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2025 Round 3 Game Thread: Knicks @ Pacers, Game 4 – Won’t You Meet Me With Another Pair

The Knicks got the first game of the pair of games that they needed to win to make this beyond just A series, but a series that they would be primed to win, and tonight is the other pair that they need.

Aaron Nesmith is playing, but you have to believe he won’t be at the top of his game. Injury luck going AGAINST the Pacers? Is that even allowed?

So the Knicks need to make a statement here. A 20-point comeback again would be okay, but I’d prefer a beatdown to make the Pacers nervous as hell heading back to the Garden on Friday.

Let’s go, Knicks!

Only 7 more wins to go!

The Dylan tune is “In My Time of Dyin’,” a traditional tune Dylan arranged for his mediocre debut album.

491 replies on “2025 Round 3 Game Thread: Knicks @ Pacers, Game 4 – Won’t You Meet Me With Another Pair”

I ain’t even close to thinking about the offseason, but Stein reported that Chris Paul isn’t expected back in San Antonio, and if he’s willing to take a ~15 minute bench role at age 40 I’d actually love him in the Cam Payne role. I’m sure the Kolek diehards would be upset, but Chris Paul is still a pretty damn good NBA player!

Anyway, back to the present. Delon Delon!

The only thing that makes any sense to me is that he wants to just get a ring before he retires, and the Spurs probably aren’t there. So sure, sign me the fuck up for CP3 as the backup here. He can play five minutes during the regular season, then play 20 in the playoffs.

I’m in for CP3-DeAndre Jordan geriatric revival ala JKidd/Sheed next year!

Interviewing players(og) before a game like this one is dumb
Hey, Silver! Wtf man?

At least one of Alan’s questions will have a definitive answer in a few hours.
Were them conscious decisions or did he just luckily stumble into some kind of solution?
This game will tell us. I strongly hope it’s the former.

LET’S GO KNICKS! 🗽🏀🧡💙🧡🏀🗽

Kill em all!!!!
(Just got myself tickets for Metallica
Huge Fan from the 80s but first time watching them live)

Bob Dylan, and Brian, will take us to the promise land! I believe! 😉

Gooooo Knicks!! 🧡💙

Mediterranean on Fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Italy Greece Portugal All Awaken and Pumped Up!

Where are people listening to the game to avoid the dreaded Reggie/Harlan duo?

Knicks Fan TV? ESPN Radio? Anywhere else? I’ve got TNT on Mute.

Bob Dylan is from Minnesota, he’ll take the Timberwolves in 6.

Did the speaker announce our team? I couldn’t hear it on my stream, only noise from the arena.

Italy Greece Portugal All Awaken and Pumped Up!

European Knicks brotherhood

As for me, a recently naturalized Hoosier, I’d like to say that you stuck up New Yorkers are out of touch. My friends here at Gainbridge loge 58D laugh at my jokes judgement free.

13 points allowed in a little over 3 minutes. The double big lineup cannot guard the Pacers.

Mikal’s denting the rim with his midrangers, when did the world lose the art of the bank shot? Is it forbidden to use the glass now?

Bridges shooting like he was starting the season. All weird hitches.

Guys, Mikal isn’t the problem here. The Pacers are running circles around the two bigs.

Defense hasn’t been great, but we’ve missed a lot of easy shots/made a bunch of dumb TOs.

Halliburton was more open than the Maginot line there

My loge mates didn’t understand your simile, over-educated New Yorker

Ha, Mikal goes up for a lob and STILL ends up shooting a mid-range.

If they call this back it’s a huge swing – obviously

Didn’t really see it

I think Carlisle wants an offensive

Sure looked like a foul on Obi to me but Carlisle’s been on point with the challenges all series

HUGE lost challenge by Indiana. So stupid though that challenges have become such a strategic part of the game now.

Remember when people said Tyrese would never get his shot off in the NBA?

Bridges’ misses have been ridiculous. At least 2 bunnies, maybe 3

Horrible shot for Brunson followed by another Mikal’s stupid shot and the Pacers, like always when we do dumb things, hit two threes… 🤦🏻‍♂️

If this keeps up Knicks gonna need another 20 pt comeback to win this game.

Can’t even make it to the end of the first quarter without making myself a double martini…

The good people of gainbridge like being on course for a 180 point night.

Two horrible minutes gave them momentum, we can’t win this game trying to outscore them.

