05/22/2025 10:09:31
05/22/2025 09:45:00
05/22/2025 09:41:37
05/22/2025 10:08:10
05/22/2025 10:06:03
05/22/2025 08:56:00
05/22/2025 09:38:57
05/22/2025 08:17:34
05/22/2025 07:49:00
05/22/2025 07:51:40
05/22/2025 07:06:33
05/22/2025 07:15:00
05/22/2025 07:03:04
05/22/2025 07:21:00
05/22/2025 06:52:00
05/22/2025 06:43:00
05/22/2025 06:55:04
05/22/2025 05:50:44
05/22/2025 06:40:00
05/22/2025 05:44:00
189 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.05.22)”
Friendly reminder that after Reggie flashed the choke sign in ’94 the Knicks won the next two games and the series.
And a quick aside: I will gladly accept losing all 4 games to OKC by 500 net points just to beat these fuckers.
I don’t know if it is because I’m stressed as hell, or because I expected it given the length of the video on NBA League Pass, but I don’t particularly care about this loss.
Everything that could have gone wrong did, but more than anything else we played the wrong game all game, matching their pace and going too much iso-something. The telling sign should have been the fact that we seemed to pull over with Deuce and Mitch.
If we don’t win game 2, we’re probably toast. But if we adjust and punch Indy in the face in game 2, we could even conceivably win in 5.
Let’s wait and see.
Morning Fanduel championship odds:
OKC: minus-230
Pacers: plus-500
Knicks: plus-750
Wolves: plus-1000
I thought the Knicks got tired down the stretch last night. Relative lengths of benches showed out when it counted. Carlisle is fully confident in people like Obi Toppin, who played over Turner in the high-leverage possessions and played very well.
Yeah we can’t win the series in game 2 but we can lose it. Boston and Cleveland did.
One immediate adjustment I’d like to see (in addition to smarter challenge management) is the addition of Delon Wright into the lineup. Mikal, OG, and Hart looked a little gassed at the end.
I’m not optimistic we’ll see any, though. The only time we’ve really seen impactful change this postseason was after a players only meeting.
I think there’s an argument that you couldn’t totally account for Nesmith. To some extent, we go to the line and they just kept hitting threes. Brunson’s turnover on the coaching challenge felt like the closest thing to malpractice.
Yes! Reggie’s choke gesture was ’94 and I believe the three, steal, and second three was a separate series. In any event, Hali copying it was a chode move.
First of all, i still believe in this team. There’s no way Nesmith plays like that again, or else he’s going to be the 2026 MVP. We have our share of blame for letting him do it without much resistance, but he’s not repeating FIVE* 3Ps in crunch time to make the (almost) impossible comeback.
*i think it was 5, but felt like 10 or something 😛
Second, we know we have glaring flaws. I think the Pacers are a team that can expose them. That’s why i predicted Knicks in 7. This is going to be a battle, and there’s no margin for errors. Throwing away a game that was almost won, is an error. Let’s hope Indy commits errors too.
And last, for this season we are where i expected (ECF), anything more is a plus. We need (to try) to address the flaws in the offseason.
I actually thought the choke sign was a pretty cool homage and was totally earned. I fucking hated it, but it made the series a lot more interesting.
Someone mentioned it on Twitter last night and it all makes sense now, the Knicks are cursed because they wear the same stupid colors as the Mets.
Couldn’t sleep. Just an awful, awful feeling. Yet another reason I’ve come to prefer sports like tennis, where I can not possibly be this upset over a loss, or if I am, it doesn’t reverberate for generations.
When Reggie scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds to steal game 1 in 95, we lost that series.
I know the series is a long way from over but that was the worst.
Not a fan of the cartoon villain shit-talking act. That kind of asinine behavior is part of why Knicks fans are attacking Pacers fans on the street (which is super NOT acceptable). Grow up, dude, you’re a multi millionaire role model FFS.
Tasty does your extension only work on desktops? I can’t seem to get it going on my phone.
Some lineup data from yesterday’s game.
Our starters played 25.8 minutes together and were -16. Had 10 assists and 10 TOs on 22 made shots, shot 53% FG and 23% 3FG. 57.3 eFG%, 61.8 TS%. 7 OREB on 19 missed shots. 119.6 ORTG, 167.4 DRTG, -47.8 NETRTG. Indy shot 66.7% FG, 57.9% 3FG.
Hart/Bridges/Brunson/Mitch/Deuce was our 2nd most used lineup playing 5.7 minutes and were +7. 4 assists and 1 TO on 7 made shots, shot 63% FG and 50% 3FG. 3 OREB on 4 missed shots. 72.7 eFG%, 73.1 TS%. 150 ORTG, 110 DRTG, +40 NETRTG. Indy shot 44.4% FG, 33.3% 3FG.
KAT/OG/Hart/Mitch/Deuce was our 3rd most used lineup and were on the floor during that great 4th quarter run; they were +11 in 5.1 minutes. 3 assists and 1 TO on 5 made shots, shot 55% FG and 40% 3FG. 66.7 eFG%, 73 TS%. 0 OREB on 4 missed shots. 170 ORTG, 60 DRTG, +110 NETRTG. Indy shot 27.3% FG, 0% 3FG.
We also played 17 lineups yesterday though 7 of them were less than 1 minute. Indy played 21 lineups and 9 were less than 1 minute. Indy starters played 20 minutes together.
Other things to note. Unsurprisingly, Indy outscored us on the fast break 13-5. Surprisingly, Indy outscored us on 2nd chance points 23-21 even though we had 13 OREB to their 11.
Fuck was that? I’m still in disbelief. No disrespect to Indy, but they didn’t win because they played better. The ball bounced their way. No one makes the kind of shots they made in the 4th without a ton of luck. For as good as they played, they didn’t really play well enough to win under normal circumstances. On top of crazy shot after crazy shot goin in, they were the beneficiaries of some super questionable calls and challenges, Brunson’s tunnel vision, and OG’s shot being off. Last night will assuredly not repeat itself on both sides. But kudos to Indy. They stuck with it long enough to snatch the game when we fell apart. And big respect to our new Indy villain in Haliburton. I don’t hate him like I hate Reggie just yet, but he might be on his way. He’s definitely more rootable than Reggie was. But the similarities are wild. Both guys are light skinned and lanky with ugly but accurate jumpers, and they both talk maaaaaad shit lol. But for now, Haliburton has my respect- but it feels like he’s dangerously close to bein out of pocket.
