad boy pistons, had a Michael Jordan poster.

Then my brother moved to NYC in 1991, right around the time Riley took over. I rooted for the Knicks in the 94 finals. And I started getting tired of MJ and The Bulls. But even for most of the 90’s, I was more about just watching the games in general and would generally just kind of get behind a certain team during their run because I liked the players or way that team played.

Then in 1999 I moved to NYC. I was in college, studying theater, and my college had a “semester abroad” program where you could go to NYC for a semester and study at an acting conservatory.

Man NYC in the late 90’s was LIT. I remember the first night in my new apartment on Waverly place, me and my roommate went down to Boo Radley’s and the NBA strike had just ended and we watched a Knicks game.

Then that summer came and The Knicks had that magical run. I watched EVERY game of that playoff series. The whole city was so into the team and that run. I remember going to loft parties in Soho and the LES and instead of people partying, they’d be huddled around a TV watching the Knicks. That was when I truly became a Knicks fan.

The end of that summer I had to go back to TN to finish out my senior year of college but I moved back to NYC in the Fall of 2000. That summer the Knicks did make the ECF but it did feel like that particular team was running it’s course. Still, I thought, The Knicks have been good all of the 90’s. I’m moving to NYC to start my life and I’ll get to live in hte city where they play.

Then a decade plus of futility and embarrassment, followed by a very short period of being relevant with Melo. Then more awfulness.

To be here now is incredible. What Leon, Thibs, Brunson, Hart and the rest have done for this franchise cannot be overstated.

Just passed a woman in a Knicks hat walking a poodle wearing a Frazier jersey. Very proud of this town right now.

Just passed a woman in a Knicks hat walking a poodle wearing a Frazier jersey. Very proud of this town right now.

Sending this to my girlfriend, she’d think it’s the cutest story ever. She doesn’t know much about basketball but thinks Clyde is the coolest man this side of Jerry Garcia.

Also if I were in fashion, I’d have styled a Clyde dog coat from his jackets fabrics.

‘The Celtics threw 246 passes in that game. Indy averages 337 a night.’

interesting factoid from Macri…

Speaking of ‘99, I’ve found myself really missing the old school viewing experience in NY. Much like the nightlife in manhattan has become banal and commoditized, watching a game here these days is just not that fun. Nothing like it was in ‘99, at least. Saturday in downtown NYC for game 3 was like the Super Bowl, and I mean that in the worst possible way. I’m finding it impossible to just go to a bar and watch the game with a friend, so am mostly watching at home. I am curious if (like nightlife) it is better in the outer boroughs.

Alternatively, I could just be old. I mean, I had literally zero fomo after selling my ticket to game 6 bc I got a lot of laundry done that night 🤷🏻‍♂️

I am curious if (like nightlife) it is better in the outer boroughs.

I watched a game last week at a bar in Williamsburg and it was a pretty good experience. My personal opinion is a lot of newer sports bars over do it with the TVs. Places now have too many, too big, too close together, showing EVERY possible game in every sport that is playing at that moment. I find it hard to focus on the screen I want to watch.

I used to love watching games at bars like Grassroots. Places that were not sports bars and usually just had one or maybe 2 TV’s in the place but would show whatever the big NYC game was that day. Everyone would be watching it together on one or two screens.

Places out in Woodside are pretty good too. I used to live in Woodside and a bar called Sean Ogs is my fav spot in NYC to watch sports.

I am cautiously optimistic for this series in that we literally played this exact same team last year — you have to think/hope that Thibs, being the maniac he is, probably spent 1000 hours dissecting the video from that series and has some things up his sleeve to slow down their offense.

Offensively for us – it is honestly incredible to me that we were able to score as well as we did last year considering there was a lot of iHart+Precious+Hart on-court with Brunson and Donte. This year, at least in the regular season games, they’ve had no answer for our offense – we scored 123, 121, and 128 points in those contests. Their defensive personnel is just not anywhere close to Boston’s, and they don’t have someone like Ausar Thompson to slow Brunson down (especially with more space to operate this year as compared with last year).

I do think Thibs is going to have to lean into one more bench player than he wants to – whether it’s Cam Payne or Landry Shamet. I think they can survive defensively if it’s something like a Mitch+Hart+Bridges+Payne/Shamet+McBride, and letting Bridges do a little cooking. It’s scary to play without either of Towns or Brunson on the floor, but that lineup is so much better defensively that we should be able to survive it.

i just asked clyde, our 11 year old sheepdog, and he confirmed the no true scotsmen rents swag off the rack when the sun is out. either live the vibe like it’s your birthday suit or you’re just an imposter doing laundry on game day. poodles. amirite hubie?

My mom had two celtics and a knick. I was easily her favorite so she was a knick. She kept her “Knicks Love Moms” pin from our mother’s day date to MSG in 93 in her jewelry box. No celtics fuckery in there.

Fuckin’ right, Clarence!

I’m hopeful Cam might be more useful against The Pacers than he was vs. Detroit or Boston.

