So basically if one goes to the tape of where JB is succeeding in this coverage one then sees the cause and effect.
No doubt defense takes away and then gives. Its up to Knicks/JB/Thibs to execute upon that window. If they are pressing him does he try to dribble thru it, or pass it up. If so, who is assigned to cover the pass? This expends energy to the defense. If JB is tempted into dribbling it up in this coverage he too will expend energy. JB did look a bit tired at times with shots short on the rim.
Fatigue? It all comes together in the end. Philly melted down at games end. both physically and mentally. Knicks are younger, fresher, deeper. They had the play in game and were not as fresh. Philly if healthy have the beast player on the court in Embiid and lets just say Maxey is not that far behind JB at best. In this series he has been better. Why knicks then up 2-0? Depth.
Im not expecting a sweep here. I do buy into the notion that they would have rested Embiid if they got a split. I expect we split in Philly. Not my hope and not a prediction. Things happen. Virus happens, stomach upset happens. Luck happens.
Thibs like any good coach is not happy with the last game. He will applaud his teams effort and never giving up. He will give them confidence about that but also work on the fact they were down 6 pts with time nearly done and that is why they needed the hand of god to bail them out. He and the staff has had work to do. Knicks coaching staff out works other teams. They will be prepared as is their reputation. Will knicks execute the game plan? Well, thats why the games are played!!!!!
One of the adjustments I see Thibs making is having someone else bring up the ball after made baskets. They did this in the regular season when teams were pressing Jalen 94 feet. Then run him off screens.
IMHO the original questions show the value of Julius Randle. When Randle was playing most of these complaints were said about him. It shows we need a 1 and 1A star. Also, teams are scheming for Jalen making it more difficult.
JesseDark wrote:IMHO the original questions show the value of Julius Randle. When Randle was playing most of these complaints were said about him. It shows we need a 1 and 1A star. Also, teams are scheming for Jalen making it more difficult.
I don't believe anyone ever questioned if Brunson would need a co star to eliminate a team keying everything on him. The question was more so if Randle and his play style was that guy. But prior to injury the Brunson/Randle 2 man game was killing teams.
Brunson getting IHart those floaters started to work its magic late in the game. We should look to exploit that a lot more. Will force Embiid to have to make a decision and or work a lot more rotating from Brunson to IHart to challenge.
HofstraBBall wrote:blkexec wrote:If that’s the case, we need to start deuce and JB. Let oubre guard deuce and JB cook off the ball.Different thought but another way to help JB and play OG at center. Gotta pull him away from the paint. OG sitting in the corner as a center will open the offense. Deuce at the Point. The DDV, Josh and Bodega rotate at the forward positions.
Why would a coach do something so drastic when they have won both games?
JB is and will be the target of the defense. They will continue shadowing him with several players the remainder of the series. Sixers have made the decision that other players will have to beat them.
JB just needs to make the right basketball play and others have to step up.
That is the only thing that will make things easier for JB.
Good news is several guys have stepped up thus far.
Yea basketball is weird. JB could get hot and drop 40 next game but we lose. Right now this formula is working. JB take on a wing defender while they are starting two point guards. That means they are putting a point guard on a wing (Lowry on Hart). They are shading and helping heavily on Brunson's side. It's leaving others wide open. The "others" are coming through and our team centric approach is out-dealing Philly's 2 man show. I don't think we should change anything, we should keep working this formula.
We needed some heroics to win last game but we also had an 8 point lead deep into the 4th quarter. Our formula is working. No need to change things to get one guy going when our team is winning.
I have faith that Hart will continue to get us 20 if they keep leaving him open to let Lowry roam. Let them do that until Hart stops coming through. He's a gamer and he's punishing them for it. Scoring distribution will always win out. I'd rather be on the side with multiple guys dropping 15-20 then having Brunson go for 40 and everyone else standing around.
newyorknewyork wrote:JesseDark wrote:IMHO the original questions show the value of Julius Randle. When Randle was playing most of these complaints were said about him. It shows we need a 1 and 1A star. Also, teams are scheming for Jalen making it more difficult.
