News & Blogs
OG Anunoby named to NBA All-Defensive Second Team – Posting & Toasting
The (Josh) Hart and soul of the New York Knicks – The New York Times
Knicks Bulletin: ‘They’re a lamp post to a drunk person’ – Posting & Toasting
Knicks Notes: How Karl-Anthony Towns unlocked Mike Brown’s ‘equal opportunity’ approach – SNY
Knicks vs. Cavaliers odds, prediction: 2026 NBA Eastern Conference finals picks, Game 3 bets by proven model – CBS Sports
Knicks’ OG Anunoby named to NBA All-Defensive Second Team – SNY
The Run.down Knicks vs Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 Postgame Show – The Strickland
Knicks Painting and Playoffs Tom Sanford Interview – Knick of Time
Knicks at Cavaliers (ECF, Game 3) – Recap & Reaction | POSTGAME SHOW | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
Knicks Dominate The Cavs To Take 3-0 ECF Lead | Post Game Show EP 735 – Knicks Fan TV
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178 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.05.24)”
We broke their goddamn will. Brunson WALTZED in for a layup in the last two minutes. Only Strus seemed to give a shit by then. Incredible.
I also loved KAT objecting to OG getting only second team all-defense when he was doing his postgame presser. Whatever fissures there were on the locker room earlier seem completely patched over now. Everyone is here for everyone.
I am literally stunned by this morning’s Knicks B-R playoff page:
-4 of our top 7 rotation players, including 3 starters, have a TS% of over .700. Two of them are NOT Mitchell Robinson (.610) or Jalen Brunson (.595).
-OG leads the playoffs with a .739 TS%, and has a 18.1 USG% with a playoff low 3.9 TOV%.
-KAT continues to have the highest BPM in the playoffs at 11.5. OG is at 9.4. Third-fiddle Brunson is at a paltry 4.2.
Trade Brunson!!! LOLOL
Just happier and happier every day.
Hey CDiggy, please say to the trollers that a friend from Portugal wants to know if a Lakers player and the team hear chants of “MVP!” and “Let’s go [team]!” when in Phoenix, Portland and the other west arenas where they play in the playoffs.
NY Knicks are just different, and we’re not favored by the league in just about anything! We may win less, but it’ll feel like a REAL win where we had to go against each and everyone not on our side! 🧡💙
Amazing all-in team-wide heater at the most important time. Very rare.
When the Mavs made it to the Finals a few years ago, it was mostly on the back of Luka’s heroics. Boston knew that the key to beating them was focusing on slowing him down and forcing the supporting cast to beat you
This Knicks team is totally different. Brunson is our star, but throwing big guards at him or doubling him has proven to be fruitless.
We have 5 guys who all know their roles and are executing to perfection. In all my years of watching NBA playoffs I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.
“I’ve always tried to keep myself level-headed,” Brunson said. “You never want someone to see you when you’re too high or too low. Just having that mentality that no matter what’s going on, nothing’s going to break you, and I think I’ve had that for a long time.”
This is how you can tell BPM is a garbage stat… because Mikal should also be ahead of Brunson
Dean Wade, Brunson stopper.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
Among the many things to feel gratfeul for, selecting Landry Shamet over Brogdon and and Garrison Mathews is one. Also, I’d love to to dose Mikal with some sodium pentathol and find out if he gave a 3/4 effort all season only to Rev it up in the playoffs. In a sense, this is what the entire team did most of the season. Regulate their collective efforts to a level just sufficient to what they perceived was needed to win regular season games. That and the MB adjustments ( particularly with KAT), has brought the team to the precipice of the finals. I wonder if there is another gear in their transmission.
“I wonder if there is another gear in their transmission.”
Along those lines, Mitch has been largely invisible this series. He’s clearly got stuff going on, so maybe that gets resolved before the finals. Definitely need him at 100% vs. either OKC or SAS.
Deuce is not giving us much in this series either. Would love to see another big night from him.
“I’d love to to dose Mikal with some sodium pentathol and find out if he gave a 3/4 effort all season only to Rev it up in the playoffs.”
Well, there was the first stretch of playoff games vs. ATL….
They have to give Malcom Brogdon a ring.
This is what happens when the ball and players are moving well and everything is not just a Brunson ISO or Brunson P&R. Everyone is involved and happy, it’s harder to defend us because we have so many options on offense and everyone’s efficiency rises. I also don’t want to leave out that good defense leads to better offense. Towns’s improvement on defense has been huge. Mikal has stepped up his effort and seems quicker and of course OG is always OG. That makes it a bit easier to hide Brunson who is at least trying hard. We are firing on all cylinders.
It wasn’t enough of a challenge. 😉
I’ve see this sentiment a lot the last few games. It’s amazing how Shamet nearly didn’t make the team. I can’t see Brogdon at his age, condition, and enthusiasm level, doing what Landry has done for us at both ends. I hope he’s enjoying the hell out of his retirement, and I say that without any sarcasm.
If you count the playoffs, since Jan 20 the Knicks are:
3rd in record
1st in NET RTG
2nd in ORTG
1st in DRTG
it’s hard to overstate what this postseason has likely done for mikal reputationally. you have this two-way, smart, non-flopping, non-whining player with a ripken-like availability streak in an age where adam silver had to get his D.P.T. just to make sure enough guys play 65 to form three all-nba teams. but some genuinely lackluster stretches, the trade bounty, a dramatic decline in rim attempts, and possibly his friction with Thibs turned the the tide to the point that the streak was widely seen as an self-serving albatross that was dragging both his play and his team underwater. suddenly you look up one day and he’s the most valuable player archetype in the league at peak form 96 games in (709 career) and he’s, well, cal ripken again.
