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134 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.05.02)”
An hard fought series just like last year against the Sixers, we won three close games on the road, lost two close games at home and the best run of the year in the 4th period of Game-1 maybe made the difference.
But unlike last year, when I felt ecstatic and excited to have beaten a powerful foe, this year the prevailing feeling is tiredness, the feeling of having barely made it against a commendable and willing opponent but one that we should have eliminated more easily*.
We were the more talented and experienced team, instead we never managed to break away, to finish a match having it under control, relying heavily on Captain Clutch’s magic, helped by the hero du jour**.
Focusing on yesterday’s game, KAT had another bad shooting night and was too shy on offense (but at the same time a 33-10 shooting distribution between JB and him is pure folly and at least two of his shots were ORebs), Mikal was very good, OG and Josh had strong overall games, Brunson was perfect for three quarters, lost it a bit in the 4th and then came back in the last 90 seconds to rip Detroit’s heart.
The bench*** was awful as usual (Cam’s nuclear Game-1 and Mitch Game-5 performance being the only exceptions).
There were long stretches of great, suffocating defense, especially from the wings, and bursts of sparkling offense (mostly in the 1st and 3rd periods) where we did show what this team can do when it shares the ball and everyone is involved, followed as usual by long frustrating minutes of bad decisions, stubborn isos (Deuce’s isos!), stupid shots and dumb fouls.
So after a long and uninspired slog of a season, and with a lot of things to talk about in the offseason, we are exactly where we dreamed, in the 2nd round (for the third consecutive year, yippie!), reasonably healthy and ready to play a bruised and batterd Celtics team.
At the end we have our chance.
Let’s Go Knicks.
* And remember we won two games on controversial calls.
** KAT’s three in Game-4, Mikal’s tip-in yesterday and so on.
*** Wait, do we have a bench?
Some final thoughts about the Pistons.
They took us to the limit in every game, at the end they paid the price for their young core’s inexperience (and their coach’s limits) but it was a very good season for them.
Cade*, Duren, Thompson are a great base to build on and even Ivey did show improvements before his injury (he was hitting over 40% from three), the journeymen/retreads group gave them solid play and stability, probably beyond expectations, and Bickerstaff made them play hard, even if the series showed he’s still Bickerstaff**.
According to Spotrac they’re second in cap space this summer so in a free agent market with many teams tied by the rules they can maybe add another good player or two.
As ephemeral as it is to predict the NBA even medium term, their future looks promising.
* In my opinion a future All-NBA candidate and I really like his sober demeanor (like Maxey’s)
** Much better anyway than the bored and uninspired Monty Williams’ version they had before.
As of this morning, Thompson was still seen skating and was about halfway across Lake Erie.
So of course I was HAPPY about the win — but I think the primary feeling I came away with after the win last night was exhausted relief.
This team, for whatever reason – be it coaching, weird mix of players, etc — is just not that great, and above all, is just exasperating. I think maybe what it comes down to is KAT — when he is scoring and is aggressive on offense, he’s amazing and the team takes off. When he’s not… he’s just sort of a minus on the court notwithstanding any theoretical gravity if he stands beyond the 3 point line. I mean – he was terrible last night, and was kind of terrible in game 5 also.
I do want to give some credit to the Pistons — interestingly – they were 11th in the league in defense this year, and really just a sniff away from 9th (113.5 vs 113.3 DRtg). If you look at their 4 factors on defense, the only thing they were bad at was their foul rate on defense (27th) — and if you’re in a series where the refs let you just mug people constantly, then you probably turn into a top 6 defense.
Speaking of the refs — what in the world does a screener have to do to be called for an illegal screen? Schroder and THJ were basically pulling guards last night, worthy of being a 1st round pick in the NFL. Just ridiculous. I thought it was a good challenge by Thibs, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how Schroder wasn’t called for an illegal screen on that play after review.
Great win. Had to quit the game thread and watch the game by myself. I like this team too, maybe because i’ve come to accept their flaws. Let’s see how far they can go.
Oh, and i think Mikal had a good game. Brunson won the game, but he almost costs us the game, because he missed like 2 or 3 good looks before the final one, if i remember correctly.
Now let’s try to make life hard for the Celtics.
by the way someone please wake up Deuce and tell him there are basketball games happening
I do want to give some credit to the Pistons — interestingly – they were 11th in the league in defense this year, and really just a sniff away from 9th (113.5 vs 113.3 DRtg). If you look at their 4 factors on defense, the only thing they were bad at was their foul rate on defense (27th) — and if you’re in a series where the refs let you just mug people constantly, then you probably turn into a top 6 defense.
yes, but they did play the series without stewart, who was a key defender for them this year. with duren on opponents shot 67.5% at the rim. with beef stew on they shot 61%. i do agree they stepped up their intensity a lot more than we did, which allowed them to get away with a lot of playoff misdemeanors and made their vet scorers all look like better defenders than usual.
