News & Blogs
CJ McCollum, Hawks stun Knicks with fourth-quarter rally to tie series: Game 2 takeaways – The New York Times
CJ McCollum loved hostile MSG crowd in Hawks’ Game 2 win at Knicks: ‘It’s why we play the game’ – SNY
Playoff Game Thread: Knicks vs. Hawks, Game 2, April 20, 2026 – Posting & Toasting
CJ McCollum leads late rally as Hawks stun Knicks to tie series – ESPN
Knicks left searching for answers after shocking Game 2 loss to Hawks – SNY
Hawks 107, Knicks 106: Scenes from choking on feathers – Posting & Toasting
Who Deserves the Most Blame for New York Knicks’ Epic Game 2 Meltdown vs. Atlanta Hawks? – BleacherReport
Knicks vs Hawks (Game 2) – Recap & Reaction | POSTGAME SHOW | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
Knicks Vs Hawks Playoffs Game 2!! – Knick of Time
Knicks CHOKE Game 2 Against The Hawks 👎 | Rapid Reaction – Knicks Fan TV
The Run.down Knicks vs Hawks R1G2 Postgame Show – The Strickland
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165 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.04.21)”
Damn. They really gave it away. In addition to everything that was said on the game thread, Hart should have gone all the way on the last play.
It’s tricky. If you absolutely 100% KNOW that Mikal is not going to drive on Johnson, then yes, he should have, but I don’t know how we can expect Hart to truly KNOW that.
The pass to Bridges was so good that Bridges SHOULD have easily driven to the hole (or at least drawn a foul by Johnson, who was backing up). It’s hard to say “You shouldn’t have thrown that perfect pass because Mikal Bridges is GOING to fuck it up.”
Thibs must be laughing . They fired me for playing the starters too much , but hey this new guy plays extremely bad lineups . Deuce, Shamet, Clarkson should never be happening . Towns scores 14 in the 3rd and is forgotten in the 4th. He has been the Knicks most effective offensive player, but hey with the wing on him no need to pass him the ball.
*Knicks didn’t have a timeout at the end of the game because the coach with another great call here decided to burn a timeout on this https://x.com/AndrewJClaudio_/status/2046433124418994359
*Brunson has been outplayed by CJ through two games pretty easily. Too much chucking from him and not using his big man enough . 26 shots for what last night while Towns was cooking. Embarrassing stuff from him, he has to be better.
If you want a glaring stat with why they could be in trouble
Knicks ORTG w/ a big as KAT’s primary matchup in G1: 134
Knicks ORTG w/ a wing on KAT in G1: 66
Knicks ORTG w/ a big on KAT G2: 139
Knicks ORTG w/ a wing on KAT G2: 66
the Knicks have scored just 12 points in the 18 total possessions Atlanta has put a wing on KAT. This has to change. Not getting him the ball isn’t the answer . They are making it too easy for the Hawks.
Mike Brown’s usage of Karl-Anthony Towns has been absurd all season, and remains absurd to this day.
And I mean, yeah — if the 15 Knicks and the 15 Hawks ran gassers at the end of a random practice, Karl-Anthony Towns would probably finish 30th. That and a quarter, if this was 1997, would get you a Washington Post.
Also the no Brunson no KAT lineup started the 4th 12 up, and when the two came back in it was still a 9 point game with 8 to go. Brown could have put KAT back in, and give Brunson his customary 2 more minutes of rest.
This wart exposing loss exposes the Knicks as merely a pretender for the crown, losing the way they did to the likes of the Hawks at home
He’s a mediocre coach.
“Trying to make a move,” Bridges said in a quiet Knicks locker room. “Got to a spot I like. Just got to make it next time.”
Dude, you shot a 20 foot (*) fadeaway with the game on the line when you caught the ball with a full head of steam and the other team was in transition scramble mode. Give it a rest already.
(*) The clip posted in the game thread said it was a 12-foot jumper. Um … no. Which shows the issue with relying on eyeballed data in these metrics. But that isn’t the issue. The lameass long-range fadeaway hoisted up by Component 2 with the game on the line is the issue.
Going to a lineup where you have McBride or Shamet running offense is crazy . Neither of those guys have ever been a point guard . He coached like a guy that never scouted his roster and has no idea of his players weaknesses.
I think the pass was a tiny bit too high, and a tiny bit behind Bridges, and Daniels was already half a step from getting back, so Mikal didn’t have a clear path. But yeah, it is hard to say. Daniels was backpaddling when Hart made his run and he probably saw a wall of 3 defenders and realized it’s not a sure thing for him to go for it. They lost the game before that.
I’m just sick this morning. A 1-point loss is always hard to take, but the way they just epically collapsed was disgusting. Now they not only have to play better basketball in Game 3 on the road; they also have to get that collapse out of their heads. It won’t be easy.
Mike Brown coached last night as if it was still a regular season game.
Underground why are you so obsessed with Thibs? Zero finals, zero titles, every year lost to a lower seeded team
Yeah that was icky and a pretty awful collapse. We’ve been ahead and in control the majority of both games so to be tied 1-1 because of a mental collapse like that is disconcerting.
Whatever. Shake it off and win game three and we’re fine.
A lot of the reason Thibs didn’t go to the Finals in Chicago was because LeBron James was around. Last year he lost to a team that might have won the finals if its best player didn’t go down with an injury. The selling point has always been Thibs was holding the roster back.