IMO player skills don’t vary much season to season outside the normal development and eventual decline curve. The obvious exceptions are injuries and personal issues. The rest of it is usually role, system, coach, teammates, how defenses adjust to you and even variance. At no point did I think Mikal had noticeably declined from his peak no matter what the stats said. At worst, he was a hair slower as a POA defender, but that’s not what he should have been doing as often to begin with. The other possible factor was his iron man streak. He seems to take a lot of pride in that and may tend to avoid hard physical contact at the basket in the regular season to lower the probability of an injury. The rest of it in NY has been being 3rd or 4th option most nights in a Brunson centric offense and some variance (especially last year when he was tinkering with his form). He is and has been a very good player all along. We are just playing a better brand of basketball and he’s experiencing the upside of variance.
So much to say, so few words available. I’ll just riff off of ptmilo on a point I’ve been thinking about for a while, which is likely not true but sure feels that way — as bad as OG can be at the rim, I’m struggling to think of any player I’ve ever watched who is so silky smooth and effective at the rim as Mikal. If he gets to the rim it’s two points, doesn’t matter the number or skill set of the defenders. It’s so fun to watch.
MB had to tell them it was not regular season anymore, but he forgot and only did it by game 4. 😀
cyber, this is LA… they don’t know anything about “real” 😂
folks out here, compared to fandoms in most of the country. are more fair-weathered. If their team isn’t good, or there’s no “star power”, they’ll just find something else to do, bc constant good weather = more entertainment & life activity options. And that was explained to me by a native in my second year out here.
Unless it’s the Raiders, they can’t understand our level of joy rn because they don’t understand sticking with a team when it sucks for a long time.
Also, NY sports bias is real: although JK (thankfully) doesn’t have to deal with the kind of trolls I have, the people I work with are very local in terms of their athletic roots and culture (which you kind of need to be for Cali juco athletics). I’m the first New Yorker most of them have really gotten to know and work with.
🤣
pt, I agree to an extent, but also sense that Mikal’s negative “rep” is mostly a Knicks fans and media thing rather than a league-wide thing. From the wider league’s perspective, Mikal’s rep was probably quite high after his monster performance in certain critical parts of the Boston series last year. He also had a very strong first part of the season. In the 55 games prior to the ASB, he had a .604 TS% and averaged close to 5 rebs and 5 asts per 36.
It’s us Knicks fans that continually bemoan the opportunity cost of acquiring him and the long stretches of indifferent play. That angst peaked after game 3 vs. ATL. Read this thread and laugh at the ridiculously jaundiced takes that aged like milk in a broken fridge.
The best takeaway from Mikal’s resurgence on this stage is that it has probably made a dramatic impact on his trade value. We still have 3 future unprotected picks going to Brooklyn, but next year’s is likely in the 20’s and we can certainly hope that 2028-29 is outside the lottery. Could we trade him this offseason for at least one unprotected first? Might he be considered a positive asset in a Giannis package? Definitely more now than after that disastrous 0 points performance!
There’s that old Steve Jones tweet about how at some point, the playoffs stop being about how good you are but how you solve specific problems the other team creates. And this is perhaps the Knicks’ greatest strength. They can outplay opponents in almost any style.
Among the many dubious hot takes about Mikal, the most dubious of all were the “athletic decline” ones. It harkened back to similar claims about age 28 Julius Randle when he was not getting to the rim as frequently.
yay, we win again…
keep it comin’ love ❤️
This team feels like a masterpiece. So much creative, collaborative and just regular coal burning work went into the years and this final polish. It can be really hard to like a creative work like this until the final moments when the music cues are placed and the color grade set but it’s impossible to get there without vision, determination and good taste in human beings. Leonardo the the Rose. And Michelangelo Brown.
The Knicks have a sizzling .593 eFG% in the playoffs, easily best in the league. They also have a .625 TS%.
Strat made the (correct) point about good defense leading to better offense, but the inverse is also true. If your defense is getting back after makes most of the time, they’re going to be in better position and will allow fewer transition buckets also.
I must admit to have been a non-believer in Mike Brown making all that much of a difference. The way his team kinda soured on him in Sacto was hard for me to look past.
But he has excelled at nearly every aspect of the job. He has this team playing better in every aspect of the game than Thibs did. And he’s done so in a joyful kind of way, one that exudes collaboration, trust, resilience, confidence, camaraderie, etc. The x’s and o’s feel very solid.
“There’s that old Steve Jones tweet about how at some point, the playoffs stop being about how good you are but how you solve specific problems the other team creates. And this is perhaps the Knicks’ greatest strength. They can outplay opponents in almost any style.”
This is what I meant when I said that I wasn’t all that worried about the Josh Hart thing because the Knicks have lots of counters and a coach who isn’t too stubborn to go to them.
Some stubbornness is good….like being stubborn about not benching Mikal after his game 3 nadir. Brown seems to have found that sweet spot between stubbornness and flexibility. He benched Josh in the 4th and OT of game 1, only to go right back to him in game 2. He played Clarkson less than 3 minutes last night, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he plays 15-20 minutes tomorrow. Shamet’s minutes have ranged from 3-27.