I need to change my prediction for the series obviously, because we’re not gonna win 4 straight. We can, but Indy’s too good to let that happen. 4 of the next 5 though? Yeah. They can’t guard us, and our defense gave them fits. They just made wild shots that normally wouldn’t go in for anyone outside of Steph, prime Dame, and prime Harden. That type of shot making is far less likely to be replicated enough for them to win 3 more games. Knicks in 6
It’s pretty tough watching Thibs go back to the starting 5, time after time, in the face of all the evidence since like January. What is this guy’s deal?
Doesn’t matter what lineup was out there, a 14 pt lead with less than 3 mins left in the game any 5 random Knickerbloggers could’ve been out there and still held on to the lead.
It’s worth noting that Erik Spoelstra trusted Delon Wright enough to play 27 mpg in last year’s playoffs and even managed to coax a 3.9 bpm out of him in 5 games. He’s a 10 year vet with 42 games of playoff experience. There is no logical reason he can’t play 8 mpg to keep our wings fresh for the end of games.
Only desktop Chrome, sadly. Extensions don’t work on mobile.
I’ve just conditioned myself to scroll faster when I see certain names! That works too. Mostly.
I’m inclined to agree but when I read the play by play, the Knicks used a lot of clock, got to the line, and gave up some pretty lucky threes. Brunson had the turnover and a couple of near turnovers but otherwise, the errors aren’t jumping out at me. Maybe I’m rationalizing.
Anyway, I’m genuinely curious to hear what you would’ve done differently. Load defenders on the 3-point line?
https://www.espn.com/nba/playbyplay/_/gameId/401772989
It’s funny how quickly things can change… it really felt like our bench – with a healthy, dynamic Mitch and Deuce playing well – was starting to be a plus.
I also had the feeling that the narrative about us not wanting to play at pace was a tiny bit of bullshit. I think our team can play at pace AND in the half-court, and the conventional playoff wisdom is that you need to be able to execute when things slow down… but execution was not exactly an A+ down the stretch. (Credit to Nesmith for making a ridiculous number of 3s in a row, but where the hell was OG when we needed to stop a wing down the stretch?)
Indy got a fluky win. We got two of those against Boston and I still didn’t believe we could win that series (and we may not have if they were healthy). It was nice to see the team score the ball – Indiana’s defense isn’t the scariest outside of full-court pressure. Going to need a bit of luck to swing the other way, I think.
BBA that’s like Achilles saying it doesn’t matter what part of his body is attacked.
The starters as a unit were a liability against Boston and played pretty close to neutral against regular season competition.
They are individually very good, the best lineups feature 3 or even 4 out of the 5 together, but something about that group isn’t clicking and it never really has.
In these playoffs, the Knicks are losing leads and games when that group of 5 plays together, they’re playing to a net rating of almost -9.
As devastating as that loss was (and being in MSG made it even more gut wrenching) it’s not a complete choke job IMO. If a team makes 7 straight 3’s they’re gonna shrink a double digit lead pretty quickly. And you watch the replay of the Hali shot, he almost lost the ball, shoots the ball while backing up and Mitch almost gets a finger on it and it goes in after popping 10 feet in the air.
However if we make our FTs we win the game so I guess that is a bit of a choke
Still think we’re the better team tho
Ha!
Funny thing about that is I loved those colors for my Mets, but no so much for my Knicks back when Cleveland had the same colors. I’ve grown to love it since then, but I kinda wanna see some changes to the uni just to have something different. But what though? Orange based home jersey with blue, white, and black touches? A different color scheme? NGL, I was a little jealous of Brooklyn’s jerseys when they first came out, basic as they are.
Saw a screen shot this morning of the final play looks like Hali double dribbled before taking the game tying shot. Last 2 minutes report should be interesting.
I suppose I chose a good night to go to a birthday dinner. Still can’t believe this shit happened.
As a general note, I don’t think the lineup data proves what people think it does. Our starters play all their minutes against these other teams’ best players. The lineups with great data do not. Mitch and Deuce typically play with three other starters against a lineup that only has one or two of our opponent’s best players. This is actually something Thibs is good at. He consistently gets us net points by shortening his rotation against another team’s depth. It’s what we call his “one trick”, and he used it very effectively against Boston.
It’s not logical to assume that these net ratings we accumulated when we played Mitch, Deuce, and three starters against a Pacers lineup that had 3, 4, sometimes 5 subs would have translated to equal success against the Pacers’ top 5. So I find the lineup criticism of Thibs to be a little hollow. I think Dred summed up the flaw in its logic when he noted “clearly we should not have been playing Jalen Brunson.”
What you can criticize is:
1) the timing of it. We probably should have kept Deuce and Mitch in a little longer. Once Thibs put Brunson back in, he had no moves left. It was like a baseball manager pulling his middle reliever to go to his closer too early. And because the closer was in for so long, the other team got a real good luck at him and figured things out. 5 minutes of ISO was too much.
2) the offense we ran with Brunson back in the game. When he was on the bench, OG came alive. The ball was moving. Everyone was involved. Once Brunson came back, that all stopped and we ran a prevent offense. That’s been happening all postseason.
Both of those things, plus the stupid challenge, plus the short rotation, are all on Thibs. But to suggest he should not be playing his starters bc of lineup data is misguided bc it’s ignoring what that data is attributable to.
I guess politically having played that starting 5 all season, composed of the 5 vets and the 5 highest paid players, you couldn’t just suddenly change the starting line up. I get that.
But damn play Mitch and Deuce more and I agree…give Delon some burn!
We gotta slow these dudes down. We were doing that with the KAT, Mitch, Hart, OG, Deuce line up. Honestly, I get Brunson is the captain and was also having a good game, but bringing back Brunson and Bridges at the same time with 5 minutes left was too much of a change away from something that was working. Fuck just one more minute and we would have won that game.
So play the starting 5 less together. Give Mitch and Deuce more burn and slow these dudes down. They’re the type of team that gets confidence once they start making shots but you get stops on them and they will go cold.
We have yet to be “down” in these playoffs. So will be interesting to see how they react. Hopefully they’re pissed off and will come out swinging on Friday. If they don’t, we’re toast.
The missed free throws were huge. But, I agree, to some degree, Indy did get VERY lucky. However, we got kind of lucky against Boston too and that luck made it easier for us to win the series. We gotta nip this in the bud now. Win game 2, then go into Indy and do our thing on the road and win game 3.
