News & Blogs
Should the Knicks want to face the Pistons or the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals? – Posting & Toasting
How did the Knicks get good? With 7 straight wins and one total reinvention – The Athletic – The New York Times
New Knicks Rumors Reveal ‘Threat’ to Land Mitchell Robinson Contract in NBA Free Agency – BleacherReport
Knicks Notes: How Karl-Anthony Towns unlocked Mike Brown’s ‘equal opportunity’ approach – SNY
Knicks Bulletin: ‘The humble warrior’ – Posting & Toasting
Knicks’ OG Anunoby says hamstring injury wasn’t as serious as last one – New York Daily News
Knicks’ OG Anunoby practices again, talks hamstring injury: ‘It didn’t feel as bad as the past when it happened’ – SNY
Pistons/Cavs Game 7 Hate-Watch-A-Long – The Strickland
Knicks Playoff Review Feat XJ Of Hot Hand Theory – Knick of Time
CAVS VS PISTONS GAME 7 2ND HALF WATCHALONG & POSTGAME REACTION | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
Breaking News: Knicks Will Host The Cavs In The Battle For The East! | KFTV Reaction – Knicks Fan TV
YT News
205 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.05.18)”
Hello world, here’s a song that we’re singin’
C’mon get happy!
The Cavs are surprisingly thin outside of the guard positions. Their backup big is Bryant? Yes, Mobley and Allen effectively serve as backup to each other but still. If one of them gets in foul trouble or injured, they are Hukporti-level screwed as Wade is the only real guy that can play PF.
It’s pretty funny how Hunter was just a MISERABLE failure in Cleveland, to the point where they had to just take Schroeder and Ellis for him to get SOME value out of him.
Good morning, Brian and everyone else! Of course I share your ecstaticism this morning!
“Huh, I didn’t realize the Knicks had only played the Cavs once since they traded for Harden. The Knicks had a full roster, while the Cavs were missing Strus, and the Cavs won by 15. Huh. I doubt that means anything, but that DID surprise me.”
Brian, a little bit more context about the Knicks’ 15-point loss to the Cavs back on February 24:
1. It was in Cleveland.
2. We did *not* actually have a full squad. Deuce was out!
3. It was right after the All-Star Break, and Cleveland was our third game in four nights. (To be fair, it was the Cavs’ third game in five nights, but just sayin’.)
4. OG had 5 points in 34 minutes. If healthy, I doubt that we see a game like that from him coming up.
5. KAT only had 2 assists. He has a different role now.
6. Mitch dominated as expected with 11 points and 16 rebounds in 19 minutes. We should expect to see more of that.
In short, the Knicks of February 24 are vastly different than the Knicks of May 19, at least from what we’ve seen from them lately. Sure, we’ll be rusty for 6 minutes, but it shouldn’t change the outcome of the game, as they’ll be exhausted for 48 minutes. We contain two of out three of Donovan, Strus, and Merrill (just as we did with Maxey, Edgecombe, and Oubre), and we should be good. Our bigs should be able to easily handle their soft bigs.
Knicks in 5. Worst case Knicks in 6. Let’s take one game at a time (as easy as it is to look forward), and let’s get these two wins at home.
I’m sorry, but no.
It’s a happy season. It’s a great season for Mike Brown and Leon Rose and James Dolan. No one has to be held accountable for it, and there’s nothing to be angry about.
But losing the NBA Finals makes us, what, the 2000 Football Giants? Jason’s Kidd’s Nets?
This is our best shot to win a title. We’ve been saying it since day 1. No Pacers, no Celtics, the Spurs still inexperienced. And then it got even more fortuitous… we half assed the regular season and ended up with home court. It doesn’t get more golden than this.
The Sixers thought beating the Celtics made it a successful season and went into round 2 with a “house money” attitude. They got smoked. The Cavs goal was to make it past the second round… we’ll see if they take the same loser’s mentality into the ECF… if they do they’ll get smoked, too.
And if we show up to the NBA Finals acting like it’s already been a successful season, we’re fucked.
We gave up our future for this shot. There will be some miserable years again when the bill for this team comes due. Losing the NBA Finals is not a successful season.
I don’t imagine this would impact the operations of the team itself. It’s just a financial maneuver for Dolan et al.
Detroit is kind of screwed, aren’t they. Their whole identity is built around Ausar’s defense, but unless they have shooters all around him – and Cade himself is probably not a good enough shooter – it doesn’t work. And then add Duren’s utter failure of a playoffs, and there are real question marks.
Maybe they could trade Duren for a wing and get a guy like KP? But you also need health.
Different teams have different aspirations.
The Sixers knew they were likely not making the NBA Finals, so beating the Celtics WAS a big deal.
For the Knicks, their next aspiration is making it to the NBA Finals. If that’s all they ever do (a la the 1994 Knicks), then sure, that’ll ultimately be a disappointment on par with that 2000 Giants team (or the Kidd Nets teams), but if they make it, that’ll be a successful season for them, just like how making the Super Bowl WAS a successful season for that Giants team. Never returning was the problem, not making it that year.
Earlier in the playoffs, Katz argued that that final game against Cleveland suggested Atkinson had figured a few things out about how to play us, particularly with Wade guarding Brunson. (It’s also possible, though, that Fred is still belatedly trying to justify the infamous moment on Macri’s podcast where he drafted Wade over RJ in a ranking of which players would be most important in that previous Knicks-Cavs series.)
I’m not quite as confident as Brian, but I feel good. They’ll be tired, we’ll have homecourt, Mitch should still live rent-free in Allen and Mobley’s head, they have no one who can guard Brunson (unless you’re also a Dean Wade believer), etc. But their double-big lineup could get KAT in foul trouble, we don’t know what kind of shape OG will be in, etc.
I still think we should win, but it may not be the walk in the park we want it to be.
I’m going with Knicks in 5. So far I went with Knicks in 5 over both the Hawks and Sixers, and while the Cavs are better than both of those fraud teams, I think we have multiple answers for everything they can throw at us.
I do think that Merrill, Wade, and Schroder are a pretty good supporting cast but after that the dropoff is precipitous. Given that they have played two consecutive 7-game series, the grind will definitely be taking a toll.
