News & Blogs
Jalen Brunson Gives Surprising Take on NBA ‘Star’ Status in Video Amid Knicks’ Playoff Run – BleacherReport
Knicks Bulletin: ‘I swear to you, he got this as a middle finger to me’ – Posting & Toasting
2026 NBA playoffs: Conference semifinals takeaways – ESPN
Do the Knicks match up better against the Pistons or the Cavaliers? – The New York Times
OG Anunoby returns to practice as Knicks gear up for Eastern Conference Finals – SNY
REPORT: Knicks’ OG Anunoby practices, expected back for ECF Game 1 – Posting & Toasting
Pistons or Cavaliers: Who do Knicks match up best with in Eastern Conference Finals? – SNY
Will OG Anunoby make an impact for Knicks in ECF? | The Putback with Ian Begley – Begley Putback
Pistons/Cavs Hate-Watch-A-Long – The Strickland
Knicks Nightcap | ECF HERE WE COME| Top Notch Louisville Whiskey – Knick of Time
Reacting To The WORST Knicks Takes Of The Playoffs 🤦♂️ | Stephen A Smith, Kendrick Perkins & More – Knicks Fan TV
Knicks vs 76ers Exit Interview w/ Trill Bro Dude | PREGAME POD | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
YT News
101 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.05.14)”
Did last night’s game change anyone’s opinion on your preferred ECF opponent?
The Macri recording happened before I saw the Kolek/Glenn Close comment here, but I texted it to Jon after, and he was very amused.
“Did last night’s game change anyone’s opinion on your preferred ECF opponent?”
It made me even more sure than I already was that we can beat either of them. I have a slight preference for Cleveland because HCA.
Alan, I don’t really have a strong preference, there were pros and cons to both. I guess I’d probably lean Cavs for two main reasons. First, we would have Home court advantage, which I think is pretty important. Second, the pistons are more likely to try to physically rough us up, and although I think we would win if we stay healthy, I could see someone getting cheap shotted. But the Pistons really can’t shoot, and as good as their defense is, I don’t think they can really stop us the way we’re playing.
I’m getting *slightly* concerned about rustiness after what is an awful lot of time off in between. I know that it’s good for OG and our other less-banged up guys, but overall I would not be surprised to see some turnovers in the first 6 minutes of Game 1…….hopefully nothing that would put us behind the 8-ball. I guess I’m saying that it’s not always easy as humans to keep laser sharp focus after not needing it for a bit.
But still overall better than being utterly exhausted from a previous tough series just ending.
The conundrum is that you almost always want to play the team that loses, because that’s how you know they’re the worse team, so I guess I don’t really care.
I think I still prefer Cleveland bc of home court advantage.
But these playoffs have kind of driven home a couple of points for me.
Experience matters in the playoffs. And the regular season, once you get above winning 50 or so games, doesn’t matter too much. Teams like Detroit and Boston can stack wins if they try hard bc so many teams tank. Teams like us can spend the season figuring stuff out and leaving something in the gas tank for the playoffs.
Cleveland won 60 games last year and is now a “playoff tested team” that improved itself with the Harden trade. So thinking they’ll be easy bc they only won 50 games or whatever is a mistake.
That being said, I think we can take either team. But Cleveland would give us home court and they also will have played three games in three different cities in six days. That’s tough and would give us an edge in game 1.
https://x.com/KnickedupFan/status/2054657876040237413?s=20
My only preference is a game 7 so OG’s hamstring gets two more days of rest. I think that’s more important than HCA, and both of these teams are unimpressive.
That said, I think we’d sweep Detroit. Cleveland might steal a game or two with hot shooting.
This was my favorite post from yesterday, and I appreciate KFNINJ for doing the research:
Imagine watching the Cavs and Pistons flail against Toronto, Orlando, and each other and thinking “our series is the real ECF.” Hilarious.
Exactly. I’m leaning towards Detroit because they look hopeless. But if they win, they’ll likely have found something that works.
It’s the same with Cleveland. Watching them lose two in Detroit last week, someone here (JK? Marechal?) captured the feeling of the board when they said “my kingdom for a series against these Cavs.” Now that they’ve rallied, they look a little more dangerous.
But they aren’t win-the-series dangerous. They just look like they might be able to steal game 2 at the Garden and make it a competitive series.
The other thing about the Cavs is Harden will figure out how to Brunson in endless pick and rolls. That alone makes us a little weaker.