Brown made all the right flexible plays yesterday. Yanking Alvarado and Clarkson earlier than normal, bringing in brunson earlier than normal, playing more 5 out lineups, the defensive scheming. Proud of the effort on D above everything last night, guys all flight and played desperate up 2-0. Let’s keep that up!
I don’t know what the numbers say, but just from watching the games, it seems like our starting lineup is playing great against Cleveland. Like when those five are in we’re usually kicking their butts. That starting five seems to be just moving on a string on both ends. We’re getting key bench contributions here and there, and have the ability to throw a few different looks out there, but the core group seems to have unlocked a synergy that had been lacking up until these playoffs.
“…played desperate up 2-0. Let’s keep that up!”
They have been flawless in all of the “the other team is desperate” games. Games 5 and 6 vs. ATL. Games 2 and 3 vs. PHI. Games 2 and 3 vs. CLE. Each of those games is one we might have lost last year.
While Brown deserves lots of credit, some of it is about learning from last year’s disappointment. Apart from Brown, there is a resolve about this team, starting with Brunson, that they are not going to make the same mistakes they did last year.
Mikal sucked ass in the first three playoff games; it could be retorted to all the “you overreacted” stuff that at least one of the potential retortees has spent the last two years thundering on an essentially routine basis that the current playoff BPM leader and MVP sucked.
But rather than retorting, this great ride on the backs of the team’s two superstars — who from the get-go made the team a far bigger danger than most (but assuredly not all) inside and outside the team circle thought — the better move would simply be to enjoy this incredible run.
“Mikal sucked ass in the first three playoff games; it could be retorted to all the “you overreacted” stuff that at least one of the potential retortees has spent the last two years thundering that the current playoff BPM leader and MVP sucked.”
Never said he sucked, nor did I ever criticize the trade for him. You, however, have been merciless in your criticism of players, coaches, Leon, and optimistic posters for years now, and have had this well-known habit of piling on during bad times and disappearing during good times. Really, just STFU and go away. You have zero credibility here. Never did. Never will.
‘
“But rather than retorting, this great ride on the backs of the team’s two superstars — who from the get-go made the team a far bigger danger than most inside and outside the team circle thought — the better move would simply be to enjoy this incredible run.”
I’m enjoying the shit out of it! You should be ashamed to.
Behave yourself, Z-man. You sound like a rambling idiot. I’m not going down your poison well of absurdity.
I didn’t realize this, the Knicks are shooting only 35% from deep this series.
On the offensive side, they are getting fantastic looks from 2 that mostly look sustainable against the Cavs.
Hope its OK if I say this again…
The NY players and their fans biggest problem is having to endure another 9 days rest after sweeping the Cavs tomorrow…
Marechal, I don’t even know if it’s really a thing, but possibly masking that extremely mediocre three-point shooting percentage is how many “big” threes have been made that essentially ‘shut the other team up.’ Shamet being huge this last game, Hart a few games back, but also Brunson, KAT, even OG. Back-breaking threes.
Cavs are officially off the fraud watch. They’re locked a pretender status. Kept waiting for them to make a run in the 3rd or 4th quarter….no balls.
Just FYI, ESPN has the Knicks shooting 39.6 from three in the playoffs, which is quite good! OG is over 50%, Shamet at 54.8(!), Towns at 45%, even Jose is at almost 43%, and Deuce is at 41.4.
That’s through 13 playoff games, which I believe is up-to-date…
I didn’t realize this, the Knicks are shooting only 35% from deep this series.
On the offensive side, they are getting fantastic looks from 2 that mostly look sustainable against the Cavs.
yeah adjusted for shooter and shot context our 3pt shooting has been slightly below expectation for the series, thanks primarily to jalen. the cavs have shot well under their expectation but not enough to imply a close series:
https://www.entropyisrude.com/playoff-series.html
For the first 170 games or so of the Brunson/KAT/OG/Mikal/Hart core experiment, it seemed like Leon assembled an impressive amount of talent but failed to put together a team that was better than the sum of its parts. Matter of fact, our performance routinely felt like a disappointment, both aesthetically and in the results, compared to the perceived talent level.
No longer. Ever since game 4 against Atlanta we’ve been the Beautiful Game team in the playoffs. After years of rumors of discontent, everyone looks like they know exactly what their role is and are happy to execute it, personal statistics be damned.
Don’t know how it ends, but it’s something special.
We can score the shit out of the ball, but we are a big switchable defense with the two best wing defenders in the game and any kind of competence around Mikal and OG has been a force factor. It’s why they hack Mitch… KAT has been a fucking wonder. Josh is versatile. Our bench isn’t just empty pounts. We are swallowing teams whole on the defensive side.
They are indeed playing beautiful basketball and if they go on to win it, the unselfishness and ball movement they’re showing will be rightfully talked about in the same way the old timers (*) talk about the early 70s championship teams and things like Clyde and Pearl putting aside their individual ambitions for the good of the team.
(*) And contemporaneous books, newspaper and magazine articles, etc.
The fact that we’re not shooting the 3 all that well against Cleveland yet are still kicking their butts says a lot. This is not a 3pt variance dependent team. We have been the best 3pt shooting team overall in the playoffs, but we’re only 12th out of 16 teams in 3PAr. We’re taking good ones, and making them count.
