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2024-25 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Browless Lakers – The Matt Ryan Revenge Game

Without Anthony Davis, the Knicks should stomp the Lakers (with The Brow, the Lakers have actually been looking pretty damn good recently), and so that should mean that former Laker Matt Ryan (who helped turn their season around a couple of years ago) should get a couple of minutes.

Let’s go, Knicks!

58 is going to be great!

252 replies on “2024-25 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Browless Lakers – The Matt Ryan Revenge Game”

Can it be a trap game if Lebron is playing?

Back in primetime. Life is ok in the mezzanine, especially since we have Breen.

Since we have Breen, no hating on Doris the Legend please.
(Richard Jefferson is fair game, tho…)

Also, if were a drag queen my name would be Dicksy Chick.

Just one non-game comment, but this made me laugh from the previous thread

I don’t know how the cap works but if we go below the second apron the first thing we should do is sign Challenge Man to a long term deal

Meanwhile, usual hot start for the Knicks

I mean, you know LBJ would come to play tonight

I’m not sure we have a chance to win this game unless Pags puts up his usual “we’re doomed” post.

Late call vs Brunson, prob legit, but when he gets banged every time and doesn’t get the calls it’s annoying

Weird Thibs rotation so far. Shamet has not made a single positive play. Oh wait, he has a steal.

Shamet is scrappier on defense than I thought he would be but he’s not really who you want to have guarding Lebron James

Maybe conceding the switch to end up with Shamet on LeBron is not a great strategy.

Bringing back KAT is the right move to counter LBJ, we need some size on the double

It feels like we were outplayed so I’ll take a tie. (in other words, what Owen said)

Hate to say it, but RJ is right – KAT has to get involved by rebounding. He’s been invisible on offense.

I literally have never seen a player call his own number as much as Payne

Thought so — Cameron Payne has 158 three-point attempts this season, and 103 assists.

KAT has been shooting so few 3s since injuring his thumb. It’s a bit concerning.

Very few P&Rs with him too. You’d think they would try to exploit AD’s absence.

Yeah…KAT not being able to hit 3’s is going to catch up with us…it’s critical

I suppose it’s been a few games since an opponent hit half of their threes against the Knicks.

It’ll be interesting to see if KAT can get it going in the second half. Has to learn how to figure it out when it’s not working.

Its games like this that give you pause about KAT. He’s disappeared versus a Lakers team without Davis. He should be feasting on these guys.

This is the worst Knicks half in quite a while, the Lakers are hitting everything from 3, and it’s a 5 point game. Go win it in the second half.

Well we’re only down by 5 even though we played like crap on both sides of the ball. So either Thibs reads them the riot act and they come out fired up, or we lose this one.

Itsa games like this that give you pause about KAT. He’s disappeared versus a Lakers team without Davis. He should be feasting on these guys.

Yeah, thumb or not, he should be much better than he’s been. Him and JB, rough so far. Thatsa not a gonna work

Tell you what, the Lakers’ D seems for real. And that’s not even counting Cam Reddish!

This is the worst Knicks half in quite a while, the Lakers are hitting everything from 3, and it’s a 5 point game. Go win it in the second half.

Agreed. The Lakers have played above their heads. If KAT and/or Brunson get it going the Knicks should win.

Brunson is forcing it too much (too many dumb turnovers) and Towns defense and overall 3 defense has been pretty bad. Need to wake up and put these guys away

This is clearly a situation where the opposing team gets fired up for playing at MSG in front of celeb row on national TV on Saturday night in prime time. The Knicks are going to match that intensity, which won’t be easy.

Mikal, Josh and OG have to step up. The Lakers are daring those 3 to beat them, and so far it’s working.

Meanwhile, the Magic might wanna think about putting Banchero and Franz back on the injured list.

Schtick aside, this is has trap game loss written all over it. Zero doubt in my mind they finish over 50% from 3

I don’t know what is going on with KAT but he has not been the same player since the injury except his foul complaints on every play.

Our first half defense was very poor. Easy pickings for the Lakers and tons of open shots. Not good.

Welp, season over. Injury spiral was long overdue. It was fun to dream, boys.