Frank, excellent point on the Pistons defense. It’s like the actual version of Mikal’s midrange shooting for the playoffs.
We have been saying it all season but the vibes with this team are a bit tough. It’s a very good team but challenging to root for I. A way thst last year’s team wasn’t.
For some comic relief, here is someone doing a spot om KAT impression…
https://x.com/maxisnicee/status/1918119834673660096?s=46&t=0wqff4cNt-sCGcDs-uMExw
Well, where has that version of Bridges been all season?? Better late than never I guess, but that lefty slam and incredibly clutch tip in were the types of plays we haven’t seen all season. And his defense was really solid as well.
Kind of the idealized version of Mikal Bridges that we traded for (except for the poor 3 point shooting)
That was the craziest game and series I’ve ever watched with all the insane momentum changes. This Knicks team has taken years off my life and made me question my fandom but in the end holy shit what an incredible finish.
Last year I re-watched DDV’s game winner in Game 2 plus Hart’s game winner 3pter vs Philly in Game 6 a thousand times yet I think I’ve already surpassed that with re-watching Brunson’s shot last night.
How do we feel about Breen’s coinage of “Captain Crunch Time” versus the Captain Clutch nickname?
What about game 2 and the FT discrepancy? In the first half, the Knicks had the first FTA with only 17 seconds left to play, Pistons had 14 FTA at the same time.
https://x.com/KnicksCentral/status/1918133524806148247
So last night was the last playoff game ever that Breen and Clyde called together, as first round games will no longer be on regional broadcasts next year. Nice finish for them with a double bang by Breen.
Personally, I think Cap’n Crunch is delicious. Plus the character is sort of stocky. So I’m giving it my endorsement.
i take back all the bad things i said about bridges………………………until monday..
So glad not to have to watch Bickerstaff complaining to the refs anymore. The man really takes nominative determinism to heart.
Thibs gets a lot of grief about being a better regular season coach than a playoff coach, but this series doesn’t really support that. In the regular season we won our first game against the Pistons going away, but they learned from that and then beat us three times in a row. To actually beat them 4-2 is better than that. We were better in the playoffs against them than in the regular season. I’m very relieved.
I want us to better against Boston in the regular season too but there was a big gap. We could be a lot better and still lose
Also, I couldn’t watch the game in real time due to other commitments. So I watched it much later when I actually knew the score and I was still stressed out at the end of the game even though I knew we would win.
Nice one, Marechal.
I was going to make a very bad dad joke last night along those lines to try and cheer Cyber up, but realized he had actually left and didn’t want to subject the rest of you to it.
Okay, let’s dive in whataboutism 😉
I wrote enough, live and and post game, about the refs’ shame in Game-2.
JB and KAT had 4 FTs combined in that game, it was awful.
On the other the decisions that went against the Pistons happened both times basically on the last play of the game, and both times were deemed mistakes by the refs after the game.
It’s not the same thing (because at the end of games you don’t have enough time to “react” to the circumstances, while after the first half you have 24 more minutes to do it) and is not perceived, in the media and all the basketball world, as the same thing.
But I’m perfectly fine that the two calls went our way and we won.
Fuck Detroit, who cares?
What I mean with that note was that the series was even closer than the final score said, because with those two whistles our two close victories could have been different (I said it again: COULD HAVE BEEN, there’s no certainty).
Are you in a bad mood today Cyber? 😉
I do want to add that we all know this team’s flaws and lord knows they were on full display this past series and will really be on display vs Boston. But I think the talk of this team being soft and having locker room issues cause they don’t like each other should be put to bed.
I’m sad reading this Cyber.
To me game threads are free zones, people write about things while they happen, it’s adrenaline and emotions, gut reactions and hot takes are the norm* and follow the ups and downs of the games.
But it’s only my opinion.
* To be honest even with those mitigating circumstances I find the doom & gloom “we all gonna die someday and btw an asteroid will hit planet Earth soon and a new ice age will come” posts pretty annoying but whatever… 🙂
Not at all, we won.
It’s just that i think the refs helped the Pistons a lot, but because 2 wrong calls in our favor are at the end of games, we stole this series. I find it amusing. If the refs didn’t let them play like MMA all series, they wouldn’t be playing a game 6. Probably alone on this, so i accept that the consensus opinion is the right one.
Oh, and one more thing, even going to the monitor the refs helped the Pistons. How is it possible to not call Schroder’s NFL screen??
I’m here for the dad jokes, bring it on.
agree with you cyber…letting players foul with impunity is the great equalizer…but to the knicks credit….they played through it…
and bickerstaff is a bee yaa tch
So is Jrue Holiday back to being healthy?
I *had to go to dinner with my family bc my ten year old said, “Isn’t there another basketball game like every second day? What’s the difference?” 😉
So. I watched later, on about a two hour delay, without knowing the winner and without reading any of our game thread (except for the first few minutes while driving my car to get pizza and explaining several things to my ten year old).
