The last time that the Knicks were the #9 seed when they took on the #8 seed, they defeated the Miami Heat on the road, so hopefully they can repeat the feat against the Indiana Pacers!
It will be tough going without KP and THJ, but hey, ya never know!
Let’s go, Knicks!
83 replies on “2017-18 Game Thread: Knicks @ Pacers”
I have an insider source who told me we’re gonna get our ass kicked by the pacers tonight
No one is saying anything is certain. But it is possible to say that some outcomes are more likely than others. The Knicks are 1-6 on the road, so it’s reasonable to guess that they won’t fare that well during the stretch when they play 16 of 20 on the road.
Saying “anything can happen, so you don’t know,” is not a valid argument. Yeah, our 11-11 team could theoretically rip off 16 road wins in a row. It’s possible. But it’s a lot more likely that they go 5-11.
yeah, but do you have your own personalized stat sheets to back up that bold prediction…
This will be rough.
[from the other thread]
Doesn’t Jordan Bell have a bad injury history?
I haven’t been able to watch yet but it doesn’t look like a good night for the offense
@1 – It looks like you have a good source
When we lose with Frank and Dotson playing, and hopefully Willy later, it almost feels like a win.
I’m starting to think that having Mike Beasley score half your points is not a recipe for success.
This contest should not be viewed through the false prism of winning or losing but rather whether we don’t leave early to fly home. Moral victories.
Why are they switching every possession?
Courtney Lee is a double agent tonight.
His trade value is plummeting by the second.
Dotson has looked good on defense.
Willy has been out there for a few minutes but it’s like he’s not even there.
I told my gas station attendant that never wins his bets to put his money on Indy tonight. He said that he never bets against the Knicks. That’s why he never wins his bets. The line was 11.
Well you never know. We could be on the verge of a 15 game winning streak. It’s just as likely as winning the lotto so let’s go for it.
#uneverknow
We have a worse record than we had last year and we’ve played most of our games at home. Realistically, we should tank.
The first half line was 6.5.
#profit.
@14 I honestly didn’t notice him.
With the Knicks’ offense so anemic, it’s important to remember how great the Pacers have historically been at defense. I mean, think back to that amazing 2013-14 team that lost in the Conference Finals. They were so good at defense! I mean, sure, there are no remaining players from that team on the current roster, and the coach is different, but historically, the Pacers have been great at defense. Nothing to see here, really.
If you could do a live plus/minus on Beasley, it would look something like this:
+ – + – + – – + –++ – – – – –
Wow, just got in. So, Beas has 13 points and 4 turnovers in 11 minutes!?
Kanter, Lee, and McD are each -26 at the half?!
if Beasley was 21, I would say he has potential. He’s 29. He is what he is, and it’s not good.
Was the D just awful in the first half, or just Indiana on fire? I see they are 9-14 from three.
Is Derek Fisher still being paid by us right now? I’d bring him in to replace Hornacek and rotate our coaches in and out every year or so.
Beas now with 5 turnovers…
Please get Beasley out of there.
Our Hall of Fame starter Michael Beasley is giving Enes Kanter with a WS48 of .210 playing advice. Chutzpah!
Horny just emptied the bench.
Is Derek Fisher coming in too?
Hornacek has that deer in the headlights look that we saw a lot of last year.
@23 – The D was terrible, the O was terrible.
Is Frank playing the three?
If Frank takes it to the hoop just once I’ll call it a positive night.
We have Frank, Baker and Sessions out there so we really don’t have a three or a two or a one playing right now.
Well, expected a throwaway game, got one.
A bit harsher than I expected but really it’s whatever.
The Knicks refuse to take shots. They need to rain down 3’s and they can’t pull the trigger.
Frank just took it to the hoop and got fouled.
Mission accomplished.
Frank with the drive!!! But for a guy with a 7 ft reach you’d think he’d at least hit the rim on a layup
The Post referred to Beasley today as the Porzingis “backup plan”
Yeah, and the backup plan when my car won’t start is riding a tricycle to work.
Baker Frank and Lance might be our best three defenders.
@32 There’s your Ntilikina drive to the hoop.
He’s done it twice recently.
Bring in Rebecca Haarlow
That was a nice drive at least.
Frank’s a driving machine right now.
