So the Knicks not only had an amazing comeback, but they also might be able to play the Spurs with Harper hurt (or the Thunder with multiple injuries)! This has just been the most fortuitous postseason ever!

The Harper news struck me as bad luck when I heard it. We want San Antonio, and they’re a lot less likely to win without Harper.

Also hard for me to get excited about Williams re-injuring his hamstring when it only underscores the perpetual state of fear I’m in about OG. Dude had a month off, looked 100%, and lasted 1.25 games.

No one on injury report for either team, not even as “Probable.”:
Expected Lineup
PG James Harden
SG D. Mitchell
SF Dean Wade
PF Evan Mobley
C Jarrett Allen

MAY NOT PLAY
None

Expected Lineup
PG Jalen Brunson
SG Josh Hart
SF Mikal Bridges
PF OG Anunoby
C K. Towns

MAY NOT PLAY
None

Expected Lineup
PG Jalen Brunson
SG Josh Hart
SF Mikal Bridges
PF OG Anunoby
C K. Towns

A thing I noticed in the intros to Game 1: Josh was listed at forward, and Mikal at guard. It’s pretty much a distinction without a difference in the modern NBA, and Josh’s game is a bit more of a forward’s (at least in terms of the rebounding).

Did you guys know that Sam Merrill is not related to Padres center fielded Jackson Merrill, but that both their parents’ names both start with the letter J and that alliterating with one’s spouse is a real thing people do because of a psychological quirk called “implicit egotism”?

As Michael Scott likes to say, “I’m not super stitious, but I’m a little stitious.” 😉

Viva Italia. What pizza? I’m here for all the conjugation and subject/verb agreement 😉

Thought about making the same joke, but i guess i just say i’m not superstiticious, and then i act accordingly to every sign i get, to not risk losing the games. 😀

You’re in Milano, right? Have you been to a pizzeria called La Piccola Ischia? When i was there, i loved it. 😉

I already had one parade (FC Porto won the championship here in Portugal) with 600.000 people (the city has around 2M). 🙂

Now i want another one*! 😉

*although to be there i’m asking chatGPT how to rob a bank. 😀

You’re in Milano, right?

KBA… I’ll be in Bergamo on the night between 29th and 30th… Game 5… Hmmmm…

(By the way if you like premium alcoholic beverages and gourmet food, there’s a place in Bergamo that’s run by a friend of mine where I’ll be that night that is simply a-ma-zing *eyes smiley*)

I wonder what’s causing all these hamstring injuries. They seem to be happening more frequently. Maybe modern athletes don’t stretch as much. I remember in the 90s during warmups dudes stretching on the floor with their trainers or a V stretch on their own. Don’t see that in today’s game (could be wrong).

Could also be a combination of hardwood/sneakers not offering proper support. Wouldn’t surprise me that much like the NFL with their shitty fields, NBA isn’t concern with player safety

There was an interesting Kirk Goldsberry article on The Ringer about it, and I think he’s right (I mean, that for me was always the most likely answer, at least since Durant’s injury during the 2019 Finals):

Basketball athletes are moving explosively sideways and backwards way more than years ago. We tend to take the stepback three for granted, but it’s not like until Steph (and our beloved turnover king James Harden) that shot was that pervasive in basketball. Same thing goes for eurosteps and more generally speaking a lot of movements with short bursts and higher speed.

These people should play less and less frequently. Whatever the case, if this year’s title gets heavily decided by injuries that would be a huge shame.

I also wondered if overtraining at younger ages also plays into it, my cousin who was a scout for MLB teams said that their guiding directive on pitchers was not to pick up young guys and that were throwing curves & sliders at 14 years old because the Tommy John was inevitable at 26.

The fact that now everyone is 6-8 and is flying all over the court at all points of the game plus doing insane training regiments for 15 years while their bodies are still growing because that’s what it takes now to get picked up by a college team is what I’m currently sitting at.

So it’s the AAUs fault again lol.

I believe it about the overtraining. Also, kids tend to focus on just one sport and play lots and lots of games instead of doing skill development. In the old days an athlete might play one sport in the fall and another one in winter. Consider Walt Frazier, he played both football and basketball for his school. It gives better all around muscle development to grow up playing more than one sport.

I love data that proves a point. From the Athletic:

Second Spectrum tracks the speeds at which players move throughout the course of all games. It can then show what percentage of the time a player goes at a slow speed, a medium speed or a fast speed. Harden moved slowly or not at all 81 percent of the time on defense this season. Of the 582 players who stepped on an NBA court in 2025-26, that ranked dead last.