Some stupid possessions, but minor miracle they are down just 8. Time for KAT to do his thing now.

43 points is a fucking embarrassment and Thibs is doing all the wrong rotations already. Hart is fucking useless and Brunson was out there for too long.

There were mistakes, but how many crazy shots went in? It was wild.

They throw the ball up and it goes in. What can you do. Keep in the game until the tide shifts, I guess.

They own us, and they can’t miss and we’re only 7 pts behind !? Doesn’t make sense.

Delon’s best comp remains “what if some of the lies people told about Frank Ntilikina were true?”

How many fucking times is Hart gonna get beat off the ball for an easy layup.

Josh Hart’s defense has been non existent all series. Idk why Thibs is sticking with him. He should be situational and not play heavy minutes

Hart balled watched in Game 1 and gave up a Nemhard layup in OT. He is a average defender

Refs took another goaltending from the Knicks. It’s incredible.

Took away points in Games 1, 2 and 4.

There is no need for the circular firing squad here. The game is very much up for grabs.

OMG, Delon just dribbled like my son used to do when he was five…

Looked close to me

The behind the basket angle was pretty clear I thought.

Delon tried to pull back a bounce pass in transition and fucked up on steps

I fucking love that Stiller and Chalamet are there

And that Thibs is using Good Frank

This defensive lineup is what you should run in the 4th…

Our defensive lineup is playing defense, I like it.

If KAT avoid his third foul before halftime I will give my firstborn son to charity.

I fucking love that Stiller and Chalamet are there

Same. It’s amazing.

Better when Towns is touching the ball. Brunson needs to get with it.

Delon with the bonus offense!!!

Told y’all he was great.

Wait, I thought Shamet was dead?

I love Delon even if he’s a spastic dribbler…

Really looks like the answer is keeping Amat and Brunson away from each other.

That and ball pressure.

I feel uncomfortable watching another Knicks run with Brunson on the bench.

Delon brings the temperature of the game down. A much needed beacon of consistency

They should do the old Starks, Ewing inside out with Brunson and Towns.

Not sure why Thibs sat Deuce there. There was no need for Shamet.

Stop assuming expertise when it comes to anything Thibs says or does.

Listen to him during interviews. All he does is assert things in vague ways as if he’s doing some complex analysis behind the scenes or during the game. He leaves you thinking, “well Thibs clearly knows what he’s doing”, but he never actually says anything meaningful.

I’m convinced at this point he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but he’s a master at making you think he does.

I don’t say that lightly because I’m insulting myself when I say that. I wanted him to be the coach and defended him for close to 4 years. So if I am right now, that means I was an idiot that fell for it for 4 years.

I guess with this lineup you gotta go with the “clear out and let KAT cook” play

Reggie calling out Spike for showing up for the first time all series is FRYING me lolol

This is a long time without Brunson.

I guess Mitch and Brunson come in together.

Josh Hart has 4 turnovers, all on bad passes.

Edit: and Bridges is sleeping.

You just have to hope they can survive like five minutes of Brunson-Bridges-Hart-OG-KAT

“Delon is much better than Frank, but Prigioni he is not”

Frank would have been much better if they took him to Lourdes every weekend for a soak. He might have had a chance to get better if he wasn’t always hurt.

I’ve been a Delon Wright fan since his days in Dallas. He has the same profile of players than tend to be underrated. I’m always surprised he wasn’t able to stick anywhere as a bench player. I’ll take him all day over Payne.

that was a shitty pass by josh but co-conspirator is kat failing to fucking roll like he does nearly every time and why it has been so hard for his coaches going back to saunders and finch to get him involved in the flow of the offense like everyone demands

I’m a pretty unabashed Hart supporter but these are some of the dumbest fucking passes I have ever seen

At least OG & Hart can make layups

Hart with 3-4 terrible forced passes inside

Mikal shoots a fadeaway with no other Knicks there to go for the rebound !?

Another layup became a missed midranger.
Mikal Bridges is making me crazy.

Bridges you piece of shit with that stupid fadeaway when you’re at the basket.

Ah, a Bridges fadeaway that makes me want to stop watching basketball forever. He’s good for a few of those a game.

Mikal is killing us with his rim allergies

Would it kill Mikal to at least jump into a defender at the rim? Does he have hollow bones?

Why are TJ McConnell’s short midrangers so good and Mikal’s so shite

Bridges and Hart playing awful. Bad end to 2q. We were rolling good

Hate to say it but I feel like we are better with Brunson off the floor against this team.