*Mike Brown losing this series to this team would be far worse than Thibs during his tenure here so in that sense it would be a downgrade in coaching.
Lebron was in the east the past few years? Wow must have missed that. Who cares about the bulls
I refuse to get worried about a series until we are down. Team looked totally in control for most of the game, has had a bad tendency to go into funks… And that’s what happened. Gotta win on the road anyway!
*Thibs used to coach the Bulls. You asked why Thibs never made the Finals. LeBron being in Cleveland you know one of the games greats is a good reason.
The last six minutes last night was the worst offense I have ever seen. Truly atrocious.
I would close with Deuce.
Owen did you see game 1? Only reason it didn’t happen there was because they had a big enough lead. Prevent offense again.
We are clearly the better team and we’re winning in 5 or 6. Hopefully the collapse makes everyone (Brunson, Brown, Mikal, KAT) look hard at themselves and changes their mindset for the remainder of the playoffs. If this doesn’t happen, some of these guys will be in Milwaukee this time next year and Brown will be watching the playoffs from his couch.
This is just who these guys are.
They’re going to give us great moments this spring. And they’re going to give us shit like last night.
I’ve come to accept it. And I hope I never have to root for KAT & Mikal again after this spring. Everything I hate about those guys was on full display in the 4Q.
Deuce has been pretty bad since returning from his surgery. Hopefully he eventually rounds back into form before its too late cause we could really use his spark off the bench.
“Deuce has been pretty bad since returning from his surgery. Hopefully he eventually rounds back into form before its too late cause we could really use his spark off the bench.”
Oh, no. I hope we’re not going to Grimes him, too!
I know Brunson sucked and OG choked again but I’ll gladly live and die with those guys. KAT’s unwillingness to compete and Mikal’s fear of the rim are two things that will just never sit well with me.
Fortunately KAT does compete often. And I expect he’ll compete often enough for us to win this series. But often isn’t sufficient. To let Jonathon Kuminga take you completely out of a 4Q would be the saddest thing I’ve ever Russell Westbrook humiliate KAT in the post.
I found Bridges hard to watch. As someone who grew up on 90s Knicks is lack of toughness is grating.
I don’t get the KAT in the post stuff. He’s a stretch 4, not a bread and butter, ass-to-the-basket post guy. If the expectation of him is as a fast sprinter who can operate in that way, disappointment is inevitable.
Now, Mikal on the other hand ….
I checked this score as I was getting into bed and thought “not much to see here, even if I had peacock, I’m going to sleep”, now that I’m awake I am considering subscribing to peacock to retroactively see what happened.
https://x.com/Krisplashed/status/2046439580765708750
Also confused why Mitch only played 18 minutes. Maybe Brown is worried about Hack A Mitch but he was 6 for 6 and dominating. They have no real big men. We should punishing them with Mitch and you live with hack a mitch
Based on their expected win%, odds that Knicks win any game vs Hawks (not considering home court advantage) = 68.2%
Based on their expected win%, odds that Knicks win 3 of 5 games vs Hawks (not considering home court advantage) = 81.3%
Still doesn’t take the sting out of yesterday’s loss, as it should not have occurred.
Mitch really has been dominating his minutes. I really don’t know why he doesn’t play more.
Mike Brown absolutely got way too cute with the bench lineups, Brunson was far from playing even his B game, and there were an infuriating number of non-Mitch FT misses.
And yet, if our 6’8” wing who we traded 5 first round picks for attempts a layup instead of a fadeaway jumper, I think it’s above 50/50 we win the game.
His clinical aversion to contact has of course cost us games before, including big ones. But we’ve never gotten such a pure, undiluted, “down 1 with the game clock winding down” visualization of how that happens.
He’s got legitimately great skills in other areas that help us win, too, of course. As a whole though I have been underwhelmed by the Mikal Bridges experience for two years and I don’t think that will ever cease to be the case.
Wasn’t the goal in season to keep his minutes down to have him full go for the playoffs.., I get the Hack of Mitch means he may have to be pulled, but it gets the other team in foul trouble at least .
If OG doesn’t go 0 for 2 from the FT line when Knicks were down 1 with under 2 mins left Knicks probably don’t lose last night…
Nickeil Alexander-Walker has been held in check so far which is helping the Knicks . If he wakes up the Hawks will increase their margins in this series.
Alarming stuff by Mike Brown. What was he doing the entire season. Data is available https://x.com/ShaxNBA/status/2046582885688185298
Hawks have the best odds to win the series of any underdog (+155). (DraftKings). Magic second at +160.
Mikal’s weak fadeaway was the 2026 equivalent of Charles Smith’s repeated weak layup attempts in 1990-whatever.
Timberwolves should be pretty high up. Great game last night.
Pretty sure Stephen A is having a rant right now on First Take. Bridges made him look very good last night.
Well I now have had the pleasure of being at game 1 vs the Pacers last year and game 2 last night.
Hard to say which experience was worse, like comparing stepping in shit to stepping in a pool of vomit
In a 5 minute span we went from a likely 4 or 5 game series to a likely 6 or 7 game series. The Celtics will dispatch the Sixers easily and wait for us to finish slugging it out with Atlanta. Not ideal
At least tonight I get to watch the Yankees go into Fenway and revitalize the last place Red Sox…
Thing is I would still not be surprised if we win this series in 5 games. 6 seems more likely now, but I’m still not concerned about it going 7. The same guys who I hate today will probably make huge positive impacts tomorrow. That’s this team.