I think the Cavs are more dangerous too but think we’d have an advantage with home court and also they can’t just beat the shit out of us like Detroit will try to do.
Although someone did posit that Detroit might be better prepared for an OKC series.
I’d way rather play the Cavs and it’s not even close.
We struggled with the Pistons in the playoffs last year and were lucky to escape with the win.
They are clearly better and more experienced this year.
They killed us this year in the regular season.
They were better than the Cavs in the regular season this year.
They have a very physical lock down defense.
They have home court.
We have a record of success against the Cavs, did well against them this year and would have home court. They are also good, but for me it’s not close as to preference.
Honestly my take from this series is that nobody is winning, it’s just that one of them is losing less than the other.
Knicks are less likely to get injured against the Cavs in my view. Also think OG is somewhat less essential against the Cavs.
My instincts tell me that Detroit is more likely to win this thing, but then there is this:
“As of May 14, 2026, the Cleveland Cavaliers are heavily favored to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, holding -320 odds to win their second-round series against the Detroit Pistons after taking a 3-2 series lead. They are priced around +260 to +300 to win the Eastern Conference outright.”
I think Cavs winning this series vs Detroit will be similar to Philly beating Boston. That was the 76ers Finals, they were so emotionally satisfied with finally beating Boston they were nowhere near ready to deal with the Knicks intensity.
Cavs beating Detroit to finally reach the East Finals would be a huge achievement for them, they probably won’t be mentally prepared to deal with the increased intensity of playing the Knicks for a chance to reach the NBA Finals. Detroit on the other hand all season long have been waiting to play the Knicks in the playoffs, beating the Cavs to reach the East Finals probably won’t feel like a big accomplishment for them. Also Pistons are cocky enough that they truly think they’re better than the Knicks. I could see the Cavs going down easily in 5 cause they’ll just fold once they realize they’re fucked playing the Knicks.
Cavs have more guys who can get hot from 3 (Mitchell, Harden, Strus, Merrill) and that can lose you a game or two, but would still prefer them over Detroit, who are going to try and beat the shit out of us and probably injure somebody.
Underdiscussed thing is that Harden is pretty old, and at some point will not be able to sustain this playoff pace,
The stats on rested teams winning game 1 against teams coming right off their last series show that it’s a bigger advantage than home court.
Given that, I think not having home court would actually be advantageous for having a short series.
If you ride that advantage to a game 1 win in Detroit, you’re set up reasonably well for a 4 or 5 game series.
Against the Cavs it would make home court in game 1 redundant, and a simple steal of game 2 would set them up for 2-2 in game 5.
All signs point to Detroit being cooked, though. I don’t think they can win tomorrow. But I do think the Cavs can lose.
Strat’s irrational fear of Detroit is amusing. “I will not relinquish my priors!”
I am finding it very difficult to develop a rooting preference, which is weird because before this series I was supremely confident the Pistons would be the tougher matchup.
But then Jalen Duren continued to be indistinguishable from Ariel Hukporti. Seriously the guy is basically invisible out there aside from being really big. Even defensively he’s looked lethargic and confused.
I have no idea what’s going on there, or whether it’ll last for the duration of the playoffs (be sure seems to have a case of the Lights Too Brightis). But if we assume the Pistons are, for all intents and purposes, without the services of their second best player, they cease to be remotely intimidating.
I have to imagine the Knicks will be a bit rusty in game 1, which might offset their rest advantage.
“I have to imagine the Knicks will be a bit rusty in game 1, which might offset their rest advantage.”
I do, too, but I think it would only last through the first half of the first quarter. That’s not something that is irrelevant, but if we can get our old selves back together pretty quickly both offensively and defensively it should still be a win (same as how we did it against both Atlanta and Philly in a couple of games before going on to decimate them later).
I think I want Detroit in the ECF, just because I wanna see what this version of the team looks like against them. Either way, it will be a challenge playing against either team. We were able to play physical in the first 2 rounds, I wanna see what it looks like against a team who will push back. I think that if we play well and survive Detroit, then we have a really good chance vs OKC- assuming they beat San Antonio. But if we make it to the Finals against San Antonio, we have a greater than 50% chance to bring home the chip.
Interesting theory about winning in Detroit for game 1.
Either way, I’d like Detroit to win game 6 and this go to 7. I think the rust factor is smaller than our opponent being exhausted factor.
There’s also part of me that still wants Detroit only because it will be annoying as fuck if we beat the Cavs and all the sports pundits will say we got a lucky/easy path to the finals.
