Categories
Game Thread

2023-24 Game Thread: Knicks @ Magic (Orlando Opener, not really a thing)

The Knicks head to Orlando for the second leg of this weird little road trip, to take on the surprisingly good Orlando Magic, but, well, as we all know well, early in the NBA season, there’s always a couple of teams where it’s, like, “Wait, they can’t be this good, can they?” and it’s not even like 18-12 is some amazing record, but it’s better than the Knicks’ 17-13 record, and I sincerely doubt that the Magic are better than the Knicks, so I bet we’ll see the Magic fall apart as the season goes along, but they’re still an interesting test for the Knicks on the road.

Like I noted with the Thunder, it’s always nice to sort of smack down an “up and coming” team so you can remind them that they’re not quite there yet. The Knicks couldn’t do that with the Thunder, but the Thunder are much better than the Magic, so hopefully the Knicks will do it to the Magic tonight.

And hopefully at least one toilet swirly tonight! Or a purple nurple, at the very least!

Let’s go, Knicks!

181 replies on “2023-24 Game Thread: Knicks @ Magic (Orlando Opener, not really a thing)”

Oh, very bad RJ.

And you know it’s bad when Wally gives RJ shit for his defense.

4 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds less than 7 minutes into the game isn’t too bad, right?

I’ve been so intrigued by Anthony Black this year. He is like Frank Ntilikina with a chance.

Orlando is huge but not great. Perfect opportunity for Thibs to give the small guys a chance against a bigger team.

That Quickley guy doesn’t deserve more minutes. He might score more if he gets them.

Quickley’s cooking… this is the game, Thibs… give the small guards a chance to play together.

This is the type of game that shows how much more valuable Randle can be over Barrett, the Magic have no one to guard him and he’s abusing them. Meanwhile Barrett…

This is the type of game that shows how much more valuable Randle can be over Barrett

This kinda game a chair more valuable than Barrett

RJ currently a nice -9 while IQ is a +10.

We played them together now IQ’s +3 and and RJ’s -17.

FFS, Thibs… THIS IS THE GAME.

While there’s time, I think I can take the L on the Barrett bounce-back game. He’d pretty much have to make most of the rest of his two-pointers, and go 3-5 from three, to make me prescient.

Does RJ seem a little slower and athletic the last few weeks? Maybe injured a little?

IQ has taken one shot with RJ on the floor – a heave when they had 1 second left on the shotclock.

guys IQ has had the ball.. he’s picked up his dribble at 15 ft like 3 times… he has more than enough opportunities to create for himself.. he’s just not…

The battle of moxie between RJ and Cole Anthony, to see who can throw more garbage shots at the rim.

I love that Barrett is 2-9 and leads the Knicks in minutes played. You do you, Thibs!

IQ made a mistake giving the ball to a wide open RJ for 3 when he had two options for good 2s.

Thibs put the Vaporizers in… kudos… but the Magic seem intent on destroying their net rating.

Since I’ve been having so much fun raining on RJ’s parade, I have to be fair and admit that Brunson is fucking up a lot, too.

Congrats to RJ on having 0 rebounds and 0 assists in 15 minutes so far. Can he go the whole game with zeros in those categories? Stay tuned. It’s possible.

Congrats to RJ on having 0 rebounds and 0 assists in 15 minutes so far. Can he go the whole game with zeros in those categories? Stay tuned. It’s possible.

Zero looks like a donut.

We are back to last year where the least efficient player we have is taking the most or close to the most shots. I don’t care how open he is RJ shouldn’t be shooting this much.

Might be a night to give Deuce some run, the rest of the team other than Randle is comatose.

Thank goodness they got Quickley off the court. Now we have a chance. This 66.7% shooting just doesn’t cut it.

Well said Strat. RJ needs to drive and pass more. Also coaches need to hold him accountable. It is crazy that he plays this amount of minutes and takes this many shots. Doesn’t make much sense.

I don’t know if Max will do grades tomorrow, but if we lose this Thibs needs an F. Barrett can’t help that he sucks (well, he could work harder, I suppose). But that he’s taking the second-most shots and has the second-most minutes is all about Thibs.

If this continues maybe it will put some pressure on Thibs and management to shake things up. This is too ugly.

That’s pretty funny. Randle scored 16 points in the first quarter. The entire Knicks team scored 15 points in the second.

Barrett can’t help that he sucks (well, he could work harder, I suppose). But that he’s taking the second-most shots and has the second-most minutes is all about Thibs.

Size. Lenght. Inches. Volume. Our coach has a lot of answers… 😉

Brunson has been detrimental this game. iHart and JHart are in atrial fibrillation. RJ is his normal vomit-inducing self. IQ didn’t do much. Grimes did even less. DDV also a no-show. Taj was at least serviceable.