Game 1 is critical, as rust and gearing up the intensity after such a long layoff can be a thing. This Knicks team seems like the kind of team that would power through that stuff after a quarter or so. Then we need to dominate the boards and run, run, run…and scramble them in the halfcourt.
I hope you’re wrong about this.
It’s totally fine for us to feel that way. I don’t begrudge you, Brian Cronin, for thinking the season was a success.
But if the organization does, that’s disappointing.
And FWIW I don’t think they do. Leon’s message when he fired Thibs was pretty clear. The message when we didn’t hang the NBA Cup banner was pretty clear. And in the infamous interview, Dolan described making the NBA finals as the minimum the Knicks must do: “We want to get to the Finals. And we should win the Finals… Getting to the Finals, we absolutely got to do”
And now that I’ve written all that, I feel comfortable the Knicks have the right mindset. After that, it’s a personal choice and any fan can choose whatever barometer they want.
I compared them last night to the 2021 Sixers. They were the top seed in the conference. They were young and seemingly on the way up. It was supposed to be the first of many runs for them.
And then a mid team like Atlanta exposed all their fatal flaws. (Orlando is the Atlanta in this analogy — Cleveland just finished the job.)
BTW I’m taking your advice seriously on the Cavs. You hate watched that series for two weeks (I caught maybe 10 mins total), and if you came away thinking the Cavs shouldn’t be underestimated I begrudgingly accept.
Game 2 is the bellwether (assuming we win game 1). If the Knicks win it, it will be short. If the Cavs can pull that out, I see 6 or 7. I remain optimistic that Cleveland’s bigs have a real Mitch problem, and Josh seems to always light them up.
As EB predicted, I ended up wanting the team that lost 🙂 .
I think Detroit would have been easier bc they just can’t score. The Cavs have a higher ceiling. And they might feel a little like us after beating Detroit last year.
Guarantee you the players on this team won’t be satisfied with JUST making the finals.
None of this stuff is ever guaranteed and this could be the only trip to the finals any of these players ever make (let’s hope not but we don’t know what will happen next year).
So I don’t think if we make it to the finals, they’re gonna be content just to be there.
If there’s one thing I’m not worried about this team is them being comfortable and happy just making it to the finals. It all starts with leadership and Brunson, Hart, all the emotional leaders of this team would never allow that to happen. If we do make the finals and we do lose, it will be because we couldn’t make it happen on the court, because nothing in this team’s mentality suggests that they’ll just be happy to be there.
I’m anxious and worrying about everything, but I’m trying to trust what I’ve saw from this team (and from the Cavs over the playoffs) and remain confident. Knicks in 6, with 2 scrappy flukey losses and 4 good wins.
I hate to be too reductive on this high-minded blog but I am pretty sure Dean Wade is not the Brunson-stopper lol
In all seriousness – I went through all of Brunson’s shots in that game — Wade made one nice play where he blocked a Brunson layup attempt, but overall he didn’t actually guard Brunson that much. And the offense overall also looks completely different now.
Last thought of the morning…
James Harden has all the makings for an incredible Garden villain, and I’m very excited for it.
I think that trade worked out very well for us. Small guards like Garland give us more trouble than slow and methodical guys like Harden. This matchup is right up Mikal’s alley.
EDIT: then again, Harden is a master of hunting, and we may end up seeing much more Brunson on Harden than we want.
We win games 1 and 2 at home, split in Cleveland, and win game 5 at MSG
And in the West, let’s root hard for the Spurs. Spurs in 7.
“As EB predicted, I ended up wanting the team that lost 🙂 .
I think Detroit would have been easier bc they just can’t score. The Cavs have a higher ceiling. And they might feel a little like us after beating Detroit last year.”
Yabbut, the Pistons would have almost definitively beat us up more than the Cavs likely will. We have another series to win after this one, and we’ll want to be as healthy as we can be. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but we’re likely to be more healthy after this series than we would have been in an alternate Detroit reality.
It was shocking (but not surprising) how Detroit just completely ran out of gas. Tobias Harris reverted to the guy we all knew from Philly (0-6, 5 points in a closeout game!) Cade looked like a zombie with no legs left. Duren got schooled by Allen and Mobley. Ausar was left more open than any non-big I can remember, shades of Andre Roberson.
I think there’s still a lot of room for internal growth, but they are a deeply flawed team that needs to come up with a better plan. They caught the league by surprise this year and got their 60 wins, but next year will be a far different story. The league is on to them.
I think we all know Mitch is going to be a huge factor in this series.
Just wondering – for the season, Mitch is averaging 16 offensive rebounds and 29 total rebounds per 36 against the cavs – is that good?
Perhaps more representative – his stats against Cleveland (Regular season + playoffs) over the last 4 seasons — according to Claude —
14 games
341 combined minutes
140 total rebounds
75 offensive
61 defensive
Reb/36 = 14.8
ORB/36 = 7.9
DRB/36 = 6.4
Seems pretty good.
I think very likely Harden does the same thing in this round — his stats in the last round were really terrible:
Per game- 38 minutes, 38% FG, 29.4% 3P, 6.3 assists, 4.4 TOs, 19.6 pts
I feel pretty good about us winning this series if Harden’s line is anywhere near this.
The Pistons made the classic mistake of believing their own hype. They obviously, obviously, OBVIOUSLY should have made a trade for another scorer, and they instead did almost absolutely nothing (Kevin freakin’ Huerter doesn’t count).
Cade doesn’t have that die hard dawg in him. I was really dissapointed when he folded in the third quarter. A real one would go down swinging. Should have took a minimum of 10 shots in that 3rd quarter with the sesaon on the line. Third Quarter Stats: 0 PTS, 0-0 FG, 2 TO
Mitchel scored his points after the game was decided. Harden was 2-10. Allen, Wade and Struss are the reason we’re facing CLE.
What are the chances that insert any superstar (current or legend) folds at home in game 7 like Cade did last night?
My point is that all the skills and talent in the world don’t make you a real one.
The issue that the Cavs have is that Wade kind of kills their offensive spacing. He’s an ok shooter, but together with Allen and Mobley, it’s tough. I’m sure they’ll go to him at times when they only play one big and he plays the 4, but I assume they start with Strus. The other thing with Wade is that he’ll probably be less effective if Brunson is off ball more often.