I think my sneaky favorite match up to watch this series is Deuce vs. McConnell. It will be a small but pivotal match up because Deuce doing well when Brunson sits makes a huge difference for us. McConnell kind of cooked him last year but physically I feel like Deuce should be able to handle him. So chalking that up to last year being a learning experience for Deuce and him getting schooled by a wiley veteran. Hoping he fares better this year.

I wish Delon had gotten here earlier and had perhaps gotten a chance to work his way into the Circle Of Trust. He looks like he can still defend, and honestly we’re not getting a ton of offensive production from Cam/Shamet anyway.

I wish Delon had gotten here earlier and had perhaps gotten a chance to work his way into the Circle Of Trust. He looks like he can still defend, and honestly we’re not getting a ton of offensive production from Cam/Shamet anyway.

Agree with this. Even 4 or 5 minutes in each half from someone would work wonders, I think. Cam is getting spot minutes in the first half and then doesn’t play at all in the second. Shamet’s been dungeoned. A high-floor, low-ceiling player like Delon feels like he could give our guys just enough of a breather without us being killed in his minutes.

I wish Delon had gotten here earlier and had perhaps gotten a chance to work his way into the Circle Of Trust. He looks like he can still defend, and honestly we’re not getting a ton of offensive production from Cam/Shamet anyway.

Agreed. Delon may not be a scorer but he is a good defender and can run an offense. He might actually help the bench generate more points if he played than Cam or Shamet would simply because he might help us get more stops, get more points off transitions and/or set up his teammates a little better than those 2 can.

But I guess if Cam has one more explosion in this series like he did in game one against Detroit and it wins us a game, it’s worth throwing him out there.

Poodles are smarter than the average dog. Not faulting his wardrobe decisions.

PT, I was reading the Phantom Tollbooth to my daughter, the chapter with the Which in the dungeon. Explaining puns to an 8 year old etc. Language is quite dense but she loved it.

The more you look into this series, the more worried you get that the Pacers will simply outlast us by dint of having 9-10 rotation players compared to our ~7. Haliburton has led them in MPG in the playoffs at 34.8, which is fewer MPG than our 5th highest player (KAT, 35.7).

So yeah, it would be great to see if we could steal some quality minutes from Shamet and/or Delon. Seems eminently doable–it’s hard to imagine that one of those guys totally fresh wouldn’t sometimes be preferable to Mikal and/or OG in minute 44–but we won’t do it.

I do think our best 7 is better than their best 7, so it’ll be imperative to absolutely smash them when they inevitably try to steal some bench minutes.

I’d love to see Delon get some burn as well, seems like a perfectly cromulent defensive piece that moves the ball. Also, he was a great sixth man in my 2k18 Knicks team where I drafted all the Nova boys.

The more you look into this series, the more worried you get that the Pacers will simply outlast us by dint of having 9-10 rotation players compared to our ~7.

This is basically what they did last year. We were up 2-0 before the injuries really started mounting. We were one last second shot away from going up 3-0 and probably would have closed them out in 5 if we had won game 3. Then our dudes fell apart and they won the last 3 out of 4 games.

Right now we’re in much better health (knock on wood) than we were last year going into this series. Last year Mitch was already hurt (although I think he did play at the very beginning of the series) and Randle was out. So we’re ahead of where we were last year but when you really just go 7 deep, any injury could potentially wreck us.

So yes, get up 2-0, put these dudes out in 4 or 5. The longer the series goes, the worse our chances get. Glad we’ve had a nice break before game 1, too.

If we are healthy and they are healthy we beat them. But it will be a tough series where health may be an issue.

Glad we have a long break as well for the team, but I’m getting mighty bored reading the same story over and over again about the upcoming series. Although to the pundits’ credit I don’t know what else they can say outside of we’ll grind them up and they’ll run us off the floor…

Overhead view of that Mitch possession. The more I watch it and the more angles I get, the more I love the man I was already quite besotted with.

https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1924329139533693398

I’ll remain steadfast in my belief that giving worse players minutes in order to keep your better players fresh is a good strategy for the regular season, and a bad strategy for the playoffs. Virtually every team shortens their rotation for the playoffs. We should welcome the fact that Indiana will be playing their 10th best player in this series.

I wish Delon had gotten here earlier and had perhaps gotten a chance to work his way into the Circle Of Trust. He looks like he can still defend, and honestly we’re not getting a ton of offensive production from Cam/Shamet anyway.

I would give him a try also.

I can see starting out with Cam/Shamet and seeing what they can do, but if they are coming up empty you almost have to go to Delon.

PT, I was reading the Phantom Tollbooth to my daughter, the chapter with the Which in the dungeon. Explaining puns to an 8 year old etc. Language is quite dense but she loved it.

unfortunately i attempted this way too young with my now 8 yr old son, which in retrospect looks like a nearly successful attempt to induce orthographic dyslexia. lemme suggest a recent kid friendly novel we read together recently called the bletchley riddle.

I’ll remain steadfast in my belief that giving worse players minutes in order to keep your better players fresh is a good strategy for the regular season, and a bad strategy for the playoffs. Virtually every team shortens their rotation for the playoffs. We should welcome the fact that Indiana will be playing their 10th best player in this series.