If it wasn’t for Julius, we’d be down 30.

What I mean is, I know that RJ has sucked but he shouldn’t be a lightning rod that covers up when other guys suck as well.

I mean, we could give the Magic credit, they have a great defense. But it’s a great D bc they’re #2 in TOV and #1 in DREB. They’re just 16th in eFG%, so this more likely just us being shit.

Zero looks like a donut.

i’ve gone a few months now without a donut. life is good, it’d be really good though if i had a donut to eat right now.

not really sure though which kind. generally i like cream filled donut holes, at the moment i have a taste though for a simple chocolate glazed donut. yum, with cold milk.

geez, the old guy out there during halftime could be my twin. maybe i could get a gig doing nba halftime entertainment. not sure what his performance was – it couldn’t been that hard though 😛

No nice words for Randle after he actually had a defensive highlight play stopping two opponents on a fast break by himself? Even the Orlando announcers noticed it.

Watching RJ drive the ball to the basket and try to take a wild shot over multiple players (when his teammates are open) has to be deflating to his teammates.

“No nice words for Randle after he actually had a defensive highlight play stopping two opponents on a fast break by himself? Even the Orlando announcers noticed it.”

Randle is the only reason why the second half is even worth watching…

No nice words for Randle after he actually had a defensive highlight play stopping two opponents on a fast break by himself?

He had the turnover that started the fastbreak, so he only got even… 😉

But only Julius’ 1st quarter has kept us relatively close, so kudos to him, as a team we’re playing like shit…

I feel when other players have off games they at least offer some positives. RJ doesn’t offer much. 17 min and 0 combined rebounds and assists. And not so good defense.

It’s just Randle 1-on-1. Over and over. Better than RJ 1-on-1, but after a while it gets defensible.

Oh good, RJ with the tech for no good reason.

Edit: do we think RJ got the tech because he’s so angry that he sucks so bad?

Really looking forward to Knickerblogger tomorrow

RJ Barrett’s mom probably shouldn’t log in.

RJ with the moxie 3. 🤪

Our 3 point shooting is more or less why we aren’t still in this game.

Embarrassing performance. Don’t know what the fourth holds, but for most of the first three quarters New York didn’t look like an NBA team.

IQ better not make too many shots. He might be subbed for Fournier since he is taller.

Quickley with another three. Take him out before something good happens…

The Killer on Netflix sounds interesting. I don’t have Netflix or Apple TV.

I’d really like to watch that Foundation series on Apple.

Was over mom’s on monday. We watched Love and Monsters. I liked it. It reminded me a bit of Warm Bodies. An unexpected decent youthful “monster” movie. Good humor, okay story.

That is so amazing the quality of programming associated with Godzilla stuff.

I’ve watched a bunch of the more recent movies. Good stuff.

Just finished watching High Life, it was okay. Also watched Everything Everywhere All at Once recently, reminded me a bunch of Red Panda 😊

Also want to check out Asteroid City and the Creator.

I think the only reason I’m still watching this game is bc I want to blow a gasket when we cut the lead to 6 and Thibs puts RJ back in.

The Magic are a poorly shooting team, they have no outside game, and we can easily get back in this one. Tonight, however, it looks like nothing is working for the Knicks.

Random movie from 10 years ago that I just watched on Amazon is Robot and Frank. I enjoyed it. Also just went to see Boys in the Boat in the movies yesterday. That was good although the book is even better.

I’d really like to watch that Foundation series on Apple.

Slow Horses is a must-see on Apple…

Here AppleTV has a 7-days free trial, isn’t the same in the US?

I saw that Kung Fu Panda thing coming out. I can’t remember if i watched Kung Fu Panda 3.

I wasn’t totally blown away by Across the Spider-verse. I thought it was a little needlessly complex. It was okay though.

Saw the new TMNT movie. They used a interesting animation style. I thought it was okay.

Watched Elemental. Again, okay movie.

hey max, yes sir, it does…at some point i’ll check out the service (maybe wait for another season of Foundation to come out 🙂 )

I saw the ads for Slow Horse. It does look interesting.

it’s funny Max, been away from work since the end of April. I used to always mock mom a bit when she would go on about how busy she was all the time, even though she was retired.

i get it now though. spent the last couple of days gardening, being dad, and grooming the dog – i’m exhausted…

okay, i’m not really exhausted – but, i definitely am not feeling bored in the very slightest.

They are trying to show signs of life but they don’t have enough interior defense with Taj.

Quickley missed a couple of shots that could have really given them the momentum they need to make a run.

Nice Nick – i see Robot and Frank is reviewed well. I’ll check it out.

