[ESPN] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 02:01:00 GMT
- Celtics tie 3-point record, hit ‘lid’ pursuing mark
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- Celtics down 29 3s to tie NBA single-game record in season-opening demolition of Knicks: What we learned
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[Yahoo Sports] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 04:52:00 GMT
NBA opening night: Anthony Davis leads Lakers past Timberwolves on big night for LeBron, Bronny James; Celtics roll past Knicks
[The New York Times] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 01:18:38 GMT
Stan Asofsky, Vociferous Courtside Superfan of the Knicks, Dies at 87
[ESPN] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 12:00:00 GMT
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- The 2024-25 NBA Entrance Survey
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[Yahoo Sports] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 01:43:00 GMT
- What’s wrong with Mikal Bridges? New Knicks star stumbles then recovers with jump shot in season debut
- Knicks Mikal Bridges struggling to reclaim Villanova shooting form
- Former Suns star being misused by contender
- Knicks Josh Hart ‘not going to entertain’ talk about Mikal Bridges’ recent shooting struggles
- Buyers remorse: Knicks didnt trade 5 1sts for this version of Mikal Bridges
[Bleacher Report] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:45:00 GMT
- Video: Celtics Unveil 2024 NBA Title Rings, Raise 18th Banner Ahead of Knicks Opener
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[ESPN] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 04:58:00 GMT
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[Yahoo Sports] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 21:41:07 GMT
Report: Warriors, Timberwolves talked KAT trade before Knicks deal
[New York Post] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 07:01:00 GMT
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- Knicks showing interest in signing sharpshooter Matt Ryan
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[Yahoo Sports] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 01:34:00 GMT
- NBA Opening Night scores, live updates: Celtics hang 18th banner vs. Knicks, Bronny and LeBron could suit up together for the Lakers
- Raptors 119-118 Celtics (Oct 15, 2024) Box Score
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- The Celtics are favored to repeat. Theyre also doubted, offended, and motivated. Its the best of both worlds.
- NBA things to know: As season begins, Celtics chasing Spurs for all-time best record
[The New York Times] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 13:36:06 GMT
Julius Randle-Chris Finch connection could make or break Timberwolves
[sny.tv] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:55:36 GMT
SEE IT: Knicks release new version of Go NY Go ahead of 2024-25 season opener
[New York Post] – Wed, 23 Oct 2024 06:18:00 GMT
Karl-Anthony Towns Knicks debut didnt have blockbuster impact
[The New York Times] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 10:04:10 GMT
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[New York Post] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 11:45:00 GMT
The Knicks were the Mets. Now theyre the Yankees
[Empire Sports Media] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 19:54:06 GMT
Knicks 1st round rookie may have played himself into rotation minutes
[Sporting News] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 14:49:53 GMT
Heat could cut ties with $146 million superstar via trade to Knicks
[101 Great Goals] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 14:56:42 GMT
FanDuel Promo Code: Get $300 Bonus & NBA League Pass for Knicks @ Celtics, Timberwolves @ Lakers
[New York Post] – Tue, 22 Oct 2024 19:49:00 GMT
Jalen Brunson is painfully aware of the Knicks’ ultimate goal
53 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.10.23)”
NEW YORK VS BOSTON L 109-132 (RECORD 0-1)
For the 3rd time in 4 years we open the season against the Celtics* and it was the worst matchup we would have needed.
The offense worked well at the start but the defense didn’t, the Celtics got their rhythm and paved us over with a hailstorm of threes, the game was gone before halftime and closed early in the third.
Understandably, given the upheaval in roster and philosophy, we have a lot of work to do and it’s absolutely too early to panic.
At the same time I think there are things that deserve a discussion and shouldn’t be overlooked.
Beware, the schedule doesn’t help us, like the Celtics our next three opponents (IND, CLE, MIA) are practically unchanged from last year, so while we’ll be searching for chemistry we’re going against set teams.
MEANINGLESS THOUGHTS:
– The Celtics wanted to deliver a message and they did. For instance in an effort unusual for the first game of the seasonBoth Tatum and Brown stole the ball from Brunson’s hands and let everyone know about it**.
– Our offense worked much better than the defense, but the starters took 17 combined threes (they hit 4), Boston’s 40 (26 hit, every starters had at least 3).