Director NYC introduced the motto that I’m trying to adopt this spring: just advance and move on without getting injured. It’s never going to be satisfying. It’s never going to not be frustrating. But there’s enough here to win 4 out of 7 against anyone if we get some breaks. It sucks that we probably have to win 5 out of 7, though, bc we always give one away.
I’m glad we can all vent here on the days it sucks. It feels a little more communal this year now that we’ve all gone through the trauma of supporting the same guys for two seasons.
Somehow our choke gene only seems to show up at MSG. We won every game at Detroit last year and took the first 2 in Boston.
So the optimist in me says we take both games in Atlanta
My two cents on the coaching: Thibs had some stubborn in him, but Mike Brown’s got some stupid in him. And at the end of the day they’re both running the same offense.
The move looks to be at best lateral, and possibly a minor step down. But I don’t think it’s consequential either way. It was never the coach with these guys. It’s what’s between their ears.
I’m thankful for this team and it’s been nice watching some basketball that hasn’t involved “blame Beno” or Bargnani GIFs or getting mad at Maurice Ndour for successfully completing a FG attempt.
That said, I found myself not all that upset at this team losing that very winnable game. Maybe it’s because we basically ran back the same team that wasn’t good enough last year with a different, mid coach. My expectations just aren’t all that high. It’s a good team but it’s really not a compelling or interesting team.
Billy Donovan is available now.
I’m actually not that worried about this series, but I can’t imagine this team getting to the Finals.
There was a lot of luck involved with the Hawks squeaking that one out. We will start shooting better, and McCollum won’t stay this hot.
But yeah, it’s looking like Brown/KAT/Mikal were mostly lateral moves, but hey, it’s really hard to win a championship unless you luck into a Wemby/Lebron draft or something. It’s really hard!
I looked at the preseason prediction thread the other day, and I said in that thread that Brown was basically a lateral move.
I do think coaching matters though. If NYK had an elite coach and not a guy who is probably like the 16th best coach in the league, they win that game.
Boring and repetitive and I’m sure annoying to some, but main problem is still Wingstop not being creative, threatening, or good enough on the offensive end. They certainly do some nice things from time to time, but on a consistent basis, it always works back to that.
You can work around the issue, because you have two offensive juggernaut superstars, but if you neuter one of the two it makes it very tough to work around. If in fact Mike Brown tried to make the offense more egalitarian to work Wingstop more into those things, that was a grievous error. If he did it because of WS agitation (*), that’s intolerable.
I do expect the Knicks to win this series. But they might not, in more than just an academic sense. I don’t like my chances with such a mid coach.(**)
(*) Both bitch. Mikal is a chronic bitcher and whiner. And his D is meh.
(**) While I expect the Knicks to win the series, if they don’t, Brown’s a goner.
And while I mostly agree with JK, I wouldn’t even go so far as to question this team’s likability or heart. They’ve come back after some devastating losses before. I just simply don’t think there’s enough talent for a Finals team at the end of the day, which is a bummer, but they’re still a pretty damn good product.
Actually I suppose that’s premature — I haven’t given Brown a chance to see what kind of adjustments he makes between games.
I really wanted to see some proactive adjustment last night to what was happening in the 4Q. But the flip side of the coin is it’s game 2 of a series we’re very likely to win, so it was reasonable for Brown to take a “let these guys figure it out on their own” position.
It was somewhat tough because Deuce and Landry were both terrible, and those were the guys who you’d like to see help. Benching KAT for Mitch probably would have made me feel better but wouldn’t have been good for the long term psyche of KAT (who increasingly reminds me of postseason Alex Rodriguez — you really need to coddle this MFer and put up with some shit in the hopes that he finally has his 2009).
That said, it’s important that Mike Brown bank this information. This series affords him an excellent opportunity to figure out his team. It’s worth it to react slowly right now if he learns what to do in the next series.
I’m killing KAT as a fan, but as a coach you gotta let him play through it. And honestly you gotta let him do it again next time he’s quitting, too. Just to learn if he has it in him to overcome.
But after this series, you gotta know your team, and you gotta be decisive.
I still think this Knicks team could and probably should make the Finals this year. Detroit has already showed their huge offensive flaws that will be exasperated even more in the playoffs and I honestly think this Celtics team is overrated plus for some reason this Knicks team seems super confident playing against them.
Cleveland might be the team in the East flying under the radar, getting lucky enough to play Toronto in the 1st rd was huge for them.
Mike Brown should also probably bank Karl-Anthony Towns’s 70+ TS% in this series, but he hasn’t seemed to be in a banking mood on that front the entire season.
There was some time pressure, but all manner of wings on their strong hand, given the head of steam they had, the back-footed scrambling of the defense, and the fact that the only guy near the basket was a 6-5 guard, would have split the two backward-scrambling defenders and gone in and dunked the basketball, posterizing Dyson Daniels if necessary. Prime Dr. J would have beyond a doubt, same with Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Vince Carter, Blake Griffin, and Kobe Bryant. 98% chance Julius Randle and RJ Barrett.(*) 97% Yaxel Lendeborg. And on and on.
Just an awful, pitiful, pathetic effort. I’ve watched it multiple times and it gets worse with each viewing. It borders on unfathomable.
(*) RJ Barrett rebounded a free throw and dribbled the ball through the whole Toronto team and threw down in someone’s face to send a game to overtime.