In the third quarter, I really thought we might win easily — no heart attack tonight! — but then I was reminded in the 4th that every Knicks team (ever?) must make *every single thing harder than it needs to be. By law.
It makes for good TV, I guess.
Still riding that high into the morning. Simple basketball rules apply: We have Jalen and you don’t.
In regard to Boston, the only punchers chance we have in my opinion is running a Mitch/Kat combo at the 4/5 and letting Hart run the second unit with some combo of Duce & Wright. We need a guy to put Pritchard into tough shots and wright has shown he can do that.
I’m expecting a gentleman’s sweep, but Boston is bruised and if holiday misses extended time we can steal one and make them sweat it out.
Thibs is gonna have to coach his ass off.
Captain Clutch is an action figure with a spied out Christian Dior purse. Brunson is Captain Crunch Time.
As per the game and the team, I watched that game having learned ten minutes prior that a beloved family member was coming to the end of desperate and heroic fight against cancer. I got to say goodbye but work and life have conspired to make the time I got to spend with them woefully insufficient. Life is fair-less and none of us get out of here alive. Enjoy these Knicks as much as you can. That’s who they are and they’re ours as much as we are theirs.
The KAT-Mitch lineup might work if Jrue is out and Horford is starting with KP, but I don’t see how KAT can guard Tatum or Brown (Thibs is not creative enough to put him on Jrue, I don’t think). And Mitch has never been great guarding KP. If Deuce was his usual self, this would be the series to start him (even if he’s probably too small for White or Jrue), but he’s been awful.
What’s the 2nd call late in the game this series that the Knicks benefited from besides the TH Jr 3pter no foul call?
KAT scored well against Boston in our two somewhat competitive losses in the regular season. They will need to find ways to keep that going if this is going to be anything other than a gentleman’s sweep.
Last nights game was very fun except for the 20-2. Even when the Pistons game back in the second quarter I felt confident the Knicks would keep playing well and Beasley would stop making 3s. But I had some doubts creep in during the 4th quarter.
Whew! I’m glad I woke up to a dub. Cut the grass yesterday without a mask and my crazy allergies went Vernon Maxwell-Draymond Green and the Benadryl won midway through the 3rd. I don’t have a concern though. Remember how great a rebounder KAT was during the regular season? Well I’ve noticed throughout this series that his positioning for rebounds were really off, and I can’t tell if it’s him or if it was the Pistons. Far too many times I saw a shot go up only for KAT to seemingly make a half-hearted attempt to get in position. Duren really didn’t have to fight for position unless Mitch was in. What happened?
Speaking of Beasley, he only had 2 points in the 2nd half and didn’t attempt a single 3 pointer.
So credit where credit is due, whatever adjustment Thibs made worked
Sorry to hear about your loss, Clarence. I hope the Knicks made it a little less tough to deal with it, even if for a moment. May your family member rest in peace now.
On one hand, the Pistons’ swaggering and trash talk was kind of cringe coming from a team that hasn’t done anything. On the other, it was hard to shake the feeling that they were the team with a chip on their shoulder, with something to prove, etc. while we were going through the motions and banking on our superior talent to carry the day.
Our superior talent did in fact carry the day and now, technically, we’re exactly where wanted to be before the season: gearing up for a series against the Celtics at least nominally fully healthy. Suffice to say, it doesn’t feel that way. We play in a way that makes it close to mathematically impossible to beat them 4 out of 7 times, and I’m hardly exaggerating. I essentially do not think it can be done with our current 3PAr, even if things generally fall in our favor.
All that said, this series gave us some truly incredible moments. I probably woke up everyone on my block last night, and I don’t feel bad because they should’ve been watching the game.
You know what would cure the vibes immediately? Stealing one in Boston.
Well..since orange is in the uni, and Cap’n Crunch has a new summer flavor of Orange Creampop..I guess we can give that a pass? LOL nahhhhh…Captain Clutch forever 🫡
Condolences, Clarence.
And FUCK CANCER.
Lost both parents to different variants of that shit
Lots of thoughts.
First, if we can bring the toughness to Boston that The Pistons brought to us, I think we stand a (very small) chance. The team has been labelled soft all year so the Pistons were a good first round opponent to help us find our toughness. I, for one, loved the series that KAT had. I know offensively he disappeared for a couple of games but A) that isn’t totally his fault. He’s a big man, he needs to get set up in order to score and b) The Pistons threw a lot of physicality at him and he took it and dished it back. I actually thought he had some really nice defensive moments throughout the whole series. In short, yeah we need him to go off and score big but he contributed last night (15 boards) when he wasn’t scoring. His steal at the end was a pretty big play for us.
This is our ideal situation. We’re basically healthy. Boston is a little dinged up and call me crazy, but I don’t think Boston was really tested at all last year during their title run. Again, if we can bring that toughness that the Pistons brought to us and steal game one or two, I think we can make this a series.