– Go read the games and postgames threads of the past seasons, Thibs’ defense always allowed for a lot of threes, in a tradeoff for rim protection.
Rim protection is no more, at least until Mitch’s back and the new smallball roster is probably more apt to a different strategy.
There’s A LOT of work to do here.
– I think it’ll be one of the bigger “themes” of the season: with DDV, I-Hart and Julius, that’s a lot of swagger, physicality and motherfuckiness gone.
This team has lost his identity and it’s too early to have a new one.
Going from a bunch of rowdy street thugs to a club of talented fencers isn’t easy.
– Is Deuce’s ready for another offensive leap?
– JB 25 minutes, KAT 24, OG 34 and Bridges 35. Thibs conceded much earlier than usual, he’s learning (fingers crossed).
GRADES:
Brunson B-
Last year was second in the League in “time per possession” (first: Doncic), he doesn’t need to do it this year, he’ll learn.
Bridges C-
Maybe the horrible missed techical FT broke the spell…
Anunoby D
Close to invisible: come on OG!
Hart C+
Progress after a difficult preseason.
Towns C
Offense as advertised, alas defense too. I expect more threes.
McBride A:
Quickly becoming an offensive specialist.
Payne D+
Stuffed the stats in garbage time, he was bad before.
Ko-Lek! Ko-Lek! Ko-Lek!
Sims C-
Injuries forced him in the lineup, games like this are beyond his level,
anyway I’d rather play Huk.
Dadiet C
Welcome kid!
Thibs C
Still tinkering with the lineups and a lot of work to do.
* A fantastic double-OT win, who deceived us in what went on to become an infuriating season, where Fournier set the record for most scoring in a Knicks debut (and sowed the seeds for him and Julius Randle to hate each other guts forever) and a brutal loss last year in a game we threw away shooting 14-26 FTs and being outscored 13-3 in the last 3:39… but the season went better 😉
** Like I wrote in the game thread it reminded me the way Wade and LeBron harassed the super heralded Lin in Miami.
And no, I’m not saying that Lin is as good as Brunson or that Brunson is overrated.
We found out that Boston is really good. Big surprise. These are the rest of my notes although it’s not clear how relevant they’ll be long-term, or just against any other team in the league.
Takeaways:
(1) Brunson was mercilessly targeted on D and so was KAT. The elite defenders just made the Celts put an emphasis on the other 2.
(2) KAT & Sims were too far back in drop and the Celts obviously has no problem pulling up. Not sure if that’s bad defense, bad play, or not knowing personnel.
(3) Keep in mind that the inappropriate drop may be Thibs wanting them to run their normal defense, rather than make a specific game plan, because prepping for 90% of the season when you have no foundation is more important than prepping for 1 game. Of course, Boston clearly prepped for this specific matchup on national TV when they hang their banner. Now we get Indy in game, which 2 is the second best offense in the league and can run a lot of the same crap.
(4) Mikal scored his points in the 2nd half. It looked to me like Boston took their foot off the pedal with a massive lead. Mikal will be fine either eventually but it looks ugly right now.
(5) I don’t think Sims is any good but his biggest issues are in playing drop properly near the basket. It’s hard to tell if he improved there since Boston never stepped inside the 3pt line.
(6) Towns didn’t get the ball enough. I’m not sure if the Knicks know how to throw deep entry passes. One play in particular Deuce was skittering around the perimeter instead of getting Towns the ball in good position against Korney. I thought this was an issue last season when Randle played with the 2nd unit. Payne should help in this regard.
(7) OG should’ve been on Tatum more often. I did not love Mikal’s defense there. Not sure it would have mattered unless KAT started playing on the level instead of dropping back.
And that isn’t going to work with this roster. He’s going to have to adapt to the modern roster and the modern NBA. He’s got three excellent-to-elite perimeter defenders, so the building blocks are definitely there.
Can he do it? Jury is very much out. 50-50 at best.
Shapes up to be a key storyline of the season. (*) The team may need a new coach to unlock its full potential. We’ll see.
(*) The degree to which this roster has been de-Thibsified hasn’t been discussed enough in the national and local commentary. It’s a new Knicks world. There will absolutely be holdouts who “miss” the old “tougher” Knicks and I expect a lot of that on KB (and in leaks to Katz, Bondy, et al.) as the season moves on.