Stop trying to make “fetch” happen
Lil Penny you should really watch some tape. Mike Brown didn’t go away from KAT. KAT begged not to be gone to. And every time the Knicks ignored his protest and went to him anyway, he did something terrible to make them regret it.
I don’t blame Jalen Brunson one bit for not trusting this guy.
It was a perfect storm of issues that lost the game, but there are several fundamental recurring problems that are the main reasons.
1. Brunson gets targeted and can’t defend some players
2. Brunson’s ego repeatedly causes him to go into hero ball mode. once he starts dominating the offense there’s no ball or player movement. Everything stagnates.
3. Towns is a C and is dependent on the PG, plays and movement to get shots. When we are in hero ball mode he is going to disappear on offense. That’s not on him. It’s on Brunson and Brown.
4. We applauded Brown for limiting minutes in the regular season, but this is the playoffs. What are we saving the best players for? Next season?
5. Some of the lineup choices Brown makes are terrible. This is not early season experiment time. He played one combo for the first time all season last night and others were obviously terrible ideas.
Billy Donovan out.
Brown beats the Celtics, or there’s your next Knicks coach. Maybe even then.
Today’s earth shattering take: Mikal Bridges is not as good as Michael Jordan or Doctor J
He’s not a C, he’s a stretch 4. We have years of data on this. He should be playing a bunch of minutes together with Mitch.
OG presents a crunch-time problem, too. He spaces the floor, but if you keep a man within closing distance of him he’s out of the game bc no one wants him attacking a closeout with his dribble.
And then there’s Mikal and his well known allergy to the paint. Sure, you can give him the ball. Maybe he’ll get a decent contested mid range jumper out of it. But who do you want taking a decent contested mid range jumper if you’re Jalen Brunson — you or Mikal Bridges?
There’s a reason the ball finds Josh Hart so much. He’s probably the 2nd best crunch time player on the team.
Brunson was much better at sharing the ball in 2024 when he had Hartenstein to set picks for him and Donte ready to pull the trigger immediately. Sure he played hero ball sometimes then, too, but he was unstoppable when he did.
Brunson famously didn’t throw the ball to Josh Hart on the last possession of 2023 Miami Game 6 down 2, 10 seconds to go, Josh wide open at the trifecta line calling for the ball.
While I agree with what you said about Wingstop, I’m not sure Jalen’s “trust circle radar” is that well developed, in significant part because he’s not a natural point guard.
“RJ Barrett rebounded a free throw and dribbled the ball through the whole Toronto team and threw down in someone’s face to send a game to overtime.”
I hope they at least stepped aside to let him through! Was this several years ago, when he played for us?
He’s a bitch. We have years of data on that, too.
Mitch is averaging 17.6 points per 36 and is shooting 7-of-7 from the field. That’s good, right?
Exactly. Last night is good reason to wonder about the next series, but this team is so much better than the Hawks that this series shouldn’t be in doubt. Despite Jalen going hero ball, despite Mikal being a wimp, despite KAT pumping a disappearing act, despite Brown with the worst coaching display I may ever have seen in the playoffs.
I see that there are still a lot of blithe predictions that we’ll win the series, just like after G1 against Indy last year. After that happened I said the series was over, and it was. Teams do not come back from complete mental collapses like that, least of all us. We are the collapsee, not the collapser. We have lost every playoff series we’ve trailed at any point in the last five years.
It turns out that I underestimated the impact from that game. It didn’t just end that season, it was the peak of the Brunson era, with only decline to follow. It set the precedent for how this team behaves when up late in a playoff game: playing scared with a predictable ‘prevent’ offense, a trait that seems to transcend coaching. Our adversaries can practically see shit running down our legs. It’s not even the greats of the NBA we collapse against at home, it’s the journeymen, the Aaron Nesmiths and CJ McCollums. This is the team y’all think can get to the finals?
Reality check: we just lost this series too. This will be our fourth consecutive year where we lose a playoff series with home court. We’re a slow, mid team. For all the talk about us being built to beat the Celtics, we really aren’t doing that unless they set multiple bad shooting records AND tear a superstar;s ACL. We’re built to beat the Bulls, Raptors, or Bucks. In February. These are the wages of the mezzanine.
The main determinant of how the next decade will go is whether we realize we need to trade Brunson and firesale the rest while they still have any value. He was at TS+ 100 this year, his lowest mark since 2020, and it turns out that being ‘captain clutch’ has diminishing returns when you’re an average efficiency player. Small shoot-first guards have a long history of aging like milk, and a marginal athlete like Brunson doesn’t need to lose many steps to go from All-Star to unplayable.
I’m talking about this as though the result is up in the air but it really didn’t. We’ll be winning 30-40 games a year or two from now and jacking off in here about how we can just sneak in the play-in we’ll make some noise in the playoffs because we have the best ‘closer,’ who can prevail in apparently any situation but with a significant lead in the fourth quarter, at home, against worse teams.
I mean, that’s always kind of been the problem with everyone, right?
Hart does dumb stuff with the ball; OG turns it over; Mikal has Beta disease… it’s a tough call for Jalen to make.
I don’t give a shit whether we call Towns a C or PF or whether he plays with or without Mitch.
The point is he’s not a guard or wing you want putting the ball on the floor creating off the dribble for himself and others. That’s on the ball handlers. They have to get him the ball.
If there are no plays run for him and no one is kicking the ball out to him off a double he won’t get many shots.
That’s 90% on Brunson and Brown.
Also, When he was benched in Minnesota it was for defensive reasons, but his defense has been better this year. The defensive problem yesterday was Brunson.
