News & Blogs
Mike Brown’s rotations need a major retooling ahead of Game 3 – Posting & Toasting
Josh Hart’s fourth-quarter explosion helps Knicks hold on to 112-106 win over Celtics – SNY
The four biggest takeaways after NY’s Game Two loss against Atlanta – Posting & Toasting
How CJ McCollum is dominating Knicks and what they can do to slow him down – SNY
2026 NBA playoffs: Eastern Conference first-round takeaways – ESPN
Mike Brown deserves a large portion of the blame as Knicks crumbled in Game 2 – The New York Times
Knicks Vs Hawks Playoffs Game 2!! – Knick of Time
The Putback with Ian Begley: Knicks-Hawks Game 2 Reaction – Begley Putback
Slicing the Blame Pie with Dexter Henry of the NY Post | KFS Playoff Hangover | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
The Run.down Knicks vs Hawks R1G2 Postgame Show – The Strickland
The Knicks Blow A HUGE Opportunity In Game 2 Collapse vs Hawks – Knicks Fan TV
YT News
80 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.04.22)”
Are we allowed to do a sign-and-trade this summer if we’re over the first apron?
Asking for a LeFriend.
Why do we have a link at the top to
Josh Hart starring in a defeat of the Celtics?
this one from above: https://sny.tv/articles/knicks-celtics-josh-hart-takeaways-4-9-26
Durant with 9 turnovers last night.
Yikes….
It’s cool we all got to vent and everything (some of us more than others 🙋🏻♂️) but let’s not lose sight of the fact that everyone except OKC has major problems right now. Nothing to panic about. Other than maybe Mike Brown, who the more I think about it was alarmingly bad.
I remember when I met with Rama earlier in the year, he had just done something really dumb (Brown, not Rama), and I told Rama it’s worth noting that he has some stupid in him. We saw a lot of stupid the other night. And stupid doesn’t go away. Thibs had his faults but he also had a very, very high floor. He would never run out of time outs, he used challenges effectively, he left Mitch in long enough to get hacked out instead of doing the other team the favor of taking him out, and he always — always! — had either KAT or Brunson on the floor. I’m a little concerned.
My hope, hubs, is that Brown just got a little too cute and cocky thinking he could still tinker and experiment in the first round bc we had been largely in control the first two games. Hopefully game two was a wake up call for him and he won’t try any fancy stuff again.
But I think your assessment of Brown is pretty accurate.
I have to say that one thing i don’t do is feel great when i see i might be right about some opinion, if that opinion is against the Knicks. Something we do poorly, eg. But to each his own.
Hubert, i don’t know what’s happening lately but i find myself agreeing with almost all your comments. Maybe it’s a sign that the Knicks will indeed be NBA Champs. 😉 😀
The Boston and Detroit losses in round 1 are sweet, but just think if we had won game 2 like we should have? We’d have a comfortable 2-0 series lead with two of our main conference rivals in dogfights.
Makes it all the more maddening that we pissed away that game.
Hawks still the Vegas top favorite of the lower seeds to win their series. (*) Current rankings:
Hawks — +144
Timberwolves — +172
Magic — +172
Blazers — +410 (**)
Sixers — +440
(*) Not gonna include Rockets/Lakers because of all the injuries.
(**) Wemby’s concussion doesn’t look promising. Puts the Blazers back in it.
It’s really hard to get past this. I liked a lot of what he brought to the table initially, but he has been bad on so many levels:
– We still don’t know what a 5 out lineup looks like for the Knicks.
– Every single one of his comments about KAT shows a deep level of passive aggressiveness that is just unbecoming of a coach (I know KAT has his issues, but still).
– He has a pathological reluctance to use his challenges. The fact that you win the majority of your challenges means you are not challenging enough! There were a couple of plays on Monday that clearly should have been challenged, including a blocking foul called on Brunson that I am pretty sure would have been reversed (at least a 2 point swing).
– Never called a timeout during the 11-0 run in Game 1.
– Never called a timeout after his no-KAT/no-Shamet lineup gave away most of the lead in the first half.
– Went back to a no-KAT/no-Shamet lineup when it was clear it wasn’t working.