My #1 takeaway from this game is that we are possibly a bad defensive rebounding team, especially against rangy 5-out offenses. Clearly Boston is coached to relentlessly pursue offensive rebounds on the long caroms from missed 3’s, and they have a plan to kick out to open spot-up shooters on those rebounds. This is especially true when KAT is pulled away from the defensive glass.
I don’t know how you solve that problem vs. the Celts with our roster. Brunson is no match for either Jrue or White, and OG and Bridges are not going to outperform Tatum and Brown on the boards. It’s totally on Hart’s shoulders, and he is pretty much a wash with any of those 4. It’s a serious problem.
OG Anunoby averaged 3.4 DRB/36 minutes last year. He’s a poor rebounder even for a 3. For a 4, he’s abysmal.
Generally speaking, he was awful last night.
I watched some of the T-Wolves-Lakers game, and I wonder when Julius is gonna start getting tired of Ant Man dominating the offense. There were 4 straight possessions where Edwards was the only T-Wolves player to touch the ball.
25 shots, next closest was Donte with 11 and Julius with 10.
Probably not a big issue after one game, but something to keep an eye on.
This in a nutshell is why Julius doesn’t fit anywhere.
This is why I think starting Mitch or another C instead of Hart might help. It makes our lineup bigger, puts KAT’s length on Tatum or Brown in space, and shifts the size of OG and Mikal down to the 3 and 2. I don’t see our current starting 5 being able to keep up, and it will only get worse when/if KP comes back and Horford joins the reserves.
In any case, the Celts are just really good, and I don’t know whether we or any other team will have an answer for them if they stay healthy.
BTW just on appearances, Brown might be the best conditioned athlete in the NBA, maybe in any sport. He looks like he has muscles on top of muscles and like 0% body fat.
They were a middling offensive rebounding team last season
Big takeaway from game 2 is that the Lakers seem to have an actual coach
Something to consider (and this is completely independent of last night, which I’m more than happy to write off and never talk about again):
– when the Celtics replaced two starters & their sixth man, they started 5-0 and won 11 of their first 13.
– when the Knicks replaced RJ, Grimes, and Mitch with Donte, OG, and Hartenstein, they hit the ground running and went 14-2 after January 1.
When the roster fits, it doesn’t take a long time to gel.
One of the best things about this Knicks organization the last two years was that we had an identity and we acquired players who fit. The #1 laurel tossed Leon’s way was the establishment of an organizational philosophy and a process to get the players needed for the system. The KAT trade was a sharp left turn away from that. I am deeply skeptical that it was wise.
I fear this roster is ill-conceived and incongruent with its coach in a way that reminds me of the Kemba Walker-Evan Fournier team (albeit with a much higher floor due to the greater talent level). I have a lot of respect for Thibs, and I think this is going to be his greatest challenge as a coach. I will give him all the leeway in the world this year bc his task right now is essentially to reforge the sword that was broken. (I reread LOTR this summer.)
It’s early but I feel the same vibes…
That team, which did start 5-1, was less talented and had seriuos flaws but was probably better suited for another type of coach and this one could be the same.
Ceiling is much higher this time and I hope to be massively wrong, I’m really trying to keep my old Knicks PTSD under control :-).
81 games to go.
I am sure he will adjust, and the team will adjust to him, but do you know who Towns seems like to me right now? Remember those dudes in the late 1990s/early 2000s who would be averaging 21/22, 7, and 3 and look awesome on offense…and not so awesome on defense, and their teams would never win? Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Vin Baker, Tom Gugliata, Antoine Walker, Antawn Jamison, etc.
Towns looks like he fits right in with those dudes. He has some really nice offensive moves down low…and…he has some really nice offensive moves down low!
Except the Wolves won last year.
The FO, though, was never really all-in on trying to mesh things with Thibs. Rosas is a modern guy, Aller is a modern guy. Assuming Leon is neutral — which he might not be; he also may be a modern guy — it looks like the FO finally “won out.”
I see little to no indication that the FO and Thibs are on the same page with the reset. Nothing about this roster says “Thibs.”
The dynamics by which this came to pass are probably fascinating, and I expect that we’ll hear more about them as the season goes on. Most likely, the back-to-back second round flameouts to lower seeds had a lot to do with it. That, and the general imperative to modernize to compete.