Edit: not just me

Brooklyn owes us a pick for every passed up layup for a middie. It’s around 3 this game alone.

Being down 5 after that shit ending is actually good. Could have easily been double digits.

Lousy way to end the half, but after that first Q it’s nice to be close.

That looked ugly.
It felt like the game was going to be a runaway.
Knicks executed poorly.
KAT carried them, until he was totally gassed.
Fortunate to only down five at the half.

Brunson is a negative right now. Poor D and poor decision making. He needs to get his act together.

Too many minutes for Hart. He’s been useless for almost all game. Wright or McBride needs his minutes for this game.

Every time Thibs stumbles into a good lineup he fucks it up by putting in a shitty one

Thibs fail: Deuce played 7 minutes and seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle

FREE DEUCE

Too many minutes for Hart. He’s been useless for almost all game. Wright or McBride needs his minutes for this game.

Every time Thibs stumbles into a good lineup he fucks it up by putting in a shitty one

“The game tells you what to do”

Thibs and his subs

You need to be ok as a coach with hurting feelings

I suspect you just have an affinity for all Bennedicts… Mathurin… Arnold…

“Delon playing for 10 teams in 10 seasons sounds brutal”

Yes, that’s true, but I’d put up with it for $53 million…

Good; Feed the KAT early and often, he’s getting the Embiid whistle tonight and you need to recognize that which Thibs seems to have done.

Bad: Drop coverage and missed assignments, Hart deciding that he wants to try Magic Showtime lakers passes for the first time all season, Bridges forgetting how to shoot (looks like he needs some blue chew after Boston), not running Niemhart (I refuse to learn how to spell his shitty last name) into hard screens every play

We should be up 10 if not for the dogshit turnovers, which is to our benefit since we need to be down to play well

I suspect you just have an affinity for all Bennedicts… Mathurin… Arnold…

Oooh, call the Fire Marshal

Worth noting the new starting lineup has the same plus/minus.

Maybe it’s just Halliburton and plus/minus is dumb

Every time Thibs stumbles into a good lineup he fucks it up by putting in a shitty one

I hate saying things like this, but imo he’s just taking guesses. So even when he has success he doesn’t truly understand why something worked. Without understanding the WHY, you are going to continue making mistakes.

Bennedict [sic] Arnold was tired of the Blue Coat’s star-fuckey, mismanagement of assets, and uninspiring performance on the battlefield field. The Brits had an exciting offense and dynamic showmanship. I totally get him.

I’m used to being frustrated by Mikal’s play, but it’s tough to see Hart so useless. A bad game from him.

Changing ny prediction. Based on what I’ve seen so far this is a clear loss

Sorry guys

Caitlin Cooper
@C2_Cooper

20-9-10 for Tyrese at halftime, with nine turnovers for the Knicks, and the Pacers are only up five.

Pacers twitter is worried.

Indiana’s defense has enough soft spots for us to score without Brunson, while their offense requires athleticism and good instincts to slow down. I still don’t think we’re better without Brunson but it is kind of a perfect storm for it not to be a series he can own.

Brunson with another dumb turnover

Bridges with another dumb turnover

Are they drunk?

I hope Leon is watching this series closely.

If he is, there’s no way Thibs is back and there isn’t at least one major roster change.

I know we’re not, but it FEELS like we’re overmatched

Here’s a good Hole!
Ugly return…wtf are they smoking in the locker room?

Mikal needs to be benched he’s missed an open shooter on nearly every fadeaway he’s taken

Wow, that was like the worst three minutes of basketball I’ve seen. My eyes are burning.

Didn’t even come remotely close to getting a bucket on any of those possessions

7-0 run to start the 3rd for the Pacers, Jalen Brunson is killing us and what did our coach tell to our players at halftime?
They look lethargic and unprepared to restart the game.

Is Brunson throwing this game? I’ve never seen him play this bad. If Thibs had balls he’d bench him.

100% chance the same
Lineup will come back.

Do the same thing, but harder!

What happened? Missed the beginning of the 2nd half and we’re down double digits!? Maybe they’re trying to improve the 20 pt comeback record?

This is one of those times where it just looks like everything we do on offense is low percentage, high degree-of-difficulty kind of shots, while it looks like the Pacers can get any kind of shot they want.

