Morning all. Good win last night. As in previous games, it sort of felt like we played to our competition’s level, but at least our competition was much better, and we rose to the challenge. It’ll be interesting to see if that continues to hold come Thursday.

Someone wrote yesterday that they weren’t sure Alvarado was the guy to lead our second unit, and I kind of wondered the same when they posted it, and clearly Brown was happier with Clarkson last night. But in defense of Jose, Goldsberry writes this, which I find interesting:

“Before Alvarado arrived, the Knicks were playing average defense, ranking 13th in the league by allowing 113.4 points per 100 possessions. But since acquiring him from the Pelicans, the Knicks have had the NBA’s top defense, allowing just 106.4 points per 100. When Alvarado plays, that figure plummets below 100, which is simply remarkable. He’s ranked second on the team in deflections and third in steals since his arrival, even though he’s played only 17 minutes per game.”

Very good win last night, but even his biggest fan doesn’t think OG should be shooting 13 3s. 😉

Well if he’s going to average 38.5%, maybe it’s okay?

Well if he’s going to average 38.5%, maybe it’s okay?

I rather remove 3-4 meh ones and hit over 40%. IMO he took a few I did not like. Sometimes there are better alternatives.

I rather remove 3-4 meh ones and hit over 40%. IMO he took a few I did not like. Sometimes there are better alternatives.

Strat, I’m with you. Some of it is OG settling or heat checking after a few makes. He could have been a little more selectively counscious…but it’s also a bug within an offensive system whose goal is to shoot 40 total threes.

Game to game player specific sample variance of 3FGAs increases at these high volumes. I would just look at it as expected statistical noise, unless of course is this is a miltigame signaling trend.

Re signaling trend, not counting yesterday OG’s been 1-3, 1-6, 4-5, and 2-4. For those not keeping track at home, that’s 44.4% over those four games.

So whatever.

What made me happy about yesterday was everyone played well (Jose seemed a bit empty calories, but also whatever). They couldn’t get a stop for most of the game, but their defense didn’t look bad, really.

Makes me wonder if the difference between not getting and getting stops in the NBA is a really subtle difference in effort. Sometimes it’s really noticeable because of the lack of effort at times, but the difference between the fourth quarter and the first three yesterday was hard to pick up by my eye, anyway. Yet it seemed to be there.

This summer: Demote Brown; Hire Kerr; bring Hubert home.

The win streak is very nice. But I also believe that contenders handle teams that they are better than this time of year better than the Knicks have. So, that makes me a tad concerned- at least until I see how we do against Charlotte (2x), OKC, Houston, and Boston the rest of the way. It feels like we are getting hot at the right time, but we are also without Shamet and Deuce- and it may take a few games to regain chemistry with them. Mike Brown may have to stick with Clarkson until he completely falls apart. And kudos to Clarkson by the way. He’s been much better since Shamet went out.

Playoffs comin, y’all! I cain’t wait

From previous threat.

We took care of all the cupcakes.

All there is left to do now is:

Beat Charlotte on Wednesday
Beat Boston at home on 4/9
Finish 4-3 the remaining 7 games

#2 seed (GUARANTEEED)

This is the 2nd winning streak I called this season.

Seems like some of the posters may have regular season fatigue and checked out until the payoffs.

With Cade questionable, #2 seed means home court advantage until the goal to get to the NBA finals. I’m handicapping the odds of NY loosing two out of four home games to anyone in the garden this year at less than 20%. What I’m saying is that odds to get to finals go up materially as a #2 seed.

Time to lock in, finish strong and go 6:3 with a win against Boston.

Let’s GO!!!

Got back from DR last night, was able to watch most of the game in flight on my phone. Solid win!

Couple of tidbits…
-Deuce has apparently progressed to scrimmaging, so it’s looking rather probable that he will get a couple of games in before the playoffs start. That makes for an interesting buffet of bench choices at the 1-2, with Clarkson playing so well and Alvarado being so impactful on D. Shamet is also sort of in that mix.
-My fave Diawara moment last night was that straight-line drive down the middle for a finger roll layup. Still unsure about the wisdom of him being on the court in the playoffs, but feels more and more like it’s gonna happen.
-Saw this in a NYP article:

The Knicks sent Ariel Hukporti to the G-League to play with the Westchester Knicks rather than have him available against the Pelicans. Hukporti recorded 32 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four blocks with Westchester.