My concerns for the series:
– The Cavs have played two top defenses (#2 and #5), which masked a bit how good their offense is. The Knicks have a good defense too, of course (#7, but probably closer to 4-5 given how they’ve changed halfway through the year).
– The Knicks have had very good luck on opponent 3P% (opponents have hit 31% of their shots). Not all of this can be attributed to leaving the other team’s poor shooters open. They have struggled to guard the 3 point line, and Cleveland has several guys that can punish you.
– The Knicks will for the first time face a defense that offers ghost coverage of Hart. The numbers show that they really struggle with that.
I also worry that OG might not be the force he was earlier on. If he’s struggling with his shot, all of a sudden the offensive spacing becomes iffy.
That said, the Cavs have also faced the #15 and #10 offenses (and given how Duren disappeared in the playoffs, #10 is too kind for Detroit; the Raptors were without Ingram AND Quickley, so they were worse offensively than that too) and will now face a juggernaut. I also believe in the Knicks’ depth more than I do the Cavs’. Plus, I think the Knicks will win the possession battle, and Cleveland will have to score in the half court (they are one of the worst teams in the playoffs on fast break points). Then you add home court, the rest gap, etc and I think the Knicks are favorite, but I think it’s a tight, long series.
I think people are overconfident based on that series 4 years ago, but both teams are very different. Allen and Mobley are much better than then (so are the Knicks, of course). I wonder if they’ll miss Garland – Knicks have struggled with quick guards, and it will be easier in a way to guard Harden.
Which also makes it clear that if they lost in the Finals, he wouldn’t be pissed at the team.
There are teams, that if they lose in the Finals, they’re firing their coach. It’s just different levels of aspirations.
Of course the Knicks will try really hard to win the Finals. Just like the Pacers did last season. But in both cases, if they lost, the team would still view the season as a success.
I mean, what team is “satisfied” by just getting to the finals? Once you are there, you can taste a championship, no?
I guess maybe a deeply flawed team that knows it is deeply flawed going up against a juggernaut might be, like the Mavs vs. the Celts in 2024, or the Heat vs. Nuggets in 2023. But you can bet that the Pacers were crushed by losing in the finals last year, as were the Celtics in 2022.
There is zero chance that this team will be satisfied with anything less than a championship, and that we as fans would be satisfied with merely a finals appearance. Anything less than a championship will be a massively bitter disappointment, especially for the players, but for the fans as well. It’s been over 50 years now, and the future has Wemby dynasty written all over it.
And the main reason I feel this way is the way we’ve been playing. Up until recently it would have been at least somewhat easier to come to the realization that we just weren’t good enough. But now we know that if we play our game and everyone shows up, we can go toe-to-toe with anyone.
I’ll say this, though: the Knicks have a chance of ending the Cavs experiment much like they are doing to the Sixers if they go out and win quickly/convincingly.
Pistons will be fine. They’re still very young and don’t they have all of their picks going forward? Or most of them anyways?
Cade is young and will get better. Duren will learn from these playoffs. Ausar might get better on offense. They just need some scoring and they can focus on that solely in the draft and with any small moves or FA signings they make.
The Cavs won 60 games last year, then flamed out early, then struggled this regular season and are now in the conference finals. Experience does matter.
That being said. I think we can take them in 6.
I think a lot would have to do with how we *look* in the Finals if we lost there—and I want to say for the record that I think both Western teams are beatable. If we get swept, well…….that’s one thing. But if we lost in a hard-fought 6- or 7-game series, that’s another thing altogether.
Like many things in sports, there are levels to this.
If you look at the four factors, it’s amazing how close these two teams are. The main disparities are rebounding (in the Knicks’ favor) and free throw rate (in the Cavs’ favor):
Offense (Knicks / Cavs)
eFG%: .557 / .561
TOV%: 12.1 / 12.2
ORB%: 29.3 /26.9
FT/FTA: .188 / .206
Defense
eFG% allowed: .541 / .543
TOV%: 13.1 / 13.1
DREB%: 76.7/74.4
FT/FGA: .206 / .209
I thought Cleveland shot more 3s, but their 3PAr is virtually identical.
It would be great if the Knicks could beat them in Game 1 by grabbing a LOT of offensive rebounds, they would surely get in their heads.
I also wonder if Ellis plays in this series. By BPM, he is their only non-big man with a positive defensive rating.
“Of course the Knicks will try really hard to win the Finals. Just like the Pacers did last season. But in both cases, if they lost, the team would still view the season as a success.”
I don’t think the Knicks would view a loss in the finals as a “success” by any definitieo of that word. Maybe not an abject failure, but far from a success. They know, as we do, that this is their best chance. They know, as we do, that Boston and Indiana are coming back with a vengeance next year. They know, as we do, that there are not a whole lot of ways to improve this core, especially if we need to go above the second apron to keep Mitch and Deuce.
If you are saying that it would be not enough of a failure to blow up the core, or to fire Mike Brown (or Leon?) I would definitely agree with that. But we all know that it won’t get any easier in the years to come, including next year. The time is now.
I won’t go too hard on Cade simply because I think he just doesn’t have the pieces around him to be great.
I think he has real flaws, he’s not the most athletic so he relies on making a lot of bad contested shots as he doesn’t have the speed or hops to score over people… but he also doesn’t have proper spacing to do his crafty scoring stuff because he’s surrounded by brick layers. He’s not a good passer either and is super prone to turnovers, but at the same time he’s the only person on the roster who can create anything so this flaw gets magnified.
I think the Pistons should go all out on trying to figure out a way to get Devin Booker on their team, he basically checks all the boxes for what they need, scoring, spacing, ball handling, everything, he’s even from Michigan and has ties to the area. If they find a way to get him they’ll be real contenders, until then they’ll be a scrappy second round team that grinds but gets outmatched the minute they face more talented teams in a 7 game series.
The Cavs aren’t a great defensive team. Detroit couldn’t really exploit that enough, they just don’t have the firepower. Toronto didn’t even have Ingram or Quickley. The Knicks are really going to stress test that league average defense in a way that Toronto and Detroit did not.
Yes, I agree with this. That said, they will be the first team in the playoffs with the personnel to guard the Knicks optimally (with a big on Hart).
It’s not so much about how good they are defensively, but whether the Knicks are able to solve that issue – they never did solve it during the season or in the playoffs (even in the Sixers series, KAT was quite poor when George was guarding him). It’s Knicks offense issue more than a Cavs defense issue.