The other way is to make an organization so desirable that the best players will want to play there. This way you can not only get favorable trades for superstars, but other players will flock there as well to win rings. See: Lakers, Heat, Celtics, Dodgers, pre-Hal Yankees, etc.
The peaks of JB, KAT, and Mikal are all in the past. Leon shot his shot and almost certainly missed. As Wilbon said this morning, Knicks are very good, but not great, with sporadic flirtations with greatness.
Should have just stuck with 2023 playoff team. Want to do the Obi/Divo move? Fine whatever. The KAT trade will no longer be defended here. He was a year from his decline phase.
“Drafting superstars is just blind luck!” we keep telling ourselves.
Isn’t it weird that we haven’t been in a position to draft one in 40 years, during time which San Antonio and OKC have each drafted 3-4 players who would be the greatest ever in the history of our franchise?
It’s also hard when you trade away a lottery pick that could have been used on Jalen Williams for cap space to sign Isaiah Hartenstein and then don’t even get iHart’s Bird rights; when you trade RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby and then pay retail; when you trade five 1s for Mikal Bridges (*); and when you trade Julius Randle and Divo for a declining, owed over $200 million, Karl-Anthony Towns.
Leon got his lucky break with the one unintentional “gap year” that put them into the lottery and then completely fucked it up.
Sometimes it’s impossible to “make your own luck” no matter how hard you try; sometimes it isn’t. It wasn’t here.
(*) One of the handful of worst trades in NBA history.
Are you suggesting we shouldn’t have traded for OG? Because he’s much better than either of those guys, especially at the money they are both being paid.
Plus The Incineration ….
I think it’s extremely well developed. And I think we should pay attention to who he doesn’t trust.
You sit here and blame mike brown for KAT not being involved. You don’t think Jalen Brunson can call for a KAT pick if he wants one?
I think my favorite bit about this loss and the hysteria that has followed is that previously much was made about “a gentleman’s sweep,” which means by definition losing a game you’re really supposed to win.
Now it’s a tiny bit better losing that game when you’re up 3-0 rather than 1-0, but still. We’re actually on track for a gentleman’s sweep, a concept I’ve hated since I first learned it but something that people around here were up for until what happened last night.
I assume we had similar hysterical comments following Game 2 vs Detroit last year.
Gentleman’s sweeps are for teams that don’t collapse at home. You think we’re winning two in ATL after what happened last night? They know they can just put a wing on KAT and cut our Ortg in half any time they want
Of course. It’s also these times that Lil Penny loves showing up and pretends he knows everything and predicted the future so it’s a double whammy to make your day fun.
I think we pretty much all know where this playoff season is heading and are all responding in our ways. Jaylen Brown could bring a shredded knee to the second round and Jayson Tatum could shred his Achilles again, but I think we all understand that’s unlikely to happen twice in two years.
Most likely, although they couldn’t vent and rant and rave on the internet for free, fans of Don Nelson’s 80s Bucks teams, or Lenny Wilkens’s late 80s/early 90s Cavs teams, likely had much the same perspective on things as we have here.
Gee, who could have predicted the return of the shittiest Knickerblogger poster of the modern era, and no, it’s not E
In many ways, Pagliacci never left. He’s always offered the same high quality takes at competitive prices.
I don’t think so. I expect to have 2-3 games this postseason that make me very angry but I’m careful not to make broad and sweeping conclusions based on them.
Even KAT, who I can’t stand, I’ve been careful to point out that this was just one of the games in which he didn’t compete. I know he’s going to have several where he’s a fucking force.
Every series lets you be shit 3 times. We’re certain to use our allotment, but we’re not certain to lose.
And the Hawks are just a dress rehearsal. We’re lucky to be getting asked these questions now instead of the next round. Imagine if we got the Raptors, and this terrible no-Brunson/no-KAT lineup played well for two weeks.
Brunson got kicked in the balls.
He couldn’t stand the thought of CJ outscoring him.
Next game? Don’t do that brunson
I really don’t wanna talk about last night’s game because it pissed me off. But I will say this:
All of their groin kicks, elbows to the face, and rib shots finally led them to a win. Barely. And if Brown made better choices in the 4th, we’d likely be up 2-0 now. I do not expect our Knicks to lose another one this series. As talented as Atlanta is, they are still out-matched and it shows.
I also have one other NBA comment. If Washington doesn’t do everything they can to get Billy Donovan, they are truly a trash franchise. Are you kidding me? Trae, AD, Sarr, Coulibaly, a top 3 pick, and Bub Carrington with Billy Donovan? Why wouldn’t they go for it? However, I do think he ends up in Milwaukee, but don’t sleep on the Clips or Orlando. This might be the year Ty Lue wants to move on and Mosely might not survive the playoffs
They benched him in the Mavs series because he was shooting 38% from the floor (24% from 3) and stopped competing.
So you’ve got Brown and Brunson, Thibs and Brunson, plus Finch and Edwards, all of whom decided not to give the ball to Karl Anthony Towns in crunch time. Plus you’ve got a hall of famer who famously walked out on him after emasculating him in practice.
Boy that’s a lot qualified guys who came to the same conclusion.
Meanwhile you’ve got Jalen Brunson, who in the playoffs before KAT got here, literally put up Michael Jordan numbers. Let’s blame him.