Better get out of the way.
Maybe that drive will give him some confidence to do it more often?
You can see how it bothers Frank when the team sucks and is embarrassed. I like that about him.
Frank with his third drive. Is he reading our blog?
And just like _that_the Knicks cut the lead to 27!
Baker’s playing like a two. Three ball in the corner pocket.
Should have left in Beasley to go for the double double (points and turnovers)…
🙂
Without our top two scorers a guy like Trey Burke might help us even more. We don’t need both Jack AND Sessions.
@51
I’d be all for releasing Sessions and Beasley and bringing up Burke and one of the young forwards there.
Jayson Tatum is 4-5 from 3 point range tonight, bringing him up to 51.3% for the season.
Seriously, how long can he keep shooting like that?
Noah!
That youngster with the pony tail is looking great in garbage time. You know, the guy named Noah.
@53 Curse you, Danny Ainge.
Dotson heating up. Good D too.
Noah is making Sabonis look bad. I like it.
Baker made a couple of threes and suddenly he won’t take wide open shots. What’s with him?
Sessions is useless and awful. Should have kept Kuz instead of him, would help a lot more in these games without KP.
FWIW, Willy now has a double double.
Willy is good. When he’s not bad.
When a team is down 38 you need to chuck up 3’s.
My next Frank goal is to see him dunk.
For the second straight game against the Pacers we outscore them heavily in the 4th quarter!!
The law of averages has caught up with us.
In other new, the Suns are threatening to upset Philly in Philly.
Looks like I picked a good game to not be able to watch.
That was the most putrid defensive effort I’ve seen out of the Knicks in a long time, at least for the first 30 minutes. Willy’s D is reminding me of Bargnani. Kanter’s back must be hurting, or else he is reverting to his OKC ways.
I think Beasley and Kanter are a terrible fit together on both ends. On a positive note Dotson is a really good on the ball defender. That said, I’m sure if he’s got enough bounce off of the dribble to be anything other than a 3 and D guy. And finally, Trey Burke please. I’m sure he’ll stink but he can’t be any worse than what we’re playing at the point now.
Yeah, Kanter playing without KP’s rim protection behind him was not fun to watch, and Beasley is so completely oblivious to everything on defense it can’t help either.
I give Beasley a pass because he is not a potential piece going forward. OTOH, Kanter and Willy really worry me in terms of their future value to this team.
What is Ramon Sessions’ reason for being on this team?
Like clockwork…
This is the moment the past’s win-now becomes wish-we-hadn’t-won-those.
Some combo of Sessions, Jack, Lee, Oquinn, and lance should go. What’s a good haul? Losses.
Burke would profoundly change the team for the better. I’ve watched him play some this year and am convinced that he would be a difference maker. At least on offense. I want him to take Jack’s minutes.
Burke has been a bad pro for 4 years and will probably be bad for us. But he’s relatively young so there’s a tiny chance he has another level. Might as well waive Sessions for him.
Washington just lost to the Jazz 116 to 69. That is some score. Washington at 12 and 11 so far has got to be a big disappointment for their fans.
I just checked the Westchester Knicks boxscore tonight. Burke scored 39 points including 6 for 7 on threes. And he was a plus 29.
If the choice is between Burke and Sessions then by all means just play Burke, based on age alone. I think both should not be getting minutes but Hornacek has seemingly decided Baker is exclusively a 2 guard, and there’s literally 0 point in having Sessions on the roster.
There are teams needing a point guard so if we don’t call Burke up soon someone else probably will.
John Wall is out and Steph Curry left the court on crutches tonight to name two.
@78
Donovan Mitchell and Alec Burks of all people have been tearing it up. Washington without Wall is a borderline playoff team at most.
The Wizards came into tonight’s game with a 14-8 EWL, good for fifth in the league.
If any Wizards fans are unhappy with the team’s performance, they had unrealistic expectations for the season. Despite the basketball gods gifting Otto Porter to them, they still haven’t found a way to crack fifty wins in a hopelessly-weak East. They spent too much money on the wrong players, IMO. I’d expect them to be the next Hawks or Clippers, blowing up their “star”-laden team after failing to make much of an impact past the second round. There is no way they compete with Cleveland or Boston in 7.