And, more than anything, this upcoming series is the data point we need to know regardless of the outcome. Are we a team that could compete for a title if we make some small tweaks (get a bench, possibly a new coach) or do we need to make much bigger changes to get there. We’re going to find out and, for me, since we’re not expected to win, all of this will be far less stressful than the first round.
Clarence, deeply sorry. As I’ve gotten a little older I’m definitely thinking more about prioritizing time spent with family. It’s easy to feel like that time is infinite–what’s one dinner with dad I want to flake on after a long work day? There will always be more.
In reality that’s not how this works, and damn near everyone winds up wishing they spent more time with loved ones.
With you in mind, I’ll see what pops is doing for game 1.
Yeah, unfortunately Deuce is playing really bad. My hope is that him and Payne are a lot better against the Celtics, we need that to have a chance. And Mitch has to play better too, he wasn’t bad but i think he can give us more, and i’m hopeful that he will do it.
It was not only the last playoff game Breen and Clyde will ever call together, but the double-bang was the last playoff shot they will ever call together, or that will be called on MSG. A hell of a way to go out.
I see two possibilities for the Celtics series.
1. The ‘92 Knicks outcome. I’ve referenced the vague similarities between these two teams a few times. Most notably they were 0-8 vs the top 2 teams in the east and had given us no reason to think they wouldn’t get swept.
In this (our best case outcome) we punch them in the mouth in game 1. Boston handles us in game 2. They win a game 3 at the Garden and seem to be in control. Then the Knicks manage to steal a game 4 at home. We lose easily in Boston. But then we get the single best moment of the season: a glorious game 6 at MSG that makes us finally believe in the potential of this team.
Funny, I don’t remember what happened in game 7 of that series, don’t spoil it for me.
2. The Expected Outcome. Boston shoots too many threes. We don’t shoot enough. They kill KAT with double screens. ISO Brunson gets swallowed up. It’s a rout.
I am willing to suspend logic & belief until Monday. But just like the 82 game season that preceded this, I’m pretty sure the first game in Boston will tell us all we need to know. If the same shit the Celtics did on that night in October still works effortlessly and there is literally no sign that we’re ready for it, god help you, Thibs.
KAT did have 15 rebs last night and for the first time was crashing the offensive boards pretty hard. But yeah I mentioned during the game thread it felt like he was crashing the boards cause that was the only way he was gonna touch the ball on offense. He did dominate Boston in their last matchup so hopefully they’ll get him the ball more consistently next series.
You are not alone.
The media puts way too much weight on the last few calls, but who cares what they think. They are constantly wrong.
The last couple of minutes do matter more, but if 5 calls go against my team in the first half and 1 goes for it in the last few seconds, I still got screwed.
Sorry for your loss Clarence, my condolences.
Like Poindexter I lost both my parents and other family members to it so FUCK CANCER.
Yes, sorry for your loss, Clarence. That is rough.
I’m so sorry, Clarence. Fuck cancer.
Boston has no major holes in their starting lineup on offense or defense and their bench is superior.
Both teams at 100% I give us one game. There’s bound to be a game where they shoot terrible from 3 on high volume or we just get very hot and win. Our best chance for a major upset is an injury. Their defense is excellent (when they step it up a notch), but at least the series won’t be as physical. So it should be more fun to watch unless they are blowing us out with 3s
If I had any faith in Thibs to get the best out of our players on offense, I would give us a better chance for an upset because the gap on offense is not significant except for coaching. In fact, I would argue if we swapped coaches, we would have the better offense.
Condolences, Clarence.
The over-and-back non call in Game-3.
Interesting piece on The Athletic about reffing in the playoffs:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6321362/2025/04/30/nba-playoffs-2025-draymond-green-warriors-rockets/
It will interesting to see how they defend KAT in this series given how other teams have been defending him.
We may also see some Towns/Mitch vs. KP/Horford
I have a funny feeling we are going to see a lot of Horford in this series, but I’m not sure who else will be on the court and who will guard who.
I’m almost certain KAT will have a better series.
Sorry for your loss, Clarence.
I was definitely embracing the doomerism in the game thread and am glad to look utterly ridiculous in retrospect. Normally I find the extreme depths of the gloom to be super annoying, but it was an annoying game, and I was seeking a bit of catharsis. (Somebody said the team was “literally unwatchable”, which I thought was hilarious, as we hung on every damn turn).
Don’t know how to be optimistic about the upcoming series, other than to say my expectations are really low and I’m hoping the team will surprise me! And if they don’t, the team and/or coach will change some things in the offseason and we’ll go again next year.
Imma go ahead and have faith in my squad for round 2..
IIIII don’t care bout no Celtics, somethin gettin welded, or he who smelled it dealt it..
Knicks in 7
LOL
Still thinking about Mikal leaving Beasley open on the last play to double Cade who had no shot of getting a 3 up (and yes, the Knicks were trying to foul, but still).
https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1918161176753512782
This is how it ends, not with a bang but a double-bang.