Our men’s track and field team got bit by the hammy bug and it was a real jinx:
Last year, our best sprinter (and overall guy) pulled up lame in the SoCal Championships (the final qualifier to State) which also derailed the 4×100 relay’s chances to win at State.
This year, that same sprinter – again the best guy on the team – won both 100m and 200m at the conference championships and pulled up lame again at the SoCal Champs.
Horrible, horrible luck.

I’m fine with the Knicks load-managing their way to 50ish wins every season if it means their guys are the most healthy of any contender for and during the playoffs every year.

Also hard for me to get excited about Williams re-injuring his hamstring when it only underscores the perpetual state of fear I’m in about OG. Dude had a month off, looked 100%, and lasted 1.25 games.

Dude had an official grade 1 strain while OG’s was deemed minor and day to day from jump street. One can farirly argue the honesty of those grades, but that is the only information at our disposal.

No question OG is more prone to reinjury that Mikal is to sustaining a hamstring injury, but that’s the hand we are dealt. No sense in kvetching about it.

No true sports fan “roots” for an injury to a possible opponent, but injuries to potential opponents DO increase the Knicks probability of success. Usually 🙂

One last (we all hope) quote today, this from Macri, only because it’s a real thing to ponder:

This was Jalen Brunson’s 13th playoff game scoring 38 or more points since he became a Knick, which is nearly double the next highest guy (3-time MVP Nikola Jokic, with seven) in that time frame. It’s the same number of 38+ point games in the last four years as SGA, Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum put together. It’s the same number of 38+ point games that Shaq and Kobe had during their three-peat from 2000 to 2002. LeBron had three such games in his four playoff runs with the Heat. Iverson had eight from ‘99 to ‘03. Magic and Bird had a dozen between the two of them over their entire careers. Every other Knick in history has 21 such games combined.

We are witnessing one of the great scorers in the history of the NBA at the peak of his powers.

Do not take it for granted.

It will be interesting to see game 2 adjustments. Clearly, Cavs cant switch so easily on a ball screens for JB. They’d also be better off letting Spida intitiate the offense as he is more effective that way. What Cavs do with Harden is an interesting question. Same for Knicks and Josh. As Mobley has effectively shut down running O through KAT, Knicks need spacing to let JB run the O.

I was thinking about the Cavs-Pistons series, as the Pistons suffered from the same spacing issues with Allen guarding the paint. One thing that the Pistons were able to do earlier in the series was to get Allen to commit to a penetrating Cade, and Cade would find some easy passes to the man Allen was guarding. Just because he is packing the paint doesn’t mean you can’t put him in the action, but you do have to penetrate and get him to commit.

There was a play in which Brunson found Hart in this kind of situation, but Hart just spinned around and passed back to re-start the play. I think I’d like to see more of that when Hart is playing (especially in a one big configuration for the Cavs).

Harden moved slowly or not at all 81 percent of the time on defense this season. Of the 582 players who stepped on an NBA court in 2025-26, that ranked dead last.

This is a telling stat, and I think it helps explain the discrepancy between the eye test and the results when it comes to Harden guarding Brunson one on one. It looks like Harden is staying relatively close to Brunson and contesting his shots, but Brunson knows that Harden moves slowly and doesn’t close ground quickly. So two feet of space versus Harden is entirely different from two feet of space versus Dyson Daniels. Brunson is well aware he has that extra half second of daylight because Harden is only going to contest in a way that LOOKS meaningful. He knows that he needs just that little bit of daylight to get a clean look off, because Harden is slow closing that gap.

I think they should continue attacking Harden, obviously, but not just one on one. Put him in motion more often, make him run around the court. It’s not just that it will lead to good offense, but he cannot keep up physically – he missed almost all of his shots late. And the Cavs’ offense gets stuck without him.

Also, miss you, Fred Katz:

“The Knicks saw a couch potato and figured he wouldn’t conjure up the energy to slide to another cushion.”

Gonna be sitting third row tonight in my beef n brocolli. Fucking yay. Bestest of friends of mine (poster here) knows a guy who knows a guy. Going to the Mecca to bear witness on the father and the Son.

So here’s what I think the Cavs might try to do as a counter tonight: if the Knicks go 5 out, use the Hart strategy on OG and test whether he is comfortable with his shot. It looked very tentative in Game 1.

Now, OG can also go to the basket in ways that Hart doesn’t, but Allen would be waiting for him there.