If we beat Detroit, we beat the best regular season team in the East.
We are gonna play who we play and beat who we play. Plus and minus to both teams, Knicks just have to keep what they have been doing
Both Detroit and Cleveland have pros and cons…I give a slight edge to CLE because of Thompson but both are geting getlemen swept.
Knicks will likely have another ~5 days off watching OKC and SAS go though their seven game battle.
“There’s also part of me that still wants Detroit only because it will be annoying as fuck if we beat the Cavs and all the sports pundits will say we got a lucky/easy path to the finals.”
I couldn’t care less what the supposed “pundits” say. Many of them are idiots looking for clicks.
You’re right. That narrative will be there when you travel the path of beating 6th, 7th and 4th seed on your way to the finals but I don’t really care. The only thing that matters in playoffs is weather you advance to the next round or you don’t.
The Pistons just don’t have enough offense, and that does not seem like a fixable problem for them now that they’re in the playoffs. Tobias Harris is their #2 option. He’s an okay player, had a fairly typical Tobias Harris season, but at the end of the day that is just not enough firepower. Cleveland is a middling defensive team and they were able to get stops at the end of the game because Detroit with a gassed Cunningham didn’t have enough shooting or playmaking to get a bucket when they needed it.
Their defense is also running into a problem: they play a very active, aggressive defensive style but it is rightfully drawing a lot of whistles. Cleveland has a monstrous edge in FTA over these last two games, 72 FTA for the Cavs to 32 for the Pistons. That’s FORTY free throw attempts over two games.
Whatever they’re doing on defense, it isn’t working. They’re just getting creamed at the free throw line. Before these last two games, the Pistons had actually taken more FTA than Cleveland, so I can’t really say what’s going on under the hood, but the whistle has come to define these last couple of games.
Being honest, I don’t want the Cavs for aesthetic/emotional reasons. Mainly I loathe James Harden to such a degree that I don’t want him anywhere close to the Knicks in must-win games. If he were to time-travel (like he did yesterday) it would be infinitely more horrible than if Cade rallied the Pistons to a win.
Also Donovan Mitchell is really scary. Cade Cunningham doesn’t scare me. He’s a very good basketball player and will get his 25-27 pts, but there’s no one else. The Pistons are a grinder team. And the Knicks are much better at grinding, at least in this new version.
I think I want the Cavs. I don’t want to see Ausar Thompson on the other side.
If we continue playing like we have been I don’t see how either of those teams give us a real fight. I think home cooking would be better overall for us though. The less miles and flights the better.
At the end of the day, we can beat either team but also can’t take either for granted. It’s more about us taking care of our business than them being better than us.
So I think I lean Cavs mainly because I don’t see them intentionally trying to hurt our players like Detroit might, especially if they get desperate.
But either way. Want them to go to 7.
Ausar is so problematic on offense that he elicits zero concern from me.
i think his defense on Brunson would only encourage the egalitarian offense that makes us unbeatable. And on the other end we get to double team Cade with impunity.
The Celtics won a title two years ago betting on surrounding a good and a great player with variance mongers. The Cavs got a good and a great and some of all that there above. The Piston are a like a team of Neanderthals basketball wise. They’re extinct for a reason. And they have Thompson and Duren. Id still rather Detroit.
I’m with you Hubert re Ausar. He’ll get his steals and a few dunks and be an irritant, but it’s like Cade, who’ll also get his but not go off for 45 like Mitchell might.
Neither team scares me, but I would love to go belt-to-ass on the Pistons. Beating them would be more narratively satisfying. As others have said, they don’t have the horses to compete on offense. Cade is getting gassed in crunch time now as the sole offensive engine, and he’s not going to get any more rest. Playing a game every other day is catching up to him.
If we can gameplan Maxey out of the equation, that gives me confidence we can do something similar for Cade. We can also play ghost coverage on Ausar Thompson and he’s much more offensively limited than Kelly Oubre. They can’t beat us by trying harder and being more physical like they did in the regular season.
Also I’m still gobsmacked by how not only is BBall Paul playing Duren off the floor in the 4th quarter, but also that Bickerstaff would ONLY play Paul in the 4th quarter. Maybe if you didn’t hold him out of the game so long you wouldn’t be in that situation!
There’s a big difference, though. Allen can’t shoot from outside the paint, and Mobley shot under 30% from deep this season. You couldn’t pack the paint with KP and 4 shooters. It’s harder for the Cavs to generate as many 3s as Boston did.