I agree for the most part, but there are probably some cases where a 34/10 minutes split between your best player(s) and a bench guy maximizes production more than a 44/0 split.

There’s also the fact that I do think Shamet and Delon bring a few things to the table in their own right even if they are clearly worse overall than our primary rotation players.

That said, if we lose this series it’ll be because our best players didn’t play well enough whether it’s in 34 minutes or 44 minutes, so I’m not sweating this too much. I just worry about losing a war of attrition.

Overhead view of that Mitch possession. The more I watch it and the more angles I get, the more I love the man I was already quite besotted with.

stick a screenshot on a t-shirt for your daughter screenshot “mitch is dungeon”

Overhead view of that Mitch possession. The more I watch it and the more angles I get, the more I love the man I was already quite besotted with.

I really hope we don’t trade him, but if we do, that play alone on national TV in the playoffs added to his value. That was epic.

I admit I was at the LJ 4 point play game and it was kind if cool.

I really hope we don’t trade him

Me too. I think his free throw shooting and bad hands can be fixed with an off season of work. Mitch literally missed over a year of bball except for a short stint at the end of the regular season and playoffs last year.

All he has to do is stay healthy, hit like 60 percent of his free throws and catch lobs and he brings incredible value.

Brian opened this thread with the following:

Just watching 1999 Playoffs highlights nonstop the last few days, and, well, that was an unusually historic playoff run. You rarely have THAT many crazy ass endings in a single playoff run.

This raises a thorny issue for me, let me know if this isn’t the right place for the question. Which is:

Is there any place to find recorded games from this 2025 Playoffs? I’m fine with DVDs, video tapes, anything. I’m fine buying them. I’m also fine with Torrents and summoning recordings using occult methods. I just want to re-watch these games, and I’m hoping for more memorable games as 2025 moves forward.

I think this season is historic and still wish I could find recordings of 2000, 1999, 1994, and even 1973. Those were the seasons that made me a Knicks fan for life.

err, Youtube? Looks like they’re all there…

If you Google it, some sites of questionable legal status should show up.

I’d strongly recommend using an ad blocker.

I think NBA.com league pass posts full replays a few days later, but could be wrong.

I’m not sure about storing them long-term, but presumably that’ll be an option legally after the season?

Also, whoever suggested the Knicks film school x Caitlin Cooper podcast episode, thank you. Caitlin is the best. If anything, she knows the Xs and Os too well and doesn’t always slow down to explain it.

She thinks Carlisle will try playing KAT straight up with Turner at first. I’m skeptical, but great news for us if they eschew the defensive game plan that ruined our early season offense.

TheRant, try this one, it’s great. The link goes to the Knicks page, but all the other games are there too. An ad blocker is indeed recommended but not a must.

With NBA League Pass you can watch every single game as far back as the 2012-13 season plus it has a bunch of classic games too.

Are any of you gamblers out there putting actual money on the Wolves beating the Thunder?

I think the Knicks are probably a better value bet than the Wolves

Are any of you gamblers out there putting actual money on the Wolves beating the Thunder?

Not me.

I closed out all my bets on the championship at a very small profit. I had OKC at +560 at the start of the season for my biggest bet, but I cashed it out during the Denver series when they didn’t look as inevitable as I thought and Boston was still alive against NY. That turned out to be a mistake. I made a couple of mistakes, but if you can net a small profit despite a couple of mistakes you probably did something right too. The worst error was having the 76ers. The smartest was probably the Cavs, but the injuries did them in.

All I have left now is Shai to win MVP at +322 and Jokic to NOT win MVP at +168. I obviously like the Shai bet a lot.

I may make some game bets between now and the end, but I don’t have any good ideas right now.

I put $20 down every year on the Knicks to win a championship before the season starts. I can’t remember what the odds were but I’m looking at a nice little pay day if they hit! I think I did it before the Towns trade too.

Other than that, I don’t mess with gambling, lol.

Other than that, I don’t mess with gambling, lol.

Good man.

This is a very difficult series to call. The Celtics series was easier – I got it wrong (“Celtics in 6”), but it was an easy call. Rationally, this should be no more than a 5 game series – we are better than last year, healthy, and they’re the same team. But…yeah, that offense can be a problem. And we tend to play down to the competition on defense; rarely did we do what we did against the Celtics in game 6.

So…I guess I have to say Knicks in 5, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it were Pacers in 7.

i just asked clyde, our 11 year old sheepdog, and he confirmed the no true scotsmen rents swag off the rack when the sun is out. either live the vibe like it’s your birthday suit or you’re just an imposter doing laundry on game day. poodles. amirite hubie?

I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a crowd since Covid. It’s not that I’m afraid of germs, either. But once the universe showed me the bliss of anything in NY at 20% capacity I’ve never stopped wanting 6 feet of space. I am wounded, Sam.