Well he walked off under his own power fairly easily, so (shrug)

That doesn’t mean much.

howdy hey howdy ho

tough night when the GOAT decides they want to win, and they have a couple of decent 3 & D guys themselves…

yeah, this ain’t gonna be easy…

oh yeah, kinda neat to see how OG matches up physically with lebron…OG is a pretty strong dude…

oh shit, skipped to the bottom of the thread and i’m still early 3rd on the telecast…just glanced up and saw the OG thing…yikes…

edit: just saw replay of the OG thing, sure looks like he was grabbing his right achilles…dang…looks like he felt something and got scared

Still in shock

I think we might win this challenge. Embellished contact. Body turned. I don’t know

This probably wasn’t our year anyway, but damn, just when the news that Mitch will in fact be coming back – I so want to see them on the court together

Winning or losing doesn’t mean much tonight, just whether OG is done for the year

I expect OG’s season is over other than a fake comeback like in gane 7 vs Indy

I expect OG’s season is over other than a fake comeback like in gane 7 vs Indy

Nobody gives a fuck what you expect, this is just a stupid fucking shtick you do

Yeah, Owen, was just thinking that’s not great rim protection…

Right foot sprain is the diagnosis on OG

Could’ve been worse. But feet are very tricky.

Right foot sprain is the diagnosis on OG

Holy shit, really?! That’s amazing and with the break coming up not even that bad!

Where is Knick fan in Celtic land? We need more info on the foot sprain prognosis

hopefully low grade sprain at that…time to get OG off his feet for a couple of weeks…

precious, step on down…unfortunately though, right now we need him subbing in for KAT…

we need another center rapido…

I don’t know that I trust that the Knicks are giving us all the info, but I’ll take that diagnosis.

Hart’s numbers are so much better than Jalen Brown’s this year, ridiculous

Missing lots of bunnies out there.

Not our night. Let’s hope OG’s injury is not serious.

It’s far from the worst loss of the season. Seriously man, stop stupiding up the game threads.

Why do I think OG’s injury will be “upgraded” to partial Achilles tear after the trade deadline passes?

My understanding is that a sprained foot can mean a lot of things, including a lisfranc injury. I’m not drawing any conclusions until there is a definitive diagnosis.

Yes, our offense has not shined tonight, but omg that horrible, absolutely horrible defense! Every single time down the Lakers get and exploit the switch they want or swing the ball for an open three. It’s painful to watch.

The Lakers play with energy, intensity, and discipline. This is what the Knicks should have brought, but no! It is inexplicable as these guys had three days of rest prior to this game.

hope you are doing okay out there cdiggy…

i don’t know, if anything you can still retort with the lakers will have to get really lucky to win a playoff series…if lebron and AD are even on the court…just sow a little doubt in their minds…

i’m muting this game, i don’t want to listen to it no more…think i’ll listen to some more norah and chris…

It’s far from the worst loss of the season. Seriously man, stop stupiding up the game threads.

Baking in the OG injury it is pretty bad

May I remind you that it took months after Randle got hurt last season for the tram to acknowledge ge wouldn’t be returning. MSG’s level if integrity is similar to that of the Soviet Politburo, or the Trump administration.

Not sure which LeBron dunk will be the closing shot to the telecast. Quite a few to choose from.

I actually think this Christie kid is playing good defense

Have no idea why towns is in over precious right now

Have no idea why towns is in over precious right now

100%, he’s clearly been more effective

I thought we were done with LeBron coming to MSG and shitting all over the Knicks but I guess not

This team has no pride. They allowed a bunch of scraps to come to MSG and beat us, and the 40-year old billionaire grandpa to have fun at our expense again. That’s a shame.

Brunson pathetic game. Towns pathetic game. Two stars decide to play their worst game all season this is what happens.

This was the defense of a few weeks ago where the effort and rotations were bad. Reddick game plan worked and Thibs with no adjustments per usual.

Bad loss

Well, we’re going to see how good we are without OG Anunoby’s wing defense, for at least a while. My guess is “not very good.”

Our All Stars wilted in the hot lights of a primetime national broadcast game against the King. They should forgo playing in the ASG as punishment. Besides, they need the rest.

Reminds me a bit of the OKC loss. Albeit we were in this game for 3 quarters but the lack of effort and awful defense remains the same.

Towns looked terrible and his defense was a big reason we lost. No rim protection and not bothering to contest 3s.

Can’t believe we let LeBron win again at the Garden. Embarrassing

They might also need to call up Mccullar and give him some run until the All Star Break

As good as LeBron has been in his career at MSG, it makes you wonder what he could have accomplished here as a Knick.