This was a really good read, by the way: https://shaxnba.substack.com/p/round-3-playoff-prep-cleveland-cavaliers?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=5jsbb9&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
The Athletic:
What team will Giannis be on to begin the 2026-27 season?
Out of 151 total votes, 69 players said Milwaukee, 35 said Miami, and 25 said the Knicks. I hope we kill this quickly by continuing to win.
marechal, I think the regular season is meaningless now, especially for both the Knicks and the Cavs.
The Celts and Pistons were juggernauts during the regular season. They had the best net ratings in the EC by a healthy margin over all teams but the “struggling” Knicks, and yet both were exposed as frauds in humiliating fashion.
The Cavs took 7 games to eliminate the shitty injured Raptors, and then took 7 games to beat the precocious but deeply flawed Pistons. They aren’t that good but were strong where the Pistons were weak.
Meanwhile, the Knicks have utterly destroyed their two opponents. Granted, the Hawks were also frauds with a tiny front line and no true closer, and the Sixers’s hopes hinged on Embiid’s decaying knees. but even so, the more important the games got, the better the Knicks played.
Sure, Harden and Spida can go off, Mobley and Allen can be a handful in the paint, and all of Strus, Wade, Merrill, and Schroder can be pesky. But we have loads of options to deal with all of them. This should not be a long series, and if all goes well, the WC finals will be an all-out war.
Z-man, part of why the Knicks have looked like a juggernaut is that Atlanta and Philly didn’t have the personnel to guard Hart with a big. That plays entirely into the Knicks advantage. Go watch the Knicks offense when George was guarding KAT against the Sixers. It tends to stall. It’s why the starting lineup has often been underwhelming.
“Yes, I agree with this. That said, they will be the first team in the playoffs with the personnel to guard the Knicks optimally (with a big on Hart).”
I don’t get why that will come close to working. First, Hart is not Ausar. Second, even if it is working, we have Deuce and Shamet on the bench to spell Hart. Or we can go double bigs and dominate the glass. And that’s what differentiates us from the Cavs’ prior opponents. We have counters to everything they can throw at us.
The only thing I’m worried about is OG’s health…we definitely need him more in this series than we did against Philly. But if he’s healthy enough to play 25-30 mpg, the odds should be stacked in our favor.
I was on record as saying I hoped the Cleveland-Detroit series went to 6 games rather than 7 because I didn’t want to be facing a team that won 2 consecutive game 7s. But the way it turned out showed me how wrong I was in an almost perfect storm way. Cleveland barely showed up in a close-out game. And they win game 7 by default because Detroit didn’t show up at all. Yeah they got to feel good about the win but don’t see any momentum. And I wanted to face Cleveland anyway because of HCA, particularly because of games 1 and 2 at the Garden.
The Knicks just need to show up every game and they take the series. Bonus if they play other-worldly as they have been, but the Cavs are better than the Hawks and running-on-fumes Sixers. Keep KAT out of foul trouble, get Hart shooting when open, make sure OG stays healthy even if that means keeping him on a short leash, and exploit the coaching advantage we have if things get a bit tight. Knicks in 6.
If they do that while KAT is playing pinch post and Brunson screens the big guarding Hart is the big going to get around the screen fast enough to stop Hart diving to the rim and a pass from Hart? If the big switches instead then he’s guarding Brunson and coukd get roasted.
@ShaxNBA
The Knicks scored 0.13 fewer points per possession during the regular season when a center guarded Hart.
After their magical transformation in the playoffs, they scored .30 fewer points/possession in those situations.
I’m pretty sure it’s a tax maneuver. Publicly traded companies are now going to be penalized tax-wise for having large salaries non executive suite employees. So they have to go private. No way is Dolan giving up control.
“So they have to go private. No way is Dolan giving up control.”
You are right about the tax thing, but it sounds like they are not going private. Dolan will lose actual control but possibly academic as no one else will have control unless they want to pay a nice premium for it
I think the two companies are going public individually so they can each donate leveraged buyout or something and then be private.
I also think that of all of our rotation players, Hart was the most physically beaten up and benefitted most from the long rest.
Pelicans going from Borrego to Moseley is a choice.
“After their magical transformation in the playoffs, they scored .30 fewer points/possession in those situations.”
I’m not buying those 80 possessions worth of stats as being meaningful. At the end of the day, for the playoffs, the Knicks are 21.6 points better per 100 with him on the court, and 3.6 better with him on vs. off. The starting lineup is +8.2 points per 100 possessions.
Even if it works, there are plenty of workarounds that Brown can go to. Hart is a streaky 3-pt shooter, and shot terribly against the Hawks, so it’s not a given that he will make the Cavs pay for guarding him with a C who lays off of him. But this is one of several areas where Brown wins out over Thibs. If something isn’t working, he will be quick to adjust, and he has the players to do that (as we all know, THIS IS THE BEST, DEEPEST, MOST PLAYOFF READY BENCH OF THE LEON ERA!)
Please don’t ever use that term again, I’m getting flashbacks to the Big Chief Triangle era
I noticed I have a weird mentality of wanting the losing team in a series to win — but then once the losing team is up I want the other team to win.
Either way, not sure how Cavs win this series without scorching 3 pt shooting and legacy foul baiting.
Even though lady liberty welcomes tired, weary, huddled masses these dudes can kick rocks with the 14 playoff games under their belts.
Cade is going to be the ultimate second tier superstar.
You know who the Pistons could have used? Mitch Robinson
I also don’t have losing in the Finals as my goal for the season.
The data has been clear for two years: when Hart is guarded by a center, the Knicks offense kind of stalls. It’s not a small sample. Hopefully they have figured it out, but I don’t think we can confidently says that they have – the series against the Cavs will be the first time they face that coverage systematically these playoffs.
And yes, teams are betting on Hart shooting from deep. If he’s hitting his 3s, they may change the coverage. But how often does that lead to Hart trying to pump fake his way to the basket, and then throwing a grenade to Brunson at the end of the shot clock, or taking a fadeaway contested jumper from the FT line?
To offer investors two distinct investment options and to unlock the private market valuation of the New York Knicks basketball team, Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS) is exploring the option to separate its hockey franchise from its basketball franchise to create two separate publicly traded businesses.