I made a couple of mistakes,

for those whom enjoy the gambling stuff and have partook in it for a while, doesn’t seem so much you would make a mistake in the process of deciding to place a bet on what and for how much…

just maybe the results don’t work out in your favor…

it would seem the only mistake you could really make is if you mixed emotions in with the process of wagering…

and yes, i find the vices of others somewhat compelling – in a comparing notes on vices kind of way…

I’ll remain steadfast in my belief that giving worse players minutes in order to keep your better players fresh is a good strategy for the regular season, and a bad strategy for the playoffs. Virtually every team shortens their rotation for the playoffs.

I think you’re undoubtedly right but Carlisle has developed a rather ingenious way to use this to his advantage and punch above his weight.

RIP, George Wendt.

OKC looks to me like a really bad matchup for Minnesota. I don’t trust Randle going to the basket against them at all, he’s gonna turn the ball over a half dozen times each game.

watching nba today and getting hyped for tonight, 2 of the very best, most popular young athletes in the world going at it…both of them beginning the prime of their career…

rooting for the wolves…

didn’t realize julius is averaging 23.9 pts, 5.9 reb’s, 5.9 ast’s per game this post season…

that’s not too bad, at all…windhorst and andraya going on about how impactful he’s been…

those are going to be tough numbers to maintain against okc, maybe though his physicality works out in his favor in the post season…

Here’s an interesting question to pass the time until tomorrow.

If you could add one Knick from the Thibs/Leon era who is no longer on the team to this team, who would it be?

This player would be added without losing any draft capital or cap space or existing players.

There’s a lot of interesting choices. 2021 late season D Rose would be nice off the bench. And actually this season’s version of RJ wouldn’t be too bad either. Then there’s DDV or Randle or IQ or Grimes.

I’m not sure there’s a right answer. Randle at PF moving OG to SF and Hart to the bench is PROBABLY the right answer. DDV makes sense off the bench but he’s not been that great this season.

Today is a great day to be a Knicks fan.

Right now, we have not missed a shot. We have not gotten a bad call. We are hosting Game 1. Everything it’s possible.

it’s been real welcome to see mikal’s physicality level up in the second round…

KAT gets such a terrible whistle – wonder if the stats back that up – but if he and mikal can continue to play aggressively, that should be us in good position to win…

as just a basketball fan, psyched to see KAT and myles match up this series…

KAT has the better rep, but myles is not so far behind, particularly as he fits in with the pacers…

If you could add one Knick from the Thibs/Leon era who is no longer on the team to this team, who would it be?

Quickly followed by iHart

hi ephus 😊

it sounds like you got awfully close to the edge there…you sound super focused…

may I ask, were you of a similar positive mindset prior to this recent challenge, or did you discover it in the journey?

also, if it’s okay to share – is the ephus moniker a reference to the ⚾️ pitch?

My favorite line from Norm:

Women. You can’t live with them, pass the beer nuts.

OKC looks to me like a really bad matchup for Minnesota. I don’t trust Randle going to the basket against them at all, he’s gonna turn the ball over a half dozen times each game.

That’s what I’m thinking. I can imagine the Wolves averaging 18 TOs a game against OKC, and ultimately that will be the difference. That and their inconsistency; they make the Knicks look positively heady sometimes.

But should be a good series.

Yeah, all these ESPN pundits picking the Wolves feels really off, that’s why I was wondering what the gamblers here were thinking. (I mean, i guess it’s no bigger of a mismatch than Knicks Celtics was, so there’s that… lightning only strikes the same spot once, but it’s still followed by thunder. I guess that would be the line of reasoning?)

Women. You can’t live with them, pass the beer nuts.

It’s a dog eat dog world out there, Sammy — and I’m wearing Milk-Bone underwear.

I personally think OKC’s had their scare and grown up and are going to smoke the Wolves in 4 or 5.

ephus 😊

it sounds like you got awfully close to the edge there…you sound super focused…

may I ask, were you of a similar positive mindset prior to this recent challenge, or did you discover it in the journey?

also, if it’s okay to share – is the ephus moniker a reference to the ⚾️ pitch

?

1. Before I began my battle against colon cancer, I had done years in & out of therapy, but it did not really get me to the place I am now. The cancer battle
taught me that it served me well to let go of all expectations. We do the work and then, “Que sera, sera”.

2. About a month after my emergency surgery for a perforated colon (which is how the cancer was discovered), I went to ER for a relatively minor issue. While I was being treated by the resident, the attending spoke with my wife. He could not believe my chart and said (in 40 years of practice) he had never heard of anyone surviving the surgery I had in that circumstance (a ten inch tumor that blew out, putting me into septic shock).

3. Ephus was inspired by the Eephus pitch. I spell it this way as a play on my last name (Epner).

4. I was 49 when I had my colon cancer. I had scheduled a colonoscopy for after my 50th birthday. If my cancer had gone undetected for even another week, it would have metastasized (buddding was off the scale). My oncologist told me that my treatment options after Stage 4 would have been about “prolonging life”, not a “cure.”

BOTTOM LINE: Get a colonoscopy when you turn 45. Insurance will pay for it. The prep sucks and the procedure is unpleasant. Chemo is worse.

Solidarity, my friends.