We also lead all playoff teams in shot attempts from 0-3 feet. A whopping 32.5% of our shot attempts are at the rim. Our shooting percentage from 3-10 feet is best in the playoffs, as is our percentage from 2pt%.
We’re leading the playoffs in both 2pt and 3pt percentage. The stat page is like porn.
I also think that Brunson’s contribution to the defense besides taking on the challenge is mostly on the offensive side of the ball. He controls pace and takes shots (that go in when it counts) that let our defense get set. No transition. No fuckery.
“Behave yourself, Z-man. You sound like a rambling idiot. I’m not going down your poison well of absurdity.”
LOL as I said, you have zero credibility here. You must know that because you’ve been told as much by virtually every poster here. Nice of you to leech on to the good times, though, and act like the poison well of absurdity that is your entire KB posting history never happened.
Because it was Clarence I decided he might have meant it, and looked up pount. It’s a guard post on a bridge…
Re playoff 3 pt percentage:
OG, Bridges, Towns, Hart, Shamet and Clarkson (1-1) are a combined 30/65=46.2%.
Brunson, McBride, Alvarado and Dadiet (0-1) are a combined 4/31=12.9%.
I’m not sharing my betting winnings with you, Z-man, no matter how much you try to sweet talk me.
We are indeed playing awesome team basketball and are wrecking the teams we have faced.
That said, the level of competition has been pretty mediocre. Cleveland is certainly worn down by going 7 twice with no break between games and series. Philly had a gimpy Embiid and no bench. Atlanta had no legitimate C or closer and some terrible shooters. I think that any of OKC, SAS, MIN, or DEN would have blown through these 3 teams….maybe not setting all-time point differentials, but still, this has been a cakewalk compared to facing last year’s Pistons, Celtics, and Pacers.
But who cares? I think we’ve shown that we belong in the finals and can compete with anyone. I’d like out chances vs. any team to come out of the East in the Leon era, even that championship Celtics team.
It took a while for it to get fully activated, but WingStop officially works. The Knicks have some real deal defensive versatility, and I think that’s sort of an unsung strength. Mikal, OG, and Hart are all capable switchable versatile defenders, and you can deploy them in a lot of different configurations depending on the opponent. Add in Deuce and Shamet off the bench and that’s a lot of stout defense on the wing.
It started to click back in January and now it’s fully operational.
Zman it’s not just the Knicks are winning games, it’s that they are handily beating these games by wide margins.
“I’m not sharing my betting winnings with you, Z-man, no matter how much you try to sweet talk me.”
Damn, I thought I had you. Alas…
“Zman it’s not just the Knicks are winning games, it’s that they are handily beating these games by wide margins.”
That’s why I said that we belong in the finals and can compete with anyone. But I don’t think we put up the crazy numbers and 10-game winning streak if the competition was better.
OKC and San Antonio would cut through the east field like a hot buttered scythe through durum. Not counting us.
Yeah, the East stinks — but this team playing this way absolutely can beat Oklahoma City and win the whole thing.
This isn’t one of those “oh, isn’t it nice to be in the Finals?” things, at least IMHO; it will actually be very disappointing if they don’t hoist the Larry O’B.
This was one of the nice things about playing Cleveland— we know what they are and who they are. They’re a reliable foil to measure yourself against. If they gave us some difficulty, we might have to rethink how good we are.
Nope. They’re just several clicks below in terms of talent. Their players are not as good, full stop.
Cleveland is basically the same team the Knicks demolished in 2023, maybe even worse because Harden sucks and Garland didn’t. Maybe they have a little better outside shooting with Merrill and Strus, but either way, they aren’t in the Knicks’ class.
They have more problems than just this, but Spida really isn’t a playoff consigliere. He hasn’t been in Brunson’s class since JB lit him up in the playoffs years ago.
Mikal is a better defender than D.White.
Shut down NAW, VJ & Tyrese and now he locked up Harden and Spida.
He did all this while lurkin the lanes and helping Brunson out too. Its not just guarding the best player but also cheating out and covering for Brunson.
If he has a great finals and/or we win the championships, I never want to hear about the picks again…
Cleveland does not get dynamic play from their wings. Strus, Wade, and Merrill are all decent players but they are getting their lunch eaten by our superior wings.
I will gladly admit to being totally wrong about KAT’s ceiling. Never once did I ever think that he was capable of doing what he is doing in these playoffs.
And it’s not the MVP-level BPM. It’s the way that he is doing it. If you told me that in 13 playoff games he would have a 11.5 BPM and asked me to guess his stats, I would have assumed that he was putting up 30+ ppg and making oodles of 3’s to make up for his shitty defense. There were never any doubts about his ability to dominate the boards, so it would have to be high-volume, high-efficiency scoring, right?
But his DBPM is fucking 6.1!!! Whut??? His previous regular season high is 0.9 and his previous playoff high is 0.6.
And his OBPM of 5.4??? His previous playoff high is 2.2. But the most awesome thing is that he’s doing it on a career-low usage (20%) and on a paltry 3.8 3PA/36!!
There was scant evidence to suggest that this 2-way cheat code version of KAT was waiting to be unlocked. The prolific scoring version, sure! Not this one.
very interested to see if the spurs can tie up their series tonight…
I think they will…
my second crush (after cade) stephon castle needs to hold on to the dang ball much better…hopefully fox is more recovered from whatever is slowing him up…
wanna see another 40 point, 20 board game from wemby, toss in half a dozen blocks to boot…
If we get crushed by the thunder (which I don’t see happening) then there is still an argument to be made against “running it back.”
