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2023-24 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Raptors (Jericho Sims, Knicks Starter, Opener, which is oddlly a thing)

The Knicks kick off a post-Mitchell Robinson era tonight with a game against those dreaded IP thieves, the Toronto Raptors. Jericho Sims will be taking Mitch’s spot in the starting rotation, as Thibs clearly has some strict views about roles, and he prefers iHart to remain in his bench role. Of course, iHart will get most of the minutes at center in Mitch’s absence, so starting really doesn’t matter much beyond Thibs wanting some consistency at the start of the game to the way the Knicks normally play.

In possibly even bigger bad news for the Knicks, IQ will miss tonight’s game with knee inflammation. Knee inflammation is one of those weird deals which could mean nothing, or it could mean a lot. There really isn’t any way to tell one way or the other.

Luckily, the Raptors aren’t really a team where Mitch was all that necessary to defeat, so I think that the Knicks should still pull this one out, as the Raptors are a terrible shooting team, but the difficulty level is obviously higher now with no Mitch and no IQ.

Let’s go, Knicks!

141 replies on “2023-24 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Raptors (Jericho Sims, Knicks Starter, Opener, which is oddlly a thing)”

Well, the Raptors suck. So we should win, but we love to make easy things difficult.

Curious to see if Sims or Deuce improved at all

Sims with the switch. We might seem more defensive looks. We’ve already incorporated a bit more this season and Sims is better in switch

Sims chasing these long, fast wings around the perimeter is actually not a bad idea. Problem is then Randle just stands there so Poetl scores easily.

And then Randle… oh never mind.

I see Barnes’ ego has come to terms with reality. His ego was really inflated when he visited MSG on his rookie season.

If history is any indication we’ll have a spirited discussion about how much Julius Randle sucks tomorrow

‘If history is any indication we’ll have a spirited discussion about how much Julius Randle sucks tomorrow’

I triple-dare you to just focus on his defense, like that blow-by.

The Knicks defense is missing in action. They are walking to the rim with little resistance, getting open looks, and getting OREBs. Good thing we are hitting 3s.

If the discussion tomorrow is about how Julius Randle’s transition defense sucks, I will be an enthusiastic participant

Dick not getting calls

When he tries to trash talk our team, they should tell him “Don’t be a Dick” 😀

I can’t watch this team play defense at the moment, it makes me switch channels I get so dumbfounded and frustrated by how awful they look defensively right now.

Trivia gotta be Camby?

Don’t know why, but when i heard the question i instinctively said Kurt Thomas. But you’re probably right, Camby makes a lot of sense.

Randle will score 50+ today and I’ll crap on him all game long.

But at least I didn’t crap on Sims like many earlier! He’s doing fine. Kind of a perfect team to actually get some run — not tall (to him), they run around but so can he.

So glad he never got much run earlier so he’d be fresh for this. God forbid he’d get five minutes toward the end of games…

Mitch playing on a broken ankle would certainly explain why he hadn’t been that great the last few weeks

But at least I didn’t crap on Sims like many earlier! He’s doing fine.

I didn’t crap on him, i was just surprised with Thibs’ choice because i think iHart deserves to be the starter. I know he works very well with the backups, but you work to be a starter and when the opportunity comes, you don’t get it, i don’t think it’s fair.

But at least I didn’t crap on Sims like many earlier!

Sims (who played 25 total minutes before this game) isn’t the target of the comments… someone else is… 😉

P.S. Cyber beat me to it 🙂

On the other hand, “Barrett, step-back three” are words almost certainly followed by “Raptors with the rebound…”

Knicks 9/16 from 3.

Raptors 5/22 from 3.

Raptors 12 OREBs and Knicks matador defense keeping it close.

Randle with a good offensive half, but his defense make me mad…

Grimes 13 points in 13 minutes, DDV 0 shots but 5 assists…

Julius Randle just low-fived an empty chair.

But he is playing kind of good, offensively…

Randle is so scared of fouling/getting posterized that he moved out of perfect charge position

With the upcoming schedule we really need to win this game (and the one in Utah)… wake up guys!

I always forget about Kanter. He was one of the answers a couple games ago too. Makes sense as an answer though

Christ, Brunson needs to improve on D. Gets caught in space, Schroeder goes to the rim, Sims covers, kick out for 3. All because Brunson is standing watching OG for some reason.

Real question: did Thibs start Sims over IHart? I didn’t catch that.

If so, I think that’s a real slap in the face to IHart. He has deserved the chance to play with the starters. Instead Sims gets more minutes than him coming out of the freezer? These are the types of things that I think players find disrespectful about Thibs and are sure signs of his orthodoxy.