It’s been one game
To the FO’s non-credit, it’s still the case that they significantly overpaid for Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby.(*) So they’re in no sense “in the clear” or “off the hook.”
(Unfortunately, as I much prefer their philosophy to Thibs’s.)
(*) The asset in/out chart since draft day 2022 remains awful.
That’s precisely what I said would happen a week ago when people were claiming our defense is good enough to carry the offense.
If there’s a brick wall over here, and an open gate over there, teams aren’t going to just run into the brick wall.
And if we add Deuce to the equation to help the offense, the gate’s going to be even more open.
Against the hands down best team in the NBA on their home floor
But let’s just keep going with Small Sample Size Theater after 48 minutes of regular season basketball
Ok..
Clearly the starters are still figuring it out, and it was only the first game of the season- against the clearcut best team in the league no less. Buuuuut…I have one major gripe. And yes, I will give the defense a half pass because the C’s offense is that good. They remind me so much of the Dubs dynasty team with how smooth the offense is and how many 3’s they take and make. However- WTF KAT??
My boy…you need to be more aggressive. Bridges is good..but there is no way he should have taken more shots than you. Granted, I did see too much one on one last night, so it’s all on KAT. But still- Boston has no one that can check KAT. Horford will fight him and play savvy defense on him, but it’s not enough to stop KAT. Hell- an out of rhythm Josh Hart almost shot more than KAT.
What I loved is- there is plenty shot making up and down this roster. 3’s not falling gl notwithstanding. That was flukey. I also loved how active Sims, Payne, and Deuce were. Deuce was incredible.
Anyways..I’m sure it’s gonna take 10 regular season games at minimum for the starters to find a groove. But I am concerned about OG on offense. He’s too slow with the ball. His best role is obviously moving and cutting while nailing corner 3’s. He even looked too slow trying to take bigger guys off the dribble. I wonder if he’s overthinking out there. I’m very disappointed we lost they way we did, but I also understand where we are in terms of team chemistry. And I also know those guys will never let that happen again. We have a couple days until we face off against Indy. Plenty of time for the guys to take a step forward on both ends
I meant to say it’s NOT all on KAT. The stupid scroll kept blasting by that part when I tried to edit on my phone
This is just a slow team. Even the defensive specialists like Mikal and OG are not really energy guys. They are good at moving laterally but are not explosive sprinters who make fast break plays or powerful and coordinated finishers around the rim. Towns is obviously a very skill oriented player who really struggles moving laterally.
Sure, DiVincenzo is the only energy type the Knicks sent out, but there’s still been a pretty serious reduction in terms of athleticism, power and speed going from Randle to Towns. Hartenstein was no great athlete, but his versatility allowed him to affect the game in wide variety of ways the same way a fast or athletic player makes plays here and there that others simply couldn’t.
That means this year the Knicks are going to first of I think be super dependent on Mitch to be a defensive anchor and second, their defense is going to have to be highly principled and conservative. Intelligent. This is not a team that can swarm and force turnovers. Its defense will have to look more like Gobert era Jazz or Tyson Chandler era Mavs… Smart, rangy wings funneling opponents into areas they’re least effective and relying on Robinson as a rim deterrent.
Teams like this win through execution. THat means they’re going to have to figure out not just defensive execution but how to turn Towns + Brunson into more than the sum of their parts offensively. THey may never be Nash/Stoudemire, but they have to do more than take turns.
I’ve been saying for 2-3 years that Randle’s passionate bully-ball is this team’s identity, and repeated it after the trade. So far in 5 games (4 in the preseason, and yesterday) I didn’t see anything that would change my mind. They need to develop a new identity.
How’d we do last year against the Celtics? Must have done pretty good, right?
friend sent me this tweet from the lakers postgame
To latke’s point, this offense has the chance to be one of the more effective and efficient offenses in league history. Might not be the most explosive, but if we put our take good shot edict together with the ability to actually make alot of those shots- it should be incredibly efficient. Think Malone/Stockton era Jazz. I’d love to see the team get into position quicker so they can take more shots. Our projected top 3 scorers all shoot at a high clip in terms of accuracy from all over the court. Then after that, we have efficient shooters like OG, Deuce, and Kolek. Plus we have opportunistic scorers like Hart and Payne who can both get hot for stretches. I wonder if Thibs has the Sloan system in mind for this offense. I’m ok with that template because we have the skill to pull it off brilliantly.
