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2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks @ Sixers – Are the KNICKS Even Trying to Win?

I kid, because obviously, THIS was the game they had circled on their calendar, and they sort of blew off yesterday’s game like dummies.

So I imagine they’ll do well tonight, and I believe this would even the season series, which is very useful for breaking ties.

The Mitch, I say the Mitch, the Mitch is back!

Let’s go, Knicks!

Feeling in the vicinity of great for 58!

Feeling out of sight that Mike did his magic to fix the website!

113 replies on “2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks @ Sixers – Are the KNICKS Even Trying to Win?”

All of my takes today got lost to the server gods (tl;dr “winning trades” is tautological and the important questions relate to how you get the assets other teams actually want in trades, Sochan is probably the highest upside option on the buyout market and we can offer a bigger role than most contenders), but go Knicks.

All of my takes today got lost to the server gods

I’ve viewed it as a protest from the server gods about yesterday’s game. šŸ˜›

Getting off to a great start is a nice way to begin removing the stench from last night at least.

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Sixers defense is non existent when embiid doesnā€™t play

More on this another day

I don’t get why Clarkson is still seeing the floor. -4 BPM at this point, which is worse than Yabu.

It helps making Maxey unguardable when Clarkson waves at him going by as the help.

Jose is absolutely right that itā€™s lame as hell to stand over someone you just tackled in a basketball game like youā€™re Muhammad Ali

It’s not just that Hart is hitting his 3s now it’s that he’s consistently hitting off the dribble pull up 3s which is the crazy part.

and the important questions relate to how you get the assets other teams actually want in trades

Itā€™s not at all complicated.

1. You make sure you have people in charge that value players and picks properly with a special emphasis on things most others are not looking at carefully or misunderstanding.

2. You identify teams that value players or fit them together poorly or that just follow the latest NBA trends to the point of silly. People have a tendency to follow whatever seems to be working ā€œlatelyā€ and it almost always gets overdone to the point of silly in most markets.

3. Identify players you believe are generally underrated around the league that fit your own plans with an asterisk next to those players on poorly managed teams.

4. Be very flexible with regard to picks, trades and free agency. Any might be a good deal at any given time.

5. Sit around and wait VERY patiently for an opportunity to make a move that improves your own balance sheet, allows you to roll up in quality or finishes off your team.

The most important one is probably #5.

Most deals are going to be reasonably fair or not fit your plans. You have to be patient. But every once in a while something with scream.

To me Alvarado was a screamer to get and Clarkson was a screamer to avoid. IMO Alvarado has been undervalued around the league all along and was a perfect fit for what we needed. Clarkson has been overvalued for years and is not a fit. Good recovery from a bad off season for Leon.

Looked like a flagrant tap of the nutsack to me

They should put them away now

If Towns lost this ball trying to draw a foul I am going to be miffed. Wasnā€™t a very good angle they gave us. Looked like a dumb play.

Moā€™s needle has again moved away from 51st pick scrub and towards future HOFer.

Nah…. he was fine last night… just up against a ten year older chimeral vision of himself. Tough assignment for a man-child.

Moā€™s needle has again moved away from 51st pick scrub and towards future HOFer.

So, the NYT election needle?

KAT whines too much but that was a blatant hack on that attempted putback.

Refs really must hate him.

What a wonderful half. Shame they missed the buzzer beater layup.

I feel for KAT. They guard him really aggressively on one end, and he gets called for some light fouls on the other end.

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This performance is actually making me angrier about last night.

Man, cheer up, you’re only allowed to be angry when we’re losing šŸ˜›

“This performance is actually making me angrier about last night.”

Upon further reflection, I kinda let last night go, and that will be even more true if we keep this up against Philly. Trap games happen, especially when Indiana is a team that is clearly much better than their record. And they match up particularly well against us, especially without OG and Deuce. But since there is zero chance we see them in the playoffs this year, beating Philly and Boston is much more important.

1

Lady Raven wants to get genetic testing on Wally for Neanderthal genes.

Stuck on ESPN tonight, however…

This performance is actually making me angrier about last night.

I choose to focus on last night being just another in a series of gut punches by Siakam, Nesmith, and Nembhard as opposed to a loss to a 13-40 team.

I feel for KAT. They guard him really aggressively on one end, and he gets called for some light fouls on the other end.

I think Brown should mention it a lot more than he does, when talking to the press. It’s night and day what they do to KAT and the fouls he’s called for on defense. And this usually messes with his head making him lose focus.

Stuck on ESPN tonight, howeverā€¦

Is that the one Geo told has an option to watch the broadcast with only the sound from the arena?

We are having some crazy game to game swings of late.

Still confused about Kolekā€™s lack of minutes but maybe Clarkson has to be kept happy

Oh lord, more Clarkson minutes…

And the bad pass for the turnover.

We’re winning by 24 and Clarkson is a -1.

Strictly speaking, this should not be considered a back-to-back. The Knicks didn’t show up last night, did they?

“Mitch is moving around really well out there. Looking a lot less creaky these days.”

Facts. And hitting some FTs.

This guy Knueppel is a real problem.

I saw a clip somewhere the other day where he has three younger brothers in high school that are all serious players.

Anyone have Joe Dumarsā€™ address? Would like to send him some flowers.

