Even in a limited capacity, a 42 year old LeBron could solve almost every problem on this team next year. He’s more likely to be healthy and available than Giannis, and he’ll cost significantly less.

Yeah sign me up for a Lebron Bridges swap. Even just getting out of bridges contract would be a huge win for us. We’d need some depth at bench so LeBron could get through the regular season but could just lean more minutes for Diawara, which would also be good.

I wouldn’t leave Brentwood either Lebron

Who knew that round 1 game 4 at Atlanta would be the crucible of the Leon Rose era?
at this point I’d do Bronny James for Mikal and take back salary if feasible.

This ain’t the crucible. This is just the day after the Dallas game on MLK Day again. They’ll be fine.

If this team were a TV show, Alan would have given up covering it a long time ago because there’s no character development and the writers keep recycling the same dumb plot.

This team is Dexter.

It may be formulaic but it still garners strong ratings, especially on KB ;-p. ( which may be more important to Jimmy D notwithstanding his stated expectation of making the CHP series)

Tonight’s game might be the single most important game in the Leon Rose era to date.

If we win, the series is tied and becomes a 3-game series with two at MSG. Advantage Knicks. Obviously they can still blow it, but it does reset the series. It would be a reprive, but not a vindication. Nothing short of winning the series and then going on to win the next one would suffice for vindication, and even that might come up short. But it’s a must win if ever there was one.

If we lose, the series is almost surely lost and the entire Leon era runs into a brick wall and crashes and burns. There will be no way to sugar-coat the outcome. I don’t think he gets fired, but you could certainly justify it. Brown will probably be shitcanned, but he’s only partly to blame. The stage will be set for flailing away at the big names out there…Giannis, Kerr, etc.

This is why I have felt all season that the regular season was virtually meaningless and that I couldn’t judge this season until after the playoffs. And here we are. Buckle up!

It’s the most important game for Leon Rose, but every game in the Eastern Conference Finals was more important than this game.

It may be formulaic but it still garners strong ratings, especially on KB

Seems like ratings are down. There’s a lot less people here than last year. Less comments. Less love for the team. Less everything across the board.

There’s been too many crucibles.

These guys know what they need to do, but they don’t want to do it until their lack of effort creates another crisis. It’s tiresome. Not just to us but to them.

They went through three rounds of crucibles last year, mostly self inflicted. By the time they got to game 6 in Indiana they just quit.

Never forget that they quit in that game. Maybe they dig down now, but eventually they’ll get tired of it bc they’re tired of each other.

“It’s the most important game for Leon Rose, but every game in the Eastern Conference Finals was more important than this game.”

I disagree. Once we beat Boston, Leon was playing with house money. I think it turned out to be pretty clear that Indiana was the better team…they took OKC to 7 and might have won if not for Hali going down. No one seriously predicted us to go to finals prior to the year, and no one had us beating Boston. And the guy Leon invested 5 firsts was instrumental in getting us to the conference finals for the first time in a quarter-century.

That wasn’t the case going into this year. Due to the Tatum and Hali injuries, this was widely viewed as the year we finally broke through, or at least had the best chance to. There was rampant belief that Thibs was holding us back. There was also belief that acquiring Yabu and Clarkson fortified our bench, and that our second year players might develop enough to help. There was belief that chemistry would build between the new acquisitions (KAT and Mikal) and the established players, and that Brown would unlock stuff that Thibs refused to entertain. There was also a feeling that Detroit would be unsettled by losing a main bench cog…no one had them winning 60 games.

Instead, Boston blew expectations away by developing Queta and Scheierman and others, and now are favored to come out of the East. Atlanta shipped Trae out and got a lot better in the process. And we were maddeningly inconsistent as Brown rode with a starting lineup that consistently underperformed their analogs around the league. And here we are, on the verge of an embarrassing first round exit. And the guy that Leon invested 5 firsts in is stinking up the court.

So in that sense, this game is far more important specifically in regard to the Leon regime. There’s no house money here, only enormous sunk opportunity cost. And by extension, it’s more important to us as fans because we fell into the expectations trap that didn’t really exist last year. And there’s really no tomorrow if we lose, at least it seems that way.