I do think we are better than them but if we fall into their style too much, they’re gonna run us out of the gym.
Last night when Thibs subbed Brunson and Mikal back in, did Carlisle also sub in some Indy starters?
I think what you’re saying is generally true but Indy seems to be a team where the drop off between the starters and the bench isn’t as big, so some of our bench dudes can hang with their starters if mixed in with some of our starters.
I also think Deuce and Mitch are both starter level players and bring something defensively (and offensive rebounding wise) that the starters lack, so they can be really disruptive, in a good way, when brought in.
Like you could argue that a starting line up of Brunson, Deuce, OG, KAT and Mitch might be better than our current starting line up. That Mikal or Hart are better suited to play the super 6th man role on this team.
I don’t think we should change the starting line up. But Deuce and Mitch bring positives to the team that the starters lack and, especially against a high octane offense like Indy, their defensive prowess comes in very handy.
The missed goaltending call in OT is not being talked about enough. That was ridiculous. They were supposed to be up 6, and instead the Pacers managed to run up the floor on the “block” and hit a 3 to cut the lead to 1.
Yeah marechal that’s another reason why the last 2 mins report will be interesting.
That fucking sucked, no two ways about it.
That being said, it’s not exactly shocking? This team has lost in embarrassing ways all season long and bounced back every time. They’re crazy inconsistent but also crazy resilient. My blood pressure hates it but that’s their track record. They’ve handled adversity pretty well even if much of it is self-inflicted.
What was shocking was OG having a horrible game defensively — most of the Nesmith 3s were him fucking up on switches. Apparently he is a huge film study guy. I hope he doesn’t come out of the film room until Friday. Also the missed free throws.
What I’m thinking is Nesmith probably won’t go off from 3 like that again, but Nembhard or Mathurin might. But I have some level of confidence that OG won’t fall asleep at the wheel on perimeter D in the clutch again.
Now if we could only do something about our failing starting lineup. But then again, we’ve tried nothing, and we’re out of ideas.
I saw that too, I think it was Pablo Torre?
It made me think of how the Knicks used to have the Yankees interlocking NY in orange on their warmups and shorts and stuff in the 70s and 80s.
Having possibly the worst loss in team history is certainly not ideal, but luckily, sports allow you to turn the page pretty quickly. Just win in Game 2, and things are pretty much back to normal.
But, well, you know, they have to win in Game 2.
The thing about Neismith’s 3pters was he looked totally off balance on a couple of them, he just forced them up quickly and almost fell forward while shooting them. I actually wish OG wouldn’t have committed the foul on him with 12 secs left. I think that’s too early to start fouling up 3 plus if he makes a crazy 3 in his face whatever at least Knicks would’ve had the ball last with a chance to win the game.
No need for a Knickerblocker extension, guys.
I think this game has cured my Knick fandom. I’m honestly just numb. I still think we’ll lose the series and all, I just don’t care if we do or don’t. I don’t want to root for a team that loses a game like last night’s.
If last night had been the ending to a sports movie it would have been implausible and terrible. How many threes in a row? 15′ bounce straight up in the air to force OT? Really? The app I was watching the box score on even reported a miss on the last second shot before correcting it to a make. It was the Donald Trump’s political career of NBA games.
Thank you all for the community, and for putting up with my silliness. This is likely my last post. Pagliacci out.
I can’t get worked up about Thibs. Blowing a 14 point lead with 3 minutes left isn’t a coaching thing. He re-inserted Jalen Brunson into the last 5 minutes of a playoff game. It’s peak Captain Hindsight to second guess that.
I agree with everyone saying the combination of blown calls, insane shots, and literal lucky bounces is, theoretically, objectively, a sign that we can probably win the series without reinventing the wheel.
Where I differ from them is in taking any solace from that. I am utterly fucking gutted. I don’t remember the last time a Knicks game made me feel literally physically sick. Honestly, I’m not sure it’s ever happened before last night (and this morning).
So to me this feels like a series death knell, which I acknowledge is nothing but a feeling, but god damn it, I feel it.
What I wouldn’t give to send Haliburton packing after that shit…
Last night was a debacle of bad fortune, but imo we aren’t going to win this series unless Thibs changes the minutes allocation and lineups. Given his stubbornness and blind spots I’d say we are in a bit of trouble.
We can’t have two weak defensive links on the court at the same time for a lot of minutes against a great offensive coach and a team of players that plays offense the right way. That’s giving away too much even if we are the better team talent wise 1-7.
i will believe it when i see it paglacci
As a life-long Mathurin-era Pacers fan, I’d just like to remind everybody here that we, too, have suffered our share of heartbreak. Like losing in the finals of the inaugural In Season Tournament only because it was still November and Anthony Davis hadn’t had time to get injured yet. The pain is real, and can last for decades, even centuries, but nothing is completely permanent beyond any deconstruction whatsoever. Someday will be a great day to be a knicks fan.
Well, he brought Nesmith in.
But… and this actually defeats my point… Nesmith got almost all his points bc of Brunson and Towns.
1st three: he’s open bc Brunson fails to switch onto him effectively
2nd three: he’s open bc KAT fails to switch onto him effectively
3rd three: Brunson KAT miscommunication leaves him wide open
4th three: IDK bc nba.com has the wrong play linked
5th three: he’s wide open bc KAT dies easily on a screen
6th three: Thibs finally woke up at this point and put Hart on Nesmith, but Hart slipped on the play.
IDK, maybe you guys have a point, but it’s hard to not want Brunson and Towns in the game. The Pacers attacked them relentlessly. Thibs probably should made a change to who was guarding Nesmith before he hit his 6th three.
https://x.com/krispursiainen/status/1925420404044153087 is this bad?
The officiating was really inconsistent last night. It’s like they were stuck between letting guys play and needing to call something..anything. I counted at least 4 traveling calls missed, a few fouls going clearly the wrong way, and that challenge on the OG tip attempt should not have been successful. The guy had the ball in one hand in a clear shooting motion with the defender’s hand on that forearm. This looks to be the 3rd series in a row with subpar officiating
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of lives. The worm turns fast nowadays. May their sphincters tighten. Knicks in 6.
TNFH the last Knicks loss that bothered me as much as last night was probably Game 3 in 2000 vs Miami on Anthony Carter’s bullshit illegal game winning shot over the backboard.