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You could see that last Alvarado steal coming from a mile away. As soon as he started sprinting you just knew he was gonna knock that ball loose

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I really donā€™t understand the hate here for Clarkson. His line is fine tonight. He played thirteen minutes and had 8 points on five shots and a plus minus of +14. He had a block too. He is on a vet minimum contract and holding the fort at his position for real minutes. I donā€™t know what people expect from such a pickup.

I really want McCullar to be good. Love his defense. Too bad his shooting is so godawful.

Biggest win ever against the Sixers made me forget about yesterday’s game. Good job, team!

KFNINJ, I was a big fan of the signing, but his overall game has been terribly unimpressive. He has no burst or physical toughness, all of his forays seem like just wandering into the paint and chucking something up. I think it said a lot when Brown started playing Kolek over him.

Now if he shows more than he has going forward, I’ll be right back in his corner, but he’s been very, very disappointing.

I’d be fine with snagging Sochan off the waiver wire…unless there’s some low-key scuttlebutt about him.

I really donā€™t understand the hate here for Clarkson. His line is fine tonight. He played thirteen minutes and had 8 points on five shots and a plus minus of +14. He had a block too. He is on a vet minimum contract and holding the fort at his position for real minutes. I donā€™t know what people expect from such a pickup.

He had 8pts on 5 shots and 4 FTs, which is functionally equivalent to 8pts on 7 shots. That’s below average efficiency on top of putting up 0 asts and 0 rebs in his 13 minutes.

Nothing against the guy, and he had a nice couple runs earlier in the year, but he isn’t adding a lot to the team at this point.

I suspect there is already a team ready to sign Sochan and thatā€™s why the Spurs are waiving him now. That way they have it arranged that they can save some the salary they owe him because the new teamā€™s salary will offset some owed salary. If they just waive him they risk that no team picks him up and they pay the whole salary. This why Kevin Love isnā€™t waived yet. He hasnā€™t found a new home. The new team could be us, but thereā€™s no way to tell until after he clears waivers.

I really donā€™t understand the hate here for Clarkson. His line is fine tonight. He played thirteen minutes and had 8 points on five shots and a plus minus of +14. He had a block too. He is on a vet minimum contract and holding the fort at his position for real minutes. I donā€™t know what people expect from such a pickup.

IMO if you are looking at his boxscore and watching his occasional positive scoring flurries you are identifying the very reasons heā€™s so overrated. He scores, but not particularly efficiently, plays no defense, is more of a ball stopper than mover (another significantly underrated factor) and makes way too many mental mistakes to be trusted down the stretch of games. Heā€™s a clearly negative player.

We were looking for a backup PG (heā€™s not), a defensive upgrade (heā€™s not) and someone that could score. He can score, but he doesnā€™t add value at his efficiency. At the price, sure he can be at the end of a bench, but I donā€™t want him playing on a contender.

I donā€™t really like trashing on the guy because I kind of like him as a teammate, but I think I preferred Payne and thought we wasted a spot.

Alvarado I love and not just because he was hot tonight. Heā€™s going to win games for us. Heā€™s a huge upgrade to our bench.

He had 8pts on 5 shots and 4 FTs, which is functionally equivalent to 8pts on 7 shots. Thatā€™s below average efficiency on top of putting up 0 asts and 0 rebs in his 13 minutes.

You can say that but everyone gets credit for points without shots when they shoot free throws. If you get more points than credited shots you are doing ok. And itā€™s true he didnā€™t have assists, but he did make passes that led to reasonable shots. They just didnā€™t fall.

ā€œadding a lot to the teamā€. Is a tough standard for a vet minimum player. I just expect such players to hold the fort when needed. From a coaching point of view Brown seems to playing him ahead of Kolek, so Brown seems to value him more than you do.

I think my favorite Clarkson moment this evening was Jose telling him where to go on defense. Jose’s been here what, three days, and he’s telling Jordan what to do on defense? I think Clarkson just daydreams of chucking while on D.

Clarkson has a -4.2 BPM in over 900 minutes, only 3 or 4 players with that many minutes have a lower BPM. His VORP of -0.5 is also in the bottom 5-10 of players with that many minutes, and all of the players below him are on teams with losing records. Those numbers scream “should never be on the floor for a team trying to win.”

You can say that but everyone gets credit for points without shots when they shoot free throws.

True shooting % does count FTs and so should we. The other team gets the ball back whether it’s a made shot or a FT.

Iā€™d be fine with snagging Sochan off the waiver wireā€¦unless thereā€™s some low-key scuttlebutt about him.

The Spurs releasing a 22 yr old they invested 3.5 seasons into who has declined in every metric this season would certainly give me pause. What does he bring to the table?

True shooting % does count FTs and so should we. The other team gets the ball back whether itā€™s a made shot or a FT.

Harden was 1-4 from the field for 13 points (10-12 from the line) with 11 assists.

Sochan is still pretty young and had a decent year last year. He cant shoot the 3 but does lots of other stuff pretty well for his size. Too many players in front of him on SA.

But would we actually play Sochan? Who would he take minutes from? Probably McC—they’re actually pretty similar players.

Whoever we get for the last roster spot will be a break glass in case of emergency sort of player when it comes to actual playing time in games. But they will help in practice. If you can get someone with growth potential, so much the better, but you canā€™t count on that. Last year we had Delon Wright and PJ Tucker in that role and the year before it was Ryan Arcidiacono and Jericho Sims. If we do better than them weā€™re doing great with our fifteenth roster spot.

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