But at this point if we do run it back, I don’t see anyone in the east really challenging us next season. Sure, Detroit will still be good and will try to improve and learn from their disappointment. Haliburton will be back and the pacers MIGHT be good again. Boston will still be Boston but even if they make a Giannis trade, is that really gonna save them? 76ers are stuck. Cleveland, what can they do to really improve? There will be potential good teams with Orlando, Charlotte, raptors…but any on our level?
Brown has even said that another training camp, now that we’ve found this mojo, and he can implement more.
So unless OKc just runs us out of the gym, I see no reason at this point to not run it back. We have at least one more year in this window. If we were out west I might feel different.
If I have anything on my wish list for game 4 other than a win it would be for Deuce and Mitch to have good games before the finals. They have both been pretty terrible in this series and we’ll need them to be much better in the next one.
Also I am increasingly offended by the idea that we are a sacrificial lamb in the NBA Finals to whichever team wins.
The playoff Knicks are significantly better than the playoff Spurs. They’re a bunch of kids FFS. I see no world where we wouldn’t handle them in 6 game or less.
The Thunder are on top, and the Knicks are the #1 contender. Anyone who thinks otherwise is overweighting the wrong data. The 41 games where Gershon Yabusele played really don’t matter anymore.
Macri mentioned this morning that when Bridges’ extension kicks in next season he’ll be I believe he said the 56th highest paid player in the NBA.
Gritting my teeth and agreeing with Hubert, and taking his point to disagree with Swiftie. My current take is even if we lose out to OKC in the finals, we should run it back. I see no demonstrable way to significantly improve this team. Any trade for Giannis is likely a loss, too much talent going out for an oft-injured, two-dimensional (admittedly superstar) player.
We’ve clearly demonstrated that with this tight-knit iteration we’re one of the top four teams in the league, possibly top two, and just maybe best of the rest. I don’t know how you don’t run that back, maybe with some attempted improvements around the edges.
During the struggling times of the regular season even after ripping them in game threads I always maintained that I didn’t see a team in the East being able to beat the Knicks 4 out of 7 times in a playoff series. I certainly though didn’t expect this type of dominance, granted I expected having to play Boston in the 2nd rd although I always felt we wouldn’t have to face Detroit in the playoffs.
What an amazing playoff run this has been!
We’re also the first time that OKC is going to have to play anything like us next round(assuming Wemby doesn’t go super saiyan) in the playoffs this year and last. Who knows how they’ll handle an opponent that can magin buu their asses.
Reading Macri/KFS just now… When you have to post shit like this to make sure your fans rep properly, your ENTIRE organization is shook.
Put these cats out of their misery tmrw, Knicks!
note to all – if you got a youtube, tag it knicks…click click click…
so, after watching way too many knick vids decided to click on a couple of cavs’ pov channels…
wow, it’s like they’re living in a resident evil game…bad shit just keeps happening to them…
okay, so the 3 game run on the hawks was noteworthy, especially when we started just dominating…
after a while though, the atlanta hawks started looking demoralized…
I don’t even remember if philly really pushed us much…I remember them starting to sound pretty down in some of the post game interviews…in the post game pressers embiid looked like he wanted to go hide under the table with his son, and enjoy some snacks and juice for a while…
PG sounded about the same each post game…
keep saying it, tyrese maxey deserves better…
so, all this to get to the point, once we get up on a team, we look to be playing really well as a front runner…no foot off the brake stuff…
wonder if the team can come out monday and take hold of the game in the first quarter – again…
our lineup to start the 4th quarter last game was spot on…both jalen and mikal are averaging close to 40 the last 2 games, perfect time for it…
every one else is playing around 35 or less…bench came back for us in game 3…
Because it is Clarence and perhaps he meant it, I googled magin buu and found Majin Buu, which seems to be a Dragon Ball character…
Shit Majin. Bibidy made him out of spite.
every once in a while will be heading to the kitchen, pass youngest son knocked out on the couch with some dragon ball z short playing on the tv…
it’s weird though, it’s the dragon ball z characters, but like some person just made up their own story to narrate and do voices…
I’m old so, weird to me…
anyways pulled up behind some vehicle recently, that had some faded and barely visible stickers that had an image with pointy hair on it…
there were 2 stickers, son knew both…I could barely even see the stickers…whatever..
At least one of mine aged pretty well…
You know what hasn’t aged well? Your constant need to embarrass people in this community and settle your personal scores every time the vibes are immaculate.
The Majin Buu arc really didn’t do it for me. Frieza and Cell were terrifying, the stuff of nightmares. Was much harder to take the fat pink guy seriously.
Aaron Judge!
Anyway, while I’m loath to do any kind of looking ahead, the 2026 playoffs version of Wingstop gives me some hope we can throw looks at OKC they haven’t seen before. For whatever reason, under Thibs we didn’t really deploy them in the aggressive/switch-happy manor that has always seemed to be part of the design.
Now we’re fully actualized, and while OKC should and will be the favorite over anybody, it doesn’t feel like a David and Goliath situation anymore.
Speaking of games, piece in the Athletic about how Underdog is having fun with Gilgeous-Alexander’s reputation and created a board game called Unethical Hoops, based on the board game Operation. Each time a player touches Gilgeous-Alexander on the board, the buzzer sounds.
