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2025 Playoff Thread: Knicks vs. Pistons, Game 5 – The End is Close

After the Knicks tore the heart of the Pistons at the end of Game 4 in Detroit, it’s now really a question of when and not whether the Knicks take these upstarts down, and I hope the answer to that question is, “Tonight,” and I imagine that it will be tonight.

Let’s go, Knicks!

Just 13 wins to go!

The Dylan tune is “Let Me Die in My Footsteps,” an “unreleased” song that was officially released on the first volume of The Bootleg Series (technically, the first Bootleg Series collection is Volumes 1-3, which seems kind of dumb to me. You can’t release a triple-album and say it’s three albums, dude).

397 replies on “2025 Playoff Thread: Knicks vs. Pistons, Game 5 – The End is Close”

Thankfully MSG’s broadcast is available (at least outside the US) on League Pass, hooray…

I’m getting really tired of this “it should be 2-2” bullshit.

I was never even slightly guilty about the BS call on Hubert Davis back in 1994, and I won’t care about this. It was the wrong result, but I don’t give a shit that it wasn’t made. Shit happens, no Knicks fans should feel any guilt about it at all.

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Sorry, I just had to repost what I said at the end of the last thread:

Oh, and RIP Dr. Dick Barnett. Only some of the old folks will remember this, but he was sort of Clyde pre-Clyde. His jumper was so flashy and unique that they named it. My buddies and I would try to emulate it, as well as his equally cool FT routine (bounce, spin the ball, set, leg back, shoot), generally with little success. Like Clyde, Dick didn’t say much (although “Fall back, Baby” was named after what he told his teammates when he shot it), he mostly let his cool stylin’ ways do his talking for him. Never a superstar, but for a young Knicks fan he had the swag of a former superstar turned solid, steady, savvy vet. And Clyde himself credited Barnett for his fashion example.

Very happy that he made the HOF and had his number retired, he was a heck of a player and an even better dude, particularly post-career. Here’s a great short tribute video with quotes from Bill Bradley and Clyde.

RIP Barnett. Never saw him play but respect to all Knicks Legends.

This game is going to come down tonight to “the others” I think. I expect healthy doubling of Towns and more trapping of Brunson. Bridges and OG need to have efficient 20+ scoring nights tonight to pull this one out

Man, I would be depressed if I was a Bucks fan.

They are terrible and have to get rid of both Lillard and Kuzma to even begin thinking about what’s going to happen with Giannis. Epic mismanagement.

First possession Brunson held it way too long and then they couldn’t get off a shot. MOVE THE BALL!

They should hypnotize the Knicks players before the game and convince them this is a road game

Man, I would be depressed if I was a Bucks fan.

Meh, they saw a title recently. Now if they do a terrible Giannis trade they risk the building being a ghost town

Good dunk KAT

Feel like we are going to lose but at least it will be with Clyde and Breen

Thibs should lose his job if he can’t get a convincing win in this series against this team

Get Kat the ball, why do we keep forgetting him??!

The answer will always be the Point Guard mixed in with the coach

Potential to be a good series?

Well anything is better than Cavs vs Heat

OG playing great D, but no one producing on O. And Thibs takes out Towns while that’s happening … Adjust!

There’s a schoolyard quality to this game and the refs don’t know how to whistle it

Can someone please post “Brunson has been awful” so we can guarantee he’ll dominate the 4th quarter?

I do love when OG steals someone’s soul and then reacts like he’s on the silent floor of the library

Just give Boston a pass into the Conference Finals.

Still time to put a new coach in place. Mike Malone is ready

Hart got close to the play of the year with that touch pass, he’s playing like a demon

Everyone happy we got OG?

I was just glad to get rid of RJ

I miss IQ, he would do wonders for the bench

Educate I was just being sarcastic now that the Knicks are up fuck Boston!

Feels like the early nineties….

Some fun stuff in that quarter even though it was a bit of a mess

Yankees might score more runs tonight than either of these teams score points.

One team playing like it’s win or go home and one guy on our team playing like it.

