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2024-25 Game Thread – Knicks vs. Spurs: All I Want for Christmas is to Beat the Spurs

I also wanted that in the 1999 NBA Finals, though, and that didn’t work out.

Let’s hope that this time DOES, and the Knicks go on to get the top seed in the Eastern Conference. It’s definitely possible. The East is up for grabs, and the Knicks will very likely have multiple starters in the ALl Star Game this year. This is a special team.

Let’s go, Knicks, things look great to win 58!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

235 replies on “2024-25 Game Thread – Knicks vs. Spurs: All I Want for Christmas is to Beat the Spurs”

This morning my son asked me about my favorite Christmas Day game memory, and I told him it was the game the Knicks came back from 25 down in the 3rd to beat the championship Celts. Lo and behold, they are airing that game right now on MSG!

The best part about that game is that the Garden was loaded with Massholes in green jerseys, including one extremely obnoxious one in our section who was really rubbing it in when we were down big…watching him slink out when we took control for good while being abused by Knicks fans was fucking awesome!

Happy Holydays to those who celebrate…

…And Let’s Go Knicks To You All! 🎄🗽🏀💙🧡💙🏀🗽🎄

I spent my day crawling on the floor with my triplets nieces on the back (or busy pulling my hair, grabbing my nose and so on) I’m exhausted and need the Knicks to sooth me… 😁

Ho ho ho…want to see them show out on national TV today…but…wemby might have something to say about it…

I’m going to give myself credit now for being the #1 “Bridges will be just fine” guy, even in the darkest days.

In Europe Wemby’s move is probably a travel violation but maybe they can’t overrule those kind of calls…

I should’ve listened to my own advice the other night about not watching 1st quarters when the Knicks are playing.

If the trend is having a 7’4” taking 66% of his shots from behind the three point line I have a problem with basketball…

OG has 5 rebounds, 3 offensive

Unfortunately not much else positive to say about his game so far

I can’t believe this game is even close given how important 3 point shooting figured to be today and how bad we have been at it so far. I guess 8 OREBs have helped, but I’m not sure how much we scored off those extra possessions.

I’m not exactly impressed with Wemby’s offensive game.

Not sure I’d go that far but the announcers are a bit over the top for a guy who has 19 points on 16 shots and 4 turnovers.

The refs have hosed us several times down this stretch

Luckily, most of the East is below .500 and most the teams above .500 would be below .500 in the West

This is how we get exposed…we play teams above 500

We get exposed when we don’t hit 3s at anythng close to our normal rate or the other team hits way higher than their normal rate. That’s why the game sucks now. It’s 60%-70% just a 3 point shooting contest.

Coming into the game, Wemby had a .608 TS% on a 31.4% usage. He now has 24 points on 18 shots plus 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. At halftime. At 20 years old.

This is a tough crowd.

They are shooting 19% from 3. The Spurs are hitting 36%. That’s the whole difference.

The Sochan on Brunson & Wemby on KAT matchups seem not great.

OG looks like he’s about to go on another 10 game slump, or whatever word is stronger than slump.

“They are shooting 19% from 3. The Spurs are hitting 36%. That’s the whole difference.”

I dunno, I think I saw a whole bunch of dunks.

Obviously it would be better if we were hitting threes but I agree with Z-man, we’re conceding too many drives to the rim

They’re 16-24 inside the arc.

They committed 10 TOs to our 3.

Plenty of non-3pt shooting discrepancies

It seemed there was at least a couple times Hart passed up open threes, really need him to be taking those instead of trying to force it to KAT inside against Gumbyana

How Stephen A is still on TV analyzing sports is a mystery to me. That he’s wildly successful doing it is one of the great mysteries of history. It’s up there with Jack the Ripper, Stonehenge, the Ark of the Covenant, Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart.

How Stephen A is still on TV analyzing sports is a mystery to me. That he’s wildly successful doing it is one of the great mysteries of history. It’s up there with Jack the Ripper, Stonehenge, the Ark of the Covenant, Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart.

Sir this is a Wemby’s

They’re 16-24 inside the arc.

They committed 10 TOs to our 3.

Plenty of non-3pt shooting discrepancies

There are always other things going on that tend to more or less offset each other or give the better team their customary edge in that category. That’s where the other 30%-40% is located. But at the end of the day if either team wins the high variance 3p% solidly they typically win the game. IMO it’s idiotic to make one of the highest variance factors become dominant in the game unless you want volatile results game to game.