Not looking good

It’s all part of the plan. Get down by 15-20 and then start chipping away. Knicks always do things the hard way.

Knicks haven’t scored since Mikal turned away a layup for a stupid midrange shot in the 2nd quarter.

Thibs coaches like George Lucas directs. “Do it again but faster and more intense”

OG should just dunk everything. Even his three-point shots.

2018 Draft Thread 🤝 2025 ECFs Game 4 Game Thread

Thank god for Mitch

Mitch is beasting

Nesmith is allowed SO much contact on Brunson

It’s ridiculous

Mitch is a great offensive rebounder and an average defensive one.

He does a lot of good defensive things though 😁

Nesmith’s “screen navigation” = Roy Hibbert’s “verticality”

Mitch is beasting

Nesmith is allowed SO much contact on Brunson

It’s ridiculous

It’s two completely different standards.

21 mins for Josh and just 7 minutes for Deuce is inexcusable.

I’ve given up on Thibs.

This has been a Buster Keaton performance by the Knicks. It looks like they are on the verge of disaster constantly.

Down 8 with a challenge pending.

Bailed out by the challenge

What do you mean? The out of bounds was from Turner’s knee. We would win it one way or the other.

Amazing how every Brunson shot is an epic struggle. Meanwhile, Halliburton just glides effortlessly to an open spot and drains a 2 or 3.

Knicks hanging around but just can’t put together a string of defensive stops.

Miles Turner can look like McHale if he does not have to keep a pivot foot.

Brunson Deuce Hart Bridges Towns.

Congrats, Thibs, you just discovered the worst defensive lineup possible.

Watching these games is like watching Riley not pull Starks but over and over again.

Turnovers are going to be the reason we lose this game.

I just commented that to someone. Stop sticking with “your guy”

Thibs is the worst fucking coach. How can ANYONE see how bad Hart is playing and KEEP him in the game????

TNT needs to find the harpy screaming after every play and put a muzzle on. Jesus fuck

Villanova’s playing for the Pacers tonight.

Hart got them some big rebounds in game 3 so he earned his playing time

Then Hart, still in the game, doesn’t close out on defense and now we’re down 9

Great defensive play for Brunson… and Deuce threw the ball away on the other end…

Deuce choosing an obvious turnover over a layup attempt is not what we want

Y’all are complaining about Brunson but he has 29 points on 16 shots.

Thibs playing Mikal and Josh this many minutes will be the difference between winning and losing tonight. Just inexplicable

14 turnovers and 20 points allowed off them for the Knicks.
7 turnovers and 9 points allowed for the Pacers.
Story of the game so far.

Watching this game is what I imagine passing a gallstone feels like.

I mean we’re lucky we’re not down 25. We can’t buy a stop to save our lives.

Every time you think you’ve seen the worst Thibs game ever he shows you he has another level.

The dude accidentally runs into good lineups and refuses to use them. Fuck this.

Not looking good… too little deficit, we only like to comeback from 20+ pts!! LOL

A completely irrational rotation by Thibs this quarter. We are losing because he’s leaving ineffective lineups in too long and refuses to go to good ones. It should be so fucking simple and easy to see.

Unfuckingbelievable. One more quarter to save the season…but I don’t trust our coach to put us in a position to win. Gonna need a KAT like miracle like last game

I was going to hold off posting to help the cause … but Hart has been playing like a complete JACKASS all night … WTF

Okay, we need another miracle and probably Alan got one of his answers… and not a good one 😁

Everybody who goes in the game stinks except Mitch, and he can only play so many minutes. So I’m not so sure this one is on Thibs.

How many defensive assignments does Hart need to miss for him to be taken out of the game?

Josh has directly caused the last 7 pacers points he’s gotta be benched if we have any hope of winning this game.

Its coming awfully close to officially becoming baseball season…

Pacers are gonna score 130-140 points against us in a do or die playoff game

Someone explain to me why Wright is a worst option that Hart at this point?

The stupidity of our coach knows no bounds. It’s ridiculous

I love Josh, this is maybe his worst game as a Knick but I’m just sad for him.

I don’t love Bridges at all, so he can go fuck himself.

Two things can both be true:

1. Thibs coached a terrible game
2. It didn’t matter

Nobody is really playing well on either end. Only so many ways you can rearrange the deck chairs.

Someone explain to me why Wright is a worst option that Hart at this point?