The Knicks have a better offense and a better defense than the Cavs. Against the Pistons, you can’t argue that they are only better on one side of the court (and I get that they are so much better on that side that it offsets the defensive difference).
Regardless of whether it’s DET or CLE, last night’s result was absolutely delicious for several reasons:
1. We can now rule out DET winning in 6. OG is critical against DET and we know that if we end up playing them he will get an extra two days’ rest.
2. If CLE wins the series they will have travel and one days’ rest in any case.
3. If DET wins the series they’ll now be coming off consecutive 7-game series where they had to eke out comebacks against weaker teams.
4. The collapse DET had last night wasn’t far off from our G1 ECF collapse against Indy. Main difference was that Indy made a ton of insane shots while CLE just briefly sucked less. Still, these kinds of experiences shake teams’ confidence and demoralize them.
5. The overall more likely opponent is now CLE, which is probably the better prospect due to physicality, homecourt, and history. There is just no plausible defender against Brunson. DET has a lot of weaknesses too, but Bickerstaff has now discovered that Paul Reed is a lot better than Duren, so one of them may have just gone away.
I believe last night’s result alone bumped our championship equity up by at least 1%.
I’ll say that Dean Wade actually guarded Brunson well in the last matchup. I don’t expect that to hold, though. They’d also be banking on Mitchell and Harden making a lot of rotations, which well, you know they won’t.
In the playoffs, Knicks are 2nd in OffRtg (126.0) after OKC, while Cleveland is 4th (114.6). In DefRtg, the Knicks are 2nd (105.7) after the Spurs, while Detroit is 4th (108.1).
So we’re 2nd in both OffRtg and DefRtg, Detroit is 7th and 4th, and Cleveland is 4th and 10th.
Cleveland does bring some of that annoying foul baiting energy to the table, as they have maybe the one player who spams fouls more than Joel Embiid in James Harden. Harden racked up a very annoying 14 FTA yesterday and some of them seemed to come because he was selling the fouls well.
I’m using season long samples, which are more reflective of true team talent.
Defense: Detroit (2nd), Knicks (7th), Cleveland (15th)
Offense: Knicks (3rd), Cleveland (6th), Detroit (10th)
So New York is 3rd and 7th, Detroit is 10th and 2nd, and Cleveland is 6th and 15th. We have an edge over both teams with the edge over the Cavs being quite large. Then again, the Pistons’ edge over the Cavs is also quite large, and they are currently losing the series to them.
Rankings can be deceiving, especially concerning the top few teams in a given category. For example, you’d think our 7th ranked defense isn’t too far off from the Pistons’ 2nd, but the gap is pretty large. They are better than us in Drtg by 3.6 points, which is larger than the gap between us and the 20th ranked Dallas Mavericks.
Conversely, the gap between our 3rd ranked offense and the Pistons’ 10th ranked is only 1.9 points, just over half the defensive gap even though we are farther apart in the rankings.
Based on these it isn’t true to say we have an ‘edge’ over the Pistons — if we did, they wouldn’t have a better net rating than us. It’s certainly debatable how RS results translate to post season given factors like the postseason try-hard tax and Jalen Duren turning into Jerome James, but them’s the facts.
Not to ignite coaching comparisons, but watch this stretch (and one could watch the entire series, really) and then think of the offense now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLeZx3ThCOM
That was borderline malpractice.
I think Detroit is definitely the better team. But I think we are a favorite against them at this point. I don’t know, Cleveland just seems like much less of a threat. Harden is a bit washed, we have guys to guard Mitchell. I see us beating them much more easily.
So have the other Dodgers hitters.
The regular season defensive rating of the Knicks has to be taken with a grain of salt, because they have been radically better on defense since January 20th or so. It shows both in the results and the eye test. The Knicks have been an elite defensive team for a long stretch of time at this point.
In the playoffs the Knicks have the #2 defensive rating, about two and a half points better than the Pistons. I think they are roughly comparable defensive teams. The Pistons’ handsy defensive style relies heavily on a lax whistle, and that has hurt them pretty badly against the Cavs.
This is true. Since Jan 20 our Drtg is an excellent 109.4 which would have been 2nd to OKC. We have a 10.4 net rating since that date, which would also have been 2nd to OKC for the full season.
