Remember when matchups against the Spurs, Suns, and Rockets back in the mid-1990s truly felt like they were possible NBA Finals matchups, and thus they took on so much extra meaning?
I like that the Knicks are kind of sort of getting back to that point, where every game against a good Western team really feels like it could be an NBA Finals matchup. Or even matchups with good Eastern teams feels like it is a second round playoff matchup, etc.
So, well, with that in mind, please defeat the Thunder, Knicks!
Let’s go, Knicks!
56 wins can still be true, and that’s pretty cool!
101 replies on “2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks @ Thunder – Hopefully an NBA Finals Preview”
Deuce Deuce!
That Magic/Toronto score 😀
Holy UCONN
Raptors went on a 31-0 run..
It’s a Braylon Mullins kind of day—I hope his great defensive play to steal the ball won’t be forgotten.
Hopefully it will also be an OG Anunoby kind of day.
Dan Hurley …..
I hadn’t watched a half of college basketball in, like, 30 years. That half I just saw was still pretty freakin’ boring, but at least had a bang moment at the end.
Uconn has a guy named Solo Ball, which makes me think his parents may have been Carmelo Anthony fans.
Melo fans wouldn’t let their son go to UConn.
Git it
I mean Dort sucks but of course his first 3pter he buries like he’s Steph Curry.
Reggie – “through the lens of my Knicks hating glasses, that looked like a good clean block to me”
OG giving up the open three for a drive and classic wild lame-ass layup attempt was just such a bad idea…
Not replaying alleged fouls on SGA has me thinking NBC is in the pocket of Big Canada
OKC plays some real tough defense. We’re giving it a go out there. They really don’t let you get decent looks.
The Knicks should get an additional first-round draft pick every time I have to listen to Reggie calling a national game.
He’s been playing great lately but that was way too much Clarkson in the 1st quarter.
Let’s get physical.
OK, ONJ.
Jesus that’s repeated embarrassing defense. Looking at you, KAT.
Alvarado’s shots always look like they have about a zero % chance of going in
Jose is way too short to not be able to shoot….. Deuce pls
Alvarado disaster, Clarkson disaster
Bridges isn’t invisible tonight.
Deuce is rusty, understandably
I like Jose. I do. I really do. But this is starting to feel like what it would’ve actually looked like if the Ntilikina people got their way and Frank started taking a lot of shots.
Id take kolek over Alvarado right now. Is his defense even that good? What does Alvarado do better?
Jose – the bad the good the bad the good
Blood in the ground baby
JOSE!!!
(Let’s catch him being good)
Ok I said the Ntilikina thing before the two 3s. I caused it.
Alvarado’s defense is a thousand times better than Kolek’s.
Jose haters.
Shooting 34% overall and down by 1. Sad to say, I’ll take that.
Although our three backup guards are shooting 15% (2-13, those being two Jose threes…).
Not KAT’s finest defensive hour…
Refs stepping it up for OKC…
Kat back to clueless D.
One note Reggie – that last shot by J-Dub had nothing to do with KAT’s defense
Exciting.
We’re scrappin’ out there.
Hell of an end to the quarter but I’m sick of moral victories against these guys. Go get it.
I still can’t believe how confident I’m starting to feel when Josh shoots a 3…
Villanova trio with an amazing 1st half.
We have to overcome the OKC whistle because every time we made a run they got a call or refs held the whistle when they were on D.
We’re competing though
Winning pedigree is winning pedigree. The Nova guys are bringing it. I wish KAT would step up as well. He was being attacked defensively and has only one shot attempt and two free throws to show on offense.
I’m not gonna blame KAT too much for only one shot attempt, they’re double teaming him every time he touches the ball
Shai gets a good whistle but he also makes a lot of great shots.
d-mar, He has been playing well lately and needs to step up tonight. He has to lay it all out there. The team needs him. His blunders on defense cost us at least a dozen points or more, and double teaming is not an excuse to disappear on offense when you are a 60 million per year superstar. Ask JB about double teaming and physical play.
If that’s a flagrant I’m a monkey’s uncle.
Oo oo oo. But I call bullshit. His arm had nowhere else to go but onto Holmgren’s face.
Un-fucking-believable. This league is soft
OKC is good enough on their own they don’t need the refs to fucking help them out so much.
That call completely changed the game…
Terrible foul call on Hart
That was a very funny brain fart by KAT. Well okay not so funny.
This team is so frustrating to watch…
Worse than terrible. Zero change that was an offensive foul. Foul on Dort if anything, who we know is a dirty player.
“ How long can the plucky knicks hold off the mighty Thunder?”
Back to back games Knicks can’t defensive rebound.
This is atrocious refereeing. Brunson was fouls twice by Chet.
FT after FT after FT after FT…
And now Deuce is hurt. Great.
I fucking hate OKC. Most referee enabled team in the league.