Cool to hear about the Boys in the Boat. That’s awesome to have the book and movie both now to compare/enjoy.

i get it now though. spent the last couple of days gardening, being dad, and grooming the dog – i’m exhausted…

okay, i’m not really exhausted – but, i definitely am not feeling bored in the very slightest.

Great Geo!

Life’s full of nice things to do instead of dealing with assholes at the office…

Randle at the 5.

Not what we were thinking of in terms of small ball…

Also if you haven’t seen The Bear it is a wonderful show. Both seasons are so good. On Hulu I believe. Thanks Max for reminding me about Slow Horses books. I will need to check them out. Brother Love the Boys in the boat book is amazing!

Magic are not shooting well either but they have taken 10 more shots than the Knicks as of the middle of the fourth. We are being mauled on the boards.

Thibs is actually playing small ball at the moment with Randle the biggest Knick on the floor. Wagner is getting rebounds, but the lineup does seem to be playing even with the Magic.

If they know Mitch is almost certainly not coming back this season and they are serious about competing in the playoffs, they have to get a backup C. Taj is not that bad, but this team needs the better rim protection and rebounding it gets when healthy.

I know plus minus can sometimes not tell the whole picture but at this moment everyone from the bench is a plus.

Not what we were thinking of in terms of small ball…

Yeah no one was clamoring for iHart to be benched against the biggest front line in the NBA.

I’ve been one of Thibs’ biggest supporters from the day they picked him over Kenny Atkinson and other candidates, but he’s losing me. He’s good at a bunch of things, but his lineups and minutes distribution make no sense to me.

In the mean time, at least they trying to get back into this.

i swear max, looking back on it – the thing that short-circuited my nerves the most was putting limitations/boundaries on myself and how i dealt with others.

for soooo long i would bite my tongue, around 2018 or so i just got tired, and started to be a lot more direct (mirroring a lot of the work behavior from the time spent in the military).

one of the things i appreciate most about my relationship now with the people close to me – i express myself pretty freely now.

what do you know – down to six, is there some hope here?!?!?!?

Edit: i’m only 60 now Max…i think once i’ve settled my nerves better (constant work in progress), and done enough home projects/chores to my liking – i think there’s a chance i may try a second act…perhaps go get myself a little more education and do some geography/archeology related stuff…

The Warm Bodies book is much better than the film, Geo. Though the movie was pretty good.

one of these days – i’m gonna test you all out on some traveling tour guide kind of stuff…

seriously – the collective knowledge of everyone is overwhelming at times, in a good way…

not now, but, i got something odd to ask you about Rama…it’s reference the “diversification” (or lack thereof) of participants/players within symphony/orchestral groups/performances…

I kind of remember you mentioning performing in that setting, i think?

i like watching that stuff, there’s a lot of old folks involved, not many brown/black folks that i’ve observed though…

that environment looks insanely competitive…

Good help defense by Quickly the last few possessions. He still gets back to his man.

Brunson didn’t get the calls but he was pretty bad tonight.

Rare rough night for him on offense. He usually makes those key shots to break the other team’s momentum or get us back into it.

what do you know – down to six, is there some hope here?!?!?!?

Arr from the House of Jay whose symbol means “no hope” in Kryptonian.

Brunson’s shot was off and he had a few turnovers but at least he found a way to contribute some other ways. But he did miss some shots he should/usually makes.

when jalen is off though offensively – he’s a negative player…he doesn’t really rebound or defend…

good for him on drawing all those charges, but, not enough…

Edit: nice EB 🙂

Edit to my edit: i stand corrected this evening – brunson had 7 rebounds, tonight…

Magic playing physical based on the assumption “they are not gonna call them all”. They are indeed getting away with a lot but this is no excuse for how the Knicks played.

I’m predicting a massive bounce back from Brunson tomorrow, especially considering the Pacers play no defense

Brunson wasn’t just randomly off. That Anthony Black kid is sick on D, and Suggs is no slouch, either. They made life hell on him.

I still think we are better than the Magic, but this was one of the teams I was talking about before the season started when I said we may win fewer games this year even if we improve a bit because a few teams might improve more than us. They got better last year after a rough start and it carried over into this year plus more youthful improvement. A handful of games like this that we may have won last year will turn into losses this year. Still, we played like crap. I almost wish we got blown out and Thibs emptied the bench. Then we’d be fresher for the track meet against the Pacers tomorrow night. That could be rough on a back to back.

I wasn’t impressed by this Magic team. Besides their physical and scrappy play, they showed nothing else. Had the Knicks played tolerably, they would have easily taken this game.

Very physical game, reffed as if it was playoffs.

Randle nearly win it by himself, anyway I appreciated the fighting spirit against a team that will be a contender in a couple of years…

Brunson wasn’t just randomly off. That Anthony Black kid is sick on D, and Suggs is no slouch, either. They made life hell on him.