– Cannot for the life of him get Brunson not to play hero ball possession after possession at the end of the game.
The “fancy stuff”, Swift, I’m confident will be fixed. And I think there’s a good argument to be made that doing nothing in that game was the right move because it was early and the playoffs and he wanted to see if the players would figure it out.
But Brown does things that make me think he isn’t thinking. Not having a time out there is a thin slice I give considerable weight to.
I don’t know why I wrote no-KAT/no-Shamet, I meant non-KAT/no-Brunson. Sorry, JB.
I suppose my optimistic outlook is that basically everything had to go wrong for the Hawks to win a 1-point game with Mikal missing a buzzer beater he normally makes.
Yes.
I’m clearly no KAT stan. But even I listen to Mike Brown sometimes and am like, “dude, you know you need this guy, right?”
And KAT seems to respond in kind with passive aggressive behavior on the court. It’s the wrong button to push.
It didn’t even seem to me like he wanted to try.
Again, it is early, and maybe he wanted the players to figure it out. I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
I thought Kuminga effectively took KAT out of the 4Q so I don’t blame him for not going to KAT. But they got away with hiding CJ McCollum on Mikal the whole time. That can’t happen again. If the players can’t figure that out, you gotta make them.
“Spray the ball!!!!”
Anyone read “Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.”
By Noah Shachtman and Robert Silverman
https://www.wired.com/story/madison-square-garden-jim-dolan-surveillance-machine/
“Strike that, reverse it”
I mean, probably….
I do remember talking about that, though. Game 2 was on him more than anyone. Appalling.
Immediately after the loss I posted the following:
If you think Atlanta is quite a bit better now than they were earlier in the season you can knock a bit off the Knicks chances, but they are still the favorite. I believe in the same thread I said 56% as a bottom.
According to ChatGPT based on current betting odds
Knicks are a solid favorite (~64–66%)
Hawks are a live underdog (~34–37%), not a longshot
The implied probability of +144 odds is 40.98%.
LeBron being up 2-0 when his second best player is Marcus Smart is something . Still looking like a top 5 playoff guy.
1. Mike Browns coaching
2. Ball needs to move
3. Hit your free throws
Knicks issues
On the other end MCcollum will continue to have a good series if he is being guarded by Brunson.
Mets have lost 12 straight and the Phillies are just as bad
*Phillies terribleness has gone unnoticed
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yeUhmO4rMoc&pp=ygUSUm9ja2V0cyBmaXJzdCB0YWtl&ra=m
12:00 Perkins. “I’m walking around the city and you know what I hear? I miss Thibs”.
I suppose this is #2 on my list of concerns.
We went into the series thinking they didn’t have the personnel to run the defense that always thwarts us, and that this series was set up for KAT to excel.
And he did! KAT was great in the second half of game 1. And he was the best player on the floor in the 3Q.
Then Snyder replaced Daniels with Kuminga and voila! He dominated KAT on both sides of the ball, Okongwu moved over to Josh Hart, and we were back in a very familiar place.
(Everyone who complained we went away from KAT ignored this, btw. The stats KAT compiled were against the Hawks’ centers. Snyder took that away in the 4th.)
If this is going to be a thing, it really changes the math.
Vegas very likely took note.
Well things could be worse for the Knicks…
“Worse than boos, the crowd showered journeyman reliever Austin Warren with sarcastic chants of “M-V-P” after he recorded the first out of the ninth inning. With each out, they kept the chants going. The crowd erupted when Warren didn’t give up another run.
Indeed, things are that bad.”
It only changes the math if Brown doesn’t come up with an effective counter, which he should be able to. Like, I don’t know, play Mitch more than 18 minutes a game when he’s 6 for 6 and dominating?
It shouldn’t be that hard to always have our other big (OG or Mitch) guard Kuminga. And if Kuminga is guarding KAT effectively, Townes will just have to focus on rebounding and setting picks. We should still be able to beat this team three more times.
I’ll also add that while there are almost an infinite number of things these days that absolutely mystify me, the one that is basketball-related is how does putting a smaller wing on KAT and a center on Hart actually work. It just makes no sense that they can’t find a way to punish this.