I’m going to reiterate that the Knicks had a 120 Ortg against last season’s 3rd best defense. The offense wasn’t perfect but there’s nothing to worry about on that end.
Watching clips, about 90% of the defensive issues would’ve been cleaned up by just not having KAT and Sims drop so far back. Tatum scored 20 points with that pair “guarding him” after a screen. Most of the time they were nearly touching the paint when Tatum was starting to step into his shot. It’s largely a scheme loss.
One thing is for sure: Jericho Sims stinks and shouldn’t be playing 20+ minutes. He’s the one genuinely bad player in the rotation.
It’s been one game, on the road, against the defending champs on their ring night, and they hit basically all of their 3s when the game mattered. You know what would help the offense: the opponent not having a historical, record-tying night from 3. Whenever one of these nights happen, we overanalyze the defense saying they left guys open, etc, etc. The defense wasn’t great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s hard to look good when every shot the opponent takes from deep goes in – it’s not just the shots themselves, it’s how it affects everything else and gives the opposing team confidence to shoot 60 times from deep. I said it last night, but this is like the Bucks game last season when they couldn’t miss. The Knicks then promptly beat them the next time (I think) on Christmas when they had a normal night.
The Celtics are really good, what can you do. They have kind of broken the game given the volume of 3-pt shooting they have.
Now, one thing that bothered me with the defense last night was the needless overhelping from the guy one pass away. It gave them so many open looks. It’s better to live with the mismatch and a feebly contested 2-pt shot than leaving a good 3-pt shooter open. This is a Thibs adjustment more than a team adjustment, which I hope he makes.
Random thoughts
1. The Celtics are not just the champions. They are among the greatest NBA teams ever assembled. There were no major changes. No big shock they came out guns blazing.
2. The Knicks added two key pieces that fundamentally changed the way we are going to play basketball on both sides of the ball. OG is also kind of new given all the time he missed last year. I predicted we’d get off to a slow start that will last 10-20 games. I saw nothing last night that changed my mind. I may not be right about how long it takes, but we have to give it some time before drawing any conclusions.
3. I predicted that our one potential weakness (other than paint protection) would be rebounding. A big big part of our success last year was winning the possession count (especially with OREBs). I was never a huge Randle fan (loved I-Hart), but he’s an excellent rebounder for the PF position. OG on the other hand is a little weak at the SF position and we were moving him to PF. My feeling is that he’ll rebound better at PF if asked, but no way does he and Towns make up the gap from Randle and I-Hart (especially on the critical offensive boards we were so good at).
4. For the 100th time that’s why I keep saying either Hart (who is an excellent rebounder from the wing position) has to start and hit the boards really hard for us to be successful or we have to abandon the 5 out idea altogther and eventually start Towns and Mitch or Towns and Precious. The only other option would be trading for a more traditional stretch PF that can rebound. We need more from Hart on the boards than we got last night and OG has to try harder also.
The other thing I’ll say: I get that Thibs wants to have Brunson or KAT on the floor at all times, but that negates the 1-5 pick and roll that is probably their best play. How many minutes did they play together yesterday? It couldn’t have been 15?
Maybe that changes when Precious and another wing is back, but they are so thin that they cannot afford it. My preference would be for Mikal and OG to be the ones playing with the bench units. I think Thibs also wants to have one of them on the floor at all times, however, so it might have to be Mikal/Hart, in a lineup with Payne, Deuce and Precious (and perhaps Thibs envisioned that as a Deuce/Mikal/Shamet/Hart/Precious bench).
Thibs was tinkering more yesterday than usual, I imagine it’s going to be a bumpy couple weeks before he settles on some rotations
Not too worried about it but I know watching KAT on defense is going to wear on me. I don’t think you can play NBA defense without good defensive bigs and I am excited to have one out there eventually.
That was very noticeable.
Look, I’m not going to defend the defense last night (no pun intended) but if Jayson Tatum is gonna hit long step back 3’s all night with defenders in his face, well, it’s pretty much game over.
No team on the planet was beating them last night the way they were shooting the ball.