Towns is doing yeoman’s work because I don’t underhand how it’s physically possible to score on Wemby

Remember when Minnesota traded us Karl-Anthony Towns?

If you only watched this telecast and read this blog, you’d think we were losing by 20 to the San Antonio Wembanyamas.

Wemby is definitely impressive and I’m not sure how to word this in a way that doesn’t make me seem like a dumbass but seeing him play makes him seem slightly less than the sum of his shiny numbers

Part of the beauty of game threads is confusing neutrals who aren’t watching the game and just following on the thread.

Christmas Day records are incredibly fucking dumb

(And I mean basketball records. A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the greatest records of all time)

When OG’s release is smooth he’s much better than when it has a little jerky motion in it. I’m not sure why he has that herky jerky motion sometimes.

Every time Knicks tie or take the lead they follow it up with an awful defensive possession.

“Wemby is definitely impressive and I’m not sure how to word this in a way that doesn’t make me seem like a dumbass but seeing him play makes him seem slightly less than the sum of his shiny numbers”

Sorry, if anything I think he is even more than his stats. Look at how the Knicks are affected just by the thought of him.

Sorry, if anything I think he is even more than his stats. Look at how the Knicks are affected just by the thought of him.

I will admit some hastiness in that one

Rumors of a failed Mikal Bridges trade have been greatly exaggerated

Also, worth noting in the midst of the general discourse, this is a very high quality, entertaining game.

Bridges is very similar to DDV in the way he constantly moves to get space for his 3pters.

It took six weeks for Mikal to shed Brooklyn’s bad habits, but from then on it’s a december to remember…

Brunson is dribbling and shooting way too much. He’s playing like he was early in the seaon when he was still in “everyone is hurt and I have to do everything” mode. This team is loaded and he’s off today. WTF is he doing?

Wembanyama doesn’t want to lose this game apparently

To be serious for a minute I’m watching the game with my brother and 1 week old nephew and I’m already telling him not to grow up as a Knicks fan cause it’s too stressful.

That was such a stupid possession after the offensive rebound. Jesus. Did they forget the clock?

I’m in awe of Bridges’ midrange…it’s so pure.

OG and Precious have acquitted themselves as well as anyone could on Wembanyama.

They reset the clock to 14 seconds….

Yeah, but they seemed to think they had 24 seconds left.

That was such a stupid possession after the offensive rebound. Jesus. Did they forget the clock?

There was only 3 seconds on the shot clock.

Phew, what a game. Glad Precious put some good minutes in, thrilled Mikal showed what he can be.

And of course, Josh Hart, my spirit animal, with the hustlebunnying FTW

Can’t believe they didn’t call a foul in that final possession but fuck it Merry Christmas to all!!!!!

Mikal Bridges is now officially a Knick and we won despite Jalen Brunson doing everything he could to lose the game…

What a game by Mikal! We better get our chance to a title before Wemby dominates the next decade

Jeremy Sochan is hitting 18.5% of his 3s this year and 27.8% lifetime, but he went 3 for 3 against us. smh We were leaving him open, but a lot of his attempts are probably open.

Scratching for a huge win against a decent team when all of Brunson, KAT, OG, Deuce, and Payne have suboptimal games is pretty nice!

Fyi Z man- my 10 year old son read the game thread and got a kick out of your Christmas Day Celtics game comeback story.

The second half was mostly solid two way Knicks basketball after an uninspiring first half that looked like it could be one of their dud disappointing losses.

Brunson has to get himself under control. He was being defended well and wasn’t shooting well but he insisted on trying to do too much even though we have weapons all over the place and Bridges was on fire. He made some bad decisons dribbling too much and with his shot selection. He still falls back into that pattern too often for a guy that’s as smart as he is. This is not last year’s playoff team!

Did Wemby score after Thibs put OG on him at the end?

That last Mikal jumper over Paul, when he went left to right very quickly, was such a thing of beauty.

We continue the pattern of being able to win even though one or more of our key players has an off game. That screams the amount of talent we have. Someone else often steps up big and we win anyway.

Spurs have beaten Houston, OKC, Golden State, and ATL this season. They’re a good young team, good win.