I think we should see a healthy dose of trapping Brunson or hedging and recovering to force the other guys not named Jalen Brunson to beat them. Hopefully everyone else can rain down some threes this game

If they’re trapping Brunson Towns is gonna get cooking.

The Cavs were a bang-on average defensive team in the regular season, ranked 15th in defensive rating. In the playoffs they rank 8th out of 16 teams in defensive rating and played two opponents that were not very good offensive teams. They’re right in the middle of the pack in all of the defensive Four Factors too.

It’s just an average, vanilla defense, anchored by Mobley’s excellent play but hampered by Harden’s, with a bunch of other average defenders in the mix. Wade and Strus are okay, Allen’s length can cause some problems, and they don’t have too many glaring liabilities, but overall it’s an okay-not-great defensive team, and the coaching is a little bit of what the kids call “sus.”

The Cavs were a bang-on average defensive team in the regular season, ranked 15th in defensive rating. In the playoffs they rank 8th out of 16 teams in defensive rating and played two opponents that were not very good offensive teams. They’re right in the middle of the pack in all of the defensive Four Factors too.

It’s just an average, vanilla defense, anchored by Mobley’s excellent play but hampered by Harden’s, with a bunch of other average defenders in the mix. Wade and Strus are okay, Allen’s length can cause some problems, and they don’t have too many glaring liabilities, but overall it’s an okay-not-great defensive team, and the coaching is a little bit of what the kids call “sus.”

The fact that they are average defensively really speaks to Mobley and Allen, as it’s really hard to build a defense around Mitchell and Harden.

That said, they do match up quite well against the Knicks given how they can deploy it (kind of the opposite of how Atlanta, a better overall defense than the Cavs, matched up very poorly with the Knicks even with a good Brunson stopper).

It’s not so much that the Cavs defense can stifle the Knicks, but it sometimes forces the Knicks to play the way the Cavs want them to play.

I hope Brown is quicker with the adjustments, but also that the starting lineup just plays better together. If they can just keep it somewhat neutral vs the Cavs starters, I don’t see how the Knicks lose the series barring some weird shooting variance or bad defensive miscues by New York.

Lol, I hadn’t realized this: Harden had a -10 BPM for Game 1.

i wouldn’t mind seeing mitch start tonight. 1% because they will prep for a shooter replacing hart, so might catch them slightly off guard. 5% because it might be easier to tell josh that we’re going mitch because they are hacking him out of the lineup once the fouls pile up. 20% because i like allen on mitch in the double big, because while he is still packing the paint, he’s far more occupied than when he is just standing around laying off a wing. but mainly because we are in fact not finessing the hack a mitch well and this is a free way to get him beginning of quarter minutes far from the penalty, and this doesn’t foreclose plenty of other 5 out lineups later on.

Eye test comment coming, so feel free to puncture it with facts. But in the first half of the game, it looked like the Cavs had been told to drape themselves on their offensive assignments. When KAT had the ball, there was nobody to pitch it to — the defense was swarming and passing lanes were nonexistent. It was alarming and impressive. It wasn’t Mobley and Allen looking threatening and a bunch of geeks wandering about — it was complete defensive coverage on a tight string. Just really glad it didn’t last. Or perhaps glad that Brunson just blew it up.

Raven;

I would agree with 95% of that, maybe some eye test here as well, but the KAT initiation works best when they’re hitting the shots. We were building a brick home from 3. If we hit our average against them overcommitting on cuts & overplaying drives we would’ve been up 20 by halftime.

It’s time to protect home court and put a strangehold on the series. Need to blow them out early, take their hearts out & keep OG at ~20 minutes. CLE is just another team that’s built for stacking wins during regular season. Time to show them that they belong in the finals.

It will be interesting to see game 2 adjustments. Clearly, Cavs cant switch so easily on a ball screens for JB. They’d also be better off letting Spida intitiate the offense as he is more effective that way. What Cavs do with Harden is an interesting question. Same for Knicks and Josh. As Mobley has effectively shut down running O through KAT, Knicks need spacing to let JB run the O.

The adjustment I’d fear is Cleveland trying Mobley on Brunson and Harden on KAT. Being slow won’t kill Harden against KAT, and if we choose to attack him relentlessly we are choosing to live and die with KAT in the 4Q, which I’m not comfortable with yet.

The adjustment I’d fear is Cleveland trying Mobley on Brunson and Harden on KAT. Being slow won’t kill Harden against KAT, and if we choose to attack him relentlessly we are choosing to live and die with KAT in the 4Q, which I’m not comfortable with yet

You worry too much. Knicks will score 130 tonight…4th quarter won’t even matter.