He’s not, but the coach loves Hart and the fans have no control. Leon needs to get up out his seat or risk losing viewers going forward

Everybody who goes in the game stinks except Mitch, and he can only play so many minutes. So I’m not so sure this one is on Thibs.

Yeah, we have a lot of players playing bad. It’s hard to overcome that.

OKC will show the Knicks how to play defense . 0 bad defenders touch the court..

Wright Shamet Hart OG Towns in the 4Q of the biggest game of the year.

Yeah the two time coach of the year really is a fucking moron.

5 fouls called on us in one possession. Awful reffing.

The Knicks had a million chances to get back into this and did dumb panicked shit every time.

There’s not really any excuses. We don’t have the horses to beat these guys.

I feel like Indiana wants to lose this game but we want to lose it more.

It sure would be nice if Bridges woke up and did something positive.

not much Bridges could say that would make me want to extend him..

That sequence where the refs gave 4 fouls to the Knicks will go down as one of the worst bullshit calls in a playoffs of horrible calls.

Also Thibs playing the worst lineup in the playoffs to close the game is the epitome of his stupidity.

JK; respectfully disagree, we have the horses, we don’t have the jockey.

We look really unathletic out there. We get the ball near the bucket and nobody can just flush it for a dunk

Obi was the most athletic player the Knicks have had in recent time

Am I soft for thinking that could be a flagrant? Looked like more of a shove to the floor than a wrap up to me

Halliburton – you called time out with Towns guarding me , look of shock lol

Well, they are showing life.

Not sure why Mikal waits to hit clutch threes till
the fourth. Or any three.

IND just did the Knicks a big favor with that time out. The Knicks were on fumes.

Siakam grabbing OG’s jersey on that loose ball foul called against the Knicks.

Refs are dancing tsifteteli outthere
They whistle whatever they want

Our wings pass up so many threes to dribble into the defense. Maddening

Our wings pass up so many threes to dribble into the defense. Maddening

When it becomes a habit, hire Mike d antoni

Give KAT credit for toughening it out but he probably shouldn’t be out there right now.

I know Deuce has sucked but it’s comical Thibs still refuses to put that lineup in.

I’ve watched the game (periodically) with the sound off for the last three quarters because if I have to hear Kevin Harter’s voice for a minute more I will tear the skin off my own face.

TNT never muted the hyena. Not Reggie Miller, the woman behind him.

Well, let’s try to win game 5 and get back here in Indiana to win another one.

This series all goes back to Game 1….

It was our cardinal sin and earned us a well deserved sojourn in hell, It’ll haunt us forever.

And tonight’s game is full of regrets too, we made so many dumb mistakes, both on the floor and on the sidelines, and missed so many chances.

Obi fuck-you three, Jalen what-fuck-toss at the basket.

Just get this series to Game 6 and let the chips fall where they may.

I hate Hali with a passion but 15 assists with 0 turnovers is pretty impressive

Only so many times you can pull out these crazy comebacks. We played poorly today. You’re not going to win a conference finals game playing like that.

This is the first game of this series where one team looked clearly superior to the other.

This team would get smoked by OKC, they’re not serious from the coach to roster ..

Watching this team is more torture than joy. It’s a hard Knicks life.

Sorry to abandon the game thread, guys, my phone exploded from all my new Indiana friends texting me Pacer memes. I’m sure you missed me

This collection of players is far too inconsistent to leave any margin for error this far into the playoffs. Combine that with all the money left on the table by our Peter Principled coach in failing to optimize at all and we get pretty good insight into why this team will never go all the way as currently constructed.

Gotta fire Thibs.

Over 90 games in and they look like they haven’t learned much basketball as a team

This collection of players is far too inconsistent to leave any margin for error this far into the playoffs. Combine that with all the money left on the table by our Peter Principled coach in failing to optimize at all and we get pretty good insight into why this team will never go all the way as currently constructed.

I smell a Durant trade coming

This game was lost in the 3rd quarter when Thibs stuck too long with Brunson and Hart who had their worst games in the series. Our coach is a liability, has been all season. He never adjusted to the roster or experimented enough to take risks.

I am not overtly impressed with the Pacers. We’ve been in every game, (should’ve won game 1) and the refs have been on their side the whole series. Don’t let the free throw numbers fool you. They’ve missed a ton of calls and I still can’t believe that stretch where they called 4 fouls in a row. I think better coaching and rotations beats them.