The Knicks are about to go on a historic run. David is about to slay not one, not two, but three giants and we’re hanging a banner on opening night next season.
Yes, I’m being ridiculous. Let me have this till Monday.
Popovich goes from HC to Team President… maybe R.C. Buford want to leave and come work for James Dolan.
Brunson’s shot was a fun moment but I can’t help but think it saves Thibs’ skin, in which case we’ll regret it as Thibs caps this team’s potential well below what it could be.
Against BOS I think our ceiling is losing in 5 and we mostly won’t be competitive in the games we lose. They’ll exploit Brunson/KAT every possession and take twice as many threes as we do and the same shit they did on literally Game 1 of the season will dominate us while Thibs doesn’t even try anything different.
Not looking forward to the series.
I mean if you couldn’t just enjoy that moment for what it was I would very sincerely recommend you stop watching sports
I think it’ll be Boston in 5 but I don’t expect blowouts, I think the Knicks will make all the games competitive.
Just stay healthy, Pop.
Layup line Kal !!! 😀
https://x.com/sny_knicks/status/1918307010837180817
I can’t come up with any rational reasons to think we’ll be competitive with the Celtics in a meaningful sense. Again, even if we shoot very well, we simply do not take enough of the shots that are worth more points to overcome the Celtics’ talent and shot distribution advantage. It is very annoying to be rooting for a team that can’t even put itself in position to benefit from good luck.
Hopefully between now and Monday we implement an offense.
I suspect we are going to get waxed by Boston. And on the one hand, I’d almost rather have ripped the bandaid off and given Leon no choice but to get rid of Thibs. But on the other hand, Brunson putting Ausar on skates like Jordan vs. Utah was why we watch sports, right?
So much for the Becky Hammon dream. Or for Bud’s dream of getting another head coaching job quickly.
Defense will determine the outcome of the series vs. Boston. We can score on them but we can’t defend them. They are a very smart team. The last game against them gave me some hope, and so did the physicality of the Detroit series. We need to bring that physicality against the Celtics and throw them off their game, like Orlando did, and then we can be competitive.
Believe it or not I’m right with you, man. I’m surprisingly good at compartmentalizing my acceptance of future failure and letting exuberance take over long enough to be excited for a very brief window. (And DRed is really good at bookmarking all instances of me doing so.)
But I can only hold it for so long. All my eggs are in the Monday basket. If we dont win the acceptance will come back hard.
Yep. Although I was surprised how much of the high afterwards was just relief that nothing terrible happening,
EB – solid
It wasn’t Clyde and Breen’s best night, they had some minor fumbles and one major one, but I am glad they went out with a win. Absolute legends those two….
And yeah, no way we challenge the Celtics. But it’s going to be a much more comfortable watch.
This is what I’m saying. Boston has never really been challenged going back to their playoff run last year. They literally faced injured opponent after injured opponent in every round as they breezed through to their championship.
Our team has been labelled soft but we just went toe to toe with an extremely physical team that did everything they could physically to take us out of our game and even the talent gap between us and them. And we beat them. Every game was close except game one and every game was battle. They were practically draping themselves over our dudes. Multiple times fights almost broke out. They were full court pressing Brunson every time down the floor.
We gave it right back to them and did not let them get in our head. Maybe, just maybe, this series toughened us up and we can punch Boston in the mouth in game one and steal a game before they realize what hit them. If we do that, those 3’s might not fall so easily for them, and then…we have a shot.
I do think this series gave/brought out some more sandpaper on this squad…but to challenge Boston…we need something from the bench…Mitch had 1 good game and cam had 1 good spurt but overall Thibs has to hold his nose when he motions for a sub…
Doesn’t sound like Jrue will be suiting up Monday, which is helpful since he defends Jalen really well.
But other than Tatum, if you take away any single player from the Celtics rotation, they’re still much better than us unfortunately.
One of the problems in facing Boston is that Detroit never really managed to pull away during the terrible Knicks lapses. If they do that against Boston, they will find themselves in 20 point deficits all too frequently.
Also, just a weird thing compared to the last 2 seasons we got to the second round. This time we will be the clear underdogs and will start out on the road. Both against Miami and against The Pacers we were the favorites and we lost those series.
Maybe being the underdogs with nothing to lose and starting out on the road will be good for our team. We also do not have very far to travel for these games. An hour plane ride, if that. That should help with rest and recovery.
Also, thinking about last night. The team looked gassed and about to lose when that challenge was called in the 4th and it actually gave our team some rest as the challenge took longer. They say don’t save the challenges but just use them when you think you have the best shot of overturning the call. But it might behoove Thibs to save our challenges for the 4th so we have, in effect, an extra time out to give our guys a rest, since the starters are obviously going to play a lot of minutes.
Man if Deuce and Mitch could step up this series, it would be huge.
I wouldn’t be so sure. It’s been a while since I had confidence this offense could compete at the highest levels.