I don't believe anyone ever questioned if Brunson would need a co star to eliminate a team keying everything on him. The question was more so if Randle and his play style was that guy. But prior to injury the Brunson/Randle 2 man game was killing teams.
Brunson getting IHart those floaters started to work its magic late in the game. We should look to exploit that a lot more. Will force Embiid to have to make a decision and or work a lot more rotating from Brunson to IHart to challenge.
Definitely agree about those Ihart floaters, we were making them pay for cutting off Brunson at the baseline. Philly's problem is that Embiid just can't pursue rebounds due to his knee. I think they are gonna try and remedy that by playing both Joel and his backup at the sametime once it gets down to that single possesion.
A heavy dose of PnR with IHart and/or Big Mitch will go along way for us. Get Embiid moving early and often is what the doctor is ordering
Also....have our centers sprint on evey transition would be huge
I agree, a potential recipe for improvement is to let Hart bring the ball up, then work with the rest to get JB the ball. He avoids the full-court press and unnecessary energy exerted. That might be a factor in his lack of burst or creative footwork in the offensive zone. He was splitting traps with iHart at the foul line, then kick-outs to open players or give and go back to JB. Length is a problem, but this strategy should work more times than not. I hope to see a bounce-back game tonight, regardless of the results. This will be the toughest game of the series to win, especially with the BS 2 min report that was wrongly one-sided. I'm sorry, but the jersey tug and Josh hitting the ball into Maxey's chest which made him lose his balance were the incidental plays, not the hard two-handed shove on Hart for Maxey to get open space. Such a joke that is what the review came up, truly pathetic.
BigDaddyG wrote:blkexec wrote:If that’s the case, we need to start deuce and JB. Let oubre guard deuce and JB cook off the ball.Different thought but another way to help JB and play OG at center. Gotta pull him away from the paint. OG sitting in the corner as a center will open the offense. Deuce at the Point. The DDV, Josh and Bodega rotate at the forward positions.
I don't think that changes the matchup. Oubre would still stay on JB. I like the idea of OG as a small ball center, but I'm not sure that's something Thibs would do this late on the game. We do have a large rotisserie chicken sitting in front of us with Harris tho. I think they can do a better job of attacking him and creating cross matchups.
OG is the key. I never liked him on maxey. Thought that was a waste of his skill set, especially since Embiid was killing our centers. We needed somebody more agile but strong and smart. OG is the perfect size for these types of matchups. He can play bigger than his size. He’s a secret weapon that Thibs finally went to. Love OG and Love Thibs for his adjustments.
OG on Maxy is part of the aggregate that is a 3-1 lead.
We saw both teams utterly exhausted yesterday. But one was lessor the the other.
Knicks have thrown OG, DDV and Deuce at Maxey.
Its working. Maxey yesterday day wore out. Same for Embiid.
I know what the stat sheets say but end of game and a win is all that matters. We up 3-1!
We are winning with Jalen having not so great games, and with him doing so.
We need Bojan back. And we need Mitch in decent shape if we are to get to ECF's.
Shame we don't have Randle. I think we'd give Boston a hell of a time! Still might.
If we get Indy could be real fun to see OG and Siakim go at it!
McBride out there alongside Brunson alleviates some ballhandling duties. McBride has been pretty steady at running the offense and I'm impressed with how he has gotten into the paint and scored there. Gives Brunson a slight breather / opens him up to attack a bit more as a scorer.
BTW I never get over how smart this player is. Brunson's ability to adjust and continuously get better is a wonder. Aside from pushing up his scoring average over 30 the last month + he also has his assists at around 9.
Look at the amount of double digit assist games recently vs. the first few months of the year.
https://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3934672/jalen-brunson
What an in series adjustment. But you knew he wasn't gonna be down for long.
Jalen Brunson.... Best FA signing in Knicks history!
OG on maxey is a waste of his energy. And it takes him away from helping the team. Maxey will get his regardless. Embiid is the one we need to focus on. If we front him and make him work all game, then he’s done in the 4th.