Guys are fighting out there … But can’t get the critical moments right. Unless Jalen goes off, not gonna happen
I’ve mentioned this before, I just don’t understand how Brown doesn’t always have either OG or Bridges on the floor.
Rebounding is pretty much even so far, we shoot better from 3pt and contained SGA, but they shot 26 free throws versus only 8 by the Knicks. This is huge.
Josh curry
Bad Jose way more present than good Jose
I’m not sure I’d even want to make the Finals if it means having to watch an entire series playing against this fucking OKC team…
Alvarado has been mostly awful save a couple threes. Don’t need to see him out there come playoff time
I’m telling you, that Brunson guy is almost as good as one of the OKC starters
That Deuce injury is either a scar tissue/adhesion thing or an aggravation. Praying it’s the former.
The foul shot disparity is insane
The Roommates singlehandedly (?) keeping us in this game.
Okc has a very nice ref whistle
*not breaking any news, but it makes them harder to beat
Through three quarters, OKC is +18 (!!!) from the free throw line. I don’t think it’s only the refs, although the whistle is not in our favor but far. Either way, this is unacceptable.
OKC complains when they get called for one of their rare fouls
Alverado has to start hitting shots or he needs some time on bench
KAT channeling Mitch
Also, I am sure it’s been said but Miller is as bad as Tirico is good
Great response by the Knicks.
We have 18 turnovers and nearly 40 foul shots we have given up. Impressive they are still in this game
Doesn’t OKC get the ball if the challenge is successful? KAT saved it to I-Hart
Killer sequence
Yeah, I don’t get the challenge at all.
Here’s to the spurs taking out okc, can’t stand the constant foul baiting
Well it was a fun 40 min
At least the Yankees are undefeated…
This has not been fun following the lead being cut to one.
How does a six-five guy undergoing chemotherapy outjump a 7 footer for a rebound?
He may have a bunch of them, but every time I look up he’s doing something stupid and/or embarrassing.
This is why I hate that SGA flails like a bitch half the time. He’s capable of scoring and taking over games without the antics. But right now it’s half his offense game and unless the rules change or refs stops calling it he’s gonna keep doing and look ugly doing it.
The problem of late game offense continues – when Brunson heroball/hold ball for 15 secs and figure it out doesn’t work, we have no plan B. If we don’t involve KAT in the offense then why even have him? Yes, he himself has to get better positions but coach and teammates need to take it upon themselves too
OKC was better and got a very favorable whistle tonight: the entire Knicks team shot 17 free throws while SGA alone shot 16. Brunson shot 4, and OKC as a team 38. This is some crazy discrepancy right there.
Kat 9 shots and was efficient …
The whistle they get makes the game unwatchable . One player going to the free throw line that much
They toyed with us the whole game. Stepped up the D and the end and put us away.
Refs allow them to stay in the game
Pls
Hopefully Deuce is OK and will work his way back into condition for the playoffs. Then we can take Clarkson out of the rotation. We need a healthy in condition Deuce to make any noise.
missed the game, read through the game thread, got an idea about the game, then checked the box score – too many turnovers, not enough assists, but wow, they crushed us from the free throw line…the free throw discrepancy looks way suspect…
When the league doesn’t require you to make shots and you can just sit at the free throw line alll night thats not basketball
Alvarado is pressing a little, but he’s fine.
OT
Caruana baby! Let’s go!!!
In “reaching” for positives to takeaway from these last two games, I would say that we are probing for how well we have to play to be successful in the playoffs. We played hard enough tonight to have beaten the Hornets, but not the Thunder. The Rockets will present another formidable test.
I am not sure we’d have beaten the Hornets. OKC went 10-28 from outside with the majority of their attempts being wide open. I am not sure the Hornets would have been so forgiving. Plus, they are an excellent rebounding team.
I see us probably winning 3 or 4 more games the rest of the way and ending with 51 or 52 wins. I’d say we have more than 50% chance to go through the first playoffs round, depending on the match-up, and less than 25% to go through the second round, no matter the match-up. My view is that this team still lacks the grit, aggressiveness, determination, and attention to detail it had the previous five years, and I have seen enough to predict it won’t find it in the playoffs. Time will tell.
Always knew that tonight was going to be a loss but the Hornets game gave away the 2nd seed.
Now, they have to finish 6-1 and beat Boston on April 9th. Odds of this is happening is now likely less than 10%.
Deuce re-injury gave Boston another odds boost tonight. None of Clarkson, Shamet, GTA or Hart can slow down Payton Pritchard.
Fine, my ass. He is what his record of almost 5800 minutes says he is. A way below average NBA short player with a career ts% of .529, 3pt% of 34.8% and a negative BPM. Being from NYC doesn’t make him suck any less.
Half the players in the NBA probably have a negative BPM. I’m just not shocked that a bench player who is not the first guy off the bench either is below NBA average on offense. That’s probably the case for most team’s ninth or tenth man.
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