Wolves lost at home to the Wizards and Rockets lost at home to the Nets so I guess the Knicks didn’t have the most embarrassing loss of the night.

We allowed the Lakers to shoot 58% from the field including 48% from beyond the arc with most shots uncontested. This is crazy. The Knicks had three days of rest coming in.

I really couldn’t care less about the outcome of the game, win some lose some. OG’s foot is all I care about.

Teams will defend the Knicks like this in the playoffs. Use this blueprint from Lebron and Reddick

If we beat Houston on Monday it’ll be a 4-1 homestand which we would have all signed for.

But losing to LeBron at MSG (again) was nauseating

The problem is not that they defended us well, kudos to them for doing it, but that we did not. They got ten times more open and in-rhythm shots than we did. They were getting anything they wanted on offense while we had to labor for everything.

Open threes are a scheme issue

Towns was attacked relentlessly in this game. Clear game plan by the Lakers

I really couldn’t care less about the outcome of the game, win some lose some. OG’s foot is all I care about.

Hard agree.

Before OG got hurt the Knicks were defending reasonably well and stinking it up on offense. We were still in the game. Once he went down we had no ability to slow down the Lakers’ big wings, and they have plenty of them.

Holy shit I’m not an oracle. I’m about to have an identity crisis on a Saturday night in Miami. That’s probably never happened before.

I really couldn’t care less about the outcome of the game, win some lose some. OG’s foot is all I care about.

Same

And yeah, while I think OG will be “fine,” I use quotes because I could eaaaaaaaaaaaasily see that being a nagging injury.

Fuck.

By Post Author

Before OG got hurt the Knicks were defending reasonably well

One thing we do well in defending the three is that we chase the opposing players away from the three point line. In the first half tonight, the Lakers took 20 (!) threes and made nine of them while being 19th in the league in 3pt percentage. There is a reason for that: the majority of those shots were in-rhythm and uncontested. They were shooting them like in practice.

Overall, they scored 59 points and shot 55% from the field for the first two quarters. This is not good defense.

Knicks play 5 games in next 11 days then have 7 days off in a row for the All-Star break. Would make sense for OG to sit out until after the All-Star break.

“Knicks play 5 games in next 11 days then have 7 days off in a row for the All-Star break. Would make sense for OG to sit out until after the All-Star break.”

The way he reacted on a totally benign step into a shot did not fill me with optimism. If we see him back before March I’d be very happy.

Speaking of the Lakers, anybody watch the CNN Kobe – making of a legend..

Thanks, Rough. Seems like the doc is worried about a lisfranc-type injury, which would be no bueno. Hope it’s something less severe!

What the FUCK is this? If you told me Luka was getting traded I would’ve said he must be fetching the largest pick package ever. An aging AD and a first…?

Re OG, if it’s a common sprain, he misses a month. If it’s a Lisfranc, that’s the season. Second round of the playoffs at best.

Re Luka, I find it very difficult to believe that trade is real. Just baffling.

Fuck, I mean send them back Brunson AND give them Towns for Doncic.

What the actual… ah nevermind.
When’s baseball season?

Apparently the Mavs think he has conditioning issues and didn’t want Supermax him.

We can only hope he Marlon Brandos himself.

Shams:

The Mavericks approached the Lakers recently and offered Luka Doncic, sources tell ESPN.

Wow. I bet Rob Pelinka was also like “this call is weird bc I’m pretty sure I didn’t eat mushrooms tonight.

“I believe that defense wins championships,” Mavs GM Nico Harrison told ESPN regarding his motivation to trade Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. “I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We’re built to win now and in the future.”

must really believe in kyrie, weird though considering having luka helped get them to the finals just last season…

man, luka must really be a dick to deal with?

bet lebron gets him in shape…

Interesting. Luka Doncic was on the first team of the entire NBA in 2019-20.

Then he was on the first team of the entire NBA in 2020-21.

Then he was on the first team of the entire NBA in 2021-22.

Then he was on the first team of the entire NBA in 2022-23.

Then he was on the first team of the entire NBA last season.

He’s not even 26 yet.

And they traded him for Anthony Davis and Max Christie?!

Fascinating.