In a confidential Form 10 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, MSGS has made progress towards a proposed spin-off of the NY Rangers from its NY Knicks business, allowing investors to “more clearly evaluate each company’s assets and growth prospects” while at the same time affording both teams with enhanced strategic and financial flexibility.
The parent company expects the deal to be structured as a tax-free spin-off with holders of Class A and Class B common stock a pro-rata distribution of 100% of the common stock in the newly created company.
After the split, the NY Knicks company will include the original NBA franchise and the Westchester Knicks, while the NY Ranger company will include the two-time Stanley Cup champions and minor-league team, the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Thanks to the strong regular season performance of the Knicks and media rights for the NBA, shares of Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS) have outperformed the S&P 500 with a new all-time high on Monday.
marechal, the thing is, imho it’s really Mikal that makes the most difference for Hart specifically, and for our starting lineup in general.
But unlike in the past (and under Thibs) we have counters and more counters to that opponent’s strategy. Just like we have counters to cold Mikal or to guarding Brunson with an athletic wing or guarding KAT with a wing or targeting Brunson and KAT on D or hack-a-Mitch.
In a larger sense, I think the last thing we need to worry about is our offense stalling. Even with all of the ups and downs and opponents’ strategies, we were the #3 offense in the NBA, behind only the Celtics and Nuggets, both of whom were eliminated in the first round. If what we’ve seen in the last 7 games is real, we have counters to everything, including the Hart strategy.
Wait..Nawlins hiring Mosley? If Orlando underachieved due to injuries and shooting, what do they think will happen with the Pels? They’re better off hiring Thibs. That last name goes hard in that region lol.
If I was a Piston’s fan I would NOT be worried about the future. I’d be ecstatic. They have a very good team, they have young players with upside, Cade is a legit #1 option and they have plenty of picks that can be used to upgrade a position and get a legit #2 option that can shoot.
If playing a big on Hart is working because he isn’t making 3s and is afraid to shoot them, we have more options now because Brown has shown more willingness to play Deuce with the starters and it has worked well. There are some tradeoffs, but with Towns becoming more of a playmaker in the offense and “healthy” OG becoming more of a rebounder lately, the loss of Hart’s playmaking and boards is somewhat mitigated. So we’ll get the upsides of Deuce without as much downside as in the past.
I’m higher on Cade than lots of folks here. He’s 24 years old. I don’t think he’ll ever be a great shooter, but to put it into perspective, when Brunson was 24 he was a third year player backing up Luka and available for the full mid-level exception.
He’s apparently a tireless worker and I expect that he will continue to improve. He’ll cut down the turnovers and marginally improve the shooting. Maybe he tops out as a perennial all-star but not first team all-NBA level. Some of that might depend on who is around him. He needs better options than Daniss Jenkins. Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris and Jalen Duren, that’s for sure.
Tobias Harris still had enough left in the tank to give them some good games, but he’s basically done. He had nothing left. Had he been some 25 year old with the kind of skills of the better version of Harris we saw earlier in the playoiffs they might have advanced. They have to replace him and add one other quality player that can shoot.
Right now, Tobias is in the same class of players as CJ McCollum and Paul George…he’s aged better than the those two but are now bench-level players masquerading as starters. They will give you solid, professional play for the most part but are vulnerable to completely disappearing due to diminished athleticism.
Cleveland shot 30 FTs/game this series. Crazy.
Well, as everyone noted here before the Detroit series, the Pistons foul about 4 times every possession.
Yeah, I’m not blaming the Cavs for this, or the refs. It’s just a crazy number. Without this many FTs, their offense will be more challenging.
one interesting product of a family health challenge is that it has helped sis and I communicate on a much deeper, and free level…
it’s funny, I needed to gather my courage and strength in order to deal with things…she sent a pic on her first treatment day, smiling, wrapped up in some levander cold therapy gear…and smiling…
another pic today of her at some taiko drumming event where she’s getting care…
personally I get sensory overload pretty easy, and parenting and partnering push the envelope for me more than enough…
so, folks living their life fully is super inspiring to me…just leaving the house…
Some random thoughts:
I checked into the Cavs-Pistons game in the middle and just for a few minutes, before it really got out of hand, and when I saw a close-up of Cade’s face the first thing I thought of was “iron deficient.” The dude looked like he was barely holding on. Probably nothing but it was odd.
Terrified of Cleveland’s guards. If bad things happen, that’s where it’ll be. Harden might time travel and drop 30, Mitchell could get 45 at any time, and of course Harden can foul bait some of our main guys (e.g., Brunson) into sitting on the bench.
I expect NY in 5, if the Juggernaut continues to be for real it could be a real sweep, but there’s an alternative reality where things could be a real struggle. Fingers crossed it stays alternative.
I watched the Piston Cavs series and I have to say it was not well-played. Turnovers, poor shooting, missed FTs. It was pretty terrible.
And Harden is old. The amount of ass kissing about Harden as a player was just off the charts and he was not good. Volume scorer, still drew fouls, but terrible in defense.
A vulnerability.
Mitchell is going to do stuff. He loves trying to outplay Brunson. But to me that means he’ll just try to do too much.
Watching the Knicks in the playoffs v. the Cavs in the playoffs, the qualitative difference was enormous.
My only questions is the break. The Knicks got a lot of rest and a lot of time to get out of sync.
But the variable of KAT as point center is something that most teams find very hard to solve for. You can run twin towers out there and the spacing is great, while unleashing Brunson off the ball.
OG and Bridges, the long wings, are very hard to counter.
Defensively the Knicks are second in the playoffs and third on offense.
I still see Mitchell maybe stealing a game. My heart tells me Knicks in five, my head says Knicks in six because I think they may have a slow start.
I think the Cavs just wear down.
At this point don’t care if it’s takes triple OT in Game 7 just win the series however possible.
Minutes played in the postseason:
James Harden: 524
Donovan Mitchell: 503
Evan Mobley: 494
Jarrett Allen: 403
Max Strus: 377
Jalen Brunson: 347
Josh Hart: 340
Dean Wade: 328
Mikal Bridges: 292
KAT: 285
OG: 285
The Cavs’ starting lineup (assuming Strus) has played 752 more minutes than the Knicks’ starting lineup. Their 6th man has played more minutes than 3 Knicks starters.