Deuce has to start hitting some 3s though he’s wide ass open and still not coming close.

Knicks 2 best players having miserable games and we’re up 2.

I guess that’s good?

If Harris would’ve played like this last year Philly would’ve won the series.

We may need Mikal to outplay Tobias to win this game, which feels like a big ask currently

KaT needs to post up closer to the basket. McBride offering very little on either end. Let’s run some brunson/towns pnr. We need more player and ball movement just way too stagnant

mikal bridges make a layup challenge

Pretty sure he did there, the goaltend was not called.

Have we run a single pick and roll with Tobias on KAT? Wtf is wrong with these guys?

Thankfully MSG’s broadcast is available (at least outside the US) on League Pass, hooray…

that sounds nice max…

it feels like 90% of the “ex-player” person on the game call have played against the knicks…the other 10% are the ladies announcing…

we need more ladies (not named doris) on the mic…

not fun listening to Detroit Pistons’ grant hill call the game…hope he leaves new york disappointed…

Halliburton just walked through the lane and dunked it to tie the game with 10 secs left. Bucks are making it easy for the refs!

Every ref in the league is hoping it goes back to Milwaukee and they get to work it

Josh should get the Roy Kent cheer

Edit: that’s another save leading to points

Donnie Pacers Fan feels his team should be able to close this series out at home against the depleted Bucks without overtime, but he’s not overly concerned yet.

I’m still mad about the missed goaltending call, it’s something I find not acceptable in 2025 with all the reviews, they should manage it like they do with three pointers 🤬

The KAT is finally awake, let’s hope JB will follow.

Not a great final possession

I think a case can be made that Schoeder has been their most valuable player

man that was a horrendous jalen half and it wasn’t just great defense. luckily cade was also bad.

At least we’re still up and never in a big hole
That’s something

1-7 FG, 3 missed FTs and 3 TOs. Not Jalen’s best half but very promising for the second half.
(and no, I don’t care how bad Cunningham was 😉 )

OG’s defense was outstanding.

Halftime in NY means you can all now watch the Tyrese Halliburton malfunction show. (It’s on NBATV, fyi)

Brunson has been bad and they’re ahead at the half. Chill, everyone, they’ve got this shit.

And you know Brunson always comes to play in the fourth.

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Wow, the Pacers just STOLE the closeout game from the Bucks and are moving on to Cleveland.

Gary Trent Jr had a GREAT game and then let the ball go out of bounds with ten seconds left. Halliburton scored on it.

Playoffs are HARSH.

If they trade Giannis this could go in the books as “The night Gary Trent destroyed basketball in Milwaukee”.

The Bucks weren’t winning that series no matter what, so the result tonight was immaterial.

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Now we just have to figure out a trade to get Giannis here that somehow doesn’t involve any draft picks…

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Letting Haliburton score a layup buzzer beater on an elimination game means:

FREAK GTFOOThere & come to NY

Knicks are a – 29 in the 3rd qtr this series

Let’s see how this goes

This game does not feel like a playoff game at all. Crowd is dead. Team is dead.

Bucks were leading by 7 points in OT with 40 second left but made two key turnovers and lost the game nj one point. I could see Doc getting fired.

Letting Haliburton score a layup buzzer beater on an elimination game…

Haliburton walked to the rim to tie it in regulation too

This game does not feel like a playoff game at all. Crowd is dead.

The players need to fuel the crowd,this is G league level ball

Breen calling out the refs on OG’s ghost foul.

But really, what do they drink in the locker room at halftime?

Bucks were leading by 7 points in OT with 40 second left but made two key turnovers and lost the game nj one point. I could see Doc getting fired.

Even though Doc didn’t miss any shots, drop any balls out of bounds, or let Haliburton personally walk to the rim?

If Boston didn’t have a game right now they’d be watching this bullshit laughing their asses off.

certainly not Doc’s fault and with the current state of the Bucks roster not much a new coach can do

I am now going to live blog Wheel of Fortune for you all, you’re welcome

Brunson awful on defense and offense tonight. Why don’t we get Towns the ball more????