I’m friends with Stephen Drozd of the Flaming Lips, opened for them on tour years ago. He was telling me a story one time about the Lips playing a festival somewhere in the 90’s with a bunch of other fried out, druggy bands. He’s hanging out in the shared backstage area before the show, and he does a double take when he sees George Wendt. So he struck up a conversation.

“Dude, what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see the Butthole Surfers.”

Turns out George was a fan of all sorts of weirdo post punk music. The Minutemen were his favorite band.

RIP, big guy. He seemed like a cool MF.

There were games, even stretches, when we saw this version of Julius Randle on the Knicks. Unfortunately, they were not during the playoffs. I’m happy for him.
https://www.theringer.com/2025/05/20/nb a/julius-randle-minnesota-timberwolves-nba-playoffs-2025

If you could add one Knick from the Thibs/Leon era who is no longer on the team to this team, who would it be?

Well, the obvious choice for me is no longer available, but it’s absolutely Hartenstein. Damn, if we had a front line of KAT, iHart, and Mitch, we would be close to unstoppable. He is the one piece we had last year vs. the Pacers who will be sorely missed.

But I’ve grown accustomed to iHart’s absence, so the second option is Immanuel Quickley. Having a super fast ball of energy off the bench, who can play either the point or the shooting guard, is a huge luxury. The team can still score and defend when Brunson needs a breather, and a defensive spark doesn’t hurt either.

Though Deuce made me super happy with his chase down in game six, because perhaps he can be that guy.

Milk bone underwear? That is funny.

Ordered Bletchley Riddle. Looks good. Always up for children’s book recs. We go through them at about 80 pages an hour.

Why people want to pick the Wolves over the Thunder escapes me but I am happy for Julius. He’s been great.

And Ephus, that is nuts. What a story. Got my first colonoscopy earlier this year so have done my duty.

I credit my survival to the fact that I had completed the NYC Marathon five months earlier (just broke 5 hours). I was in great cardiovascular shape with very little fat. My surgeon (Dr. Anton Kelly) needed seven hours: two hours to get the tumor with clear margins and five hours to clean out all of the shit (literally) that had spilled into my abdomen. Because I was in good shape, they were able to keep going as long as was necessary. I also credit my survival to the incredible skill of Dr. Kelly and my treating team at MSK.

thank you ephus…wow, that’s a startling series of events…good for you for doing the therapy work prior, i’m sure it sucked…definitely a good base though to help survive a critical health situation like that and get yourself to a healthy state…

not so easy, but sounds good for getting through some stuff: let go of all expectations…life being filled with stuff…

oh oh donnie, we better watch out – looks like ephus may have read a similar book like us, and he got some nicer words to use…

IHart is so obvious I missed it. Although with Mitch back and in form I really wonder if we would need him. Whereas 2021 D Rose who was a walking bucket off the bench would be huge for us right now.

https://x.com/nyknicks/status/1924903199426695582

😂🤣😂

nice cyber, now is definitely a good time for those 2 in particular to be communicating well and gelling…

Still here, but mostly lurking because i’m with less time than usual. I’m loving all the stories and opinions. This blog is really a treasure.

About the series, not trying to take Pags’ place, but i’m not optimistic. I think they play a fast pace, and they are relentless. I don’t think we do well against teams playing like this. The Pistons made it to 6 and they’re like a poor man’s Indiana. Otoh, i’m starting to believe that our team is on a mission to overcome everything that is thrown at them. Knicks in 7.

IHart is so obvious I missed it. Although with Mitch back and in form I really wonder if we would need him. Whereas 2021 D Rose who was a walking bucket off the bench would be huge for us right now.

Yeah, iHart is easy to miss somehow, but he was everywhere last year in the Playoffs, needless to say. I can’t believe how many people say “Knicks in six, because the Pacers barely won last year and all of the Knicks are now healthy.”

Which is true, but iHart will be missed at many moments in the coming week or two. But I still have faith.

nice cyber, now is definitely a good time for those 2 in particular to be communicating well and gelling…

Indeed it is, Geo. 8 more wins and no one will ever again talk about the picks we sent to Brooklyn. 😉 😀

I made a couple of mistakes

This made me think of a song…
https://soundcloud.com/sufjan-stevens/decatur

🎶 I made a lot of mistakes
In my mind, in my mind 🎶

hartenstein had 0 ponts in game 7 against indiana last season and he was fully healthy

I would love iHart, but we really need a guard or wing off the bench. Probably IQ because he can play on or off ball and his off-ball defense is incredible. Otherwise, Donte to get us some more 3s.

Maybe Randle so you can slide OG down, but I don’t imagine the defense survives KAT, Brunson, and Randle.

DRose would be an excellent fit though, he was killing it that half a year.

That’s harrowing, Ephus. Glad you made it through!