Is it possible that Rose & Co have incredible foresight? It seems like all Bridges has done as a Knick was drive us crazy during the regular season, and then step up in the postseason. What I’m really trying to ask is was Bridges acquired for postseason runs? We all thought he might be able to be what he is showing now..but it starting to feel like Rose and crew saw this fit way before we did. I think what we are getting out of our wings in the postseason is exactly how the FO dreamt it up. And now that KAT is playing better defense, we are now witnessing truly peak Knicks basketball. I’m excited to see how far we can take it. I just hope we have the space to re-sign Alvarado. And sadly, I think one of Deuce and Shamet will lose their spot. Most likely Deuce because we can actually get something of real value back in a trade and not really miss a beat with Alvarado, Shamet, and Kolek on board. Kinda makes me sad because Deuce is my new Quickley.
OKC can struggle at times offensively in the half court especially without Jalen and Mitchell which leaves SGA as the only ball handler that can initiate offense.
But their defense is absurd, Knicks will have to be at their most disciplined best not to turn it over and give OKC easy fastbreak points. Still hoping Spurs can somehow beat OKC or at the very least push them to 6 or 7 games.
I was saying that unless we just get completely embarrassed in the finals and it’s obvious OKC is still way ahead of us, we should run it back. And I don’t see OKC embarrassing us in the finals.
We don’t need space to bring them all back, we just need to want to.
Diawara is the only guy we might have to lose.
We can — and should — bring back the whole team and add two rookies with the 24th & 31st picks.
“You know what hasn’t aged well? Your constant need to embarrass people in this community and settle your personal scores every time the vibes are immaculate.”
Really, go fuck yourself, dude. You have killed many a thread with unnecessarily jaundiced takes when others were trying to enjoy the vibe. So how about you going back on hiatus like you did for Lent? Believe it or not, the vibes were pretty immaculate then without you!
If Knicks lose in the Finals and do run it back next regular season is gonns be interesting cause we know they’re gonna go thru their we don’t give a shit about the regular season stretches which is gonna drive us nuts lol.
That was the biggest reason to get rid of Thibs. It seemed obvious that, beyond the refusal to play bench players more during the regular season, he thought there was one way to play, one plan to follow. He didn’t try other stuff during the season, and he didn’t try it during the playoffs until too late. It was infuriating.
Brown at times has seemed lost, or hit the wrong buttons, but the flexibility meant we had options – and in the postseason, we’ve seen that come to fruition. You want to load up on Brunson? Fine, how about KAT distributing. You want to sag off Josh and crowd the paint? No problem, watch him jack up 3s. We tried zone in the season, we can switch well, we see some drop when appropriate – this team can do it all BECAUSE MIKE BROWN HAVE THEM A CHANCE TO DO IT DURING THE SEASON.
We got a deep bag. If we get past the Cavs, we’re gonna need every trick in it in the Finals…but I think we’re gonna surprise all the pundits who keep saying well, the East is weak….
Oh boy. Guys, can’t we just enjoy this?
The Thunder are obviously an excellent defensive team, but maybe aren’t quite as elite as we might think?
They rank seventh among playoff teams in defensive rating, and had soft matchups in the first two rounds. I’m sure they can and will dial up the defense if they make the finals, but they have been coasting a bit on that end in the postseason.
We were reasonably competitive with OKC in this year’s games. We lost a game that was there for the taking at home, and then were down by 1 with 6 minutes left on the road. I think we can go toe-to-toe with them, especially if they are a bit banged up.
Thank you rama for writing “if we get past the Cavs”.
I know no team ever came back from 0-3, but we’re not there yet and history tells us that we’re not the luckiest franchise out there, so baby steps 🙂
Shamet is going to make a lot of money in the offseason. Definitely at least the taxpayer midlevel. Maybe even the full midlevel? Even if we’re doing Operation Run It Back, I feel like he’s a guy who will be playing elsewhere. And I will be very happy for him, because he’ll have earned it by balling the hell out for us.
You’re probably right about Shamet BUT if we win it all, the chance to repeat could entice him to stay. If we win it all this year everyone on this team will be instant NYC legends but if we repeat? GODS.
There was always the argument of “you can make it up in endorsements” that we tried to use when thinking we could sign certain free agents for less back when we sucked. But now that we’re this good? I think it’s actually true.
“If we get past the Cavs” (ref rama), we’re all going to have to really gird our loins, assuming it’s OKC, because this site might just literally explode with anti-foul-baiting and anti-ref commentary. It could get really ugly.
And BBA, I actually agree with you regarding running it back and give-a-shit stretches, but the one variable that might make it more bearable is that there are some new keys that have unlocked new doors to magical play. That may make it much harder to lose even if the team is tired and not giving much of a damn. Plus we have a really good bench who are going to want to show out if the starters aren’t going full tilt.
I know we’re up 3-0 and last night was awesome…but the current job’s not finished yet.
One thing I’ll say is that this notion that OKC had a tough sled to the western conf finals is dumb. They beat the suns who had a bunch of injuries , and then beat the Lakers without their best player and potential mvp candidate. The Spurs are in a diff class and they lost the first game at home and are in a dog fight, esp if spurs win tonight. OkC is a great team, but the injured suns and lakers are just as, if not less impressive as the hot hawks and the sixers team that took down Boston.