Doesn’t matter because neither team is beating OKC.

Fire Thibs

Johnnie Bryant is a finalist for the Suns Job and Chris Quinn. Two guys I would be interested in.

Anyways I’m on the Dan Hurley Train.

I don’t know what the primary takeaways will be, a lot to digest, but on the eye test alone I have a lot of smoke for Mikal. I haven’t even looked at his line, but it probably looks a little better than he played because of the meaningless 3 at the end.

He fucking sucked, and it was part of a larger pattern of him basically never leaving an offensive imprint on the game. There are literally 100+ NBA players who could give us the typical Mikal Bridges offensive game.

The only thing that will get Thibs to budge is foul trouble.

A headache-inducing game.

Double bigs got killed by the Siakam leak out. Everyone got killed by Siakam in general. He can’t miss right now.

Knicks made a bunch of momentum-killing plays. Josh Hart’s turnovers were inexcusable.

Credit to Indy, they came up big when they needed to. Hali was spectacular but his supporting cast was very solid.

I want to blame everything on Game 1 but it’s really Game 2 that was the most discouraging for me.

I’ll be there to cheer the boys on at MSG on Thursday. One game at a time, you never know! Either way, Knicks still playing basketball after Memorial Day is kinda nice.

I want to blame everything on Game 1 but it’s really Game 2 that was the most discouraging for me.

Agreed.

Well, this one was pretty darn discouraging, too.

Every year I tell myself that when the Knicks finally win a championship before I die it will be worth all the pain. I’m not so sure anymore.

This game is on Thibs. Worst coaching job of the season.

Hate loosing to these bums again…would have rather had our season ended by Celtics

Box score says Bridges was 4/5 from three which is either wrong or it means those shots he was shooting weren’t even 3 point attempts which I think is somehow worse

Would you rather be scouting potential lottery picks or watching a hero ball team fall short year after year?

I would take this season 100 times out of 100 compared to any other season in the past 25 years.

The Knicks had the 3rd seed locked in for about a month. Plenty of time to expirement with lineups.

.

watching a hero ball team

This is what I hate the most. Why can’t we play fluid basketball from time to time? I’m kinda envious of Donnie.

No matter how bad the Knicks look… at least we’re not in Indianapolis.

Thibs has never had an offensive system. Back with the Bulls it was D Rose iso..

I would take this season 100 times out of 100 compared to any other season in the past 25 years.

I still take last year. Even if we win it all (we won’t but it’s still possible), I’m out on Mikal and out on Thibs. This season has been fun in terms of results, the actual product on the court has been meh to watch.

Last season was Rogue One. This season is The Force Awakens.

I would’ve continued to run the offense through KAT. It seems like they stopped at he end of the 2nd quarter and then never re-gained footing in the game. To me, that was what worked so well in game 3.

Ah well. I’m a big Sam Presti fan. If he finally gets his ring, it will be well-earned.

This game didn’t bother me much. I have already mentally moved on to the off season and thinking about how to best proceed from here.

I think the one obvious move is to fire Thibs.

This team was always going to have some issues on defense. It wasn’t built to play defense. It was built to be an elite offense, but Thibs is a horrible offensive coach. He can’t coach this team. He’s not getting the best out of a single player on the team. The offense is offensive to watch.

After that Leon has the tougher decision to make about whether Towns/Brunson can even work with a competent coach, improved bench and maybe a trade that gets us a two-way PF or SG that moves Hart to the bench. Personally, I don’t think it can even if he pulls off some Leon type magic.

I like Towns a lot. But I think one of either Towns or Brunson has to go. Nico would trade them both, set the internet on fire and be right.

This is what I hate the most. Why can’t we play fluid basketball from time to time? I’m kinda envious of Donnie.

Thibs may be among the worst offensive coaches ever.

In some alternate universe D’Antoni has this team averaging 140 PPG and breaking all kind of records.

Hart still playing starters minutes, while being trash

And delon wright played 2 minutes in the second half

Got to love it

Nico would trade them both, set the internet on fire and be right.

I’ll wait to see what Nico can do post Luka. Easy to forget he got them to the Finals.

I like Towns a lot. But I think one of either Towns or Brunson has to go. Nico would trade them both, set the internet on fire and be right.

Sorry Strat but the idea of trading Brunson is pretty ridiculous. We’d be maybe a play in team without him, and he carried us on his back through most of these playoffs.