Too small. 😉

Noteworthy observation: size doesn’t matter to Thibs when it’s RJ guarding 6’10” Banchero or 6’11” Wagner in the post… it only matters when it comes to guarding a 6’6”perimeter player… I defended his thought process vs OKC but man was he a hypocrite tonight benching iHart when we were getting killed on the boards… it’s really any excuse to play RJ… Randle at the 5 didn’t even do much because none of the bigs were guarding RJ on the perimeter anyway.

orlando’s defense is for real…. pretty much the same looks as we got early in the season…. get on brunson’s hip and stepping up early really takes brunson out of his comfort zone in floater range… esp when black and suggs are really really good at recovering …

they really swarm to the ball… takes advantage of any lazy pass and really punishes a team that doesn’t move the ball that much… every shot was even more difficult than usual….

brunson not playing well was mostly an orlando thing…. he did the best he could under the circumstances….

You know they are not good from the outside, naturally you pack the paint, but still give them 40 free throws for 30 points, and 14 offensive rebounds. Here is your game right there.

We’ve played 12 games at home and 19 on the road so far with quite a few B2Bs. It could be catching up to them a little. I’m sure a lot of guys are looking forward to a couple of long stretches at home.

They better get a backup C before the deadline unless they think Mitch will be back. Our advantage on the offensive boards and our required paint defense and rebounding is lacking with Taj on the court.

Randle at the 5 didn’t even do much

to be clear, Randle himself did a ton… the move just didn’t open up the lane because the Magic forwards weren’t stretched by RJ and Hart.

Yeah we’re beginning to see how big a loss Mitch is.

Starting on MLK Day Knicks play 12 of 14 games at home with 1 of the road games at Brooklyn. They should fatten up their record during that stretch but next 2 weeks are still gonna be a grind to get thru.

Brunson also got blocked three times at the rim as we were trying to come back. That kind of snuffed our rally

Getting to the point where I’m just looking forward to Juan Soto’s Yankees debut.

Reminder that tomorrow we get to watch Obi Toppin try to guard a pissed off Julius Randle.

That was as bad as Brunson has ever looked, even if he made up for some of it at the free throw line. The shooting line speaks for itself…but does anyone else feel like 3 TOs assessed feels generous?

I haven’t seen any numbers on it yet but the Randle at the 5 look played out exactly as you might expect based on the eye-test. Definitely jumpstarted the offense but also lost us some key rebounds and we couldn’t stop a nosebleed.

Also, too much Taj. Get a real backup center pronto.

brunson not playing well was mostly an orlando thing…. he did the best he could under the circumstances….

I’ll grant the defense a lot of credit, but he didn’t look comfortable to me even when he had a decent shot. It’s no biggie. He’s going to win games for us. When he has a bad one for whatever reason you write it off and look to the next one. It’s the guys that don’t contribute most nights that deserve some heat when they stink out the joint again.

RJ was better when he had that mismatch with Anthony. Maybe if we land a solid SF and move RJ back to SG he’ll be able to use his strength advantage to finish against smaller men. That’s what Scott Perry was calling for in a recent interview.

Obi is coming off the bench now so he might barely matchup with Randle.

Tomorrow could get ugly with the 2nd night of a back to back against the run and gun Pacers or it could be a nice bounce back win especially for the Knicks offense.

Good presser by Thibs, at least. He lost his shit about the way Brunson got treated, walked out.

Good presser by Thibs, at least. He lost his shit about the way Brunson got treated, walked out.

Thibs did the right thing. However, this is neither the first nor the last time this happens in an NBA game, and Brusnon is not a rookie. He should have been ready that he’d be hunted.

The Magic should probably go out and get one of the available high usage scorers out there.

By Post Author

I like Suggs a lot since I’ve started watching him play (this year). He has great body language. Always looks like he’s having fun while giving it 110% on every play. He’s like Gary Payton II in that regard, just highly charismatic out there on the court.

Meanwhile, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is looking to become the first MVP that nobody has ever heard of.

So the Thunder destroyed the Nuggets in Denver after destroying the Timberwolves a few days ago.

They’re time might be now

RJ is the human fake comeback. Solid second half that doesn’t nearly make up for the horrible start.

As per NBA advanced stats, we ranked fourth in defensive rating in 2020-21, 11th in 2021-22, and 19th in 2022-23. This season, we started off well but have been falling off the cliff for weeks now. We are currently 15th and keep falling. Doesn’t look good.

As per Teamrankings.com “Defensive Efficiency” rating, Knicks ranked 3rd, 8th, 14th the past three seasons, and 16th so far this season.

One might check other websites as well, but the trend is clear. While Thibs is a defensively minded coach, the truth is that we played elite defense only during his first season in New York.

Comments are closed.