“Fyi Z man- my 10 year old son read the game thread and got a kick out of your Christmas Day Celtics game comeback story.”

Glad to hear!! It was my first year as a season ticket holder and the first of many Christmas Day games I attended. It was rookie Patrick Ewing’s coming out party on that awful team. I sort of remember one of the Celts’s stars saying “We knew he could score, now we know he can score at will.”

Of course, the rest of that season didn’t go very well!

Mikal isn’t Bernard (at least not yet lol!) but the unstoppable turnaround does evoke some great memories!

Josh Hart in that last minute, man…

Also, had to be at least one foul vs us that wasn’t called, would love to see the f2m report

Z-man i actually had a blast during the game watching with my brother and newborn nephew. My game thread reactions are not totally indicative of my emotions watching the game although i definitely get frustrated during the game!

My first memory of Knicks on Christmas day was blowing an 8pt halftime lead at Chicago in 1992. I’ve seen the highlights of Ewing’s rookie Christmas game comeback against Boston and Ewing’s game winning offensive reb jumper at the buzzer vs Chicago the following season.

Wemby is destined to be an all time great, but he has no business hoisting up 16 3’s, many of the > 28 foot variety, especially with KAT either out or in foul trouble.

For comparison, Steph Curry, the GOAT 3 baller has taken >16 3’s 25 times in his entire 15 year career.

16 of wembys 31 shots were threes. He’s a nightmare to guard in the mid post, he needs to be there more.

There is at least a tiny bit of logic for Wemby taking those shots…he saves some energy, doesn’t get as banged up, and is in much better position to defend. But yeah, 16 attempts is a lot.

It’s one thing to score 41 points, but every Bridges bucket in the 4th quarter was massive. If he misses one or two of those we’re cooked.

Those high difficulty midrange J’s that Mikal seems to be able to knock down at will might come in handy in the playoffs.

Not only the shot making, he also had 4 assists, 2 steals, including a clutch one, and 2 blocks

Z-man I told my brother that my nephew 1000% has to be a Yankees fan but he can choose his basketball team. I already got him an Aaron Judge onesie and he has other Yankees clothes already!

Wemby is destined to be an all time great, but he has no business hoisting up 16 3’s, many of the > 28 foot variety, especially with KAT either out or in foul trouble.

I totally agree.
He shot 10-15 from 2 and 4-4 from the line, he was nearly unstoppable around the basket but he did spend more time 30 feet away.

I’ve seen him doing this many times this year, that’s one of the reasons they did lose the game in Philly despite Embiid’s ejection.

Weird thing, the italian announcers said that moving him further and further from the basket is a “choice” made by the Spurs and reinforced after Pop’s health issues.

I understand the importance of a shooting big, see KAT or Porzingis, but to me this is a bit extreme.

It’s his sophomore year. Letting him figure that style out now makes some sense even if it’s detrimental in the short term.

They want him to be Durant and if he doesn’t get there the fallback position seems pretty good. So why not try it.

And 6-16, it could be worse

Some of the things Wemby did out there were mind-boggling. No one but maybe young Wilt could have blocked that Brunson floater from that position without a goaltend.

I complained a lot about this team not looking well coached for much of the season. But credit where it’s due— they are starting to look much more like a team. They’re still a work in progress, but they’re looking much more like they’re on the same page most of the time. This was a well played game.

They want him to be Durant and if he doesn’t get there the fallback position seems pretty good. So why not try it.

A 33% career 3 point shooter and 35.6% this season is a bad choice to hoist up 16 tries, many from waaaay beyond the are with few corner 3’s. Especially when he is so bloody effective from the FT line in.

When he starts hitting 40%, then fire away like Durant and Curry. When you are shooting 35.6% from 3 on 9.3 attempts and 60% from 2 on 9.2 attempts…. the math is clear.

Looking at the box score Knicks took 17 more FGAs than the Spurs, this was definitely an old school type win by the Knicks.

I told myself that I was gonna catch this game, but Christmas Dad duties got in the way (having the lil guy open his presents, moving the dog’s stuff outside so we have space to host fam later today, etc). I looked up and it was 12p here… ran to nba.com for the highlights and I’m glad to see we eeked one out!