I have to admit, I was skeptical Frank Ntilikina could be a rotation player on a championship team.
I had to click on the video to believe it was true, but Atkinson did say “analytically we won 2 out of 3”.
L-O-fucking-L
I don’t think he realizes how dumb he looks by saying the things he has been saying.
We have early bird rights on Shamet and can pay him 105% of this season’s average player salary. So we can offer Shamet up to $10,972,659 in year 1.
Yeah Atkinson today is making a fool out of himself, hopefully Knicks sweep their asses tomorrow and put them out of their misery.
Sidestepping Z-man’s micropenis energy…
I’m warming more and more to the idea of landry dipping in to mitch and deuce’s bag…
$11M in year one should be enough to bring Landry back. Very few (zero, maybe?) contenders have access to the full MLE, and he’s not the kind of guy non contenders want to bring in… unless the new anti-tanking rules materially change the game
They can each have their own bag. We’ve got to understand that once you’re over the second apron, there’s no utility in saving money other than actually saving money.
The key is just not going too far out on the deals bc you need to be able to unwind eventually.
MLE: $15M*
TP-MLE: $6M*
Early Bird: $11M
*Projected numbers
This DoorDash pickleball championship between Utah and the Bay Area is crazy. How does anyone miss?
“Sidestepping Z-man’s micropenis energy…”
I agree that you are the much bigger dick. You win!
I have no idea what Leon will do if we don’t win it all, but I’d be pretty surprised if he goes into the second apron. Personally, I don’t really have a strong preference. Assuming we get to the finals, it will depend on how things go. Any of those two teams will be a better measuring stick than what we’ve faced thus far.
On that note how would KBers rank the following team in terms of their strength as playoff opponents, at the time and under the conditions that we played them?
2021 Hawks
2023 Cavs
2023 Heat
2024 Sixers
2024 Pacers
2025 Pistons
2025 Celtics
2025 Pacers
2026 Hawks
2026 Sixers
2026 Cavs
Lovely
Jalen made second team all nba. KAT didn’t make any team.
I’d probably go:
2025 Pacers
2025 Celtics
2023 Heat
2024 Pacers
2025 Pistons
2024 Sixers
2026 Cavs
2021 Hawks
2023 Cavs
2026 Hawks
2026 Sixers
Congrats Jalen. Well deserved.
I don’t know why Leon wouldn’t go into the second apron. The goal is to build a championship team. If the Knicks win, he’ll know how much latitude he’ll have for a few bad years if he gives this group the chance to win another time or two before the wheels fall off. Trying to get cute around the margins in the effort to dance around the apron doesn’t make sense when it is truly an all-in team worth keeping together.
I hope they don’t get cute. This is a pretty complete team, and if we somehow retained Diawara and drafted well this year, we might have a solid four or five years of contention.
The Celtics dismantling their team is a case in point. Plus none of the Knicks are as old or injury prone as Jrue, KP or Horford were. Keep the guys together, keep the depth. You won’t be able to replace Mitch, Deuce and Landry with whatever assets you have under the second apron.
KAT should have been 3rd team All NBA. Don’t get Murray, Duren or Johnson over him.
Jalen Duren over KAT? Pshaw.
KAT had a tough narrative pinned to him in the regular season. Earned and otherwise.
Based on regular season numbers, seems to me that Duren definitely deserved it over KAT. He put up 25 and 13 per 36 and led the league with a .688 TS% on a 23.6% usage.
The 2025 Pistons weren’t that good. Hell, the 2026 Pistons weren’t even that good.
I’d say the same about the 2025 Celtics. The rot was starting to set in.
I hope Detroit signs Duren to the super max.
KAT’s regular season wasn’t exactly stellar.
And that ‘24 Pacers team was dog shit. Literally did not win one game against a team that wasn’t missing 2-3 of their best players.
But the whole point of this exercise is pretty transparent. We’re supposed to see that Thibs faced all the hard teams and Brown faced all the easy teams 🙄
Go Spurs!
“The 2025 Pistons weren’t that good. Hell, the 2026 Pistons weren’t even that good.
I’d say the same about the 2025 Celtics. The rot was starting to set in.”
I don’t think any team on that list other than last year’s Pacers was all that good. It’s a pretty mediocre list. I mean, who would you put above those teams? I would put this Cavs team higher, but I qualified the list with the conditions under which they played, and they have looked gassed all series.
The 2025 Celtics were still pretty damn good.
“But the whole point of this exercise is pretty transparent. We’re supposed to see that Thibs faced all the hard teams and Brown faced all the easy teams”
Not at all, but obviously you think of everything I write in those terms, don’t you?. Sounds like my condo in your head is alive and well!
This Cavs team beat the 2026 Pistons, so I’d rank them above the 2025 Pistons. But sure, none of these teams are world beaters.
I had a similar thought when looking at the all-NBA teams. That thought being, “you know, KAT and OG are as good as some of these guys and so is the current version of Mikal.”
We’re good!
They literally swept the entire eastern conference. Next season is simple. Re sign everyone. Run it again. Rinse. Repeat.
Without Jalen and Mitchell the Knicks can be pretty successful defending this OKC team. Scoring against it though will still be tough.
I hate watching Shai. Truly.
The call right now on D’Aaron Fox is why OKC is a BS team.