There’s an abyss between Halliburton and McConnell. And Halliburton was +15, McConnell was -14. That’s a lot of the attribution right there.
It’s too early, Clarence! LOL
https://x.com/shwinnypooh/status/1925536466215592446is how much more data is needed
that link is not there
I alluded to this above but literally none of them were on OG (unless maybe that one clip not on nba.com was).
Well it was all worth it then
Towns was already in the game, I think. He brought back in Mikal and Brunson at the same time.
IMO, I get bringing back in Brunson. He was cooking. BUT, it might have been subbing both of them in at the same time that messed up the beautiful defensive chemistry the Deuce, Hart, KAT, Mitch, and OG line up had before then.
https://x.com/shwinnypooh/status/1925536466215592446
Oops, fixed. Thanks 2025.
kat and mitch have the two best drtgs fpr the knicks in the playoffs at 109.2 and 109.7 respectively while jalen and decue have the two worst at 118.9 and 118.2 i get mitch and jalen but why does it show kat as being good at def and deuce as being bad at it
My apologies to Doug. On the 5th one where KAT died easily on the screen it was OG’s job to get out on Nesmith but he was inexplicably deep in his drop coverage. That was pretty stupid.
vry interesting how the best net rating lineup does not have og in it
i find it aggravating that most of you guys are already successfully coping. since my son was about 20 months old, i’ve made it a habit to occasionally admonish him not to let his brain fool him into drowning in the puddle of the close counterfactual. sound advice, if highly annoying and inappropriate. but also it doesn’t fucking work. a large part of me is still frozen abreast the apex of hali’s luckball, basking blissfully in the nearby glow of the shot clock, indifferent to possibilities.
Hubert it’s not so much that the bench lineups are great.
It’s the starting 5 as a unit, there’s something wrong with that group. When they’re up against any other group of 5, they are getting waxed these playoffs. That includes the minutes they’re getting against weaker competition due to Thibs’ long rotations.
It was true during the regular season too, almost every combination of Hart/OG/Mikal where 1-2 sits outperformed them as a trio playing together. I think among those three they are cannibalizing each other, there isn’t enough diversity in the group.
KAT and Brunson are hugely talented offensively but they are hurting the defense when they are on the floor together. Taken with the redundancy issue on the wing, something stinks.
Today is a day to be a great Knicks fan.
Last night the Knicks lost a playoff game in unprecedented fashion. It hurts. Instead of being three games away from the Finals, we are three games away from elimination.
Those who are disappointed are justified in their disappointment.
The angry have a right to be angry.
If you are sad, I get it.
As for me, I was
astounded as the Knicks built their lead,
unworried when the Pacers cut it from 14 to 6,
concerned as the lead dwindled all the way to 2,
on the verge of joy when Haliburton’s end-of-regulation shot hit off the back rim 10’ in the air,
crushed when it fell through,
relieved when it was just a 2 to force overtime,
still hopeful as the teams traded 1 point leads,
disappointed when the ball went off Brunson’s hands,
Clinging to hope on the last two 3 point attempts, and
Ultimately just overwhelmed.
I’ve been a Knicks fan for nearly 50 years. There have been some moments of great achievements, with long stretches of futility.
Tomorrow, the Knicks can even the series.
We will see.
In the Celtics series, it felt like they outplayed us in games 1-3 but we ended up leading 2-1. Game 4 was an epic battle in which we played great and prevailed and then they went right back to outplaying us in game 5 before we ran them out of the building in game 6. This game, it felt like we mostly outplayed them. We were the better team for 45 minutes then everything went into the Twilight Zone.
Maybe we come out and lay down some more stinkers like we did in game 5 against Boston, and the series goes south rapidly. Or maybe we have actually found that higher gear we have been hoping for, and we are actually the Game 4-Game 6 Knicks that plays a winning brand of basketball most of the time.
We need to win 4 of 6, just like we did against Boston. It’s far from impossible. These guys seem like an easier opponent to be honest.
I just really don’t understand reveling in your opponent’s misfortune rather than celebrating your own good fortune. I’ve held back on disliking Tyrese and the accusations that he’s as bad as that dwarfish balding little shit in Atlanta, but I really hope Josh Hart brings a shiv to the next game.
Yeah, I was confused. You made me doubt my lying eyes. 😉
Those were some sweet plays Indy was running for Nesmith btw.
On one in particular Siakim brings OG down to the dunkers spot to take him out of the play.
Then this is wear it gets genius:
They get Brunson on one side and KAT on the other. Nembhard screens Mikal to get Brunson switched on to Tyrese.
At the same time, Nesmith is beginning to pin down Towns but flares to the corner.
After Mikal runs Nembhart off the three point line he goes back to double Tyrese, who then does something Jalen never does: he passes the ball back to the Nembhardt. Indy now has a 2v1 at the rim (Nembhardt & Siakim vs OG) so Hart has to help.
Suddenly Brunson is guarding no one, KAT has to make a choice (guard Obi or Nesmith) so obviously he stands still to think about it, and absolutely no one is there to cover Nesmith on the wing.
Every single Pacer was a threat. That is the kind of shit we never see.
So depressed right now
Also what’s up with Mitch playing 20 minutes. Thibs brings him back in OT, just let him close the game in the 4th.
The team is inconsistent but we seem to go as OG goes. If he gets 15 to 20 points efficiently and plays the lockdown D he’s capable of playing, we usually win. If he doesn’t, we lose.
We can win games with KAT not having a monster game. I think we can even win when Brunson is off but, it feels like OG is the bell weather for this team.
How we react in game 2 will determine the rest of the season. I’m sure that was deflating as hell but hopefully it just pisses them off instead of deflates them.
Yeah, and we know what it is: they feature the defense of Brunson and Towns! I’ll kill Thibs for a lot of things but not for playing his two best players in a close game.
It was a blowout and then the defense collapsed
Yeah, I mean it’s hard to not put your superstar player back in the game (and also Mikal, another starter). But that unit was ROLLING and was clamping down Indy. Ride the hot hand is always risky but subbing both BRunson and Mikal in at the same time I think messed up the mojo.
If anything – the KAT, Mitch, Hart, OG and Deuce line up needs more minutes. They were killing it.
Also worth noting we let Obi Toppin play the final 3.5 minutes and overtime without ever exploiting him. Someone here mentioned the other day that no coach should be more prepared to take advantage of Obi’s defense than Thibs. Yet Carlisle was able to get the benefit of Obi’s offense without the downside of his defense. That has to change.