That’s a very good sign that he might be progressing in his development despite not playing much at the NBA level. Here’s the highlight reel, he does some interesting stuff!

PS if any of you are looking for an awesome all-inclusive experience in the Punta Cana area, try Excellence El Carmen. Highly recommended!

Heard about the Huk Game, thanks for the link Z-Man. All the things I knew he could do… clearly having the au natural hair a la early Julius was the key.

And looks like a nice spot you stayed in. Out of curiosity, not that I’m so inclined of course, but is all the booze all-inclusive, too?

I think that goes to show you the difference between the NBA and G-League more than anything.

In Mitch’s last shift last night he was just a complete menace. He blocked a 3PA, snuffed out a fast break, stole a possession by diving on the floor, and those are just the plays I remember off the top of my head. He was in such a flow state that it genuinely saddened me (and him) when Brown took him out.

I know he has his limitations but damn that was fun to watch.

So EB, are you telling me that Mac McClung’s 59 last night is meaningless???

Mitch is basically the reason I maintain hope we have a championship ceiling. He has outlier skills to an extent I don’t think are replicated anywhere else on the roster (different thing than him being the best player on the team, obviously, though he does now lead in BPM). The contours of the game change when he’s in.

He looks like he’s hitting top form at the precise right time, I say, as I knock on all of the wood in New York City, and have Claude Code write a script that automatically sends a prayer to every god ever recorded in human history for Mitchell Robinson’s continued health.

“And looks like a nice spot you stayed in. Out of curiosity, not that I’m so inclined of course, but is all the booze all-inclusive, too?”

It is. And we stayed in something called the Imperial Suite with private pool, it was like having a beachfront home. When we walked in, there was a bottle of Moet on ice and unopened bottles of Grey Goose, Johnnie Walker Black, 1800 Tequila, Barcelo aged rum, Bombay Gin, red and white wine, and a fridge full of beer, soda and snacks, which was re-stocked daily. Beach was pristine (caveat: more emerald than turquoise, and I hear it gets tons of seaweed in summer months as does much of caribbean), grounds are immaculate, service mostly outstanding. Many pools, bars and restaurants, and nightly entertainment (not really my thing.) Beautiful gym and sports facilities. For the price, hard to beat. Excellence also has several resorts in Mexico and one in Jamaica. For me, the brand is better than Sandals and way less expensive.

Note to travelers in this crazy time: we experienced no unusual delays at Newark airport for either arrival or departure.

Healthy Mitch is indeed a “release the Kraken” type of weapon for us. I would also say that he is not only healthy, he has regained some of the athleticism he lost when he bulked up too much and too quickly a few years ago. On top of that, his availability, along with a coach that encourages taking risks, has increased the chemistry with Brunson and others, resulting in lobs coming more regularly, and that seems to have made Mitch more happy and engaged. (remember when a few years ago he complained about just “doing cardio” out there?)

His team-leading BPM is more about declines for Brunson and KAT than anything Mitch is doing relative to the past per se, but there are some notable upticks for him over his career numbers. Specifically, he is averaging over 4 rebounds per 36 more than his career average and nearly 4 over his previous career high for a season. (One would think that Mitch’s BPM would be higher as a result, maybe the TOV% is dragging it down a bit?)

I still worry about playoff hack-a-Mitch becoming a thing at the wrong time, but on the other hand, as crazy as it sounds, I think we are less “Mitch-dependent” due to a deeper roster and a more creative coach. But we are also less “KAT-dependent” when Mitch can give us 30+ minutes in a pinch without going down in a heap. And it helps to have a coach that is not afraid to bench both of them and go small in certain situations, like he did last night.

I’m very excited to see this “gelled” version of the Mike Brown Knicks go through this 9-game gauntlet in the lead-up to the playoffs. I’d say my optimism is sort of in the balance right now.

In a related issue, I have to tip my cap to Leon for bringing on a fantastic medical/fitness staff.