Duren over KAT is certainly defensible based on the regular season but boy I would not feel great right about now had I cast that particular vote!
Oh man the SGA whistle.
Is this an actual sport? I mean why not let him sprinkle confetti around and use a ladder to dunk the ball
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jaylin Williams miss a 3…
What’s infuriating is that they let OKC manhandle teams like the Pistons do.
I have to think OKC is training their guys to get whistles. Like training them to fall after jumpers or screens?
nothing pleasing at the moment about watching sga’s “game”…
Castle is.a bit out of control.
Obviously OKC is very deep, but the Spurs having a poor bench is really coming to bite them.
The other thing about the OKC whistle is that it gets in the heads of other teams. Knicks have to expect it and accept it.
I actually thought the Spurs had an exceptional bench before these last couple games. Dylan Harper’s a stud, Keldon Johnson won 6MOY, I really like Carter Bryant & Luke Kornet… they’ve just sucked.
Its crazy that the Knicks are pretty clearly the best offensive team remaining.
He doesn’t look dumb at all except through the eyes of an opposing fan.
He is a coach of a team that is down 3-0. He has to advocate for his guys. What is he supposed to say, ” Even thought the Knicks only won , one more game that us this season, we have no chance?”
He didn’t bring up the “expected score” thingy, a writer mentioned they shot 8% below their expected. He acknowledged that fact, but then immediately said the game is played with a real score or something like that.
He actually sort of called out his guys in the beginning of his comments when he said, “Their energy and physicality level was way above ours, call it what it was…”
Nothing he said was anything other than oral pabulum coach speak.
https://www.google.com/search?q=kenny+atkinson+post+game+presser+after+game+3+vs+ny+knicks&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1157US1157&oq=kenny+atkinson+post+game+presser+after+game+3+vs+ny&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBECEYoAEyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRiPAtIBCTQ3MzQ0ajBqN6gCCLACAfEF34XwqWHqGBQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:d0ad639d,vid:YoNgY4tVWpk,st:0
Maybe it’s just the OKC defense making them struggle. That and perhaps too many minutes for the younger players over the season.
Except everyone and their cousin agree it was dumb, not just Knicks fans.
Yeah, I don’t think Atkinson said anything particularly controversial.
Dort out there trying to injure players every other possession.
Another flop.
SGA slips and gets a call.
They need someone to guard SGA like Dort pretends to guard opponents.
This is such a good matchup. I see a real old fashioned rivalry building.
It would be a really good matchup without the OKC custom rulebook.
With it, the shittiness of the product overwhelms
Chippy nasty game. I like it.
Spurs might want to hit a 3 at some point.
Remember when Champagnie couldn’t miss against the Knicks?
Keldon Johnson has been especially poor vs OKC -34 in 59 minutes and played abysmally in game 3 ( 1-5, 5 fouls and -23 in 11:40).
They are in a tough spot with Fox hobbled, Harper nicked up and a 21 yr old 2 shooting guard forced to be the primary ball handler. It is going to be tough sledding unless Dr House gets working.
OKC is winning this going away if they’re this close after going 1-10 from 3
Holy shit what an ending to the 1st half by Wemby.
Wemby!
I really need this series to go 7.
Just your routine halfcourt pull-up swish from your average 7 1/2 footer.
I think we can beat either team but it’s admittedly a bit scary to go up against one of the best defensive players ever who can also resemble Steph Curry from time to time
I wonder if Phil thinks that Wemby is too tall for the game…
His ass is too small.
Pags I’d probably be willing to bet the Jaylin Williams doesn’t score 18 pts the rest of this series let alone in a single game!
The Thunder offense sucks.
I’m far from objective but I find it hard to believe there is good reason for so many people to think these teams are multiple classes above us. At this point it’s just a narrative that’s being repeated because everyone is saying it.
His ass is too skinny to play the pinch post.
I’m pretty sure he would find time for him in front of Bill Wennington and Luc Longley.
I do think the Knicks would struggle against the Thunder ball pressure. This remains one of their weak spots, and no team is as good at it as the Thunder.
Only 2 FTA for Shai Gilgeous-Foulexander.
I’m sure that will be rectified in the second half
I think we’d eventually solve the ball pressure like we’ve solved everything else. Mikal’s been great bringing the ball up.
Randle’s game would be completely derailed with bad whistle, and we’ve seen KAT being prone to that too, and a lot less often but sometimes Brunson too. They need to work on this, because we won’t be getting OKC’s whistle, that’s for sure.
That is some run by the Spurs.
Stephon Castle is beasting right now.
When you have no J Will and Ajay I’m not sure how the Thunder can score consistently . They just send triple teams at SGA
Most of the time I mostly only know what I read here, but I did notice that the FT discrepancy in this game is +16 for the Spurs and SGA has only attempted 2.
That was not a shooting foul, but the point is that SGA consistently embellishes contact to get calls, like he did just now.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jaylin Williams miss a 3…”
Must have jinxed him. I think he’s been 0-4 since I posted that.
SGA falls down a lot in an effort to draw fouls, way more than he should. I mean, good for him if he can get away with it, but it seems that guys who are that egregious wind up getting rules changed or re-interpreted to discourage it. He’s a great scorer in his own right so he’ll be able to adapt, but it has to stop.
And an airball now.
Up 22 with 9 min left. Don’t go Cavs on me, Spurs.
OKC has now lost as many games as the Knicks this postseason.