I guess the game being late saved me from watching what seems like our worst game of the season, at least that’s the sense i’ve got after reading the game thread.
Let’s hope we get better but there’s one thing Mike Brown is doing a great job – temper expectations about a championship this season. 😛

If we beat the Magic on Saturday that Dallas cluster fuck will be far in the rear view mirror

Yeah if we beat Orlando on Saturday we’ll be set up for a 4-1 road trip. We really do miss OG though, hope he’ll be able to return soon after this road trip ends.

Per Tommy Beer, that was the first time a team had ever won a game after missing 15 free throws and thirty threes in regulation…

Didn’t watch. Seems like a great win to me.

Got into bed after the first quarter and read some Stephen King. Feel very good about that decision, even though we won.

I went to bed after the first half, and was initially a bit disappointed I had to do that.

After seeing what happened in the second, waking up to a win I didn’t watch feels like a best case scenario.

I’m pretty sure the offense will be fine, even great, but I wonder whether the Knicks will be like the 23-24 Kings. The defense has been so bad.

Funny. Alan read a Stephen King book to avoid the Knicks and I read “The Killing Season” about the First Battle of the Ypres during WW1 to do the same.

I was binging Dark Winds and totally forgot the game was at 930. I think I had fallen asleep by then anyway lol. Imagine my surprise to see that not only did Brunson play, but he logged 35 minutes in his first game back! The box score looked like Dallas won, so thank God Brunson was able to give us that 28. But obviously, if Anunoby was available, Dallas might not have broken 100 as terrible as their offense is

It wax a frustrating game to watch. They just kept missing shots and free throws. I don’t know why.

yeah not like a back to back or anything i guess some nights players are just off just not great when its almost everyone on a team at once very fortunate to get the win lets move on

Just gonna float this one here, not all figured out:

KAT + a few young guys for Sabonis + Keegan + Keon

isnt sabonis a version of kat with higher bball iq but less 3s? plus not sure why they would want our flotsam and jetsam for keegan and keon who are decent developing players

We won a road game!

But did we really?

also there might be salary balance issues between kat and sabe

Just gonna float this one here, not all figured out:

KAT + a few young guys for Sabonis + Keegan + Keon

IDK..the 3’s and the threat to drive make KAT a much more potent option on offense, and I think KAT might just be a smidge better defensively. Perhaps Sabonis’ BBIQ can make up the difference, but I think I’d rather keep KAT in this scenario. Wouldn’t be mad if the Knicks do something like that either.

I originally wanted to see what this team looked like by Dec 1, but injuries are wrecking that. I will say I am very happy with what JC is offering as he starts to settle in, and I’m not too worried about Yabusele. His warm up is just taking longer, but he’s figuring it out. I’d rather it happen faster, but at the same time I think the extra minutes at the 5 are messing with his confidence

I’m pretty sure the offense will be fine, even great, but I wonder whether the Knicks will be like the 23-24 Kings. The defense has been so bad.

Dallas is the lowest rated offense in the NBA. We made them look pretty good. And on top of that, Davis has played some games and Flagg was out last night. So their offense should have been even worse than their rating.

The sample size is still small, but when you project something and it starts happening right away, small sample sizes tend to be more accurate. This is a meh defensive team and without OG it’s bad.

I’m not too worried about Yabusele. His warm up is just taking longer, but he’s figuring it out.

He’s not hitting 3s (yet?), but he looks better on the court. I don’t like him at C.

Taking a high volume of threes leaves one open to the pitiless perils of variance, but that was really horrible to watch — KAT 1-6, Bridges 1-5, Yabu 0-5, Clarkson 0-2, even Miles 3-10 and Jalen 2-7. Only Hart and Shamet did okay, a combined 5-7. I wonder if consistency at high volume is even attainable with this team, although KAT has been in a really unusual tailspin all season so far.

As for Yabu’s runway, so far it seems it is far too long for someone that fat and out of shape… outside of his picks, watching him is like nails on a blackboard.

Viewing him and Clarkson on close-outs is the worst. I kind of want to do a compilation tape. They both only move about five feet toward a corner three. Clarkson because he can’t be bothered, Yabu because he just can’t.

Dallas is the lowest rated offense in the NBA. We made them look pretty good. And on top of that, Davis has played some games and Flagg was out last night. So their offense should have been even worse than their rating.