I’m not going to re-litigate all of Leon’s moves today, but I still have the same question I did last season: Where’s the guy on this team we task with putting a hard elbow on a guy like CJ McCollum when he’s feeling himself?
Oh wait, we have that guy now!
Dear, Mike: please don’t forget about Sochan
Nowadays, the Hawks wanna talk like they got somethin to say
But nothin comes out when they move their lips- Just a bunch of gibberish
And motherfuckers act like they forgot about J
Lol..yup..I have not had enough coffee today 💀🤦🏾♂️
I should have given you my second cappuccino.
Right tho! I did go out to this new drive in coffee spot called 7 Brew here(new to us..dunno exactly how big their footprint is) and ordered a banana bread coffee which has banana, and hazelnut mocha. It was definitely way more sugar than coffee LOL
ugh…
losing seems to always feel worse than winning feels good…
it’s a weird disproportionate thing…
sure felt more like we lost the game, rather than the hawks won it…
some really bad lineup choices…
so weird, if ever there was a time to make sure one of either jalen brunson or karl anthony towns were on the floor at all times – sure seems like the playoffs would be that time…
you know, generally speaking, opponents play better defense in the playoffs…scoring is at a premium…
this is on MB…showed his ass yesterday…hopefully he learns…
I’m out on shamet for at least a game or so, limiting deuces minutes too…
strangely, no issues with clarkson, he is exactly who he is, and sometimes you need a player that can get buckets in chaos, he’s good at that…commits lots of dumb fouls though…
I would like to see mo get some time on the court, see how he plays in the first half…maybe also get tyler some time, see if his shot is falling…
we need to go double big, put KAT at the four – especially if jalen is on the bench…more mitch minutes…
jose is good for a few intense minutes occasionally, just trust tyler more to keep the offense cohesive without jalen, heck sometimes with jalen, just to get him off the ball more…
mikal doesn’t seem like much a shot creator, josh can get his, but needs to help get mikal and OG more involved…
last night was bad on us…
It is comical to see so many of the usual suspects (not you, Hubs) bang the drum on this team being SO BAD after a loss.
The thing is…that loss was a total team effort. Literally any one of like 10 different things could have gone differently and we would have won. Maybe it’s best we didn’t because a win would give this team a false sense of security but the loss exposed what they need to do.
But think about it. Missed free throws from JB and OG would have made the difference. Any one of the three shots Mikal took in the last 3 minutes go in and we win. He had those 2 back to back missed threes that killed us. JB hero ball. Brown playing Mitch more or using the challenge or just calling a time out and regrouping when the Hawks went on that run.
Literally everything that could go wrong went wrong and we lost by one point after leading the entire game. We’ve lead basically the entire series sans the last minute of last night.
So yes, it sucks and the team has to get right with itself. But you can’t say before the series that the hawks are good and going to be tough and then act like we’re horrible when we lose a game.
The Pistons won 60 plus games and just gave away game 1 to the fucking Magic.
I refuse to believe Pagliacci isn’t someone on here cosplaying. Then we get to double our pleasure with E! The Statler and Waldorf of Knickerblogger, except without the balcony or the jokes.
for a stimulant snack, much more apt to go donut over caffeine…maybe even one of those long glazed donuts covered in chocolate stuff and filled with some kind of sweet cream…
oooooo, just thinking about it gives me the chills…
i’d even just drink some water with it…
Yup.
Speaking of Statler and Waldorf the new episode of the Muppet Show was really good.
@RunUpNYK
“mike brown rotation mistakes + data
1. replaced KAT First Option mins (+11.6) with non-KAT/JB mins (-6)
2. McBride at PG (+2.6) instead of at SG (+14)
3. Mitch without Brunson: (+0.3) instead of with Brunson (+8.1)
4. 8 minutes without initiator (JB/KAT/Jose/Kolek/Mikal/Josh”
i see you pags…doing your art thing…
alright…
Lol this quote almost makes me like CJ:
Dude they killed it with that special! Seth Rogen made it sound that if the ratings were decent enough that they would keep pumping out more.
I don’t see Dolan doing another coach fire. If Donovan fails then he will get fired as well?.. More likely Rose is out.
““I’m no villain, I’m a nice guy with two kids and a wife,” McCollum said.”
He also said that at the end of the game the Hawks were “hunting” Brunson when they were on offense. Points for honesty, I guess.
After a brutal last minute one point loss, instead of feeling sick and upset, instead of thinking and analyzing everything that went wrong these guys chose to go retarded instead. A part of me wishes that I did too…
https://x.com/nypostsports/status/2046427895308922983
Knicks in 5.
Alan Hahn just called out Brunson for his hero ball and taking the matchup with CJ McCallum personally instead of thinking in terms of Knicks vs. Hawks while on the radio this afternoon. (sound familiar?)
He said it’s a repeated pattern that we’ve seen over and over that he has to get past because it causes problems with the offense.
I was so happy to hear him say that because I’ve been saying this since last year. Brunson hero ball is not optimal. It’s just stagnates the offense and then I have to hear all the nonsensical takes about Mikal, Towns and OG not doing enough.
Last night was not just one of those things where he had a bad shooting night. This is a negative pattern of behavior that repeats itself.
And of course the second problem is Brown for not calling him out and making sure the ball and players are moving and he has sensible lineups out there.
Feels like the hive mind has sorted out the problem, which was a systemic breakdown top to bottom. About the only ones who don’t get to shoulder the blame for that game are maybe Hart, Mitch, and of all people Clarkson (who got an uncanny 5 rebounds in 11 minutes…). And maybe Mitch gets a bit of blame for walking over Dyson, which seemed to spark them a bit.