Hope you’re still in shape – you’ll need that strong heart for this series… Though the more I think about it, the more I’m leaning Knicks in 5

Owen:

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes
The Blackthorn Key

Both should entertain and delight each of you

we are where we all hoped to be at the beginning of the season…that’s pretty awesome…

favorable matchup in this round, as opposed i guess to playing the regular season cavaliers…

we should get them out in six, in large part due to mikal, josh, OG, deuce and mitch – win with defense, slow them down, turn them over, beat them on the boards, close with jalen and mikal…we’ll see…

however – they did do a pretty good job of bringing the cavs back down to reality…no real stars on their roster, yet anyways, just a good team…generally just “a good team” doesn’t win a league championship, usually takes an all-nba player, or two on the team, unfortunately we’re only playing the pacers for a conference championship, so gotta watch out…

okay, listened to and read all the preamble for the wolves/thunder matchup – thunder in six…i hope i’m wrong…

although, i will admit the oklahoma city thunder are pretty darn irresistibly likeable…yeah, that’s not cool…

I found my colonoscopy to be quite enjoyable. Those years as a Knicks fan weren’t completely wasted.

I found my colonoscopy to be quite enjoyable. Those years as a Knicks fan weren’t completely wasted.

Donnie Pacers Fan knows how to remain beloved despite his unfortunate current affiliation

9-0 FTAs for OKC in the first 6 min.

So impressed with how OKC generates turnovers. It’s crazy.

Amazing story, ephus. You have an appreciation for the simplest things in life that most of us take for granted. There was a poster named DudeInKnicksTowns who chronicled his health battle, up until the point he let on that there was nothing left to do. Taking it on good faith that he wasn’t doing a bit (with characters like Doogie around, you never know) I remember feeling really bad about it, and it still reminds me as a diehard Knicks fan and a poster here that today is all we have and nothing is promised.

I wish he were still around to see the pent-up joy pouring out of Knicks fans just for making the conference finals. Maybe that’s why I get so defensive when folks have relentlessly pissed on the Leon experience for years. I really don’t give a shit about hollow apologies in the aftermath of several years of continual Leon bashing, Thibs bashing, Randle bashing, along with the gratuitous rhetorical grenades thrown into the conversation…Purgatory, Mezzanine, Incineration, Hustlebunny, pulling pants down. rock vs. paper, etc. ad nauseum. I commend posters like Brian Cronin, Alan, cybersoze, Max, Farfa, geo, Silky, and many others….and you, ephus, for never needing to get nasty and condescending to make a point, even if it is critical of a player, a coach, or an executive You are the posters I look up to and will try harder to emulate, at least during this amazing stretch of Knicks history in the making. On top of that, Captain Brunson sets a pretty good example out there of how to be competitive as anyone whoever played without being a dick about it. I definitely should have been a better KB poster after game 4 and apologize for any offense taken by the larger KB community.

Anyway, glad to have you back around, ephus. For your sake, Kumbaya.

Not sure if this makes sense, but I feel pretty happy to see Randle killing it, but annoyed that I-Hart is playing so well.

The Wolves shooting 3x as many 3PAs as OKC would certainly increase their chances to take the series.

Randle and IHart feels like a bit of a pickem at the moment.

Randle looks a lot more playoffs ready than KAT this season

playoff 3s

ddv 15
kat 15
josh 18
randle 24

Randle getting stripped there brought back some memories

I was about to post the same thing, Owen.

I commend posters like Brian Cronin, Alan, cybersoze, Max, Farfa, geo, Silky, and many others….and you, ephus, for never needing to get nasty and condescending to make a point, even if it is critical of a player, a coach, or an executive You are the posters I look up to and will try harder to emulate, at least during this amazing stretch of Knicks history in the making.

Lol let us know when you plan to start.

I really don’t give a shit about hollow apologies

You’re right, it was hollow. I thought if I took one for the team you might stop killing the vibe here by being such a relentless asshole. But you just can’t not be one.

Randle career playoff 3s

As a Knick: 28

As a TWolf: 24 at halftime

I miss that IHart floater

Donte in a place with no Italian food and without Thibs coaching is just tough to watch

I miss that IHart floater

I miss all three of them out there.

Kumbaya

OKC is just so hard to get a lead against with them being allowed to play NFL football while SGA is gifted an FTA for every shot he misses

Maybe if KAT moves to OKC he can finally get some fouls called.

Man, quite a quarter. OKC is like a ball rolling downhill…

Wolves bench 4-26 is why you should just play your starters all the minutes

I wonder if kenrich Williams’ barber came up with that hair style or he thought of it on his own.

I hope that the Competition Committee looks at the following things that create offensive advantage:

1. Moving screens. Both the player moving before setting the screen AND the screener moving after the collision with the defender.

2. Travels on the step-back three. Very few step-back threes adhere to keeping a single pivot foot.

3. Grabbing off-ball defenders so they can’t provide help.

Mark my words, they are the 90s Bulls reborn. SGA is nice guy MJ, JDub is well adjusted Pippen, Chet is stretch Horace Grant, iHart is non-washed Bill Cartwright, plus they have an infinite army of elite 3&D. This is the shittiest game they’ll play this series and it’s another 2nd half curbstomp

If OKC doesn’t win it all this season Pags should not be allowed to ever again post on Knickerblogger…

Has to be a three-peat, BBA!