#The refs and Brunson were sharing drugs before the game#

Bickerstaff’s stuff!
The one before challenges! The good stuff!

The refs are clearly evening some scores, better now than at the end of the game.

Can’t really Blame Doc that’s on the players

I think Doc does the opposite of building player confidence and getting his teams to play loose. You can see this in how he blames everyone but himself in press conferences. He puts pressure on the team and they play tight. So yes, you can blame Doc.

I think Doc does the opposite of building player confidence and getting his teams to play loose. You can see this in how he blames everyone but himself in press conferences. He puts pressure on the team and they play tight. So yes, you can blame Doc.

Garry Trent just needed to catch the ball or the Bucks needed to not let Hali go to the rim for a layup. My take is the playoff pressure is worse than Doc.

I think Doc does the opposite of building player confidence and getting his teams to play loose.

Via Mic’d Up:

“You better catch the fucking ball, Gary! Don’t be a pussy and drop it out of bounds! Only a sissy would blow this game, Gary! Don’t fuck it up!”

The ups and downs of this team have been mind boggling the entire season. It is incredible how bad they play again tonight. They better wake up if they don’t want to face the wrath of the Pistons and their crowd in a couple of days.

This might be the game that makes me reach my boiling point with this Knicks team…

Does it or does it not look like the refs were told to take this series to a sixth game?

Yes the refs missed a call but brunson you’re playing like crap, focus on playing basketball and PASS the ball

Whoever mentioned the Knicks’ third quarter performance was spot on. It’s disgusting.

That was me knic fan in NJ . Somebody needs to tell what happens at halftime. Its a trend

I’m worried Pags isn’t calling for a Pistons blowout which would guarantee us a win

Brunson defense is unwatchable, he regularly loses his man on those alley-oop.

Should we talk about “Mister 5 Firsts”?

Guess we’re waiting one more game to whip out an offensive set that isn’t “let Brunson cook.” I’ve always said game 88 is the time to debut it.

Well we gotta say one thing about this team, no matter what they don’t fucking quit.

We went from never pass the ball to pass it with no sense whatsoever like a pinball 🤦🏻‍♂️

I honestly am not sure if I remember a worse game in a Knicks uniform by Brunson.

I honestly am not sure if I remember a worse game in a Knicks uniform by Brunson.

Game 2?

Celtics down early against Orlando.

And the Magic are on a mission trying to maim or concuss them 😁

Basically, Mitch plus 2 other defenders means good defense. It was OG/Deuce in the first, now it’s Mikal/Deuce. We’re winning (coming back) with defense here.

And the Magic are on a mission trying to maim or concuss them 😁

Here for it

It would be very Knicksy for Brunson to be given his Clutch Player of the Year award today and then not be clutch

harris has grabbed so many jerseys bickerstaff probably assumed it was no longer a foul

JB Bickerstaff has to be the worst challenger in league history

It’s really nice when Thibs has the advantage on the other coach. It’s quite helpful.

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Bridges for the lead!!

He’s lucky he hit it, I barely understand fastbreak threes, but fastbreak long twos? 😂

He’s lucky he hit it, I barely understand fastbreak threes, but fastbreak long twos? 😂

It was a three!

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It was a three!

That’s what I though but we went from 79 to 81, they gave us 2 points.

That’s what I though but we went from 79 to 81, they gave us 2 points.

They fixed it later.

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Max, they gave two points initially, but then reviewed it and changed it to a three.

That was pretty shitty defense by Thompson on Brunson, by the way.

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The Knicks centers all having five fouls is a 1990s throwback, too.

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Nope, it was “franks for the memories”. Good job Ron. (I was never very good at this show)

The Pistons have to know that if they double Brunson, he’ll try to shoot over the double, so they really should just do that.

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A play that isn’t brunson dribbles for 20 secs then shoots would be super helpful. But honestly all the other guys have the yipps. When do you put towns back?

What’s the timeout for? He just called a timeout!

“Don’t give up open threes!”?