It could mean nothing, but I think it means something, especially if this series goes on.
Having 2 bigs should help Cleveland defend our off-ball actions when KAT is looking to pass. We’ve gotten a lot of easy buckets at the rim and Cleveland has twice as many players who can shut the rim down.
Brunson should be able to take advantage of Dean Wade.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself and think about the finals. We’re playing Cleveland and we need to beat them. For all their problems, they’ve got plenty of talent on the roster and 3pt variance can always swing a series. Getting ahead of ourselves is what happened last season in the ECF.
Let’s take care of business here before thinking about the finals, let alone a championship.
I’m 100% with EB. We’re better than Cleveland, but they’re a high-variance team capable of putting up an effortless 130 and throwing weird, unfamiliar defensive looks at you. From my POV they simply have too much talent to say we’ll win in 5, so I’ll say 6, but I’m closer to 7 than 5.
Their vulnerabilities are pretty Brunson-specific, which is mostly good news because, well, Brunson is Brunson, but unlike the first two series I think he’ll have to be our best player as opposed to KAT.
In any event, looking forward to being in the stands for game 1.
Pretty sure Jalen Brunson would disagree.
Geo, all good wishes to your sister and you. Hope she gets through this OK.
The Cavs are going to have to play 3X as hard on defense against us as they did against the Pistons. We saw that with the Sixers, as all they had to do against the Celtics was watch them brick 3’s. All the Cavs had to do against the Pistons was stay home on Duncan and Tobias and make things difficult for Cade.
The Knicks should be able to run the Cavs ragged on both ends.
“…throwing weird, unfamiliar defensive looks at you…”
I dunno, looking at the Cavs rotation, I see 5 average to mediocre defensive players out of 8: Spida, Harden, Merrill, and to a lesser but still significant degree, Wade and Strus.
Their best defensive players are all on the smaller size. Jarrett Allen is a pure C at 6’9″. Evan Mobley is listed at 215 lbs. Schroder is 6’1″ 175 lbs.
So yes, they can scheme away (although I don’t think Atkinson is some kind of defensive mastermind) and they’ll block a few shots, get a few steals, and blow up some possessions, but at the end of the day they just don’t have the horses to take much away from us without giving it back in spades somewhere else.
Now if OG is compromised, that changes things up quite a bit. That’s where the depth and fatigue factors should work in our favor. We have the horses to get out in transition on every miss, and they don’t have anyone to slow us down in the 94 foot game.
Looking for weird signs in the universe and came across this…
In 2021 the Knicks played Atlanta on Christmas Day.
In 2022 the Knicks played Philadelphia on Christmas Day.
In 2025 the Knicks played Cleveland on Christmas Day.
And in 2024 the Knicks played San Antonio on Christmas Day.
It’s not a perfect sign. I had to flip two years to get the matching sequence. And I don’t know how the 2023 Christmas game against the Bucks figures into everything. But it is out there.
this next first half we have is going to be very telling…
my eyes probably won’t leave OG’s leg…
hard to believe all our kind of recent mojo has gone away…
lots of rest, healing and practice seems like a good thing…
after the first two rounds the cavs are pretty battle tested at this point…
don’t really want to write this down, but I think we sweep them…
The Cavs didn’t seem beat up to me.
I’m not sure Detroit’s as physical as advertised. Their top 6 is Cade, Duren, Tobias Harris, Ausar Thompson, Duncan Robinson, and Daniss Jenkins. Who exactly is beating up the other team?
They are not Orlando, that’s for sure.
If Chris Jent leaves us as is rumored, Borrego would be a great replacement.
f*ck yeah…got an offer on my house today…kissing phx goodbye…seattle here I come…I don’t have to cook in my own skin for another summer…
I don’t know what to make of the Cavs…they beat a pretty rugged pistons squad but we seem too dialed in to lose to them…
Congrats, Pepper. Let me know what neighborhood you end up in…
The fact that we were an unstoppable tsunami WITHOUT OG is what buoys me up right now.
I was also thinking that. One big can limit KAT’s passing, and the other can clog the wide open mid range the Knicks’ cutters had against Atlanta and Philly. I wonder how will the Knicks adjust if that happened.
When Knicks sweep CLE, they will get another 9 days off. Rinse. Repeat.
It seems like you’re defining success as “the minimum result where no one has to be held accountable”. And I agree that if they make the finals it will be a successful season for Mike Brown and Leon Rose.
To me success is hitting your shot. And this is our shot.
The Pacers are a good example because I don’t think last year was a success. I think that was their shot, and they blew it. Who knows if they’ll ever get back.
Hubert, I do agree with you, but if I’m remembering correctly at the start of the season pretty much the entire hive mind (outside of a few dissenters, can’t imagine who those might have been) declared getting to the finals as being the hallmark of a successful year.
We are a site that doesn’t just believe in but revels in Recency Bias, bathes in it and sprays it on our bodies after washing, and it does make sense that especially given what we’ve seen the last few Knicks games we absolutely could go all the way, and as you point out there are no guarantees in years to come.
But to me, a hard-fought finals and losing would be a huge disappointment, while still feeling like a successful season. Hell, it would be the second most successful season of anyone in the NBA this year.
It’s funny because in the beginning of the year the idea was “this is our shot” because Tatum’s hurt, Halliburton’s hurt, the Pistons are young, etc.
But now… am I really supposed to fear the Pacers next year? Because I don’t. In fact I can’t fucking wait to play them again. The Celtics? I was bitter we didn’t get to play them. Detroit? They got a lot of moves to make. Atlanta? Dismissed. Philly? Lol.
There’s no one to be afraid of in the East next year if this is who we really are.
Yet I still feel like this is our best shot… because the Spurs are absolutely terrifying.
Respectfully, Raven, some of you do this a lot. 4 or 5 of you agree with each other, you ignore the 3 or 4 people who don’t, and then you look back and say “everyone agreed that ____.”
I recall that getting to the finals was expected, and I recall there was a consensus that they needed to get to the finals to justify firing Thibs. I also recall there were people (cough, me) who wanted to break this team up if they didn’t make the finals.
But no, I do not think the entire hive mind was in agreement that failing to win the chip would be a successful year for this team.