I know it’s simplistic, but I can’t get the thought of Hart repeatedly driving and throwing lobs to a rolling KAT out of my head…
Yeah…….it’s weird, right? Seems counterintuitive that it should be such a problem, or even a problem at all. All I can think of is that KAT can’t get around a quicker guy. But how about shooting over him? I know…….overly simplistic…….but then it seems on its face that it *should* be pretty simplistic to solve. That’s why Mike Brown does what he does, and why I do what I do instead.
Josh does a much better job of handling the switch than KAT does. In fact I’d say Josh has largely solved it. The center on Josh doesn’t get to play free safety with impunity any more.
It works bc it’s totally effective at shutting down KAT.
Yes. I don’t to get too political in my response, but I think it should be clear regardless of one’s ideology that current civil liberties protections, which, understandably given the time(s) in which they were written, focus almost entirely on governments, are insufficient in an age in which private actors, such as one James Dolan, can wield surveillance technology just about as well as any government, and use it to harass the public.
It would be much easier to make that case against Dolan, which I entirely agree with, if the general climate in the country was in favor of free speech and civil liberties, but unfortunately, it’s anything but.
Alan Dershowitz, the modern founding father of the civil liberties movement actually changed his party registration from D to R today, which would have been unthinkable even 15 years ago. Unfortunate reality is that the Democrats in America have become very censorious and speech-chilling. (Republicans aren’t much better, but traditionally the Democrats have been the better party on civil liberties but that tradition is fading very fast.)
That’s the other problem. Did you see what happened in the 4Q? Once Kuminga made it clear to KAT that he had him in his pocket, he gave up… on everything.
He had zero rebounds. He passed up wide open shots. He didn’t even go to the corner to space the floor half the time. He just planted himself near the basket to give Atlanta an extra help defender at the rim. (That’s why Kuminga blocked Brunson and was able to cause that OG turnover.)
There’s no tactical solution to a dog with no fight other than benching him.
Without accepting the premise that there’s no fight in KAT (*), it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t want to fight for Mike Brown in the way that he would for Tom Thibodeau or another coach he respects more.
Mike Brown has done an awful job managing that situation and relationship and there’s no reason to sugarcoat it.
It remains that case that the choice between Mike Brown and KAT is really no choice at all. Hopefully there will be some kind of spark that continues to get them through the playoffs — after all, KAT’s TS% is over 70 — but reassessment at the end of the season is imperative.
(*) Or that he got “benched in Minnesota.”
Maybe Mike Brown is just a warm up for Steve Kerr? 🙂
I think the solution to all of this is to PLAY MITCH MORE! Hack a Mitch be damned! If you dare them to hack a mitch, you get their players in foul trouble. Play him a lot in the first half and let them either foul him or let Mitch feast on the boards. If they hack a mitch and get dudes in foul trouble, that should make it easier for KAT to operate inside and out later in the game.
Honestly, the Mitch PT thing in games 1 and 2 is just baffling. Brown has been ramping him up all season and he was playing 25ish minutes a game towards the end of the season but then limits him to like 18 minutes in game 1 and 2.
Reality check:
In 33.5 minutes per game in the playoffs, KAT is averaging 21.5 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2.5 blocks. He’s shooting .560 from the field, .556 from deep, and 1.000 from the foul line.
“Honestly, the Mitch PT thing in games 1 and 2 is just baffling. Brown has been ramping him up all season and he was playing 25ish minutes a game towards the end of the season but then limits him to like 18 minutes in game 1 and 2.”
Either Brown doesn’t know what he’s doing — very possible — or there’s an unspoken minutes limit put on Mitch by “medical.” Or it’s some combination of both.
Here’s every offensive play in the 4Q:
https://www.nba.com/game/atl-vs-nyk-0042500122/play-by-play?period=Q4&type=hustle
Show me the one where KAT had some fight in him against Kuminga.
The counter to your reality check is that KAT’s a great player when he’s guarded by a Center. Your stats prove that. That’s all they prove.
I don’t buy that. Mitch has looked as spry as he ever has and was dominating in game 2. He also was playing way more than 18 minutes a game the last third of the regular season.