I wouldn’t take much meaning from the metric given the lack of diversity and volume in the sample, but the subjective factors do seem to point in our direction. The whole ‘foul every play and bet on whistle fatigue’ defense seems to be running up against its limits this year, though it still seems to work great for OKC.
It does seem like we have another gear that they don’t, and most promisingly for me, it seems like it’s our offense that has really changed from the RS based on KAT’s transformation into Nikarl-Anthony Townsic.
“Nikarl-Anthony Townsic.”
You *really* like typing that, don’t you? 🙂
I like reading it.
And seeing it.
I think the Pistons are inherently more dangerous because they can drag other teams down to play their style, but that has a limit in the playoffs because their only offense is Cade and he’s a mediocre passer with mediocre to bad shooters around him.
The Cavs are a finesse team that crumbles when they get punched, and we have way more tools to do that with than Detroit has. We can exploit their bad defenders like Harden much easier and we have the guys to keep up with all their offensive threats.
Give me Cleveland.
if the cavs win, harden stops at 5 consecutive second round exists, mitchell at 4…
embiid would stand alone at 6…
More importantly, Embiid is the only MVP who has never made it past the second round. Marinate on that one for a minute.
oops, make that exits instead of exists…
here’s a crazy one for you doogie…
on those press conferences and court interviews he was doing – he looked like he was holding his young son like a shield…a hate deflector or something…
adorable looking child…it kind of worked on me…
Yeah, Arthur is definitely a cute kid. I heard folks on ESPN Radio saying the same thing. Normally when Embiid gave such a “me first” response to the “was this year a success” question by saying that it was because he got to play, instead of the “team first” response by saying that it was disappointing to be swept in the second round, he would have been asked tougher follow-up questions. But that didn’t happen because he was securely holding Arthur.
The elephant in the room is 8-0 with their 2nd best player due back soon. That have yet to break a sweat.
The mouse in the room is a spurs team that matches up well with the elephant
Facts. I continue to believe that they are in the early stages of being the greatest basketball dynasty of all time and will be more likely than not to win the championship for every season in the rest of this decade. No franchise has ever had this level of present and future value at the same time, and given the rules changes, it’s possible none ever will.
It’s really hard to overstate how dominant that franchise is. You could probably split it into two full teams that would be legit contenders. I’ve celebrated Deuce for being such a perfect additive piece with his great contract and 3&D chops. They have ten Deuces on top of a big 3 comparable to the 90’s Bulls, the Heatles, or the Durant Warriors.
I expect watching a series against them to be an exercise in abject misery as SGA does a one-man parade to the free throw line on one end while Caruso and Dort get away with fouls on every possession on the other end.
If we make the finals and lose in 5, I would consider that a great result. If we don’t make the finals I expect an automatic sweep with no single game being competitive. Our championship equity really consists of either a substantial SGA injury or an unprecedented thermonuclear series by Wemby getting them out of the way.
I guess the only flaw OKC has is that they won in 7 against the pacers last year and were basically a Haliburton Achilles away from an all time upset.
Maybe they are just a glorified crew?
I am so, so more interested in them getting Cleveland. The Pistons have beaten a lot of good teams this season. The Cavs have struggled with EVERYone (but are good enough to still win 50 games).
So I want the Knicks to get the easier team. The Celtics sure as fuck still celebrated their title beating a shitty Rockets team back in the day, ya know? The Lakers still celebrated beating a streaky Heat team that was decimated by injuries. The easier path is better!
Let’s not get too carried away, though. Phoenix and Luka-less Lakers is easier competition than any eastern team has had so far.
Also, recent history has seen the NBA champion getting similar lucky paths through the playoffs. The Thunder, Nuggets, and Celtics didn’t have to face anyone higher than a #4 seed in their recent titles (which is why I’m pulling for Minny in the NBA Finals!).
Don’t forget about the Celtics beating a hobbled Miami, a hobbled Cavs, a hobbled Indiana, and a hobbled Mavs in 2024.
Why can’t we get the Mavs instead of OKC!?
I did not realize that in addition to not boxing out on the Harden missed free throw attempt, Cade fouled Harden on purpose because he did not realize that the Cavs would not get a full 24 second possession given that it was an offensive rebound. They were only down 3, and basically allowed the Cavs to make it a two possession game. Ouch.
I guess I’m the only one following the draft combine and scrimmages here… can’t kick old habits!
Some interesting nuggets:
– Cam Carr has definitely played/measured himself out of our range.