By Post Author

This is what happens when you let crazy people buy the team

Mark Cuban I see you

It does not make sense. Yes, he has conditioning issues, he does not play D, he is perennially overweight, he seems at times to prefer beer to basketball, etc. We all get that. Still, couldn’t the Mavs get more for giving him away? Any team in the league would be ready to give any asset(s) to get that particular basketball player. It makes no sense. Unless there is something going on we don’t now about.

giving him away

it really does feel like they just gave him away…

seems like they targeted AD…

man, luka must really be a dick to deal with…

This is why conspiracy theories exist. It can’t be a basketball decision. Luka is 10X the box office superstar and 10X the basketball player AD was at 25.

Patrick Dumont is the man that pulled this string. Maybe it has something to do with LA fires and real estate prices or some other bigger picture Sheldons empire move that we can’t see but this is not about the business of basketball.

it really does feel like they just gave him away…

seems like they targeted AD…

That’s what they said, not necessarily what happened under the carpet.

If I’m a Dallas Mavericks fan I’m rescinding my fanhood. If you want to move on from Doncic, that’s fine, but giving him away like this for an older, younger injury prone player who was never as good as Doncic in the first place is a huge “fuck you” to the fans. Doncic still had another year on his contract, there was no urgency to trade him.

Just doesn’t make any sense on a basketball level, and leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth about the NBA as a whole. We sit here and debate the best method for building teams blah blah blah and what’s the point? You want to build a good team, just be the Los Angeles Lakers and other teams will just give their best players to you. It’s some wrestling kayfabe shit.

New York Basketball
@NBA_NewYork
Windhorst: “This is not about the Lakers, not really about LeBron. It’s about the Mavs & Luka Doncic…One of the biggest most stunning trades in the history of the league…My phone’s exploded…Basically a rebuke of Doncic…Mavs saying they don’t think they can win w him…defense…condition…ability to focus at biggest moments…Luka was locked into Mavs…& it’s the Mavs who are pulling the plug…Only 1 bidder as far as we know…They didn’t even get the entire package from Lakers…Lakers are still holding a 1st-round pick…LeBron has dreamed of this”

I’m fully ready to believe that a healthy AD, with his defense, is the better player—but AD is never healthy. Kyrie is phenomenal but he’s the only real offensive threat left.

This is a blow it up move, but they’re pretending to give it a go this year, maybe next, then hope they can still sell AD for a ransom.

Ludicrous.

I mean, what? Ok, take the Mavs position at face value – they don’t want to be in the Luka business for 350M. Maybe that’s a fair assessment. So you go out and get AD and a first? That’s the best offer available?

If CP to the Lakers got vetoed..

This is a blow it up move, but they’re pretending to give it a go this year, maybe next, then hope they can still sell AD for a ransom

Yeah, that sort of tracks… It’s not like you have a big window with Kyrie and Klay.

Just feels like they could have gotten so much more in terms of young talent and picks. AD isn’t putting them back in the finals, as good as he is.

You want to build a good team, just be the Los Angeles Lakers and other teams will just give their best players to you. It’s some wrestling kayfabe shit.

Spot on. The best part was big Perk & ABC talking heads saying that Dallas won the trade. Bob Iger must really believe that he can tell American people what to think.

If CP to the Lakers got vetoed..

That was when the NBA had a real commissioner in Stern, Silver is soft as shyt

Don’t see how LeBron and Luka make any sense together but the fact that the Lakers will have Luka after LeBron retires is the sickening part.

Its veto worthy. AD is very good, but you can’t just gift a top 5 player not even in his prime like that … the fact they they only approached the Lakers about this seems fishy as well.

Doncic still had a year left on his contract, so any team you trade him to gets two runs at a chip with him before he hits free agency. You could probably acquire any player you wanted in the entire NBA not named Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Victor Wembanyama for Doncic, his trade value is that high.

But of course by far the best play would have been to go all in on a rebuild. Can you imagine the asset haul Dallas could have gotten for Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving? They could have certainly restocked with a massive haul of good young players and unprotected picks. Instead they’re taking some kind of fugazy run at a chip with a Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis in their 30’s core.

This is just gross.

Can someone explain to me why Danny Ainge, of all people in the league, get to wet his beek too?

Interesting conspiracy this was a Adam Silver special to increase ratings, get viewers back

You don’t trade a 25 year old perennial MVP candidate coming from a finals run if he does not request a trade and without getting every NBA team to make a bid on him.

Seriously, how does the Lakers get gifted player after player?

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