I don’t recall where I read this, but I think there’s some merit to this idea: the Pistons were probably surprised at how tightly the games have been called this offseason (there’s been like a 10% increase in fouls called/game from the regular season to the playoffs). They foul a ton, and had gotten away with it in the regular season to some extent, but not as much in the playoffs.
The Cavs had 31 FTA/game. The Pistons averaged 27 FTA allowed/game in the regular season. It looks small (and the Cavs tend to get more FTA than average), but it adds up.
By comparison, the Knicks averaged just over 23 FTA/game against Detroit last playoffs.
So I wonder to what extent they were not able to be as physical as the refs normally allow them to be.
I think the best way to put it is that most of us felt pretty unsure about everything going into the season, other than that we would be very good and maybe a contender, but maybe not.
Some of us (including me) felt that the coaching change wouldn’t make much of a difference in the eventual landing spot because the KAT-Brunson core had a likely ceiling of NBA finals loss. Some of us (including me) felt that the regular season was meaningless and that the team and the coach would be judged on how it performed in the playoffs.
The one thing that there was near-unanimity on was on this being the best opportunity to win a championship with this core. Some felt that it was the only opportunity.
It is tempting to revisit some of these takes given the last 7 games, but it’s probably wise not to get too giddy about things. But I will say this: if we trounce the Cavs and put up a good fight in the finals, it does make me feel that this was not the only opportunity with this core, and I wouldn’t be disappointed if we just ran it back with some tinkering around the edges.
But if we lose this series, or win it in 7 and limp into a finals ass-kicking, I’d be more inclined to hoping for a pivot of some kind. Brown seems like the kind of coach that has a short shelf life, but getting to the finals would certainly earn him another year no matter what happens. But it it’s clear by the end of the playoffs that we just don’t have the personnel (and the Hawks and Sixers are clearly not good measuring sticks) then Leon needs to consider going all-in for Giannis or something like that.
It is kind of fantastic that the biggest argument is whether getting into the finals and not winning a chip is a disappointment. My, how far we’ve come.
You know where I’ll (un)happily take a giant L? San Antonio. If you’d asked me at the start of the season, I’d have said maybe 45 wins, tops. I was so very, very wrong…
good news is, I’m so excited for this western conference finals I’m barely thinking about our next game…
castle, harper, and wemby have all shown this playoffs they had another level they were able to get to…
maybe, just maybe they push the defending champs in this series…
jalen Williams though is back, and ajay mitchell is becoming: holy shit, look at ajay mitchell ball, kind of good…
what a quote from naz reid:
“Just the moodiness. Both of those teams, they’re playing for one another, excited to be on the floor with one another, they’re selfless… we have more than enough talent, just need to be less moody and more selfless.”
naz usually has a pretty low key nature in interviews…
saw anthony edwards shake the other entire benches hand after he left the game – but before the game itself ended…
hopefully he learns, gotta roll with your own team while the clock is running…
will do Raven…likely heading up early June to try and find a place…the world cup is kind of messing with my plans…lots of short term rental price gouging going on..
Big Perk went off on Julius today…saying he was a locker room cancer…that wolves should unload him tout suite…I was thinking if it was a call in show..Zman would be calling in anytime to get Julius’ back…
Not sure that if he thinks the Wolves should unload him as soon as possible that he is doing them any favors towards doing so by calling him a cancer.
lol pepper, nah, he got a bum rap from some here but never once said that we should build around him. Nice thing is that we got top dollar for him, even after some wanted to straight salary dump him at the absolute bottom. I also think he’s been pretty good in Minny before these playoffs, in fact, I had mentioned before that the consensus in Minny fanbase and beat as recently as this regular season was that they definitely won the KAT trade.
He has some mental health issues for sure, and admitted to as much last year. Seemed like he was in a good place until recently.
I wish him well and am thankful for the excitement he provided while here, including 3 all-star sessons and 2 all-NBA selections, but would prefer to never see him in a Knicks uniform again.
https://x.com/NBA__Courtside/status/2056380612127154534?s=20
Perk Randle video https://x.com/FirstTake/status/2056391655352115441
Wolves fans seem want a Morant for Randle trade
That’s actually a clever trade. I think I’d rather take a swing on Zion, though.
https://x.com/AnthonyMSG/status/2056446785665581479?s=20
That Mitch dunk sure was cathartic
Alex Caruso (who did not start) scoring the first seven Thunder points was not on my bingo card
Thunder looking decidedly mortal
Can’t believe this is being reviewed.
OKC looks out of sync. Knicks have been off one day more from OKC.
McCain might have got Morey fired
Wemby is dominating.
SGA will have to make shots
Wembanyama just totally torches OKC’s offensive plan, they can’t get any quality rim attempts in the half court and the Spurs are effectively hawking the passing lanes. It’s really impressive to see.
This game is fucking awesome
Looks more like the Wemby than the rest.
Yeah, OKC is fine on defense, they just can’t get anything on offense. SGA and JDub both like to operate in the midrange, and Wemby takes all of that away.
The Spurs match-up really well with OKC, but my god, it’s hard to overstate how impactful Wembanyama is, he just transforms the game completely. He might really just be the best player in the league with his defense.
Do the Spurs even need De’Aaron Fox?
I think they would like to have Fox, specially since Harper is not shooting well today, but this will be a moot point very very soon as Harper is going to be a superstar.
I mean, Fox is a very good player, but they just signed him to a max extension and he may be the 4th best player on that team by next year. I guess it won’t be a problem until those guys get paid in 2-3 years, but enven before then it seems like they could put that 30% of the cap to better use.
This is an ugly game
These Thunder fans all wearing the same shirt like they’re at some fucking megachurch make me sick. Definitely rooting against them.
I’m going with Knicks in 6.
After the 2000s and 2010s, i really thought we wouldn’t be in the Finals again for a looong time, so i’m super anxious about this series.
If we indeed make it to the Finals, i’ll be like this…
https://c.tenor.com/_i-R2cFNJbQAAAAC/tenor.gif
I wonder what we were all saying last year when the Knicks drew the Pacers and had home court after beating the Celtics. I have to go back and look, but it’s not gonna be easy…
Spurs have gotten like 5 steals picking off that kickout pass to the corner
I-Hart might be unplayable in this series
Caruso is swagging out and OKC is failing him.