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Thibs chose having a timeout over having Brunson and Hart on the court for two minutes.

I hope they blow this series, fire Thibs trade everybody who gives a shit at this point.

You need to use the TO to get them back in. To hell with letting Cam run the offense

Oh come on, they’ll still win this series. This did suck, though.

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If everyone knows the Knicks had to take a three, why wouldn’t you just have all your tallest guys out there, and not tiny Schroeder?

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Perfect ending, we lose the series with our players breaking down at just the right time and Thibs escapes blameless to tank another season

Imagine if someone didn’t have his head so far up his ass that he didn’t call timeout to get the best 4Q player in rhe NBA back in the game.

Losing this game ends any miniscule chance the Knicks had of possibly giving Boston a competitive series. If they somehow still advance they’ll have no extra rest before the Celtics series.

They won two games in Detroit – deservedly so as the played stretches of good basketball and showed grit and tenacity – and I thought they finally found that extra gear. And tonight this?

Instead of stepping on Detroit’s throat from the get go, they came out without energy and desire and never got into any rhythm. They picked it up a just bit after they went down by 10 in the third quarter but they never managed to play well really, not to mention that by that time Detroit had the confidence they can win this.

Those last minute heroics were meaningless, they were just extending the agony. The Knicks should have shown urgency from the start but they miserably failed.

The idea that he wouldn’t use a timeout with the game wasting away to get Brunson back in the game is mind blowing.

Tough one.

Andi see the Cronin jinx is active

We missed a ton of wide open shots and free throws and hit some very closely guarded ones

you shouldn’t be losing two game in this series on your home floor

The fact you can’t get your team am to look better than this vs detroit

Thibs made some key mistakes there, but I still believe in these players. Next game is ours.

Goofy loss. Sub 60% from the stripe. Too many bad passes to Mitch. Too little boxing Duren out. Injuries were unfortunate. Balanced scoring is nice; but we’ve done better when Towns and Brunson are more aggressive.

This series has been excruciating.

Just like last year. You can’t get your team tocget one blowout win. Thibs needs to go . His playoff stuff is unwatchable and the team is never prepared to start the 3rd

Thank God I still have Aaron Judge to root for. Well at least until October…

The idea that he wouldn’t use a timeout with the game wasting away to get Brunson back in the game is mind blowing.

It’s entirely possible that Brunson is hurt and asked not to be in the mix at the very end.

The idea that he wouldn’t use a timeout with the game wasting away to get Brunson back in the game is mind blowing.

Actually it’s really on brand.

He should’ve been fired after ‘23 when he got his pants pulled down in the playoffs for the second time. He showed us who he was. Be early, not late.

Brunson not really healthy at the end of two playoff runs in a row… (I’m assuming we lose to the Celtics in 5, not this dog shit Pistons team)

What makes this series so excruciating is that it’s kind of life or death. This isn’t even the series they gave up 5 unprotected picks and a swap for. If they go out the same way they went out vs. IND last year, bruised and battered, where do you go from there?

If Knicks lose this series there’s no fucking chance in hell Thibs can return next season so we can start there.

If they go out the same way they went out vs. IND last year, bruised and battered, where do you go from there?

They have to move on from Bridges. Thibs if he loses to Boston will get to point the finger at Leon

We had a brain freeze when JB and Josh went out and lost the game on two put backs from Duren (on two good defenses) while no one knew what to do on offense.

This roster isn’t perfect but is performing below its talent level, the offense is often unwatchable and sometimes it looks like the players just met for the first time.

Time to change the driver, no matter how this series will end.

Hard to get real excited about this team. At the beginning of the season it looked like we might be something exciting, but it seems like we have been backsliding towards mediocrity for quite a while. It’s an okay team but somehow isn’t all that fun to root for. We’re pretty much even Steven with the mid-tier playoff teams in the East. That’s… fine, I guess.

Beats rooting for Maurice Ndour to miss shots and wondering if Alexy Shved might pan out, but admittedly that’s not a very high bar. We’ll see what Leon cooks up in the offseason, but my gut says that the peak of the Brunson Knicks is already in the rear view mirror.