Dallas has played 11 games without Davis and this was their 6th best offensive rating game, exactly in the middle of their non-Davis performances.

Yeah as bad as last night looked overall defensive numbers were actually pretty good, Dallas only shot 41% overall and 36% from 3pt with 18 turnovers.

But the amount of wide open 3s Dallas got was nauseating to watch especially cause it wasn’t like they still have Luka drawing all the attention, Knicks were just constantly needlessly sagging too much into the paint then losing their man on the perimeter.

I went to bed after the first half, and was initially a bit disappointed I had to do that.

After seeing what happened in the second, waking up to a win I didn’t watch feels like a best case scenario.

Same.

I’m not gonna lie, I was expecting us to dominate the early part of the season like the Cavs did under Kenny Atkinson. Instead I’m a little concerned about how often the threes don’t fall and how much we struggle when they don’t.

That said, this is a reasonably high baseline for a team trying new things with key guys in and out of the lineup.

Dallas has played 11 games without Davis and this was their 6th best offensive rating game, exactly in the middle of their non-Davis performances.

Don’t even try to defend what we saw last night.

Flagg was also out and he’s been running their offense lately.

They put out a team of 3&D and other role players that would typically support Davis, Kyrie and Flagg and they were getting to the rim at will at times and were wide open from 3 at others. Our defense gave up 111 points to role players (almost 114). There’s no way to contend with this defense. I’ll grant OG was out, but we need a top 10 defense at a minimum and right now I’d say were are below average.

Again though Dallas only shot 41% overall and 36% from 3pt last night and they committed 18 turnovers.

Nobody hates watching bad defense or complains about it during game threads as much as I do but this team as bad as it looks usually always has a few mins or even an entire quarter of good defense per game that enables them to win.

This is a meh defensive team and without OG it’s bad.

The flip side is with OG, our defensive rating is 109.3, which would be 2nd in the NBA to OKC’s profoundly mid-aughts esque 104.1. We’re so reliant on OG defensively that I wouldn’t draw many conclusions about our defense without him.

My eye-test tells me our defense is abysmal, but it’s only 16th ranked and that’s with OG and Mitch missing some time. While some of the 3s we give up do seem annoyingly easy, I don’t think .391 is our “true” 3PT defense, to the extent such a thing exists.

Basically I think we have to let some things shakeout before we know where we stand defensively.

“Our defense gave up 111 points to role players (almost 114).”

not sure what almost 114 is referencing if that last basket by williams hadnt been taken away they would have had 113 and we would have gone into overtime we almost had 118 if we had hit our free throws in the last minute or so we almost had 347 if we had hit every shot we took but not sure what it matters what either team almost had

Was the defense good? No.

Do I think that missing an 18yo rookie with a -2.6 OBPM, 20% usage, and a 102.8 Ortg on the year the key to unlocking the Dallas offense? Not really.

I do think missing 30 threes and 16 FTs was the bigger problem in us almost losing to the worst team in the league last night because apparently no team has ever done that and won a game before.

In the light of day I’m a bit less upset. A few thoughts:

– It’s hard to win anywhere on the road (except WAS and BK), JB was just retuning, OG was out and has been one of our best players, and KAT might be injured or something bc he looks terrible.

– I like Brown’s idea of using Diawara as a low-rent OG replacement, but he probably needs a few more minutes.

– I’m happy Shamwow is playing well, but I still probably would start Deuce.

– I can see why Thibs and Mikal butted heads because Mikal needs to be like 50% more aggressive on offense, especially when he’s the hottest shooter and other starters are out.

Also hard agree with EB. 111 points in today’s nba isn’t so good, and Dallas has some fairly good scorers/shooters. On a normal shooting night, we would’ve scored 135.

We’re so reliant on OG defensively that I wouldn’t draw many conclusions about our defense without him.

This is true but I mean, we do have Mitch now, right? I know he’s limited to how many minutes he can play but you would think that would help.

“On a normal shooting night, we would’ve scored 135.”

not true if we shot exactly the same last night as we have been shooting all season long (.458 fg/.367 3fg/.798 ft) we would have scored 159.32 points

The shots just didn’t fall.

This is going to be the death of me this season, lol.

That’s exactly what the Boston coach said after we beat them in games 1 and 2.

Sometimes the shots don’t fall. Can you win when they don’t?

That’s going to be THE question for this team.