– Morez and Aday are also probably out after their measurements/testing. Aday is legit huge, though surprisingly not as nimble as fellow giant Edey.
– SJU alum Dillon Mitchell apparently beasted in the scrimmages. Sounds like he’s great at everything but shooting (d’oh)
– another guy who supposedly looked league-ready is NC State freshman Matt Able, which kinda came out of nowhere for me. His numbers don’t look amazing, but after a year of coaching, he might be considered a steal.
– Baba Miller measured and played great, but idk if I buy it with him as he’s never great in season and as a senior, has been to these events multiple times already.
That’s all I’ve got for now.
Embiid and Steve Nash’s 2nd are both fraudulent MVP Awards and likely for the same reasons…think of it as an inverse, make up call or reversion to meritocracy.
More plausibly, they were just a team that had no rotation player over 26 other than Caruso. Their second and third best players were 23 and 22.
How is Nash’s 2nd MVP fraudulent?
Facts. The goal is to maximize probability of a positive outcome.
Let’s win one first before we try to win a super difficult one like Mavs in 2011.
Come on pags, – you already know the answer to this…
I mean, my answer is that it can’t be fraudulent unless the first one was fraudulent because Nash played better and led Phoenix to almost as many wins despite losing peak Amare and Joe Johnson. That team was literally Shawn Marion, Boris Diaw, and a box of scraps.
He led the league in TS% and AST%. If he wasn’t the rightful MVP, who was?
Arguments could be made for Dirk, LeBron, Shaq, etc.
By the way, I can’t stand Nash, Blake, or Dirk on the Prime telecasts. The only one I can stomach is, oddly, Udonis Haslem. McGrady and (most surprisingly) Carmelo are actually both pretty good commentators.
Bron was great but only won 50 games and the East was absolute trash at this point in NBA history.
Shaq was on a noticeable decline and split the vote with Wade who was better that year.
I’ll admit Dirk has the strongest case but being a stretch big basically meant you were gay back then
I feel surprisingly good about our chances against the elephant in the room. We are better at half court offense than they are, and I don’t think it’s particularly close.
There are two things I hate about that matchup:
1 – they’re the only team on the planet with a better Jalen Brunson (SGA)
2 – they seem to get a special whistle on defense that allows them to be more physical than most teams.
But going down the line, with the way our guys our playing in these playoffs, I like KAT more than Holmgren, OG more than Williams, Mikal more than Dort, Hart more than Caruso, and Mitch more than Hartenstein.
Their bench is better but ours doesn’t suck. And they can’t play all those guys anyway.
The X factor that we have no answer for is Ajay Mitchell. It’s remarkable how good he’s become.
I’d expect that series to go 7 games and for us to have a real chance to win.
Fine…both were MVP awards were frauds then.
Who? – Choose from Kobe, Lebron or Shaq.
To win back to back MVPs averiging less than 20 points a game with zero defense becauase you’re a flashy cog playing in a new revolutionary system is embarasing. I can see writers get bambozled by first one. Fool me twice? – shame on the league.
I like Steve Nash. He’s kind of handsome, and plays soccer.
I like watching Steve Nash play. He’s like a skinny, quick Brunson.
Shaq, Kobe and LeBron bore the shit out of me.
There, I think that explains it.
I posted this early this morning before the new thread came up and wanted to re-post it because I think we have an unsung X-factor, which is our elite medical staff:
If we can assume that OG’s re-injury risk is minimal (i.e. no different than it was pre-injury considering that he has an injury history in that same hammy) it’s really pretty amazing that we have the opportunity to go into the conference finals at something pretty close to full health, and with a medical staff that can be trusted to do the right thing.
Nothing will ever be as bad as Embiid stealing the MVP from Jokic when their respective bpms were 13.0 (Jokic) vs 9.2 (Embiid). Even the Malone one over Jordan was close enough to justify voter fatigue.
Embiid’s MVP stands out like a sore thumb, and it unnecessarily fucks up Jokic’s historical ledger.
Hamstrings and calves and achilles tendons are nothing like shoulders, ankles, and fingers. They’re often beyond the reach of any medical staff.
Truth. Jokic was just bananas that year. 70% TS! 9.8 APG as a center and 0.2 APG away from averaging a triple double! He shot 67.5% on 2-pointers!
He basically scored better than peak Shaq while dominating every other aspect of the game besides rim protection — it was arguably the GOAT offensive season.