From the beginning of the season until 12/30 (33 games), we had the 2nd ranked offense in the NBA (122.6 ORTG, less than a full point from 1st, and also top-10 all time accounting for league averages) and a passable, if still too low, 3PAr of 37.9% (18th in the league). This was peak “if Mitch can get healthy we’ll be a problem” season.
From 12/31 until the end of the season (49 games), we had the 14th ranked offense in the NBA (117.4) and a 3PAr of 33.3% (29th in the league, 0.3% ahead of Denver).
Against the Pistons, we had a 111.8 ORTG and a 3PAr of 31.9% (18th out of 20 playoff + play-in teams).
So we’ve been steadily devolving. As always it’s tough to know what to make of these differences within a sample and we should be wary of arbitrary endpoints, but IIRC the timeline aligns with teams starting to guard Hart with their center, and it sure feels like the offense just looks much worse recently.
No Jrue is a big deal for Boston. He’s their best defender on Brunson, and having White guard Brunson is fair enough, but it means White can’t guard other dudes (obviously). I think that could be a huge boon for the Knicks.
Really, as everyone notes, winning Game 1 is the key. If the Knicks could just do that, it changes everything.
As for Pop, I believe he was already Team President. I doubt Buford’s job role will change much. Pop is getting close to 80, ya know?
I’m very surprised they didn’t bring Bud back. I guess they felt it would be too much of an insult to Johnson?
Spot on! This will happen in a heartbeat as it did during the regular season match-ups.
Boston series is a win-win proposition. If we lose, Thibs may get fired. If we win, well, we win.
Really, the only “lose” is if we take them to 6 or 7 in a bunch of tight games and come up short. But if we do that – which I don’t expect – then Thibs will have justified remaining coach.
I mean, we all feel they’re a more talented team, right? So if we aren’t badly exposed, as expected, then we were wrong and Thibs doesn’t need to go. That’s just factorial.
This is true, our offense is not the high-octane elegant offense we saw in the first half of the season. We do manage to score enough points in most games though, no matter what ugly ways we find to we achieve that. The problem is on the defensive end. True, Knicks defense has improved down the stretch and particularly in the playoffs.
Now, if you have issues with your offense, if the shots don’t fall, and so on, the more important it is that you clamp down defensively and don’t allow your opponent to go on a run. Slow it down, make it ugly, uncomfortable, whatever, but don’t let them run away from you. Easier said than done.
We all know it’s a longshot we beat the Celtics, in part because they have 2 way, consistently threatening 3 point shooters at every position on the floor in their starting line up, and the drop off is not that deep from the 3P area or on defense from the bench.
We have two defensive challenges in Brunson, who can’t switch on to their two big forwards and have much impact, or Towns who is slow-footed and not the sharpest in thinking ahead on the defensive end.
So what do we do?
We can go small with Deuce for stretches and try to match them, but a) Deuce has been playing like crap, and b) they’re still better as shooters and defenders collectively. Deuce needs to step up this series regardless.
Or we can try to fight fire with ice, go BIG. Win the rebounding and turnover war, be at the level and switch aggressivley toward the 3 point line. Play much more of Towns+Mitch, Bridges, OG and Brunson, win the rebounding war, and run them off the line. Is Towns mobile enough to execute this strategy, without a layup drill, maybe, maybe not – but whatever we were doing in the regular season, just didn’t work
Thibs and co need to cook up something effective on the screens and switches, because when Tatum sees either Brunson or Bridges his eyes light up like a starving man, staring down a nice juicy steak.
Thanks for the kindness, Knickerblogglers. Holding thumbs that the Pistons got the team to fire up the forge again. Celtics are gonna feel like balsa wood (albeit 3pt shooting balsa wood) after that hazing. Hopefully we come into the series feeling the pump. Hopefully KAT realizes he was guarded by Tobias Harris in the last series and asks why he didn’t average 35 and 20.
One of the true role models in sports. Thanks Pop and good luck!
cojdolences clarence i do not know you but you seem like a good guy
Condolences, Clarence. You are spot on. KAT has to show he is not a fugazi superstar.
Wishing you all the best, Clarence. After reviewing pace numbers for the Celtics with and without Jrue, it became apparent that there is nothing we can do to offset the massive skill imbalance between the 2 teams. What good is dominating the glass if their above the arc shots swish through the net. KAT is the whole series. If he drives and scores, he will put the right amount of pressure on KP and Horford for fouls and contact. If he hits the deep ball – then these guys will have to run out. The rest of the Celtics will be scoring at will. I would love a lineup of Mikal, Delon and OG guarding the perimeter with a compromised KG and Horford struggling to stay relevant.
Condolences, Clarence.
Jrue is also their best defender on KAT. It’ll be interesting to see who they run at him.
And I’m sorry to hear it, Clarence, my condolences.