We had a brain freeze when JB

Jb is the system , that is the coaches system

No one outside of NY thinks we’re the 3rd best team in the East anymore. That’s clearly Donnie’s Pacers. We are slightly better than Detroit, closer to 5th than 3rd, and about as far away from 1st as last.

There’s also a decent chance all Celtics fan are rooting for us to win bc we’d be an easier series than Detroit.

Bravo, Leon. Bravo.

The Knicks were down 1 in this game and kat and Brunson were at the table looking to check in and thibs had a timeout and passed.

this team is to me is less than the sum of it’s parts because of the coach

What the hell is the offense ?

Leon deserves massive blame for the Bridges trade, but I need to see a new coach use this roster

Funny part is as pissed and frustrated as I am with this fucking team right now they’ll probably win Game 6 then somehow steal one of the first 2 games in Boston.

Funny part is as pissed and frustrated as I am with this fucking team right now they’ll probably win Game 6 then somehow steal one of the first 2 games in Boston.

Exactly. The idea that we should be giving up on this team when they’re up 3-2 in the series is silly. It’s bad now, but now is not “it.”

But yes, tonight sucked.

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Man, can you believe the Magic were actually leading this game at halftime, and now they’re down 25 in the fourth quarter?!?

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I’ll be more rational by the time Game 6 starts but right now honestly don’t think I’ve been this disappointed in a Knicks team since I guess Game 5 vs Boston in 2013 in basically identical circumstances.

Exactly. The idea that we should be giving up on this team when they’re up 3-2 in the series is silly.

This team hasn’t been convincing at all in this series. If the refs call that Josh Hart play do you realize how bad it would be right now….

Yes I can believe it cause Boston is that good. Hopefully one day before I die I’ll be able to root for a basketball team that good…

I thought we had a high flying, high octane offense. What the hell happened to that?

Clearly there’s no need to panic, but something is off with this team. It could get better with some changes along the margins, but I’m starting to agree that it might just be time for a new coach.

Michael Malone, come on down!

Well if they called the foul on Duren late in Game 2 Knicks could’ve swept this series….

I thought we had a high flying, high octane offense. What the hell happened to that?

What plays during the season did you see them running. How much passing does a Thibs offense have?

Brunson had such a brutal night that in the key play of the game he steals the inbounds pass and instead of passing it tries to throw it off a Piston and they end up with the ball.

He was out of sorts the entire game.

Starting lineup had a minus -26 net rating tonight

Mitch
Mcbride
Og
Brunson
Hart

Had a 117 off rating

69 def rating

That 5 above was the best lineup for the Knicks tonight

Thibs has to go.

We know we have some personnel/fit issues on defense, but you can’t have a team with some defensive holes like this one and a coach that’s this bad on offense.

It can’t be more obvious that this team has a ton of offensive talent on an individual level, but the offense we run is so pathetic it stifles them instead of enhancing them. This is one of the worst coaching jobs I can recall.

He simply has to go.

No need to start tearing everything apart right now! Ghouls, go away! Go away! Oh well. Who am I talking to.

You guys are really underselling this Pistons team. “The Pistons’ record in the second half of the 2024-25 season was 24-10, making them a top-10 team in the NBA during that period,” according to ChatGPT.
That said, I think we’re still the better team this year and should win the series in 6.

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

Enough pearl clutching and peeing in my foxhole.

https://youtu.be/Ruu2rDLbI7s

My biggest concern at the moment is the condition of JB, Hart, and OG, even if they are available on Thursday.

Mitchell Robinson was a plus 9 in this game that they lost. Maybe they need to just start the guy if your going to run this crappy offense with Towns at the 5

My biggest concern is the thought of what Boston will do to us next week.

At this point that’s a pretty big assumption.

If we get there, we are so bad, they will probably sit players out and use a deep rotation so they are fresh for the Cavs or Pacers.

My biggest concern is the thought of what Boston will do to us next week.