I understand his defensive issues but name a point guard who scores like Brunson does and excels on the defensive end also.

Yeah you guys who for some reason are still fixated on last season’s theoretical team are just weird. Saying you’d still want Mikal and Thibs out even if they win it all this season is even weirder.

Quite frankly, if Leon doesn’t fire Thibs, I’m going to spend the next year clamoring for Leon to be fired also. It’s so extremely obvious at this point, I can’t make a rational argument for keeping him.

Nico would trade them both and further cement himself as the worst GM in NBA history.

Thibs blamed the loss on turnovers post game

But kept playing Josh Hart

Wow

Sorry Strat but the idea of trading Brunson is pretty ridiculous. We’d be maybe a play in team without him, and he carried us on his back through most of these playoffs.

I understand his defensive issues but name a point guard who scores like Brunson does and excels on the defensive end also.

First off, if you remove Brunson, it’s not like you’d be getting nothing back. You’d be getting one hell of a player back.

Second, he’s a terrific scorer, but he’s not just a negative on defense. He’s a huge liability.

Third, he doesn’t really make anyone around him better. He doesn’t draw double teams that create easy shots for others. When he draws double teams he dribbles around and tries to create something for himself anyway. Most of his assists come out of ball domination.

It’s a silly conversation because we know he’s 100% to not be traded, but as much as he carries this team at times, he’s one of the problems.

Aside from Thibs, you have to look at Mikal this offseason as the guy who gets shown the door. I know he has had his moments, but overall he just hasn’t provided what we’ve needed. He might be a good fit on a different team, but he just doesn’t work next to Brunson, who is clearly staying.

I think they’re going to try and build a lineup of top shooters/defenders around Brunson/KAT unless a Giannis or Jokic offer comes up. Hopefully you can still play Hart/Mitch off your bench.

Maybe you can get Herb Jones and parts for Mikal… idk… or something from a team that is sold on his secondary ball handling and scoring abilities.

Third, he doesn’t really make anyone around him better. He doesn’t draw double teams that create easy shots for others. When he draws double teams he dribbles around and tries to create something for himself anyway. Most of his assists come out of ball domination.

This right here is because the coach doesn’t have a system. No arguments on his defense

This was the Buster Keaton game, on the verge of disaster the whole way. If Knicks get a correct whistle when OG was fouled going for the defensive board, he would have been shooting free throws to cut it to four. That would have been like drawing to an open-ended straight. Instead, Bridges was called for the foul and the Pacers went up 7. After that, it was like drawing to an inside straight. No such luck.

The Knicks played badly tonight in a frustrating way. Too many live-ball turnovers. Too many fast breaks off of made baskets. Too many easy cuts for layups.

The Pacers do not have an effective half-court offense, but we keep letting them get out to run.

Also, Indy has been shooting .396 as a team this playoffs. Even after they lose to OKC, teams are clearly going to start emulating their “shooters at every position” thing.

Rose and Thibs got a sucking team and brought it to the ecf in a few years wo lucky drafts or superstar preference.
Giving them a shot is more than deserved imo

*I see names of assistant coaches that never coached a team thrown as Messiahs and i really smh…

Rose and Thibs got a sucking team and brought it to the ecf in a few years wo lucky drafts or superstar preference.
Giving them a shot is more than deserved imo

Rose may be thinking this, but he risk losing a large portion of the fan base who won’t watch anymore Thibs ball.

Brunson, Trae Young & Ja Morant are similar players. Shoot first PGs who are bad defenders. Brunson does it differently than those guys, because his scoring is generated by incredible footwork, rather than distance shooting (Trae) or high-flying rim attacks (Ja).

My question is whether Brunson’s sturdier frame gives him a chance to improve as a defender. Trae and Ja are just too slight to be effective defenders, unless they could be young Iverson-level steal machines.

*Trae is elite at generating shot attempts for team mates. Didn’t he lead the league in assist?

By profession and vocation I tend to generalize, so here is my take for this series as our chances to win it have faded away. We are losing because we have not been able to play consistently good defense, stifling defense. It is that same problem we have had since October and, at some point, we were due to pay the price. True, we did improve since the last couple of weeks of the regular season, and we wishfully kept the hope we would finally get it together in a consistent way. Apparently, we cannot! Tonight, for example, they dropped 43 on us in the first quarter. This is beyond belief; it is inexcusable and unprofessional to allow this to happen to you in this kind of critical game.