There was a game sometime in late January/early February, I forget which game, but I was watching and just thought “Damn, Mitch looks like he is at full strength and he looks great.” He has been playing his butt off ever since. He has a .722 TS% and a 4.1 BPM since February 1, and the team is 16-4 in that span when he plays.

He’s really a lot of fun when he has it going.

Mitch is basically the reason I maintain hope we have a championship ceiling.

I called him out as far and away the key to the whole year before the season started.

Before the trade deadline addition of Alvarado (which I love) he was the one player you could point to and say “we are going to be way better at position X this year than last year”.

Other than that, I could point to numerous young teams with more upside, teams that added better quality players in trade or FA, teams that drafted high enough to possibly get a very productive player for this year, teams with more injuries last year. That was more than enough to offset Boston and Indiana.

So on a relative basis, to me it looked like we lost position relative to the league UNLESS Mitch was healthy and very good.

He’s been both. IMO, without Mitch we’d be hoping for 50 wins and not considered a more serious contender.

Celts have a decent chance of losing to the Thunder and falling behind us in the standings, at least temporarily. Let’s take advantage of this starting against the Hornets, who are tough but are also beatable.

I wonder how much of that defensive surge has to do with the combo of Alvarado and Mitch. Or swapping Alvarado for Clarkson. Smarter minds will know.

Alvarado has the obvious defensive strengths of steals and deflections but the way he harries people in the backcourt like a college guard I think has a psychic impact and maybe messes with the timing of sets.

Obviously I totally agree about Mitch. I think this has been the best stretch of his career. He looks confident and more under control than I can remember.

I said it twice but I think taking him and Mitch out at the end and letting them score at will was wrong but it worked out. It looked like a defense of all cornerbacks where they run it up the gut for 12 yards everytime.

Still, I am happy with where the team is and very excited for Deuce to return.

PS if any of you are looking for an awesome all-inclusive experience in the Punta Cana area, try Excellence El Carmen. Highly recommended!

Thanks for the rec ZMan. Will definitely add it to the wish list.

We used to stay at Sanctuary Cap Cana for the very same reasons. It used to be an immaculate adults only location with your own personal butler and round the clock top shelf food/booze/service. But eventually the resort was absorbed by Marriot and everything that made it exceptional got swallowed up by their greed. It became so corporate that the only alcohol in the fridge was Presidente light!

I was looking at Z-Man’s list of liquor and could only see Death By Martini. I suppose there are worse places to die…

“I was looking at Z-Man’s list of liquor and could only see Death By Martini. I suppose there are worse places to die…”

Another quirk of our room (there are only 4 of them in this huge resort) is that they provided a personal bartender for an hour on one of your days. Ours came around about 4PM mixed 5 different drinks, all vodka-based…2 martinis, 2 tropical drinks and a mixed “shot”. Needless to say, we were a mess that night.

“We used to stay at Sanctuary Cap Cana for the very same reasons.”

I seriously considered that one, it seemed very beautiful and frankly more classy and luxurious than ours (and predictably, more expensive.) My dealbreaker was the beach, which seemed pretty small and unremarkable. But the Cap Cana area off the resort is much nicer, and it is much closer to the airport.

The resort we stayed at is in Uvero Alto, which has a yellower sand than the white sands of Bavaro and Cap Cana, a mild negative at first but it really grew on me. The water also tends to be rougher, so swimming is iffy in some spots, but at our resort, it was very swimmable every day, you could walk out 50-100 feet with no big waves or undertow at all. The Excellence brand has two resorts in that area, Excellence El Carmen where we stayed, and Excelllence Punta Cana, about 2 miles up the beach. As part of our deal, we were allowed to spend a day at Excellence Punta Cana, and it was totally unswimmable, and I was told by folks staying there that red flags are the norm. It was also an older resort and imho a much less nice one for what we were looking for. El Carmen had a chic, modern feel, but way more “institutional” than Sanctuary Cap Cana, which seemed more like a historic estate/castle.

Sounds like Silver might actually do something about tanking?

Don’t know. Let’s see – sounds very general.

https://x.com/timbontemps/status/2036884457739649418?s=46&t=0wqff4cNt-sCGcDs-uMExw

So EB, are you telling me that Mac McClung’s 59 last night is meaningless???