The defense on SGA is pretty damn impressive. Haven’t seen him shut down like this all season.
Crazy that it’s Caruso that is keeping OKC in the game. The Spurs have been so dominant.
Mitch is gonna make so much money after he guards Wemby in the Finals.
Spurs are ghost covering Caruso and playing the percentages daring him to shoot. I like it. You’d rather have Caruso red hot from 3 if it means smothering Shai and making him a relative non-factor.
Helps defending SGA when the refs allow you to play defense plus Wemby at the rim
go spurs…
OKC fans chanting refs you suck because what, Dort is finally getting called on the 10 fouls he commits every possession?
It sounds crazy to say but the Thunder aren’t really good at offense. They create easy shots with their defense, and SGA does incredible things. But the Spurs don’t turn it over, and SGA can’t do incredible things against Wemby and Castle. So it really seems to me like the Spurs will win this series.
But we’re a different animal than the Thunder. We may not be better than them, but I think we’re better equipped to beat the Spurs. For all the Thunder’s talent, they don’t have a Deuce McBride off the bench to go to when the Spurs are ghosting Caruso. McCain can hit shots but he can’t guard anyone.
And lastly… we have a Mitch.
So Caruso is not only a Joker stopper but also a Wemby stopper?
Wemby has to be smarter against a guy like Caruso who’s going to use every trick in the book to bait him into bad situations.
wtf was Wemby doing there??
Caruso….
Sga blew that
SGA not playing like the MVP tonight…
Daigneault might be the only coach who can match Nick Nurse’s endless whining energy.
I can’t believe how everything is working out for the Knicks! The Spurs are the much better matchup, and now they’re ahead in OKC!
Ton of time left ….
This final minute has been an extended Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu scramble
Hate that call to take SGA to the line.
Edit: wow, Wemby.
Okc got wemby”ed”
Just an incredible game.
what a battle between these 2 teams…
Wemby used every last ounce of strength in his body posting up JWill
Job not finished …
That was like a 10 out of 10 degree of difficulty shot by Wemby
You really can’t ask for more from a game as a neutral
Wemby 3
Why can’t we get an ATO play like that…
Game 1 overtime>>>
Chet blocking Wemby at the buzzer OHOHO THE DRAMA
Damn, just following along but I’ll need to find a replay of this game
Too much congestion down there. Should’ve just gotten him a catch and shoot three
That was a sensational block by Chet.
Seven straight OT games, please!
That play where SGA gets a lineup and Wemby is away from the rim they play 5 out and spurs don’t want to give up a 3..
Gotta give Caruso his flowers no matter the result tonight. He’s one of the most unique elite—and yes, he is elite—players to grace the league. Probably the best defender I’ve ever seen and he’s only 6’5. He single-handedly kept OKC in this game.
STEPHON CASTLE DISGUSTING
I still can’t believe the Lakers didn’t want to pay Caruso.
(And I hope they don’t say that about the Knicks and Mitch one day.)
Fucking awesome
I hate Caruso
This is where they miss Fox. Castle is not ready for prime time as a primary ballhandler
Holy Wemby
I kinda want nothing to do with Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso guarding KAT.
OH MY GOD
BALLS OF STEEL
Wemby OMG
That would have been a really dumb shot if he missed it.
But he didn’t!
Trent Tucker Rule time
Genuinely thought Castle had that but Caruso recovered just barely in time
That was actually a foul on Caruso but they’d never call it
“Seven straight OT games, please!”
Check that, seven straight double OT games, please!
Do spurs have gas left?? Crazy game!
No one has more than 4 fouls
Pistons fans would have started a petition.
What was that possession, Spurs?
harper got smacked in the face twice on that play…
ouch, no flagrant though…
Don’t think I’ve ever seen a player get hit twice in the face on one drive
harper and castle are getting tested hard as ball handlers…
Feels like OKC has hit a 3 whenever it’s needed it.
Wemby should have given the “too small” gesture to Chet
They are going to do it, folks.
My goodness that Vassell block on Chet.
oh yeah baby, what an upset…sweet…
The spurs have gas left!!
second highlight reel block by Vassell
Wemby seems to have cracked the Caruso Code
So LeBron sets the stage for Wemby
Lol, this is incredible.
The one wem to rule them all
Triple double by Castle.
Wemby seals the game by taking JWill’s soul
How do you foul Caruso there? It won’t matter, but come on.
Wemby could be NBA ohtani
Guys the Knicks are really going to win the title.
WoW …the coming out playoffs party for a generational player
That was an insane performance.
Imagine doing all that to lose to the Knicks in the finals.
Imagine you get the second pick and get Scott Henderson and miss on Wemby. Life changing right there
https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/2056582037444702462 Talent
Every day just makes me happier and happier.
Imagine you get the 4th pick and Steph Castle falls to you after Risacher, Sarr, and Reed Shepherd..
They actually remind me of the upstart 2012 Thunder team that beat a dominant Spurs team with championship pedigree, only to lose in the finals to Miami.
That Wemby 3 will go down as one of the most incredible (insane) shots of all time. I think it’s better than the Curry 3 from years ago, funny enough against the Thunder too.
That spurs magic.. I still like Sarr though
It’s like Van Gundy used to say: “the NBA playoffs don’t start until the Oklahoma City Thunder lose a game.”
Welcome back, Duncan, Parker and Ginobili… but this time the oldest of these mf’ers is 22 now…
Harper breaking a Spurs playoff record with 7 steals as a 20 year old.
Friend selling tix to tonight’s game:
Sec 216, Row 3, Seat 14 – 17
$800/per obo. Will sell 2 or 4
Also, if anyone happens to be in LA June I’m selling some tix I bought and can’t go (taking a bath, thanks FIFA):
June 12 8p USA v Paraguay Sec 305 Row 8 Seats 1-4 Paid $2,295 per ticket // selling for $1,500 per ticket obo
Expected Lineup
PG James Harden
SG D. Mitchell
SF Max Strus
PF Evan Mobley
C Jarrett Allen
MAY NOT PLAY
C L. Nance Ques
Expected Lineup
PG Jalen Brunson
SG Josh Hart
SF Mikal Bridges
PF O. Anunoby Prob
C K. Towns
MAY NOT PLAY
F O. Anunoby Prob