Indiana seems to be better than us. First, the Pacers seem to play even with more defensive energy and physicality than us, forcing turnovers and running which should be jaw-dropping for a Thibs-coached team. Second, the Pacers are clearly a better shooting team than us – we got an equal and even higher number of open looks but couldn’t knock them down. Third, and most important, Indiana has been slicing through our defense and getting whatever they want for most of the time. We won every segment of the series we managed to slow them down and make them think twice or take contested shots. Those, however, were relatively small stretches overall, like the first eight minutes of the third quarter tonight or the second half of the previous game.

What makes it more painful is that we knocked out Boston and we did not believe that Indiana can beat us. The road seemed open. Blame Thibs, KAT, Brunson, Bridges, the minutes, whoever and whatever, but this is the overall picture, and we have to live with it. I am not going to throw blame in one single direction. I find this simple-minded, to say the least. I am not even going to say this season has been a failure as I never thought this roster could truly contend the way it is.

With the lone change of a coach that will actually do their due diligence on implementing offensive and defensive schemes to fit this roster, I think you’ll all be pleasantly surprised at the results.

When I say I’m out on Mikal and Thibs, I’m not necessarily saying I want them out (which, about Thibs, I do, but that’s another point).

I’m saying that I’ve seen enough and I don’t think they have what we need to get to the next level. And frankly I’m ok with never winning it all, but I want to see hope on the court. This is not like it. And, again, it’s not about the results – they are good to great. It’s the game they play. I’m 41 and I’ve rooted for my share of championship winning teams. Usually they’re not the ones I remember. Unless they also play well. Which is why I liked the sans-KD Warriors, the Joga Bonito Spurs, and Denver.

Knicks best point of attack defenders

Delon
Deuce

Mikal is awful at that.

Delon didn’t see time until 9 minutes in the 4th

Best lineup in this game was….

The lineup that came back in the second

Go with the flow

pacers have an identity

Its over 90 games and you can’t say what the Knicks are good at..

The block party here is spreading up Maryland Ave and filtering into Market Square, so fitting. Gonna take a celebratory dip in the White river, then head down to Oklahoma City for the rest of the week to wait things out.

Brunson, Trae Young & Ja Morant are similar players. Shoot first PGs who are bad defenders.

Lol…he was terrible tonight and still scored 31 points, had 5 assist and 3 stocks. Is Steph Curry a great career defender?

The captain is the best thing that happened to NYC since Bloomberg won his first election.

Rose and Thibs got a sucking team and brought it to the ecf in a few years wo lucky drafts or superstar preference.
Giving them a shot is more than deserved imo

Rose may be thinking this, but he risk losing a large portion of the fan base who won’t watch anymore Thibs ball.

The Knicks fan base has been loyal through the last 25 years, which consisted of an awful 2001 – 2010, the dashed hopes of Linsanity & Melo, the false hope of Porzingis and the last five years of competence. I do not think the Brass will worry that the fans will go away if Thibs comes back.

When I say Brunson, Trae and Ja are similar, I am not saying they are bad. Before Ja’s injury/legal troubles, he was discussed as a potential MVP (eventually).

We shall see with Leon, but Thibs doesn’t have the chops to get a team to the top. He makes you respectable , but he has a limit.

(Also, if it wasn’t already clear, I have a lot of respect for Thibs. The fact that we can’t win with him doesn’t mean we can’t love him for what he’s done. He’s been by far the best coach since JVG and that deserves a tremendous amount of gratitude. That said, I want to dream. I don’t like retreads in my work life, do you think I should settle for it in sports?)

maybe we’re simply experiencing this Pacers’ storyline from a shitty perspective…maybe this thing isn’t so much about us…

Josh hart put the team in a bad spot with all those turnovers – the Pacers though are playing really good team ball…

Something I don’t understand. Indiana has been playing Brunson super-physically, picking him up the entire length of the floor and fouling him multiple times on almost every play. He shot 12 free throws tonight. It could have been 20 or more. Why haven’t we been doing this to them whenever we can? Why haven’t we been the aggressive team?

Why haven’t we been the aggressive team?

Thibs’ mantra of “the game tells you what to do” is probably why. It’s a reactive mindset that concedes initiative to the opponent.

Mikal Bridges is a horrible Point Of Attack defender. Halliburton cooked him. He was next to Hart as absolute garbage tonight.

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