While Playoff Delon isn’t an impossibility like Playoff Vildoza, it would require just a cascade of injuries to happen, I expect. Thibs just isn’t the guy to move a deep reserve into the rotation at this time of year, even if said guy has shown, recently, that he has specific skills that would be useful in this scenario — and would definitely be better than the current state of Deuce McBride.
Is Jrue really out? I heard they were just holding him back bc they knew they could beat Orlando without him.
I’ve been pro-Delon for 10 years, but he’s old and liable to turn into a pumpkin at any moment, so fair enough. For the life of me though, I can’t understand why Shamet was glued to the bench while Deuce was doing his best Frank Ntilikina impression.
Some fun numbers from our season series:
BOS’ Ortg against us this season was 132.7. That’s better than the best offense this season by 11 points. That 11 point gap is about the distance between the best offense and the 25th best.
Our defense seems to supercharge BOS’ offense to an unparalleled degree. Only POR and PHX had worse Drtg against them, and those were in two game samples.
They averaged 21 made threes on .435, shooting like a full team of prime Steph Currys.
Towns averaged 2.7 3PA against them so we can probably guess how that’s gonna go.
The funniest part is that Leon allegedly built this team specifically to match up with them.
Re: Orlando, they got blown out in the second half of game 5, but prior to that half they had been outstanding on defense. Through 4 games they held Boston to a 113.8 ORtg (vs 120.6 in the reg season).
Yeah, they were physical. I don’t know if we can replicate that. There is one we definitely can replicate:
– they switched everything.
– they never sent help.
– they stayed home on every shooter.
It was really effective. It’s really easy to copy. And we’ll probably never do it bc it’s not the way Thibs likes to play.
Since Thibs got here, his stans have always said he’s all about winning. I always said no, he’s actually all about consistency. All evidence points to the fact that he would rather lose than change.
This is the ultimate test. The way you limit the Celtics is not the way Thibs likes to play. The way Thibs likes to play makes life really easy for the Celtics.
So what’s it gonna be, coach? Do you want the best chance to win, or do you want to be consistent?
Even JB Bickerstaff changed the way he likes to play to put Harris on Towns bc that’s what works. Is Thibs gonna be less adaptable than him?
We’ll see.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m with you on this because we can be 100% certain that our usual coverage will be effortlessly obliterated. But doesn’t this scenario end up with Tatum going to work against Brunson with the rim unprotected on every possession until he has 50 points on 25 shots?
Yes, that’s the exact concern with switching, we don’t have switchable players that don’t present significant mismatches. Tatum or Brown or Porzingis on Brunson is a nightmare. Tatum or Brown or any shooter on Towns is a nightmare. And unfortunately, unless he can signficantly up his D, Bridges on Tatum has been a nightmare. If Bridges can somehow tighten up his D on Tatum, btw regular season and playoffs, like he did for Cade , that would be a big help.
The main thing is to find a way to limit the # of 3P attempts and get rebounds
Yeah. And you know what? That’s a better outcome than leaving their shooters open.
The Magic lived with it. Tatum averaged 31ppg and the Celtics were shooting 25% from 3 through 4 games.They took themselves out of their offense hunting switches. They were starting their sets late like we do bc of all the movement required to get the matchup they wanted. And they ended up running too much ISO.
Okay but their weak link defensively was Cory Joseph, the 335th best defender in the league by DEPM. Brunson is 495th. Out of 535. He is actually the worst defensive player that will be playing significant minutes for any team in the playoffs by a fair bit.
They also have no other minus defenders in their starting lineup. If they had Suggs (19th in DEPM) they might have had the puncher’s chance we wish he had.
The encouraging thing is that the Magic were able to do this without Suggs. Cory Joseph and Anthony Black split time as PG. Brunson will be exposed, but living with a one-on-one mismatch is probably more efficient for the defense than helping off shooters. Boston is too disciplined for that.
Black is terrible overall, but he’s at least an outstanding defender. So that helps with switching a lot.
Yeah, but Black played 90 minutes in 5 games. The other guys who played on average the other 30 min every game at PG were not particularly strong defenders.
Besides Cory Joseph they only played Cole Anthony and Anthony Black at PG, who are 59th and 80th respectively in DEPM. They are excellent defensive PGs.
Literally every other rotation player that saw time in the playoffs besides Joseph ranged from good to excellent defensively, and Joseph is worlds better than Brunson.
I think we are finding that against high end competition, Brunson actually can’t be hidden. We would need the opposition to have a player like Josh Hart or something.
Detroit forced Brunson into the PnR constantly with whoever Brunson was defending. The Knicks usually had Brunson hedge out against Cade, letting OG go under and catch up to him. This will not work against Boston.
But against Tatum, if the Knicks run OG under the screen, Tatum will take the pull-up 3 every single time. Brunson is not tall enough to contest Tatum and taking 3s off of picks is Tatum’s bread and butter. In the admittedly small sample of the playoffs, Tatum took a pull-up 3 nearly 7x a game and shot 40%. Cade took the shot 4x a game and hit only 16%.