Re: Bridges middy-game… I’ve felt for a number of years now that you need a guy that can hit some tough middy Js in the playoffs when good defensive teams take away the paint and 3-ball arc. People remember Ray Allen’s 3 against the (oddly enough given who we played today) Spurs and rightly so. But I remember LeBron sticking an 18-footer in Game 7 to seal the dub for the Heatles (back when he still wasn’t quite known for his J).

I honestly had them pegged at 18-12 through the first 30 games. So to see them 20-10 with them figuring out how to win games with suboptimal performances from JB and KAT… oh boy!

“When he starts hitting 40%, then fire away like Durant and Curry. When you are shooting 35.6% from 3 on 9.3 attempts and 60% from 2 on 9.2 attempts…. the math is clear.”

In his last 10 games he’s shooting 39% on loads of attempts. He’s taking some bad shots, but considering that he’s close to a 90% FT shooter and putting up a .600 TS% even with the 3’s, I’d cut him some slack. There’s a physical toll to being in the paint with guys swiping across those long, skinny arms.

That looked like a bad calf strain for Doncic, not a tweak.

I’m beginning to wonder how much of Doncic’s injury history is his general conditioning. He hasn’t had any serious injuries and hasn’t missed a ton of games, but it seems like even when he’s playing he’s constantly playing hurt. I think he has to start taking his body seriously or his career is going to be cut short by modern standards.

Z-man I told my brother that my nephew 1000% has to be a Yankees fan but he can choose his basketball team. I already got him an Aaron Judge onesie and he has other Yankees clothes already!

BBA I told myself wife the opposite with my son. I’m ok with him rooting for the Dodgers and/or Yankees, but he will be a Knicks fan, NOT be a Laker fan.

I mean diggy my nephew is born in Miami so at least he has decent local teams in basketball and football but baseball is obviously a different story. Plus our parents were huge Yankee fans and passed it down to us so it’s only fitting we do the same.

what a game. it’s crazy to think about walking away from the 2018 lottery with kevin knox and here we are with jalen, mikal and mitch from that draft.

pt since you didn’t respond yesterday, I’ll ask again, is Mikal using his new shooting form or did he revert?

Bo alluded to it, but seems like more might have be made about KAT being benched for the last 6:34 in favor of Precious.

Personally, I love the move. KAT really has to learn how to not commit dumb fouls. Hopefully he will respond as well as Mikal did when Thibs benched him.

idk i haven’t done any recent csi on it but to the naked eye it looks better. then again could be blinded by all the net splashing.

2-2 so far on christmas games

@jaredweissnba.bsky.social‬

Joel Embiid fell into the front row taking a turnaround 3 during his pregame warmup and grabbed his ankle in pain, needing a minute to get up. He finished out his shooting routine before walking back to the locker room.

He’s going to play, but it’s gone beyond self-parody at this point.

I turned the game on halfway through the third and six of the first seven shots I saw were from deep. Over half of the shots in this game have been 3PAs.

In a couple of years, the NBA will be like the MLB when it started to try to fix the three true outcomes trend.

I’ve been saying don’t count out the 76ers just because of their very slow start. They are finally close to full strength and starting to play better. They may limp into the playoffs and break down half way through it, but this is not a team we want to face at 100% in the early rounds. If they stay healthy they are going to get better than they are tonight.

The good news is that if they hold on tonight, we pick up more ground on Boston.

In his last 10 games he’s shooting 39% on loads of attempts.

Seriously? 10 games? he shot 33.7% in his 16 games before that.

The guy who is 7’4″ and has the 105th best 3pt shooting percentage among qualified players shouldn’t be hoisting the 8th most 3s in the league, especially when he is so bloody efficient from 2.

I’m impressed,
the Sixers followed the Magic’s footsteps against the Celtics, “bring’em in a bar room fight and hope for a bad shooting night”.
And it worked again.
Boston has maybe two more gears to use in the Spring and they don’t give a damn about the regular season, but they have lost two close games in a row…
Tyrese Maxey is a fantastic player and a classy guy.

merry holidays to all 😊

hope you had the chance to do exactly what wanted you wanted to do today…

caught a bit of the game, not too much…sounds like having a reliable mid range threat can help out when everyone’s 3 isn’t falling…

man, it’s like there was a plan for this, before the season began…

our team is coming along well…

Perfect NBA Christmas Day so far – our massive blunder has a huge game to lead the Knicks to victory, and the full strength Celtics lose at home to Philly.