Sorry for shouting. The [end strong] got deleted.
Shit happens. Save your challenge and hit your free throws.
Yes he can play Brunson and Towns, and yes he can also play OG and Mikal and Josh. Just not all 5 together, because that definitively is not “playing your best players”
To me, Thibs needed to find a way to keep Deuce in the game. If he wanted to bring back Brunson keep Mikal on the bench. I would also have let Mitch finish the game. The starting 5 is just really bad as a unit
Fixed.
I agree with your major point, but I do have some game specific counters.
1. I thought Brunson looked gassed at the end. They were putting pressure on him bringing up the ball, throwing two defenders at him at times and he looked tired at the end. Then of course he went into hero ball mode anyway. Sometimes you need stops not scorers or hero ball.
2. The defensive unit with Mitch and Deuce was playing well. What we needed at that point was more of the same, not more scoring. The game was basically over with just a couple of stops.
3. imo Thibs wasted his challenge.
If you have a big lead and a small amount of time on the clock, seems like it makes sense not to go with your worst possible defensive lineup. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but that just did not pan out.
I bitch about the inanity of the NBA’s interminable review process and fucking endless, soul destroying time outs (that are technically supposed to be 60 seconds but somehow run to 3 minutes)… Those fucking zebras spent five minutes trying to unpack the OG-Siakam non-foul whereas the missed goaltending was obvious to anyone who watched the replay in 5 seconds.
Overall, if I’m being honest, I thought we got a friendly whistle. In regulation it seemed to be that Josh Hart could not commit a foul under any circumstances.
If the refs don’t punish KAT for his overeager puppy thing, we generally have a good chance to win. IMO
I don’t think we have to go back any further than Tyrese Maxey’s 7-1 run in 28 seconds last year. We’ve probably forgotten how down we were after that bc the Knicks came back strong. Let’s hope that happens here.
Also, I hate the foul early up 3 strategy. I think it completely underestimates the difficulty of the inbounds play and free throws under pressure.
I completely forgot about this because we won the series. Here’s hoping!
You can get away with one weak link on defense, but when it’s two all hell breaks looks, especially against a very well coached offensive team.
The major thing I would change is less of Towns and Brunson and more of Mitch and Deuce, Mitch and Brunson and Towns and Deuce.
I am also starting to think even more strongly that for next year we need a legit PF so OG can go back to SF and Hart can go to the bench (plus add more to the bench).
Btw let’s remember that the Knicks won most of these series with these awful games. The choke sign in ‘94 = Knicks in 7; the Anthony Carter illegal backboard in ‘00 = Knicks in 7; the Tyrese Maxey show = Knicks in 6. We did lose to the Pacers after the 8 pts in 9 second but we came back and forced the game 7 only for Patrick to blow the layup, which then became its own thing that negated and surpassed the 8 pts in 9 seconds
100% agree. Especially when you’ve been turning the ball over and missing FTs for the last 4 minutes. Should have made Nesmith hit a 3 with OG draped all over him.
Giannis for Mikal!
Maxey game last year Knicks were already up 3-1 in the series, big difference from losing Game 1 or a Game 3 when the series is tied 1-1.
It was an insane shooting display, and will be difficult to recover from this loss, but I think the media and the Indiana players will celebrate and feel like they’re the best ever, which will have them lose their edge tomorrow. If they keep their cool and go up 2:0, I’ll believe they have our number and tip my hat.
No idea what the empirics look like, but 100% agree on a gut level when there are more than 8 or so seconds left in the game. It feels more like lending them a lifeline than anything else.
It’s one thing if you can nab a bad free throw shooter, but fouling a guy expected to make 2 puts a ton of pressure on your own team to inbound, make 2 free throws of your own, and then get another stop.
I’d much rather just over-index on defending the 3PT line.
I would love to play Mitch 28-30 mpg but I’m not sure that is possible.
And I don’t think swapping one of Hart, Mikal, OG for Deuce is going to pay off consistently the way the data suggests.
There’s a lot of selection bias in that data. Turner & Nesmith would have still all those threes in the 1Q & 4Q if Deuce had been playing over one of the wings (bc surely you’re not suggesting we bench Brunson, right?). Jayson Tatum wasn’t on fire in games 3 & 4 bc Deuce was on the bench. And Deuce wouldn’t have slowed down Cade Cunningham.
Agreed. Same with OKC fouling waaaaaaaay too soon against Denver.
I keep watching replay of haliburtons shot. We have to find a way to beat these mfers. That photo better be hung up in the locker room
Unrelated, but can the league make a rule that when there is a nationally televised playoff games and one of the announcers is a former player of one of the teams, they have to have one of the other announcers be a former player of the other team?
Having to listen to Reggie all series when it’s the Knicks vs. the Pacers is so annoying. They keep replaying his choke sign, scoring all those points in the one playoff game, etc. What about LJ’s 4 point play or the times we beat them?
Put Clyde or JVG in the booth to balance it out. It’s torture for Knicks fans to have to listen to Reggie FUCKING Miller announce these games. Balance it out a little bit.
awesome as clyde is i doubt it would play on national tv do not think van gund is doing games any more as he coaches with the clips
There’s gotta be someone! It just feels so biased (and I actually think Reggie does ok with not being too much of a pacers homer). Like why does Indiana get a former HOF player to announce their playoff games while the Knicks, who have one of the biggest fan bases in the country, get no representation in the broadcast?
Greg Anthony would be your best bet.
We hate him because he’s Reggie Miller but he actually does a professional job calling the games. I actually find him to be one of the less annoying color guys.
Yes, we do.
A classic “no lead is safe in the modern NBA” case. Loss of concentration for two-thee minutes, momentum change, Murphy’s Law, and it’s all over. We didn’t understand what hit us last night. Until the last second I was hoping we pull it off but it is what it is. We have to leave it behind now. The less I think about it, the better I feel.
We can imagine how the players feel but they have to get themselves together for tomorrow. It’s a must win and we showed we can beat those clowns.
Btw, I didn’t like Reggie Miller either. He was trying to be objective on the obvious calls, but couldn’t hide his prejudices on the 50-50 ones or the no calls and was often corrected by SVG. Really annoying.