We all know we are not at their level. Our best hope has always been to give them a fight. It does not look like it at the moment but who knows. By the way, we still need to win a game in Detroit or game seven at MSG where we lost four out of the last five against the Pistons. So here is that.

this team is to me is less than the sum of it’s parts because of the coach

The parts don’t fit, either. Another coach would make us better but there ain’t a coach alive that can turn this paper-thin collection of alternating one-way players into a contender. This year has been like Logan Roy looking at his kids and saying I love you but you are not serious people. Thank you for getting us Brunson, Leon, but you screwed the pooch ten different ways and we’ll never recover from your blunders. Get Giannis here or get fucked.

“Brunson has been awful”

There, I posted it, dmar. Hope I’m not too late…?

Just got here, sounds like a real stinker. Glad I missed it, I guess. I will just note that they had 19 assists, which sucks.

“What plays during the season did you see them running. How much passing does a Thibs offense have?”

Educate they had a long stretch of 27+ assist games. I wouldn’t have come up with my idiotic hypothesis if they hadn’t. Then they, well, stopped. But they CAN do it. Admittedly it’s harder to pass the ball when the other team is frantically up in everyone’s grill, but movement, off-ball screens and so on, eventually the ball moves faster than the defense and something breaks down…

The patience to do that, rather than 20 seconds of Brunson dribbling in place, is to me the difference between winning and losing.

Gentlemen, it is what it is!
I’m going to “enjoy” this fkn hellride for one more season and when it’s over I’m gonna decide what’s wrong and what should go.
Right Now We’re still Contending!

I don’t think a new coach will make them beat Boston, Clev, but I believe they can compete with a proper coach. They don’t even compete against the those teams. The coach makes the team so un fun to watch.

I will say maybe Leon doesn’t want to get rid of Thibs because the attention will be on him .

Raven

100%

If there was metric that measured a team’s offensive output relative to its offensive talent, this would team would rate very poorly.

We are against a good defense. So it’s not like we should be running up the score, but there is almost no purposeful movement of players, the ball, the spacing is often terrible, we dribble away clock etc…

It’s painful to watch.

Also why wasn’t mitchell robinson in late in the game when Duren was doing work

The coach is a fool

tibs mistakenly prioritzed off over def then so had kat in instead of mitch but as weve said so many times why not have both

I thought we had a high flying, high octane offense. What the hell happened to that?

Teams started putting wings on KAT and we responded by acting like it’s illegal to run a Brunson/KAT pnr against it. That’s literally the answer. We’ve been opting out of running our best play for months.

Would love to know what the plus minus of the double big lineup was tonight…

Educate they had a long stretch of 27+ assist games. I wouldn’t have come up with my idiotic hypothesis if they hadn’t. Then they, well, stopped.

The problem with your thesis has always been that you’re using raw assists instead of assist percentage.

A higher number of assists doesn’t mean they passed the ball more. It just means more shots went in. So your thesis, at the end of the day, is just that the Knicks win when they make more shots.

Hubert, I stick with my hypothesis. It’s even better than I thought!

(And it’s a hypothesis, an idea developed from observation, not a thesis, tested and ‘proven.’ Which you’ve just shot full of holes…).

[And this is my biggest complaint with all those CSI type shows, outside of them actually being on…]

A higher number of assists doesn’t mean they passed the ball more. It just means more shots went in. So your thesis, at the end of the day, is just that the Knicks win when they make more shots.

The thing is, shot quality improves when there is purposeful ball and player movement, especially for players that can’t create for themselves as effectively as a guy like Brunson. So they make more of them. That’s the whole point of screens, cuts, ball movement etc…

If we are bringing the ball up slowly and then dribbling away most of the clock, we often wind up having guys taking rushed shots or trying to create for themselves late in the clock even though they are not highly efficient that way.

The offense we run is too slow, has too much dribbling (primarily Brunson but also Hart at times) and the rest of the guys are watching instead of doing something that could open one of them up for a good look.

We have to play faster, Brunson has to give up the ball quickly, we run something, and if fails THEN Brunson goes ISO, Towns drives or something like that.

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