Current Odds on Bookmaker
NBA SERIES PRICE
04/23
Atlanta Hawks +169
New York Knicks -192
Then it’s Brown.
Paying Thibs, Brown and Kerr at the same time would be very Dolan.
Very good point I hadn’t thought about. That’s why you’re the lawyer and I’m the degenerate horseplayer and gambler.
I think it’s the culture. Brunson, KAT, OG, Mikal, and Josh are the made men of the organization. It’s politically difficult for Mitch and/or Deuce to make inroads without upsetting the apple cart.
The republican party is currently full is wealthy pro Israel donors, advisers to Trump, and certain sects of Christians .
The democrat party seems to be aligning with Muslims, some of which a pro Israel guy like Alan Dershowitz would not look too kindly upon.
We went through a poitical realignment under Trump due to trade, illegal immigration, jobs and crime. A lot of traditional blue collar democrats switched their vote. IMO we are at the beggining of another one over our relationship with Israel, especially among young voters. The media is usually late to figure that out. I’m not even sure they’ve figured out the first one yet.
I think the net of it is going to be a blue wave in the mid terms. Of course, I’m just thinking out loud about how I might bet and why not making any judgments.
Gents, let us leave political discussions for the gutter, where they belong.
Sorry for bringing it up. I just don’t know why else Mitch and Deuce wouldn’t play more given the lineup data.
Have they?
Remind me, was it them that used government power to extort private universities and law firms based on their political viewpoints?
Did they direct DOJ to gin up meritless indictments over personal and political grievances?
Which muslims? The ones from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Did they give Biden’s son in law $2b to ‘invest?’
The ones from Qatar? Did they gift the Democrats a $400m plane as an open bribe or something?
See? There are mindless carp (and a few poisonous blowfish) on this site that cannot keep themselves from rising to the bait. Don’t feed the fish!
gotta come clean pags…my bad for tagging your expected dance moves as most likely being similar to rent boss marty from the big leboswki…
giving it some thought, you really seem more likely to have some les grossman dance moves…
do it pags, dance my man dance…
What the —-?
To be fair, the bait was blindingly obvious and completely delicious
okay pags, seeing how you are one of my fave folks in the world to tease, this is for you…
Disclaimer:
heroes of the month
– jessica tarlov, maybe the most impactful voice in news media
– pope leo, it’s true, no 1st American pope w/o current administration, gotta give credit to the very powerful and well resourced catholic church though in their choice to lead during this time
I’ve heard a lot of words to describe The Dersh, but founding father of the civil rights movement is a new one.
Man, why are even mentioning that ghoul?
Because it looks like E fell for the modern right’s practice of using Dersh much like they use RFK:
“Look! The slimiest liberal from 30 years ago supports us now and it’s not at all related to their long history of dishonesty and misconduct being considered acceptable among our cesspool of shameless grifters!”
I deserve a better class of alter ego…
Geo, you should know better than to ask!
watching nba today, today, and they keep replaying wemby’s fall – ouch…
very fortunate not to have broken any bones…
spurs play well without him, but, like us, and some other favored squads, they are in it now…
1,000 percent…if the opportunity ever presented itself – I would happily head out with you to the music/dance venue of your choice pags…
let loose and just be humans for a while…
shoot, I’d even be willing to check out that western line dancing stuff that looks kind of complicated…
mosh pit stuff, why not…all sorts of sounds out there to soothe the soul…
okay, last politically thing: why does it feel like the democratic party is still fighting sanders and his progressive movement…that’s nearly exactly what got us here…
we the people, yeah right…money money money – money…
Hubs, I don’t think that’s the politics people are referring to, lol.
And honestly, I really can’t believe that the locker room politics are so bad that Mitch isn’t allowed to play more than 18 minutes in a playoff game. Like an extra 7 minutes is going to somehow piss off the core guys when he’s helping them win? That seems absurd to me.
I also don’t think Deuce’s minutes have anything to do with politics. outside of 2 three’s he made at the end of game 1, he’s been bad and he’s even said himself he still isn’t 100 percent healed from the hernia.