Spoke it into existing. He’s on the Chicago Bull roster this afternoon.

That should go well.

Here’s a surprising stat- Jalen Brunson has now played 279 regular season games with the Knicks, the same number of games he played in Dallas.

Really seems like he’s been here forever (thankfully!)

It’s actually 277 games with each team. Obviously not a statistically significant difference (-0.72 percent) from 279, but wanted to clear it up in case anyone wants to do anything else with the statistic.

One would think that the Thunder-Celts matchup would be perfect for national TV. Instead, we get Hawks-Pistons, a good game and potential first round matchup, but probably not the same nationwide appeal.

It’s a rare day when the majority of competing teams are playing other competing teams. The NBA might actually be okay to watch today (still not gonna though. Finally Dodgers season again after a long winter of no sports).

let’s go thunder…

espn has most definitely lost its shine…waiting now for another network/platform to put something together to compete with sportscenter…

no more ufc, nba viewing is split everywhere…

they’re promoting the WWE, which is really more like wtf…they gave par mcafee the mic for like 3 hours every morning…

worse yet they’re leaning heavy in to that weird indoor golf stuff…why not just televised miniature golf, it’s way more interesting and fun…

must be just getting old…

Yankees/MLB opening the season on Netflix..

Hawks without Trae have leveled up big time

So has Doncic with LeBron finally deferring to him and AR as the bona fide third option for the first time in his career.

nba:
– fanduel (local)
– prime
– nbatv
– nbc/peacock
– abc/espn

oh shoot, forgot, I think the suns are like free tv or something…like seriously, you may need some rabbit ears…

– nba league pass

nba league pass needs to be renamed: wemby tv…

how can you not want to watch him play…

Living here in phx…I had to by a digital antenna to get the suns games on “regular” tv

hell yeah…life, liberty, happiness pursuit, and free tv…

this current sports viewing environment has me thinking more and more: fuck it…not that important really…

lots of people do without sports viewing…

Boston shooting lights out from 3. This will hamper Knicks chances of 2 seed

27 free throws shot in the 3rd quarter in boston…celts by 3…

let’s go thunder…

Holy crap, the Sixers with Embiid went nuclear against the Bulls – 157 points. All without Maxey.

Some vintage cj mcollum right now

yep, time to turn off the celts/thunder…no doubt, boston looked good…

Celtics = title favorites will be the new headline after tonight in the media

Good Hawks/Pistons game

*Meanwhile I think the Cavs are tanking to stay in the 4th seed

Well if we want to be the best, we can’t be afraid of anyone we face in the playoffs.

The East race for seeds 5 thru 10 is truly fascinating.

the hawks and hornets could possibly stay hot through the first round…

once they ejected tank commander trae the hawks have taken off…

Wemby is having a sick game.

he’s like steph, wilt, oscar…just breaking the game…

The East race for seeds 5 thru 10 is truly fascinating.

Indeed! Nobody knows how much of that energy will carry over into the playoffs, but one cannot but be concerned looking at the streaking Hornets and Hawks, at Philadelphia being in full force, and at Spoelstra. Everybody is talking about which team we are facing in the second round, but there may well be a bloodbath in the first round already.

Grizz all in on the tank, they’re not just losing, they’re getting their butts completely kicked on a nightly basis

Yankees win 7-0 despite Judge going 0 for 5 with 4 Ks, as much as I bitch about them as always they’re still pretty damn good.

Julius singlehandedly keeping the Rockets in the game…

KD is still pretty good…

Donte trying to play point guard with no Edwards just kills the offense . Reed Sheppard locking him up

Randle playing some insane defense these last two minutes

Holy shit what an epic meltdown by Houston.

U_K I turned the game off when Houston took a huge lead in OT and was shocked when I read your comment and turned it back on. What a bizarre finish!

“Holy shit what an epic meltdown by Houston.”

Yeah, but the meltdown by Minny in regulation and the first couple of minutes of OT was equally epic!

The Rockets not going out and getting another PG destroyed them

Yeah Z-man, it happened with the snap of a finger . Rockets couldn’t miss and completely forgot how to score right after .

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