Hubert I’m not saying anywhere that Brunson needs to be sat. I’m not sure the added minutes that Mitch needs per game but it really appears that 18.7 minutes is not enough time.
I’m saying that the starting 5 as a unit is not sufficiently effective and that any thought process that arrives at the conclusion that our best chance lies with playing Brunson/Mikal/OG/Hart/KAT is flawed.
More than that, we should reasonably expect Thibs to identify that trend and try to prioritize the lineups that are outscoring the opponent.
I agree.
Yeah I actually don’t think Miller is that bad. I mean he never makes any great insightful points and isn’t funny but hes not annoying and doesn’t troll the Knicks during broadcasts. He’s basically a generic former athlete analyst but since he’s a famous HOFer he gets a sweet national TV gig.
Seems like we largely agree there were at least 3 stone cold Thibs fuck ups that minimized our chances of winning the game:
– wasting his challenge
– fouling up 3
– reacting slowly to Nesmith catching fire
Then there are a couple of decisions that didn’t turn out well for us but might just be hindsight second guessing:
– running a prevent offense for 5 minutes
– closing with his starters instead of a better defensive unit
Lastly there are a couple of fringe decisions that maybe only I and a few others care about:
– not using Delon or someone else for a few minutes to keep the wings fresh.
– failing to exploit Obi on defense over the last 8.5 minutes
All in all not the best game 1. Hopefully it’s just a blip and not a bellwether.
It IS second guessing. Nine times out of ten the Pacers don’t get every bounce in the world and we win the game.
It’s still a data point, and worth looking at. In that situation, with the score and clock what it was, and with Brunson playing with five fouls, it’s a reasonable question to ask whether playing the worst possible defensive lineup was a good idea. Brunson is not a great defender to begin with, but Brunson with five fouls is basically a free bucket.
All you needed there was to get some stops and to kill clock. I’m having a hard time justifying that lineup in that clock/foul/score situation.
Towns also got shoved on an easy layup, just a blatant push. He made it but no idea why that wasn’t called.
The goaltending non call WAS bad
And yeah, I wouldn’t have fouled with that much time
Oof. Terrible and painful game to watch, BUT —
Let’s hope the story becomes, “Remember that insane loss to Indy on the way to our first championship in decades.”
LFG!
Didn’t want to say it myself out of fear of cancellation
Great point. 5 fouls Brunson is VERY easy to exploit on defense. Deuce, on the other hand, could play with aggression.
It just didn’t make sense to me other than he’s the captain so you have to play him.”
To be fair, though, it is not an easy call to make. If he had not put Brunson back in and we lost, he would get ROASTED by the fans and national media for not putting in his star player.
SVG had to check him a couple times when he was complaining about the refs. “No way was that in the act of shooting”, or something to that effect.
He tried jinxing Brunson at the line and you can’t tell me otherwise.
So many things went into the mix that resulted in that loss that it’s hard to process, beyond it being one of the most gut-wrenching losses in my long history of being a Knicks fan.
For the record, I am personally chalking up this loss as the bitterly high price for the two wins in games 1 and 2 vs. the Celts. Obviously this is just mental gymnastics, but it definitely helps me a bit to think of it that way. A tiny bit.
Anyway, if nothing else, it is a wake-up call like no other. If we go on to win the next 2, or 3 of the next 5 before an epic game 7 at MSG, maybe there will be a silver lining. But as someone 35-40 years removed from the Reggie 8 pt/9 sec game, the Charles Smith game, the Starks 2-19 game, the Miami suspension game, etc., I know that this one will haunt me forever, just as those still do.
I think you’re right, I just think it’s defensible. Not like using your challenge 2 minutes into the 3Q on a low leverage play with a high probability of being upheld. Or giving your opponent two free points without running any time off the clock when your team is clanking free throws and turning the ball over. It was probably the worst Thibs game we’ve ever seen*, and there were so many questionable decisions we need to break them down into categories.
* I am beginning to wonder if the presence of a tactically superior coach like Carlisle or Spoelstra actually impacts his coaching, like how golfers used to get the yips when they were paired with Tiger Woods. He doesn’t just get outcoached by these guys. He coaches poorly vs his own benchmark. Against Bickerstaff, for instance, he was smart with every challenge decision. Now he’s facing Carlisle and suddenly he turns into Bickerstaff himself.
Someday will be a great day to be a knicks fan.
ouch…good to hear your day is going well though donnie…
ouch…
Reggie slid a little too far into the fan column last night for my taste
I don’t know, of all the things to be bitterly unhappy about from yesterday, Reggie is way down on my list…
My problem is that there were 5 minutes left in the game when he made the change and we were up 16. He can afford to leave that lineup on the floor and see if they can maintain the lead. If they can’t, you don’t have to wait until it’s a one possession game or they have the lead, you can call a tomorrow timeout if Indy cuts the lead to 10 or 9 and make substitutions then.
https://x.com/DJAceNBA/status/1925397034372055177?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet this play was inexcusable. You know he is looking to take a 3.
First, I’m glad there’s a community where I can share the pain. Thanks, guys.
Second, I still believe we have this series, and as several have said, starting with Hubie, we won those series in the past (except Finger Roll). So it’s far from over.
But, third, I don’t think
I actually think it was obvious that, with a large lead, KEEPING YOUR BEST DEFENSIVE LINEUP IN WAS A GOOD FREAKING IDEA. I thought so at the time, and it was proven so pretty quickly. Yes, Indiana needed a tremendous amount of luck…but against our two weakest defenders, that luck was available. You have a big lead, you keep in your best defensive team. Doesn’t seem genius level to believe that. Huge mistake by Thibs.
That said.
The best thing Thibs brings to any team is his “don’t get too high, don’t get too low, keep grinding” mindset. It is perfect for this moment, and probably a key element in this team’s resilience. As much as I thought he lost us game 1, I think he’ll win us game 2 simply because he’ll have them mentally and emotionally in the right place.
Yeah that’s the one I apologized to Doug for overlooking. No idea why he was playing so far back there.
OG was really weird last night. It’s apropos that Larry David was present bc it felt like “you’re eating onions, you’re spotting dimes, I don’t know what the hell is going on!”
My man, same. I believe I actually did experience my soul leaving my body when that shot came straight down and in–and was stuck in that feeling even though it turned out to be a 2 and there was OT to be played. Never came back.
There was a moment when I hoped that the replay would show that Haliburton’s shot was a dead ball because it hit the shot clock. Nope.