Pretty much everyone else fucked up royally, in one way or the other.
For the umpteenth time… Mikal having a sub-.500 TS% tonight is not a Brunson problem.
OG missing half his FTs is not a Brunson hero ball problem.
Hero ball is a problem, it’s not causing OG to miss FTs.
Hahn took the mask off I see. Brunson hero ball seems to be falling right behind Mike Brown in terms of issues.
If anyone still had doubts that playing non-stat lineups was a good idea…
KAT & Brunson each had an Ortg of ~120 last night.
The best bench Ortg was ~95.
KAT quit.
OG choked.
Mikal sucked.
KAT + OG + Mikal + Josh combined went 1-8 from the floor in the 4Q and 0-2 from the line. The last time any of them scored was when OG hit a 3 with 8:42 to go.
Brunson was 3-8 for 10 pts, and most of his looks were very good. There was probably just one shot I didn’t like (the step back three vs CJ).
I hated every shot everyone else took.
I’d like to see a better offense, too, but dudes need to step up.
here’s petty for you, if the sixers can some how show up and show out tonight, beat boston, I’ll feel much much better about out loss yesterday…
go sixers…
When you put out McBride and Shamet and have them play as point guards when they need others to set them up the lineup is doomed to fail. An NBA level coach should know this.
Celtics are 14 1/2 point favorites. Vegas knows Philly has no chance, best they can do is maybe cover.
But I’d love to be wrong…(-:
Mccollum went 5-6 against Brunson, but 8-17 against everyone else.
In the 1st game Mccollum went 4-6 against Brunson and 7-14 against everyone else.
We need a better place to hide Brunson… unfortunately I’m not sure there is one.
Hubs, the two threes Mikal took back to back and missed were good looks.
It’s so easy to default to blaming Brunson but in reality:
KAT doesn’t want the ball.
OG really doesn’t want the ball.
And no one wants Mikal to have the ball.
Starting lineup holding true to his meh-ness. 2.7 net rating so far
*That’s not good enough when you add in the crappy all bench lineup
Second most used lineup so far: McBride, Shamet, Clarkson, OG and Mitch has a negative 30 rating in 11 minutes. How is this the most used second lineup!
McBride most valuable minutes always come next to Brunson btw,. If you swap in that lineup above with Brunson in place of Clarkson you a 109 offensive rating and 75 def rating. Only played 5 minutes , but seems like a workable lineup to me. Shamet can be swapped out as well if Brown is worried about his defense .
In theory. Right now any shot Mikal takes is going to make me cringe. KAT’s wide open look that he passed up to give the ball back to Mikal was a better shot. That pass seemed a little like Protest KAT to me.
Hubs, you’re letting one bad game cloud your judgement.
I remember game 6 close out against the sizers when OG took the ball and drove straight to the hoop for a jam that literally became a Knicks meme it basically sealed the series for us.
Mikal had some big shots last year in the playoffs too.
They all had a bad 4th quarter. Brunson included. It happens.
You are confused.
The whole point of having a PG or similar playmakers on the court is to try to run the offenses, put players in position to succeed, to encourage purposeful ball and player movement, run plays and create good shots for OTHERS because not everyone is Jordan. IOS play and hero ball should be discouraged unless the matchup is extremely favorable.
When Brunson goes in hero/ISO ball mode the rest of the offense falls apart and guys are going to take less then optimal shots or turn the ball over trying to do things outside their skill range.
How many times do we have to see Brunson hurt and Towns, OG or Brdiges go off because the ball is moving better?
How many times do we have to see Bruson go into hero mode and the entire offense suck unless he’s on one of his shooting rolls.
The idea is for him to use his talents to draw doubles and then PASS, not use fancy footwork to create something tough while everyone else goes into a coma watching him and then can’t make a shot when they finally get one.
This has been going on since last year.
He’s got a serious ego problem that exploded into such obviousness last night that even Alan Hahn said he took the matchup with McCallum personally. He does it all the time against other top guards and I call him out all the time. That’s not winning basketball and it’s on Brown, his father and teammates to tell him to wake fucking up and play basketball the right way or we aren’t going to make the second round despite having the better team. He’s an important part of the team and we need his skills, but this is a team game. It’s not Brunson against the Hawks or Brunson against McCallum.
Swift that dunk came off an offensive rebound against an unset defense that didn’t rotate. It was also two years ago. OG can’t attack a close out with his dribble, and no one wants him to try.
And please. This was a typical Mikal night, not some aberration. We even had this exact conversation a week ago: “CJ has nowhere to hide, unless you put him on Mikal and he disappears.” Remember that? That’s what happened.
@xavierjdesigns
“Towns without Brunson + ANY assortment of 4 shooters this season is:
+20.0 per 100 (99th pctl in 758 possessions)
The Knicks have played 1:31 of such lineups so far this series”.
OG is technically capable of a closeout but I don’t consider him great or even good at them. The other issue is that if he gets cutoff after making a move to the basket, then he can’t pass and his midrange game is garbage.
Modern NBA offenses want connective pieces so that the offense doesn’t stall out after the initial advantage. Players who can keep the ball moving are at a premium and OG can’t do it. He’s been a massive plus for us but he lacks that skill.
Actually, none of our guys save Deuce and maybe Landry are good connective pieces.
Mikal can’t get to the rim.