Everything about Brunson tonight screams that he’s hobbled so I’m trying to be forgiving about his defense.

But it’s hard to watch.

Sims started last season when Mitch was out. It worked better.

How did it work better?

I can’t watch the second half. Can someone please post the trivia answer?

Enes Kanter (Freedom)

On the other hand, Deuce got hung up on that screen anyone could see coming and let the open 3 happen

Perimeter defense has been poor. Transition defense has been poor. Obviously we’re missing two important defensive players but sheesh.

Hart has some serious skills that make me think we should try to incorporate him a little more in the half court. He’s never gonna be a high-usage guy, but it feels like there’s more to unlock with him.

Loved that Grimes after missing the layup as soon as he got the ball back fired up a 3pter and buried it.

How did it work better?

I don’t have any numbers on that, but they both seemed to fit better with the different units. If nothing else, Thibs thought it did.

You know, I watch NBA games for the chance to see referees review plays. The last few minutes have been a masterclass of refs stopping play to review calls.

Yeah, he’s still been great but Brunson has done a bunch of bad things you don’t normally see from him: bad TOs and an airball. Broken was too much, but he seems off even as he’s had a great game.

Brunson is clearly less than 100% but this is a gritty performance.

I don’t think Grimes is getting Fournier’d anytime soon*

*this is not me saying I would be willing to risk financial ruin on the matter

OK sorry but I gotta be a dick right now, Hart is alright but he’s no Cam Whitmore..

This is one of our rare lineups with a lot of above average playmakers on the floor and it shows.

Game they were supposed to win but still considering the circumstances and upcoming schedule this was a pretty big win.

Damn, so LaVine wasn’t just not helping the Bulls win, he was apparently making them worse.

Damn, so LaVine wasn’t just not helping the Bulls win, he was apparently making them worse.

I’ve been saying that for awhile.

I’d like to say it’s all bad defense, but the gap between his boxscore stats and on/off over the long term is so huge, it has to be more than defense. The Heat is probably the only team that could add him and figure out a way to make him add noticeable value. 🙂

Randle had another great boxscore night, but imo he gave back most of that value on the defensive end.

I’m still on the fence about the DDV signing, but no ambivalence about Hart at all

I’ll make it easier. It was a good signing because he’s a pretty good player and the contract is fair. However, it was not what we needed and it created some minutes issues that will have to be resolved eventually. The resolution may not be to the liking of many of us.

DiVincenzo:
3 points on 2 FG attempts 18:44 minutes

Grimes:
19 points on 11 FG attempts 26.52 minutes

RJ, Randle, and Brunson 54 FG attempts and 17 FT attempts

It’s almost as if being used as a spacer for high usage players impacts your FG attempts. 🙂

“Not exactly a good win but I guess we’ll take it.”

I thought it was a terrific win. We beat a desperate team that we just humiliated on their home court last week, and on a day when we found out our starting C is out for more than two months. Not to mention that Brunson looks hobbled and the guy who strat (wrongly) thinks is our second best player was a late scratch.

We also had our most assists in a single game this year, and we won in large part because:
-Randle was a beast
-RJ scored efficiently (for him)
-Grimes looked like the idealized version of Grimes
-Hart played the winner position pretty darn well

I also think the Raptors are better on paper than their record suggests. Their starting 5 is very strong, but their bench is shaky. Obviously they need a better PG than Schroder.

OTOH Gradey Dick looks like a very questionable pick and the clock is ticking on Siakam and OG (who was very impressive tonight.) The only guy they have signed long term is Poeltl, and that looks like an overpay. Masai has his work cut out for him.

Not to mention that Brunson looks hobbled and the guy who strat (wrongly) thinks is our second best player was a late scratch.

If you think it’s the Randle I still disagree. We won tonight because Grimes and Hart were terrific on offense AND good on defense. Randle was terrible on defense. He gave up close to as much on defense as his efficient scoring added on offense.

Best game of the season for Zion tonight. Scored at will against the elite Minnesota defense.

Randle had another great boxscore night, but imo he gave back most of that value on the defensive end.

“I’ll make it easier. It was a good signing because he’s a pretty good player and the contract is fair.”

doing stuff around the house…need to go back and re-watch…only really saw the last few minutes of the game…

it was an important win, every win against sub .500 teams will be extremely important…mainly because we can’t really depend on beating plus .500 teams right now…

daniel what’shisname…no thank you, we are now firmly in the g-men’s tommy cutlets era…

draft defense, tag barkley again, run tommy back out there next season and see what happens, most likely – 10 win season, i sez…

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