I’m actually jealous that some of you guys got to experience of moment of thinking Halliburton’s shot might not have gone in. I am so far gone I immediately knew that bounce meant it was coming straight down and in.
Not only that, but the line up that was on the floor was expanding/holding the lead which allowed Thibs to keep Brunson/Bridges minutes down in game one in case he needed them 46 minutes in subsequent games.
In cash game poker there is a saying, “It is all one big session.” The playoffs are ‘one big session’ where decisions in previous games may have substantial consequences on the eventual out come.
Thibs was handed a gift by having a large, virtually unsurmountable lead and was given a free pass to rest the two horses he rode like rented mules all season. Indescribably stupid to put them back in at that point. Don’t fix what ain’t broke…. something, something.
Dude, the bounce was so high it disappeared off the screen…the sigh of relief was already in the chamber
You can question if things break a way to help him, but this is insane https://x.com/Deee_Black_/status/1925515765274247396
Yup. They built a nice lead with that line up. There is literally zero risk in leaving in that line up for another minute to see if they can keep the special sauce brewing. I thought so at the time. It’s not hindsight.
I mean, best case they kept that lead and Brunson and Mikal get a little rest at the end of the game, which could be important in a potentially long series when your team has a short bench and is playing a team that runs fast all game and has a deep bench.
Instead, Brunson not only played the last 5 minutes of the game but also played all of OT and we LOST! I’ve never been a minutes police guy but still. He had 5 fouls. He wasn’t going to play good defense. You didn’t need captain clutch when you’re up by 16 with 5 minutes late. You need Mitch, Deuce, OG, and Hart mucking up their offense and grabbing boards.
Whoa, some reporter asked Thibs about the starters with the stats included https://x.com/ShaxNBA/status/1925616051573665958/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1925616051573665958¤tTweetUser=ShaxNBA&mode=profile
Bad Trip
UGLY Feelings all over
The worst of all for me was watching the Pacers getting easier buckets than us in the OT. Easy lay ups, dunks, fast breaks…
That was alarming as fuck
We re definitely better than Indy but Need to Be Focused and Down to Earth otherwise we’ll be ridiculed badly
hopefully you get a chance to say hi to the cats and put up a few three point shots in the rim today KYN 🙂
Your link doesn’t work again ETW. What did he say?
Thibs is so full of shit with that lineup data anyway. He claims he looks at it but he just uses it for confirmation bias.
Kitten magic ain’t working right now but tomorrow never knows!
😉
I guess Changing the starting lineup is definitely hard due to salaries, hierarchy and other psychological locker room issues but if you can’t have the best combinations out there to help you Win a game then you better start…. playing golf!
Just Give your Team the Best Chance to Compete
It ain’t hard
Better rotations, better results
(Although the Results were quite good tbh till yesterday)
Would not recommend this. I was watching the box score on Yahoo sports at this point and it reported the missed shot with 0.0s left. I turned on the TV to see the shot miss. When it clanged off the back rim I thought, “Man, I’m so glad I saw it miss on the box score or I’d be so scared of it dropping right in at this moment!” Then, you know…
Accumulated experiences like this one are why I’m the way I am.
“This was a game where Rick Carlisle coached circles around Tom Thibodeau” – Chris Mannix on the Zach Lowe podcast.
Lowe himself attributed a lot of the Knicks late defensive breakdowns to fatigue.
Thibs says in that clip ” you need players who are effective with the bench unit” and “what starters are you going to play with the bench unit” after the reporter mentions the negative ratings his starting lineup has been producing in the playoffs.
Lol. There is no “bench unit.” He plays 7 guys. Mitch and KAT are the two bigs and Deuce is interchangeable with any of the other 4 guys. (And so is Wright.)
hahahaha, like hubie, it was never a doubt that thing was gonna find its way from the rafters straight back down through the rim…
maybe half an inch in either direction on the journey down – i’m happy, donnie is well, less happy for the day, thankfully it is only a day, unless of course we lose on friday – than it’ll be months, and months…
The worst part of all of this is that it wasn’t really Pags’ final post
I pretty much agree with most of the takes here that I will summarize with the idea that while in most cases I believe players win or lose games, this loss was directly on Thibs. The egregious late-game substitutions were the worst. There were a number of other blunders, all of which we could have overcome. And did overcome, for the most part. Although the ‘if someone is 3-3 on threes in a wild late-game comeback, maybe drape a guy on that fellow and make the others win the game for them’ thing was also a jaw-dropping mistake.
But also KAT needs to stop playing drop like he’s allergic to the ball, and OG needs to pull his head out of his ass.
i count one pagucci post since he said this morning that he would likely no longer be posting at 945 it lasted 5 hours or so he will pont out tht he only said likely with no definitive promises
We can come up with whatever justification. For the most part Aaron Nesmith just went on an unbelievable shooting streak, even for someone who was left fairly open.
Over the last 2 regular seasons, he’s shooting .423 on 529 3PAs.
As a side note, I really wanted him in the draft.
Yankees sweep the Rangers, all is not lost in the world.
hopefully it’s not one of mathurin, nembhard or even sheppard who step up like that next game…
in case no one has noticed – the pacers are on a pretty nice run right now…
Also, it’s really dumb they can’t correct a goaltending call. Just make that a review similar to 3pt line corrections. No stoppage, just update the score.
https://nypost.com/2025/05/22/sports/og-anunoby-karl-anthony-towns-in-sideline-spat-during-knicks-collapse/
^^ In that video at that end Brunson seems to be upset with Towns as well. Meanwhile Towns seems to be ignoring everybody.
That was immediately after the play I’ve mentioned a few times where KAT died easily on the Siakim screen.
When we hear these guys talk about “communication” (which we do a lot), I think it’s really a code for telling KAT what to do, or talking to each other about who’s covering for KAT. They have to do it for Brunson, too, but KAT seems to demand more work.
It was right after the play we were talking about before where Towns gets caught on a screen while OG drops too far back.
This should be the link.
does not seem like a video seems like still pictures
Whatever, the railing Reggie will get when the Pacers lose will be even sweeter. And idk how much I’ve heard him in the past, but SVG is fucking AWFUL. Would literally rather watch a game in silence.
NBA All-Defensive Teams
The first- and second-team selections for the NBA’s All-Defensive teams, which were announced Thursday.
FIRST TEAM TEAM PTS.