Hahaha…thank you. Just made my point. His MVP award had very little to do with basketball and everything to do with aesthetics.
Mamba averaged over 35 a game.
Lebron’s third year coming out party averaging 31, 7 & 7.
Shaq was dominant and fouled out the entire league.
Somehow the writers used the logic that if he got it last year and this year his ppg went from 16 to 18, he must therefore win it again.
In order to win back to back MVPs, you have to be in top 15 all-time greats. Just look at the list who won back to back and compare them to Nash. Based on meritocracy on basketball court, – Nash is not a top 75 player.
The NBA said Thursday that officials were correct in not calling a foul on Jarrett Allen in the closing seconds of regulation of Game 5 between the Cavaliers and Pistons in Detroit.
Cleveland went on to win 117-113 in overtime Wednesday night, but it was the no-call on Allen, who made contact with Ausar Thompson as the Pistons’ guard was going after a loose ball, that led to some controversy in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.
Thompson protested the decision, and after the loss, Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff concurred, adding: “[Allen] fouled Ausar — clearly. He tripped him when he was going for a loose ball.”
The league, via its Last Two Minutes Report, disagreed.
“Allen and Thompson legally step to the same spot while pursuing the loose ball [before either player has possession], and both lose their balance from the marginal contact,” it read.
CYA in its purest form…
Yes, but when OKC sweeps someone it’s a sign of OKC’s greatness. When the Knicks sweep someone, the competition was weak.
I don’t know, the league has had no problem admitting that they failed the Pistons when they’ve screwed them in the past…
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44888482/karl-anthony-towns-jalen-brunson-lead-knicks-pistons
That call at the end of regulation yesterday gets called about 0% of the time in that situation. It would have been a pathetically weak call to end the game. They were both going for a loose ball.
Bickerstaff should be embarrassed. You don’t get to win a pivotal game 5 bc of incidental contact 85 feet away from the basket.
Agree it wasn’t getting called…but if that’s in the front court in the 1st qtr…it’s getting called…the explanation is weak …
Me and Macri with a lot of help from you guys: https://youtu.be/N-EW02AoXHs?si=z0hyP6kGxrJ-bdGd
Just listened to Alan’s KFS pod wih Macri…great work!
edit: jinx!
Tv is good
I agree with pepper…it was a foul under most circumstances, and being that the two players were isolated and out of the scrum, all eyes were on it, including all 3 refs, making it seem even more egregious. However, dozens of fouls just as impactful in during earlier parts of the game don’t get called, including ones like that one. If that same play happened earlier in the game and didn’t get called, no one would really give a shit.
The important thing for me is that there was no advantage gained by the foul…there was literally nothing that Ausar could have done with that ball anyway. DET had no time-outs and there was at most going to be 0.3 seconds on the clock if Ausar had gained possession running full speed towards the sideline. It’s not like Jarrett grabbed him or shoved him or flagrantly tripped him. He was a half step behind the play and Ausar technically had the right-of-way, but in that situation, that’s a good no-call.
So while the explanation was sketchy, it was fine by me.
That was awesome, Alan. We got a shoutout! (loved the Arya and Cousin Ritchie picks, Mel is a much better pick than my suggested Brother Mouzone).
Ok, the pick of Baby Yoda for Jose made me think that the Mandalorian would be a good pick for OG.
Interesting. This is only the second time I’ve listened to macri. The first was after a Knicks loss (I think to Detroit in the playoffs?) and thought he was insufferable. He was so angry and vile. Must have been a bad moment bc this version was a lot more enjoyable. And I loved his Paulie Walnuts for Mitch. Alan’s Mikal Bridges comp (Jim Halpert) was perfect. I’m a little bummed Donnie Baseball’s recommendation of the blonde dude from the OC didn’t make it in, but Cousin Richie was solid, too.
Nice, Alan, but can’t believe you at least didn’t mention Kolek as Glenn Close…
It’s disorienting that we have at least a full week and maybe 9 days between games in a playoff run, something like the all-star break. I thnk it is going to be a great thing for our guys.
Timing couldn’t be better for me personally, my son’s graduation from college is this this weekend, so nice to not worry about a game 6 or 7. I actually drove up to Saratoga on Sunday and watched the clincher with him at The Bunker, then after dropping him off I hung out mostly at the Morrisey in the Adelphi. Met a family from Colorado and talked Nuggets basketball with the family matriarch, who knew her shit!
This site uses User Verification plugin to reduce spam. See how your comment data is processed.