From your lips to Black Jesus Geo’s ears…

let’s all hope josh comes out shooting and scoring tonight…cuz if he does, the game may not stay competitive for very long…

My use of the word “fear” belied how unconcerned I am about it. I just think that’s the one adjustment they have that might throw us off balance.

I do worry too much, but only about the hammy.

https://x.com/HouseLowlights/status/2057296746892669193/video/1

Best player in the world shouldn’t need this stuff, especially considering what his team does on the other hand.

OKC is so damn unlikeable.

If they want to park Mobley out on the perimeter, I’ll take that. Jarrett Allen is a “meh” rim protector while Mobley is elite, and their drop coverage will get substantially worse.

Of course, they could abandon the drop coverage, but that’s their bread and butter. Drop coverage with Mobley as the backstop

Anyone know why the spread is down to NYK -5.5 vs. -6.5 for G1?

I just noticed the spread about 10 minutes ago. I thought it seemed kind of low. Can’t think of a reason for it.

shoot raven, don’t trust me with your hopes…

i would happily give up any future knick championships just for the chance to rock white jesus’ hair for a week or so…

heck, i’d give back the two we already won if i could keep it permanently…

“i would happily give up any future knick championships just for the chance to rock white jesus’ hair for a week or so…”

But ironically you just lost the chance by being overtly blasphemous!!!

oh no doogie, god is gonna get me…actually i kind of already feel that way…at times, please dear god and help me god are nearly a continuous refrain…

in my recent favor – after 15 years or so of livin’ in this town and driving by this quaint episcopalian church, finally made it to services last week…not sure why exactly, but something about the eucharist ceremony/ritual just really works for me…and thankfully it was there when needed…

it’s tough though, i like archeology and history stuff…soooooooooooo…the data surrounding the son of god’s appearance and life is ummmm, not so extensive, or even existing…

thankfully though, faith mostly just requires belief and subsequent commitment to the belief…simple actually…

no real parsing of the facts or even when, how the books of him were recorded and chosen for canon…

lots of bumps along the trail, but the story of dismas remains in my heart…never too late to repent…

Anyone know why the spread is down to NYK -5.5 vs. -6.5 for G1?

Most likely because NY was deemed to be well rested, the Cavs exhausted, and NY playing the best basketball in the east by far.

Then they were life and death to win game 1. Conclusion being, maybe this will be a tad tougher than markets originally thought.

Best player in the world shouldn’t need this stuff, especially considering what his team does on the other hand.

OKC is so damn unlikeable.

This, plus all the kinda dirty fouls they dish on the other end… it’s just a really annoying team to watch. They’re right to do this shit because it clearly works, they’re never punished and if they win the online chatter goes away fast enough for it to not matter, but it’s just shit to watch and I’ll actively root against the guy purposefully crumbling after every shot attempt.

You’re in Milano, right? Have you been to a pizzeria called La Piccola Ischia? When i was there, i loved it. 😉

Cyber. Yes. Milano. Don’t know Piccola Ischia. Will check it out. Thx.

Farfa. LMK the nice food/drink place in Bergamo if you get a chance. I like nice things, and we have some friends (here) who are originally from there. They’re teaching me bits of “Bergamese” and they tipped me to watch THE TREE OF WOODEN CLOGS/L’ALBERO DEGLI ZOCCOLI filmed there long ago, which was crushingly sad but kind of amazing.

So, Rama, my recipe to be fully awake to watch the game is to go to sleep now for 3 hours… let’s hope i’ll hear the alarm clock. 😛

I think the Knicks woke in the fourth, like they woke in game four against the Hawks.
I think tonight will be hard for the Cavs

Did anyone else notice that Spida seemed to be limping a bit on his walk through the tunnel after the game? I just listened to Legs mention that he got his ankle rolled up on a bit.

That would suggest that it had something to do with why he disappeared in the 4th and OT.

as the game thread nears, one thing to write down to let disappear in to the ether in a moment…

messed around today and let myself get a little too frustrated…been trying to relax for the last six or seven hours and get and keep my resting heart rate down below 100 beats per minute, normally about 35 beats or so less when just sitting…

while my heart feels like i’m doing a light workout, not really getting much fitness from it i imagine…

so weird to understand, mentally/spiritually i’m at peace, i feel cool otherwise, wtf body…ah, i can do breathwork…breathwork time…

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