A holly jolly Christmas indeed!

with respect to Wemby, the Spurs aren’t going to win a title this year so why not let him practice? He also has trouble physcially establishing position inside the arc because he’s so skinny, guys like Precious can just push him to the perimiter if the defesne has time to set. The Spurs with a couple exceptions cannot shoot at all. Wemby spacing out the other teams big lets absoute bricklayers like Sochan and Johnson score fairly effectively

2 games back of the Celtics on Christmas Day is something I think almost all of us would have signed up before the season unless Boston had been devastated by injury

I think the Spurs are managing Wembanyama really well, at this point the most important thing is to let him develop all of his skills and stay healthy to get as much experience as possible.

He’s such a unique player, he brings a ridiculous level of defensive production so early on in his career, that the very worse case scenario bar injury you could think of, that he never develops one iota on offense, still leaves them with a top tier defender who can score and pass decently well and grab offensive rebounds.

This is the time to let him expand his game however he feels like, let him play like he’s 7’4″ Kevin Durant, because if he ever develops into 7’4″ Kevin Durant it’s fucking over for everyone else. And if he doesn’t oh well, they’ll have to make do with their perennial DPOY contender who can play offense better than most DPOY level guys anyway.

I am enjoying an after-Christmas dinner dram of one of the finest scotches I ever had…Laphroaig Lore. Great day overall!

with respect to Wemby, the Spurs aren’t going to win a title this year so why not let him practice?

So every team other than Boston and OKC should tell their developing star to go full Carmelo and heave em up from all angles as often as you care to? That makes a player develop winning habits?

Today he heaved up a 32 footer, 2- 31 footers and 2- 29 footers. He shot 16 3s and ONE was a corner 3. You might think that is an aberration, but nope. For the season he has hoisted up 238 3s and only 14 from the corners combined. That is going to make him a smarter player?

Today he heaved up a 32 footer, 2- 31 footers and 2- 29 footers. He shot 16 3s and ONE was a corner 3. You might think that is an aberration, but nope. For the season he has hoisted up 238 3s and only 14 from the corners combined. That is going to make him a smarter player

Last year he made 32% of his threes. This year he’s making 35% of his 3s. He’s 20 years old. Right now he’s good on offense and defense. In 3-4 years if he’s stronger and can make 39% of his 3s on high volume and shoot where he wants from inside how are you going to stop him?

Wemby seems like a pretty smart and coachable kid. If his coach (in this case, Pop or a disciple) told him to adjust his shot profile, I doubt that he’d put up much of a fuss.

I truly don’t get what Bob is worried about.

Last year he made 32% of his threes. This year he’s making 35% of his 3s. He’s 20 years old. Right now he’s good on offense and defense. In 3-4 years if he’s stronger and can make 39% of his 3s on high volume and shoot where he wants from inside how are you going to stop him?

He’s already making 40% of his corner 3’s. Wm. of Ockham recommends taking more than 6% of your 3’s from the corner. At 7’4″ with his release point no one can contest them today. Why not take smarter shots ?

I just don’t see how talking 5/16 of you threes from >29 feet is good shot selection of your name isn’t Steph or Dame.

I don’t get the disagreement here.

When your C misses a corner 3 he’s out of the play. When he misses an above-the-break 3 he’s your first line of defense. And this particular first line of defense is a one-man transition stopper.

It’s strictly an asset preservation strategy for now. Why put more wear and tear on the kid?

I truly don’t get what Bob is worried about.

I’m not worried about anything. Wemby has an unparalleled skill set and is ahead of anyone realistic schedule. But..if Carmelo used the shot selection Wemby has used this season everyone would be ripping him.

At the start of today’s game he traveled on SA’s first possession, bricked a 26 footer on their second possession and launched a 32 footer with 13 seconds left on the shot clock. That 3rd possession is shitty basketball. There is no reason to launch that shot by a 7’4″ guy ever.

It is not a criminal offense to object, objectively to the guy’s shot selection.

Bob, in theory you are correct. The disagreement is about timing. He’s 20 years old and the coaches are clearing encouraging him to shoot those shots. There is no downside right now. When the time comes, they will reel him in.

When your C misses a corner 3 he’s out of the play.

So we are taking much lower percentage shots because our players aren’t taught court balance? Seems sub optimal. And a fine time to call it an evening.

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