At the risk of later sounding a fool, I don’t actually think “we’re in it” now. I think we played poorly and were coached really really poorly and just barely lost. The Hawks are simple not on our level, and if we lose again, it’ll be because Brown failed the assignment.
Actually it looks like when Kuminga guards KAT we aren’t on the Hawks’ level. Once again we are neutralized with this one weird trick.
When I played basketball in a past life, I was an incredible 3 point shooter, before it was cool. The trouble is I’m small and slow, so after a swish or two all they had to do was stick a guy on me. I had no ability to create a shot and a low, slow release.
Somehow being guarded by any wing turns KAT into the NBA version of me, but he gets paid $60m for this.
okay, we lose again, or go down in this series, cuz shit happens, then we’ll be in it…
actually, I think us and boston are fine…detroit has a big problem though if carter jr. plays either better or even with duren…if franz is healthy and controlling the magic offense they have a big problem…if jalen suggs decides to play harder than anyone else on the floor they have a big problem…
reference boston, vj max, did buy embiid some more time…win one at home, and maybe he makes it back for game six…
Respectfully, geo, I’d much rather we stay in, smoke a bowl, and play some video games.
Alan Dershowitz fucked little girls. Of course he’s more at home in the Republican Party.
that just so happens to be what I’m best at 😊
You’re right about 18 mins, Swift. I just meant you can’t bench KAT for Mitch or Mikal for Deuce without real blowback.
For deuce I was thinking more of last spring, when he was great. This spring he’s hurt and kinda sucks.
picked up red dead redemption 2 again after about a 4 year break…
for about a week kept falling off ledges on the horse a bunch, stopping on the horse is a bit of an art…couldn’t make it through saint denis without getting in constant trouble for running in to folks, while on the horse…
got shot a lot too and died a bunch, there’s like a “wheel” thing to select your weapons, it’s a bit of an art to get the right weapons pointed in the right direction(s)…
at about 50% though the game now…last week or so spent doing all the hunting stuff to buff arthur and expand his inventory…hunting in the game is a bit of an art too…
we’ll see if i stay motivated enough to progress through the story…new game (older release though) on the playstation platform that may need checking out…starfield…
game on…
Today is soooooooper confusing.
Two things:
1) Mitch needs to play 30 minutes a game all playoffs. 15 as back up center and 15 with KAT. Need to stop with this small ball BS or minutes restriction shit. They had two days off and only played him 18 minutes when he was 6 for 6 and dominated the paint.
2) Clarkson, Shamet and Deuce should never be on the floor together. The most you can have is a combination of two.
Of course, OP never said that:
OP never claimed Dershowitz was a founding father of the civil rights movement. He was 22 in 1960 and didn’t become a professor at Harvard til 1964.
He HAS BEEN one of the most notable defenders of the First Amendment (civil liberties) over the past 50 years and that is difficult to dispute.
As to whether he is a ghoul, a pedophile or a brilliant man who has looked at the situation and changed sides, reluctantly…. I’ll leave to the Hatfields and the McKoys to shoot out.
Going back to the subject of playing a Brunson and KATless lineup for a significant stretch, I do not think it was so bad. I listened to the free Dunc’d On podcast analyzing the game and they pointed out that not only did Brown have reasons related toKATs foul trouble for doing so but also that the Knicks were only out scored by three points during that stretch and were still ahead by eight points at the end of it.
Ironically, of course, it was right after Brown re-inserted our two best players into the lineup that our lead went from 8 to -1 in about a 5-minute span.
Guys, let’s try to keep the politics to a minimum.It’s a challenging time but I don’t think we are going to solve politics like we solved COVID.
I am strongly Pro-Mitch, as always. He needs more minutes.
I couldn’t really watch the game with complete focus but I was dying inside for the last six minutes and I still feel like I have heartburn form watching it.
We have to have a better lineup to close with.
Pistons are having none of that talk tonight. geo mancrush Cade ballin’.
Dominant defense
Just as the Mets get Soto back from his calf injury, now Lindor has to be removed from the game because of a calf injury. So we’ll see if he has to miss time now.
Brutal baserunning mistake by Vientos, running through a stop sign and getting thrown out. In addition to just being bad, the team makes constant mental errors.
the mets got this…
No lucky 13
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