Hart stalls the offense when he hesitates to shoot.
KAT can only blow by centers.
Brunson isn’t a great creator to begin with.
Clarkson can’t shoot.
We win on superior offensive talent with mediocre-to-bad team skills. Brown tries to make the ball flow, and has some success, but the personnel are lacking (Brown has plenty of his own issues too).
Mikal can get to the rim, he just chooses not to
Iron man streak means the most to him. It’s a legacy award. Hey I’m not making the HOF, no all star teams , but I got this.
In all seriousness, when was the last time Josh Hart hesitated to shoot? I mean, he used to do that. A lot. I can’t think of the last time he did that, though. Meanwhile he was 41.3% from three this year. And 4.8 assists per game.
Seems like that’s last year’s news. Seems kind of connective now.
philly philly philly…
don’t wanna get too excited, early still…
Wemby entering concussion protocol, not returning to tonight’s game, wow.
Atlanta Philly gonna be an interesting series.
That’s fair. I still think it happens here and there but maybe not enough to matter
Boston message board is ready to offer Tatum for Giannis.
VJ edgecombe has 30 points and hasn’t attempted one free throw
Boston chucks shots when they can go to rim all day without Embiid back there.
Guess Boston isn’t worthy of a gentleman’s sweep.
Boston 13-50 from three. Can’t make keep chucking
Cavs only team in East up 2-0.
😊
I was thinking that that Philly/Orlando Play-in Game rematch in the Eastern Conference Final is going to be so weird.
Only thing I’m learning is OKC should have a nice and easy quick path to the title
The Mets are nuclear bomb levels of terrible. Like they may be the actual worst team in MLB levels of terrible
Celtics are an overrated try hard team.
It won’t be pretty — in fact it will be maddening — but we’ll make the ECF again.
Yankees with a shutout at Fenway, this might be the worst Red Sox lineup in my lifetime.
I’ve noticed Weaver and Williams have been pretty awful for the Mets, I guess Stearns didn’t watch many Yankees games last season.
Red Sox have become penny pitchers over the years
Betts, Devers , let Bregman walk
They haven’t replace Jrue or Porzingis. It really depends on their 3 point shooting, but they for sure have less talent now .
The Devin Williams experience in full view tonight. Did the Mets’ front office even watch him pitch last season?
BBA last night after the loss:
“Knicks won’t lose this series but unless they somehow win the next 3 in a row to win this series in 5 after this embarrassing Game 2 loss there won’t be any positives to take from winning this series in 6 or 7. Similar to the Pistons series last year although I mean its the playoffs the goal is to just win however possible but its shit like tonight that make it so damn hard to truly love this group.”
BBA tonight:
“Atlanta Philly gonna be an interesting series.”
Wait. I’m trying to figure out how the Knicks won’t lose this series, but Atlanta is somehow going to advance, anyway.
mets’ fandom sounds painful this season…
it’s early, and it’s not like any team in either league can really hang with the dodgers…
scooooooooot!!!
seems like Stearns just likes former Yankees
Clay Holmes has been a good pick up. They aren’t anywhere as bad as they are playing now.
Could say that about the Knicks from 5 minutes left in last night’s game onward.
My whole concern with the Mets was the lack of pop in the lineup . It just feels like if the game is 3-0 in the first this Mets team can’t come back.
What Stearns really loves is former Brewers. If you played for the Brewers at some point he’s interested in acquiring you.
He’s done a remarkably bad job of acquiring any depth. The Mets have holes all over the place and they’re trying to fill them with failed prospects and with guys who haven’t had enough time in the minors.
Stearns is also so terrified of having bad contracts on the roster that he has ended up with a bunch of bad short-term contract and dead money. He could have just kept Nimmo, who was a productive player last year, but he moved Nimmo for the extremely washed Marcus Semien just because Semien has a shorter contract, but Semien is genuinely worthless and they’ll probably give him 600 miserable plate appearances.
The Mets had five automatic outs in the lineup tonight and that group went like 3-16. Sure, Soto is coming back tomorrow and Polanco is hurt, but there’s no depth. Baty and Vientos can’t hit, Benge can’t hit, Semien can’t hit, and after a hot start Luis Robert Jr is also looking like a guy who can’t hit.
Then on top of it they’re just making tons of mental errors, playing lots of guys out of position, and Mendoza is doing weird panic moves with the lineup. It’s a teardown. There are too many guys that just can’t play.
I mean, isn’t the Celtics loss way worse than ours last night? Sure ours was more excruciating, but they lost a game by 14 points to a team they were favored over by 14 ½.
Let the press dump on them tomorrow, I could use a break from Knicks bashing.
Rip City
You listen to the press? Sports personalities are looking for clicks/engagement to keep them active
When did scoot Henderson get good?
He isn’t this good . Just had one of those games tonight. Losing to Scott wasn’t on the Spurs fans list I bet.
Not sure what you’re going on about. Sure, 31 points is cool, but 31 PTS, 1 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 2 TO? Didn’t exactly fill up the stat sheet. Nothing great.
Maybe all three home/favored teams will lose tonight. Would we feel better then?
I wouldn’t.
Boston lost to 3pt variance.
The Knicks choked.
https://x.com/bballforever_/status/2046618571623547301?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet Speaking of coaches who might be available
Craziest thing with the Celtics is brown and Tatum can go to rim at any time and they decide to play the system way
We saw that last year. They just keeping hoisting up threes as they were blowing huge leads.
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