Or maybe we just go on a two month heater in the playoffs and win a championship.

not true if we shot exactly the same last night as we have been shooting all season long (.458 fg/.367 3fg/.798 ft) we would have scored 159.32 points

They had 16 OREBs, so there would have been fewer shots overall it they had hit to their seasonal averages.

but they average 14.6 orb so thats only 1.4 less than they had in this game

The starting unit has a Drtg of 90.5, so hope that holds up and that Mitch somehow plays 30mpg in the playoffs. We’ll be golden.

Mohamed Diawara leads the Knicks in TS%.

(in a measly 18 minutes played)

he also leads our team in efg and drtg

my god, he really is Mini-Giannis!!

#smallsamplesize

we would have scored 159.32 points

Yeah, but league rules dock a team 1/3 of a point if they eat the fans’ candy, so really wouldn’t have broken 159 at all

Hollinger has a couple of interesting pieces in the Athletic (in one column), the first bit an enjoyable description of the Pelicans’ disfunction (I try not to revel in others’ misfortunes, but sometimes self-inflicted wounds are amusing). Then a piece looking at rookie Will Richard of GS; I thought it was really interesting that the Warriors have had three solid picks in the 50s the last few years (Quentin Post and Trace Jackson-Davis as well), and all were big-school, four-year players with honed skill sets and experience. An interesting approach to end-of-the-draft picks.

the Pelicans’ disfunction

I’m convinced Zion will shine once he gets out of that shithole.

I’d probably even trade KAT for him this summer if we could get Joe Dumars to throw in an unprotected 1st and a pick swap.

Our shooting is kinda distressing. Some guys are getting to a normal rhythm, but we still shouldn’t be shooting this bad as a whole 15 games into the season. And wtf is up with Mitch shooting TWENTY TWO PERCENT from the line?? If we keep this level of shooting up, we’ll lose plenty of games that we should win. I wonder if guys feel rushed when they put shots up with all the focus on pace and it being the polar opposite of what Thibs ran

KAT shooting .317 from 3 is a problem. We can’t get him open looks.

He’s missing SO MANY open looks. It’s not about shot quality, he’s just missing.

Yeah, he missed a bunch of normally easy shots, including his patented flailing foray to the hoop for a layup. Aesthetically ugly, but usually effective. Very weird.

all were big-school, four-year players with honed skill sets and experience. An interesting approach to end-of-the-draft picks.

Well we tried that Kolek. I guess PGs need more time in the oven.

Shams: “Sacramento Kings star center Domantas Sabonis has suffered a partially torn meniscus in his left knee and will be re-evaluated in 3-to-4 weeks, sources tell ESPN.”

It’s ess-dog’s fault.

Per Tommy Beer, that was the first time a team had ever won a game after missing 15 free throws and thirty threes in regulation…

Didn’t watch. Seems like a great win to me.

it was a very good win towards home court in the playoffs owen, it was a very competitive game throughout…

we just look off as a team, KAT doesn’t really seem incorporated in to the offense…

it’s hard to tell what’s really wrong on offense, cuz we’ve been missing so many shots lately…

and now we gotta go play a rugby match down there in orlando…

our transition defense looks consistently not good…

we have some “tough/physical” players (jalen, deuce, josh, OG, mitch) – but our team feels soft…

listening to the talking heads on various nba talk shows, there’s some questions about the jalen/KAT pairing…

in an ideal world those 2 can have 3 strong defenders on the court with them at all times…still…

thankfully jalen has lowered his salary, KAT’s a 55 million a year player though…

The Spurs without Wemby are a feisty bunch.

was watching bucks/sixers, bunch of really good young guards…

did not realize rollins can pass so well, he’s got great touch, bit of flair with it too…

sixers are looking a lot more competent, in a much different way, than I thought they might be…joel who?

Has Vince Williams, Point Guard been a thing this year? He has 13 assists halfway through the 3rd quarter. Hmmm.

joel who?

They owe him $55,224,526 + $59,539,018 + $64,302,139 + $69,065,261. This is almost a quarter of a billion dollars (!!!) until 2029. This is insane in every possible respect.

He’s funny. That’s worth something.

There is a Cleanthony Early category on Jeopardy tonight! It’s about international hoops terms, based on all the countries he’s played in.

Is there a specific word in Serbian that means not Nikola Jokic?

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