I didn’t have Kenrich Williams going +13 in 8 minutes as the 10th guy off the bench…

Mark my words, they are the 90s Bulls reborn. SGA is nice guy MJ, JDub is well adjusted Pippen, Chet is stretch Horace Grant, iHart is non-washed Bill Cartwright, plus they have an infinite army of elite 3&D. This is the shittiest game they’ll play this series and it’s another 2nd half curbstomp

They’re not the 90s Bulls because they’re a 0% chance OKC will pay to keep this team together. 15 years ago we all thought they were going to be a dynasty when 22 year old Durant and Harden and 23 year old Westbrook went to the Finals; OKC traded Harden away that summer. With even harsher luxury tax penalties there’s no way this core of players will spend significant time together.

They kind of remind me of early Pitino teams with the full court pressure and relentless defense.

I saw Pitino in midtown today, which may be why I said that.

Lu Dort had quite the dagger there btw, not sure now much he would get paid on the open market but he is better than Bruce Brown

BBA I’m quite confident they will never even face elimination again so happy to take that pledge

TheRant, try this one, it’s great. The link goes to the Knicks page, but all the other games are there too. An ad blocker is indeed recommended but not a must.

Belated THANK YOU Darules!

Can someone explain to me how ESPN got the OKC Minnesota series, with Breen and RJ and Doris? And then somehow someone thought it a great idea to give the Knicks / Pacers to Reggie and Kevin Harlan on TNT/Max?

Does this make sense to anyone?

Seemed pretty obvious (at least to me) that Presti has been building this monster for years. Cap flexibility? Check. All of their own picks? Check. Many picks from other teams? Check. Transcendent star under contract and happy? Check. Two budding superstar on rookie deals? Check.

I mean, sure, anything can happen to any team, and owners can be cheap and force a GM’s hand, but is SGA is going to be THIS good (and with his game, there’s no reason to believe that he won’t) not too many teams have been “set up” for sustained success better than this…The Russell Celtics? The Magic Lakers? The Jordan Bulls? The Duncan Spurs?

They still haven’t won anything, but for a young team, they look pretty unbeatable right now.

Having plenty of picks is one thing. Making the right picks is another. Picking a future league MVP is a third.

I am reminded today of why I don’t want OKC to win the chip. Their fans SUCK. Golf claps all damn game until the last few minutes. And I think I saw someone of Asian descent in the stands, but I could have been wrong.

Julius scored a lot and easily but some of those egregious turnovers burned my eyes, and Dante with great spirit but tons of misses, all make me think I’d only want iHart or IQ back.

Cancel basketball. The thunder won game one at home. And cancel Christmas too.

OKC just played a Game 7 a couple of days ago…

A bit of an overreaction to a game 1 win at home.

Let’s see how game 2 goes before we canonize the Thunder ok?

“Picking a future league MVP is a third.”

If we’re talking about SGA, he was not picked by Presti. However, Presti did pick 3 consecutive future MVPs in Durant, Westbrook and Harden. And who knows where Chet and J-Dub top out?

By my reckoning, his next really dumb move will be his first in a loooooong time…unless pt can come up with something?

You could argue that they’d be making a mistake to go after Giannis, even if they could outbid everyone. Why disrupt the cap-chemistry-youth-flexibility in playing styles they have right now? I mean, only one of their starters played over 3o minutes tonight against a much more rested team, and they won going away.

I get it that Minny is a clunky team and that Naz and DDV were off, but seems like OKC will have an answer for whatever they do, and SGA is a massive problem to guard.

Right, he picked three and traded for a fourth, along a ton of picks in a trade which the Clippers should be mourning for a very long time, I think. I think it was the first year Ballmer had taken over and he was just making not very thoughtful decisions. Similar to what the Suns did more recently. But there is no question, Presti and is staff have exceptional young talent/potential evaluation and strategy skills.

I get the skepticism, and agree that they haven’t done anything yet. But if you look at the teams that went on to be dynastic before they did anything, meaning in their first run to a chip, they looked an awful lot like this one. And unlike most teams, if they happen to lose this year, they don’t have to think about clever ways to skirt the second apron or to add to their roster with no picks to trade or to make.

I also get that Denver took them to 7, but they are still young (see: Jordan Bulls vs. Bad Boys) and Denver is in decline. I suppose San Antonio and Houston can catch up with some smarts and some luck, but Presti has the cards and the smarts to counteract any moves they make.

And beyond Presti, it all starts with SGA. He can blow out his achilles and set the team back, but if he stays healthy (and his game seems to be conducive to good health) I can’t come up with a reason why he can’t be the best player on a championship team. He has all the ingredients…2-way player, posiytional size/length, leadership, clutch, durable, unselfish…and can score any time he wants to on any defense, and isn’t bothered all that much by doubles, just makes the smart play. He’s not great from 3, but he draws so many and-1’s that it doesn’t matter all that much if you surround him with shooting.

Regardless of how they fare this year, I’d be pretty surprised if they don’t win at least 2-3 championships in the next 7-8 years, mostly because of Presti and SGA.