We are down 2-1 but could just as easily be up 3-0 in this series. They should still be able to win this in 6. I’ll save the rest of the gloom and doom until then. They just need to get their act together and Brown can’t play stupid lineups

The starting lineup, the one that plays a ton of minutes, is a stupid lineup. That’s kind of an indictment on everybody.

And the guy Leon invested 5 firsts was instrumental in getting us to the conference finals for the first time in a quarter-century.

I hate to pile on, but while he made some fourth quarter baskets and had that big-possession deflection when he and OG managed to trap Tatum in the corner, Mikal really wasn’t very good in the Celtics series. 41 MPG, 14.7 pts, on 429/333 shooting. The free throw percentage isn’t included in his slash line because he didn’t shoot a single free throw in the series.

He got some undeserved tautological credit — “they got him to beat Boston in the playoffs, they beat Boston in the playoffs, therefore he was a massive factor in them beating Boston in the playoffs” — but he wasn’t a big factor.

Generally speaking, he’s played 21 playoff games as a Knick and has been consistently meh in those games — and now he’s become awful.

We are down 2-1 but could just as easily be up 3-0 in this series.

This is where I am too. The Knicks have outscored the Hawks in the series, they’ve “won” the majority of the quarters played.

It’s extremely rare to have a negative point differential and win a 7-game series in the NBA. Gotta give Atlanta credit for being up 2-1 but I don’t think it proves the Knicks are the lesser team by any stretch.

I dunno, Atlanta pretty much boat raced the Knicks the entire way for game 3, led almost wire to wire, and by large amounts for much of the game. The starters-plus-Deuce lineup made a game of it in the fourth but it proved to be too big of a hole to dig out of.

I don’t think very many people who watched game 3 would come away with the conclusion that the Knicks were the better team.

Despite that JK the Knicks came all the way back and took 3pt lead with 50 seconds left left. I think many would say they are better team. They are being coached very poorly.

Oddly enough I feel a win coming on today fueled by the shooting variance fairy tickling our collective balls.

I still think we lose the series in 6 and need to blow it all up this offseason to get ahead of the rapid decline that is coming for Brunson and Bridges and create some chance to build a contender by 2035 or so. If we stick with this bunch much longer the 2030s will end up looking like the aughts.

Winning today makes the better long term outcome less likely, so that’s what my gut tells me will happen.

Meanwhile, the Pistons are in big trouble right now…

Magic want to blow this game I see

The Pistons have two talented players – Cade and Tobias.

Duren can be impactful , but he isn’t really talented.

Never mind

Wow what a three that bounced in

Banchero with an Alan Houston bounce. Magic didn’t fold.

That brought on Hali PTSD.

I still believe that we are a good team. We need a win tonight, and we will get a win. That’s what good teams do. 🧡💙

It will be forgotten, but I think the overturned call on Black with 35 seconds left might be the worst call I’ve ever seen. They managed to get 3 things wrong at the same time: the Pistons player was two feet inside the arc (and they called a 3 point foul); they called the foul on Black, who was guarding a completely different player; and said there was contact against the shooting arm, when Suggs never even tried to contest. Incredible stuff. Fortunately for Orlando they still had a challenge.

Agreed Z-Man. I felt a bad memory.

I am with cyber, let’s think win and get this done tonight

Pistons are a pretty pedestrian team once you match their physicality and intensity. The Magic did that. This year’s Knicks can’t. There is still a long way to go in that series, but if the Pistons lose and get out of the way, this will hurt more for the Knicks. With Pistons out and Boston still not the same as last year’s team, this could be a golden opportunity for us. Alas.

NBA refereeing is probably at its lowest, no? I’m guessing all the coaches have a winning record on challenges.

Not excusing Bridges for missing shots or never going to the rim , but I do wonder if he’s even playing his proper position . https://x.com/shwinnypooh/status/2048100239026864609

I’ve been drinking since noon. I hope we get off to a good start or I may be passed out by halftime.

I remember I wanted Ryan Dunn, he seems like an afterthought in Phoenix.

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