We have players that can guard maxey. We have (had) zero defense for Embiid until last night. That defensive squad and team defense on Embiid was huge. But Precious said it in his interview. That’s the chemistry he has with OG and that’s his defensive experience. So I hate that iHart was in foul trouble. I hate that Mitch was injured. But I believe if iHart and Mitch was on the court, we lose this game.
Against Philly we need that defensive squad to play heavy minutes.
Deuce on maxey
OG on Embiid
Precious on Oubre (ready to rotate and cover anybody)
Josh (a defensive rebounding dog)
With only 7 players available, that gave these 4 guys more on court time which was huge. Add in JB as the offensive weapon and you gotta love this team.
Our versatility and deep roster is our strength. Thanks to Leon Rose for not trading for D.Mitch
HofstraBBall wrote:Jalen Brunson.... Best FA signing in Knicks history!
Facts.
What about trading for OG? That has to be up there. What a risky trade that turned out great. 2 promising young home grown players for an older injury prone player looking for a new contract. Without Leon’s son being his agent, I doubt we make that trade which turns out to be key for the playoffs.
blkexec wrote:OG on maxey is a waste of his energy. And it takes him away from helping the team. Maxey will get his regardless. Embiid is the one we need to focus on. If we front him and make him work all game, then he’s done in the 4th.We have players that can guard maxey. We have (had) zero defense for Embiid until last night. That defensive squad and team defense on Embiid was huge. But Precious said it in his interview. That’s the chemistry he has with OG and that’s his defensive experience. So I hate that iHart was in foul trouble. I hate that Mitch was injured. But I believe if iHart and Mitch was on the court, we lose this game.
Against Philly we need that defensive squad to play heavy minutes.
Deuce on maxey
OG on Embiid
Precious on Oubre (ready to rotate and cover anybody)
Josh (a defensive rebounding dog)
With only 7 players available, that gave these 4 guys more on court time which was huge. Add in JB as the offensive weapon and you gotta love this team.
Our versatility and deep roster is our strength. Thanks to Leon Rose for not trading for D.Mitch
I think we'd all lose our shit if Thibs started Deuce on Maxey over DDV, make it so Thibs!!!!
Mitch and Randle are out.
Other than Deuce, everyone who played Sunday are players that have been acquired in the last two seasons.
This was pointed out on Windy's hoop collective yesterday and they are gushing about knicks!!!!
They clearly stated that thus team reflects the coaches personality and specifications.
And, we got a treasure trove of picks to get a "star".......
I don't know how we pay for that either by what goes out the door or salary/cap implications. Leon and Co. does!!!
For now, Im just enjoying the games. MY goodness, its May and we still have Knick Basketball!
47 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 block, and only 1 turnover, then add a big win on the road, make this a resounding NO to all three questions.
blkexec wrote:OG on maxey is a waste of his energy. And it takes him away from helping the team. Maxey will get his regardless. Embiid is the one we need to focus on. If we front him and make him work all game, then he’s done in the 4th.We have players that can guard maxey. We have (had) zero defense for Embiid until last night. That defensive squad and team defense on Embiid was huge. But Precious said it in his interview. That’s the chemistry he has with OG and that’s his defensive experience. So I hate that iHart was in foul trouble. I hate that Mitch was injured. But I believe if iHart and Mitch was on the court, we lose this game.
Against Philly we need that defensive squad to play heavy minutes.
Deuce on maxey
OG on Embiid
Precious on Oubre (ready to rotate and cover anybody)
Josh (a defensive rebounding dog)
With only 7 players available, that gave these 4 guys more on court time which was huge. Add in JB as the offensive weapon and you gotta love this team.
Our versatility and deep roster is our strength. Thanks to Leon Rose for not trading for D.Mitch
COME ON THIBS
THIS WAS AN EASY ADJUSTMENT YOU DIDNT MAKE IN CRUNCH TIME.
I’m highlighting this comment for game 4 and it’s the same in game 5. Where’s Precious? Where’s the end of the game defensive adjustments?
Also all the little dumb plays, TOs, mis free throws. These guys needs to learn how to finish games.
JB also went back to those multiple counter moves instead of his first move.
And only 7 players is tired legs and tired mentally.