Evan Mobley Cavaliers 199
Dyson Daniels Hawks 191
Luguentz Dort Thunder 180
Draymond Green Warriors 179
Amen Thompson Rockets 171
SECOND TEAM TEAM PTS.
Ivica Zubac Clippers 114
Jaren Jackson Jr. Grizzlies 107
Jalen Williams Thunder 79
Toumani Camara Trail Blazers 74
Rudy Gobert Timberwolves 65
The 90s knicks had no dynamic personalities. Ewing and Houston were two of the most boring, least telegenic players ever, they were platitude machines of the worst degree. The only possible foil to reggie in the booth would be drunk oak, who would be entertaining, but anybody who read the book he wrote with Isola knows that character couldn’t sustain a full quarter let alone an entire game.
Wholly in agreement that we should have left Deuce in the game.
I think in Hali’s defense on that double dribble, Bridges really fouls him, he just grabs his arm. That’s why he dropped the ball. So I don’t know what to say about it.
I don’t want to call out KAT too much on defense last night because he had one of his best games in the playoffs offensively.
35 points on 17 shots and we went 9-11 from the line. 12 boards, a block and a steal. We can’t really ask for more from him.
Meanwhile Bridges scored 16 points on 16 shots and OG only had 16 points on 15 shots. Mikal was 0-2 from the line and OG was 2-4 from the line.
This team goes how wing stop goes.
Spreewell? LJ?
Reggie is barely a personality, let alone a dynamic one. He’s as basic as they come.
“Charismatic Knicks legend who would make a great color commentator” is not a hypothetical person. I wonder if Clyde ever fielded any national offers, but at this point my guess is he’s not looking for more work anyway.
OG was the highest vote getter among guys who didn’t make an all-defense team, in case that makes anyone feel better.
Not only did we lose out on the points, but Nembhard hit a 3 in the ensuing semi-transition chaos. What’s even more infuriating is nothing would be easier to automate than goaltending calls of the backboard variety! It’s truly low-hanging fruit–you could fix those with no review whatsoever with some tech I’m positive already exists.
Oof. Apparently OG came in 11th in all-nba defensive team voting. Hopefully that will fire him up a little.
If you can automate checked swings, which apparently you now can, despite the lack of any formal definition of what one is, you can certainly do goaltending. They should. Just automate it.
I still can’t believe that fuckass shot bounced up and in
That was some cartoon bullshit. I’ve never seen a ball bounce that high off the back iron and not hit the shot clock
Kinda done with OG’s bitching at KAT. Shut up and play. Better.
I cannot figure out why you guys seem to have any regard for Macri. Every time I check him out he’s awful. I was bored so I turned on his podcast and could only make it through 8 seconds. It started with “You should be ashamed, you should be fucking ashamed you did that to your fans.” Jesus. The guy makes me seem like cybersoze.
There are three components to the goaltending rule and both would be better officiated by motion tracking software than a person.
1. Did the ball hit the backboard before the defender made contact?
2. Did the defender make contact after the ball began its descent?
3. Was the ball “in the cylinder”? This is both for defensive goaltending and offensive basket interference.
Yeah Ephus, the cylinder one is so obvious and they get it wrong so much….
Hubert, I’ve almost never listened to Macri, he’s a bit aggro for me live. (Then again I don’t listen to anyone live, who has the time and patience…) But his writing is usually decent and he pulls up interesting factoids that are sometimes fun to share.
I can’t describe the feeling I have today. It’s like I forgot to pick up my kid at the playground, but I can’t actually remember that he’s there waiting for me. Just a dim sense of something very wrong…
I just shared EB’s link with my sister, who asked me if I was bitter. OG dropping deep into the paint when the other team is down 8 with 35 seconds to go, rather than defending the three-point line, is a major brain fart. But I still can’t get over KAT lazily waving one hand while resting against Siakim, like they’re lovers in the park and KAT sees a pigeon. I mean, what the fuck.
L2M is out, the only misses were a couple fouls the Knicks committed that weren’t whistled lol
It’s the pace. KAT & OG were both tired. It’s impossible to give perfect maximum effort on a play like that when you’re exhausted and likely to win anyway. Humans are flawed.
Have one wish that Thibs only plays Cam Payne if we’re down by 15 points or more. Play Deuce 30 minutes +.
Then it’s a good thing, right? 😉 😛
Macri’s like 12 years old, but at least the show lays stuff out nicely sometimes. I like Jeremy Cohen’s cap breakdowns. The real waste of breath is Claudio. His voice is like nails on a chalkboard (sorry Andrew if you’re reading this.)
https://gifdb.com/images/high/disappointed-crowd-facepalm-k9pplo32s6w6uyj1.gif
Macri has a good team of people for the Xs & Os and the cap sheet. His newsletter compiles some good stats.
I don’t listen to the podcast much, so I can’t speak to that.
That was a compliment to you, FYI. I was going to say “he makes me seem reasonable and optimistic”, and then I changed it to “he makes me seem like cybersoze.”
It might brighten a few of your days to know that Lu Dort kicked Scott Foster in the ribs, then punched him in the face, breaking his nose and causing his blood to pool up on the court.
We just have to win the next two, my friend. If we’re up 2-1 after 3, this never happened.
OKC plays no terrible defenders. Every player they put on the court can defend. .
It’ll take them all to stop Nesmith.
Haliburton choke sign could’ve been a tech BTW. These refs give techs for way less.
OKC looks pretty terrifying
I hate watching this OKC team but hope they viciously disembowel Indiana in the finals (should that nightmare scenario come to pass)
FWIW, I really like Reggie Miller the color commentator and think he is more than fair when calling our games. Of course there were few players I have despised with greater passion.
It just seems inevitable at this point that they win it all. They stumbled a bit vs Denver, but I don’t see any other team getting in their way.
Lol, imagining that play going from “brick” to “pacers win on a three at the buzzer” to “no, it’s a two Hali, you insufferable prick” to “wait, we’re getting a technical free throws to win the game?” …
Refs should be ashamed they didn’t find another level of inserting themselves into the outcome!
I am the only human driver on Santa Monica Blvd right now and I have never felt safer.
Timberwolves second and third best players [Gobert and Randle] watching this game in the 4th from the bench.
C’mon, Donnie, don’t blog and drive!
I was watching the game, too.
Autopilot rules! 😉
Yeah, i got that. I was trying to say maybe that’s the reason for Macri to exist. LOL