But hopefully they will either stumble in this round or will have to go through our hungry, savvy bunch to get there this year.

OKC is obviously a great team right now and are deservedly the odds on favorite to win the title. But they’re not unbeatable and it’s really hard to maintain the sustained dominance like Jordan’s Bulls did and recent NBA history shows that.

I already brought up the previous Durant/Westbrook/Harden team that went to the Finals and were immediately broken up.

The Heatles were supposed to dominate like the Bulls; they went to 4 Finals, won 2, and were a miracle Ray Allen 3 from winning only 1.

The Curry/Durant GSW we’re as dominant a team as we’ve ever seen but only one 2 titles (and were an epic Houston collapse away from winning only 1) and then had a bunch of injuries and Durant left.

Durant and Kyrie teamed up in Brooklyn and that didn’t amount to a fucking thing.

Most of the NBA world has been gushing over the Tatum/JB Celtics even before they added Derrick White, KP, and Jrue. They won 1 title and it’s been an open secret that ownership plans on blowing the team up even before the Tatum injury.

Again, this OKC team is great and they probably will win the title this year. But injuries happen, players/teams choke, and I’d bet more money that SGA, Holmgren, and Williams won’t all be on the same team 3 years from now.

But they’re not unbeatable and it’s really hard to maintain the sustained dominance like Jordan’s Bulls did and recent NBA history shows that.

You are probably right. The future will tell. But they are in a much better position for a championship now as SGA can be (or he already is) a lot better than the OKC Westbrook.

There are only two negatives I can come up with for OKC. One is that they somehow had Harden, Westbrook, and Durant in their prime 12 years ago and let that whole situation walk away. And the other is that, if you look at their logo, they somehow appear not to know that Thunder and Lightning, though related, are not the same thing.

OKC has 16 million below the 1st apron next season minus whatever they spend on their multiple 1st round draft picks. However, they’ll need to cut a couple players to bring in the new guys.

The following year (2026-27) they have to pay:
– Chet
– Jalen
– Jaylin
– Ajay Mitchell

However, they can also jettison:
– iHart
– Kenrich
– Cason Wallace
– Dort
– Topic

If Chet and Jalen sign for $50M each, I think they’ll have another $40M below the 1st apron and 8 players to sign if they cut everyone. Assuming they make all their draft picks between now and then, 5 of them can be 1st rounders.

Anyway, that’s where things can start going wrong if they run into some injuries and Caruso starts slowing down. But if SGA is healthy and they can hit on a couple of draft picks, they’re in great shape.

“I already brought up the previous Durant/Westbrook/Harden team that went to the Finals and were immediately broken up.”

Presti will never hear the end of that one because it was an egregious unforced error. I doubt that he makes that kind of mistake again.

“Most of the NBA world has been gushing over the Tatum/JB Celtics even before they added Derrick White, KP, and Jrue.”

Most of the cap-savvy NBA world knew that this was a 2-3 year run at best due to Tatum and Brown getting paid and Horford and Jrue getting old. There were other issues as well, and obviously Tatum’s achilles changes everything. But not really a good comparison to the other situations.

“The Heatles were supposed to dominate like the Bulls; they went to 4 Finals, won 2, and were a miracle Ray Allen 3 from winning only 1.”

That was largely a “big 3” team that was pretty capped out with no sustainable depth or cache of young talent or draft picks. OKC is not capped out, has oodles of young talent and a million picks. But true, SGA is not LBJ.

“The Curry/Durant GSW we’re as dominant a team as we’ve ever seen but only one 2 titles (and were an epic Houston collapse away from winning only 1) and then had a bunch of injuries and Durant left.”

That’s one way to look at it. The other is that the Curry-Draymond-Klay Warriors got to 5 finals in 8 years and won 4 championships, two without Durant. In fact, this OKC team and the first GSW championship team seem very similar. And if a Durant-level player becomes available, no team can outbid them without gutting their team.

“Durant and Kyrie teamed up in Brooklyn and that didn’t amount to a fucking thing.”

True, if another pandemic comes along and one of their stars refuses to play, that could definitely be a problem. But merc teams like that generally fizzle out before too long. Not the same animal at all.

I think the closest situation to this one in recent memory is the Curry-Draymond-Klay Warriors. They had superstars on discounts, and enough assets and picks to maneuver. If they had just made better draft picks or better injury luck, they could probably have won more than 4 titles. Not saying that OKC will get to that level, but they have a better shot to get there than anyone else, at least on paper.

I think the closest situation to this one in recent memory is the Curry-Draymond-Klay Warriors.

Budget-wise, yes, it is a similar situation. But the Steph Curry Warriors also started playing a new brand of basketball that took the NBA by storm. It took a few seasons for other teams to adjust.

I am reminded today of why I don’t want OKC to win the chip. Their fans SUCK.

Fyi, I know some pretty lame Knicks fans.*

(*see above)

The Wolves can win this series, but only if the Thunder gift them two road wins and Shai blows out his Achilles halfway through the series. Go Pacers!

Cmon KAT

Exhausted watching this

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

135 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.05.20)”