You mean, the way we allowed them to shoot the ball. They weren’t hitting a lot of tough, contested shots.
Looks like 15.2 minutes: https://www.nba.com/stats/team/1610612752/lineups-traditional?CF=GROUP_NAME*E*Brunson:GROUP_NAME*E*Towns&GroupQuantity=2
With a fully healthy roster you can at least throw out some different looks. With Mitch and Precious both out, the different looks involve Jericho Sims or hoping for Hukamania to be a thing. I hope Huk is getting a lot of reps in practice and can pass up Sims relatively soon. Sims is just not an effective player.
Worth noting they didn’t play the 4th quarter. It’d be another 8-12min or so if they did.
I’m not concerned about the offense, and the defense will get better.
He’s obviously not a great defender, but KAT is at least more mobile on defense than Randle. I just think Thibs will have to use a radically different scheme with this group than the one he’s been using.
Even with Mikal sucking for a half and KAT doing close to nothing, the team’s shooting percentages were above average. The offense is going to be good, but Thibs needs to start reworking the D ASAP.
Edit: although yes, I agree with d-mar that no one was stopping that Celtic team last night.
One game was all it took for me to jump all in on the OG trade.
One game was all it took to see the new-look Celtics with Jrue & Porzingis were going to be a problem.
And I think one game here is enough to say a) this team represents a significant departure from the core tenets that made us successful the last two years, and b) it’s going to take a lot of work to get this team gelled.
Those were my only takeaways from last night.
I think ultimately Thibs will settle in his comfort zone and play KAT at the 4, which… I don’t know is worth the trouble of remaking your roster with that trade.
Well it was pretty much a scheduled loss but I was hoping for some encouraging signs. There really weren’t any outside of Bridges no longer looking like the Monstars stole his talent in the 2nd half.
Towns looked extremely disappointing. Not jumping for the jump ball on the season opener was a glowing red flag. I’m wondering if he’s just one of those guys who stops giving a fuck and coasts once he’s settled in as a max player. I remember in college he looked like a defensive monster, but in the pros it seems like he realized being a tall guy who can shoot is enough to get paid, while defense takes constant effort.
I’m skeptical that an NBA defense can be good with poor defenders at 1 and 5, regardless of how good the wings are. I suspect you can survive two bad defenders, but not if one is your rim protector. Celtics just got whatever they wanted all game long, and it was easy for them to just move the ball to wherever our long wings aren’t.
I’m also very skeptical about Thibs thinking drop coverage is at all viable with this group. We just don’t have the personnel, and won’t for half the season. The talk of giving up on 5-out is disheartening, and IMO it’s tantamount to accepting a lower ceiling than last season, when we’ve already accepted a lower floor.
“There really weren’t any outside of Bridges no longer looking like the Monstars stole his talent in the 2nd half.”
Ahem. Deuce’s mom would like a word with you.
I was also pleased to see Huk do Hukish things, admittedly in garbage time. But he looks NBA ready.
I was calling him the “Incredible Huk”, but I like your idea much better. 🙂
Yeah probably. I believe you said that before the season even started.
We had so few blowouts last year. I think that’s part of the the reason last night felt so strange.
Fair. If Deuce has indeed taken another stride offensively, losing DDV will hurt a lot less.
Not just that but it seemed like our previous iterations would always make at least a fake comeback at some point.
There’s nothing more on brand for Knickerblogger than complaining because the opposing center basically stole the opening tip but instead it was actually a damning referendum on KAT.
Is it not a fair expectation that our highest paid player in franchise history who is in his athletic prime shouldn’t look slow next to checks notes 38-year old Al Horford?
“38-year old Al Horford”
Who is also three inches shorter.
Oof, Wolves fans are already so out on Randle… just want him gone.
I’m going to be fascinated to see what the team ‘personality’ ends up being. For all their many warts, Julius and DDV played with an intense fire, hearts on their sleeves. So did iHart. Hart and Jalen do, too, even though Jalen rarely changes expression. The new guys are brilliant, hard-working, and competitive, but they seem to bring a different feel. Mikal seems to play with joy, which is cool, but different. OG feels like a passionless assassin, which is also cool, but different. And so far KAT seems like a superb offensive juggernaut with the heart of a hamster.
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