And Cade’s shooting had nothing to do with Brunson who several times managed a worse contest than OG despite being right next to Tatum while OG was stuck on a pick 10ft away.
I don’t know what coverage we can try that will hide Brunson, but I suggest we all pray the NBA hires some NFL refs who might actually call a holding penalty once in a while.
Can someone explain to me how Brunson is not tall enough to contest Tatum but someone like 6’6″ Jalen Williams is able to completely neutralize KAT as a 3 point shooter?
Sorry for your loss Clarence
Jalen Williams has freakishly long arms, Jalen Brunson does not
1) Switch everything
2) limit FGAs to White, Hortford and KP.
3) Force Tatum and Brown into iso situations and givee drew the JOsh Hart treatment
4) Deuce/Payne = Pritchard/Hauser – Benches have to be near even
5) Keep it close and let Brunson cook late to steal 1 of first 2
Brunson guarding Tatum sucks but it is better than no one guarding their 3 pt shooters. That’s factorial.
And you don’t have to switch *everything*. The important thing is to stay home when they get the switch they want.
Brunson is also too slow to get in position and KAT basically shoots from his waist
Williams has one of the freakiest wingspans in the entire NBA. It’s almost as big as KAT’s wingspan!
So here is my prediction for game 1:
Everyone plays sloppy, then Boston goes on a run and goes up by 12-15.
Knicks claw back slowly and get it near tied by halftime.
Boston goes on another run and goes up by double figures.
Knicks claw back slowly and get it near tied.
and so on.
The final score will be determined by where we are in this vacillating this-then-this when the game ends. Our only chance to win is if we do the claw back slowly and get it nearly tied right at the end, and then give the ball to Brunson.
If we mis-time the cycle, they win by 15….
Any way you look at this series coming you feel …small and helpless
Celtics ARE emphatically the better team and the only way to have a chance imo is by Having a Chess Revelation by the coaching staff both in game preparation but also in psychological pumping.
Imo It’s not about stealing a game. It’s about finding a way to turn this situation around either by guarding high on the 3p line or by attacking fast or by playing zone or by doing some things that would make Celtics uncomfortable.
Can it be done?
Are the players capable and willing to Do it?
That’s their chance to show what they’re made of.
Celtics are better but …not hungry.
Will it matter?
We’ve had 88 games where the defensive game plan allows 3pt shooting at volume. Could they change it up? Maybe?
I mean today Australia could vote in a guy dubbed by the media as The Temu Trump. Anything is possible sadly
Eliminating Pistons by Clutch Flex in most matches Not only was satisfying for the fans but also beneficial for the value of the players in case of trading.
The more you win especially in the playoffs the more valuable you become.
Thibs may “burns” players but also upgrades their values and *earns* capital for the franchise.
#We’ve had 88 games where the defensive game plan allows 3pt shooting at volume. Could they change it up? Maybe?#
If Not then We all start our nba vacations after 4 games!
They MUST change their 3p D strategy if they wanna have a chance.
Expecting from the Celtics to lose their open 3s in order to have a chance is like expecting Rolling Stones to play hip hop.
In the OT loss the Celtics took 49 3s but the Knicks destroyed them on the boards and in the paint. Maybe the best plan is to hope Horford gets hurt again
The Rebounds battle may be the Trojan horse of the series. You’re right. It’s crucial as it seems if you check the stats of our games vs Cs.
But if they start hitting their 3s in bunches like they did in their blowout wins we’ll witness the last days of Pompeii quite easily
Who knows if it’ll last, the guy is old, but Goldschmidt has low-key been great. Getting real production from 1B after years of Rizzo and post-decline Voit has been manna from heaven.
Luke Voit was a fun experience while it lasted.
As a long term Knick fan, I feel something of a kinship with this man….
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/health/snakes-universal-antivenom-tim-friede.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
I wish the Knicks had Stevie Adams.
Via @TommyBeer on X
Houston should probably trade Jalen Green to the Kings, Bucks or some other sucker team. He might also look good in a Wizards uniform next to Jordan Poole, but I think the current Wizard management is sharper than the previous group.
Butler gets whistles that Brunson could only dream about…
I love Steph but can’t stand Draymond and Playoff Jimmy and entitled Warriors fans.
Hope the Rockets can win it in 7 games.
If the Rockets traded Jalen Green for a productive player, I’d include them in my pre season bets to win the title next year. IMO the Rockets are one trade away from being VERY good. Of course Green could improve, but I’d trade him.
Depends on who they get, but they’ll have spacing issues as long as they start Thompson. I’m also not sure I want to bet on FVV moving forward.
Udoka is a better coach than Thibs. Same school of thought, but Udoka is better at it.
I don’t think many people would disagree. Udoka is a really good coach.
I don’t think you’re getting anything good for Green.
But yes, I gave up on him a while ago.
I really don’t think the Warriors can beat Houston in Houston in Game 7.
It looks that way with the age issues and tiredness of the Warriors, but anything is possible