Hartenstein ties a Knick playoff record with 12 off rebs. 53-29 rebound advantage means we got to attempt 29 more shots than the Pacers. That is the key to beating Indiana playing fast.
Amazing how much easier it is to play basketball with spacing. McBride and Burks hitting 3's opened everything up. It did not matter that Donte had a bad shooting night because no team will ignore him outside. Since you can no longer ignore 2 players on the outside. That creates driving lanes. more opportunities to breakdown the defense and less opposing bodies in the paint that makes rebounding easier. Precious is also put in a better spot to contribute as a backup 5.
Thibs has grown a lot as a coach making adjustments. That is why even thought I stated starting Precious at the 4 was a dumb move I did not turn on Thibs in general. Thibs noticed the problem and solved it like a great coach should. He gets nothing but respect from me.
Its not a simple change - playing that small against a team with length and winning the boards isn't a no brainer. I think the thought was you put in Achiuwa who is good against Siakam, everyone stays in their slot and you try to dominate the boards and offset the lack of shooting. But we didnt win the boards with that lineup and we did tonight with the smaller group. Just goes to show rebounding is about effort not size.
I want to say I applaud Hartenstein and also Donte for bringing a physical element to the game and intimidate thr Pacers. Pacers were shook, especially during that run after the Turner 3's. That was an incredible answer by the Knicks.
SergioNYK wrote:Never ever doubt the resiliency and fight of this team and this HC! A lot of teams would have packed it in after the last game but that's not in these guys DNA! Brunson was just incredible!! Can we please stop this Nesmith can guard him bs? Not even God himself can guard Brunson!
Masterful game plan and adjustments by Thibs! Hartenstein was a monster on the glass! Deuce and Burks played so well at both ends!
Job is not finished! Got to rest up and get ready for the funeral on Friday!
Agree 100%
There are members of this forum who packet it in. This team does not quit — cut the eye, cut the eye!
VDesai wrote:Its not a simple change - playing that small against a team with length and winning the boards isn't a no brainer. I think the thought was you put in Achiuwa who is good against Siakam, everyone stays in their slot and you try to dominate the boards and offset the lack of shooting. But we didnt win the boards with that lineup and we did tonight with the smaller group. Just goes to show rebounding is about effort not size.I want to say I applaud Hartenstein and also Donte for bringing a physical element to the game and intimidate thr Pacers. Pacers were shook, especially during that run after the Turner 3's. That was an incredible answer by the Knicks.
I totally agree with you saying it's not normally a no brainer. The thing that made it one for me is that Brunson ability to drive to the hoop is our only effective way to breakdown the defense. What he does after driving does not matter. Everthing comes from the initial breakdown of the D. It is why we are trash when he sits. We have no one else who can create their own shot or breakdown the defense.
So you have to ask youself is starting 2 or 3 player that teams can sag off of smart? each payer that you can sag off of makes Brunsons ability to breakdown the defense much harder. Since everything we do comes from that you gets a bad loss like the last game.
There are more than one ways to get to the same goal. If you want to out rebound the oppostion you could simply play bigger guys. However, you have to assess the opporunity cost of doing that. If your big guys can't shoot you are then killing the most important thing we have and that is Brunsons breaking down the D. So to get the same goal of out rebounding the opposition you can just spread out the defense more and give your good rebounding bigs less bodies to fight against for rebounds. The opporunity cost for the playing small is having Pascual go off because he is too big for Hart. I rather take my chances of that happening than killing space for Brunson.
VDesai wrote:Its not a simple change - playing that small against a team with length and winning the boards isn't a no brainer. I think the thought was you put in Achiuwa who is good against Siakam, everyone stays in their slot and you try to dominate the boards and offset the lack of shooting. But we didnt win the boards with that lineup and we did tonight with the smaller group. Just goes to show rebounding is about effort not size.I want to say I applaud Hartenstein and also Donte for bringing a physical element to the game and intimidate thr Pacers. Pacers were shook, especially during that run after the Turner 3's. That was an incredible answer by the Knicks.
Celtics, especially old Celtics, used to say its a team stat. In the old days they would identify the rebounding mismatch and everyone else’s job was to box out.
On a differerent note, SVG made an interesting point last night. He said the Pacers offense was predicated on an 8 seconds or less approach of getting shots off quickly and Knicks had totally disrupted that. I think he was right about that. They had no flow once you slowed them a bit
Brunson being back to normal, and getting production from Miles who has been silent, and Burks continuing to provide a spark is why we won.
And of course, Ihart... best game i've ever seen him play. Turner hit those 3's on him but other than that Ihart was just dominate.
And Burks... I mean he's come out of nowhere. Thought he was washed but he can still score and he's been a huge blessing.
nycericanguy wrote:Brunson being back to normal, and getting production from Miles who has been silent, and Burks continuing to provide a spark is why we won.And of course, Ihart... best game i've ever seen him play. Turner hit those 3's on him but other than that Ihart was just dominate.
And Burks... I mean he's come out of nowhere. Thought he was washed but he can still score and he's been a huge blessing.
You think Precious is making that shot? Now they have to actually account for defending McBride outside. This was a bad defensive play but if it ended with Precious in the same position Mcbride was in it would be considered a good defensive play. Spacing matters.
so the Pacers had a 7 point lead at 16 9 in the first quarter - at about the 7 minute mark. After that, the Knicks outscored the pacers 112 to 75.
Yall have no idea how good this makes me feel. My fav Knicks of all time is H20 and spree wad a menace. I love Ewing, Starks, LJ, Marbury and Melo.
Divo going 0-6 from 3 and we still dominate, makes me hopeful he bounces back with a big G6.
Jhart also "only" playing 39 min, and just 24 the game before, and now two more days off... he should be fresh.
I said before the game, the one thing that has hurt us most outside of injuries was Miles disappearing, he showed up big time last night and it makes such a huge difference when he's hitting shots and can play 40minutes.
whether he starts or not i trust the coaching staff with that, but we need 24mpg from Precious and he gave us those solid minutes.
Look at all the space in the middle that allows for continuous drives and cuts. Even when the defense helps they get back to their man instead of just clogging the paint. Spacing Matters.
hard to overstate just how good Burks has been, 17ppg in just 23mpg on 53/50 shooting. he has changed this series at a time when things were looking real dire.
Now we're at least back to having 7 solid guys and if we can escape this series and get OG back we might actually have a shot.
nycericanguy wrote:hard to overstate just how good Burks has been, 17ppg in just 23mpg on 53/50 shooting. he has changed this series at a time when things were looking real dire.Now we're at least back to having 7 solid guys and if we can escape this series and get OG back we might actually have a shot.
Plus he can handle the ball and has size at guard for defense and rebounding
I also like he stuck his nose in there when Jackson threw that screen with his shoulder. Was not a common foul. He was trying to level the guy
Did anyone else catch that comment last night i think from SVG. He was relaying that when Carlisle was asked about the Knicks supposedly he had some pause for reflection and then said something like they’re a bunch of Navy Seals in Knicks uniforms
Love it!
Perk was was a believer before any other media member. Glad Tracy hooked him up.
nycericanguy wrote:Brunson being back to normal, and getting production from Miles who has been silent, and Burks continuing to provide a spark is why we won.And of course, Ihart... best game i've ever seen him play. Turner hit those 3's on him but other than that Ihart was just dominate.
And Burks... I mean he's come out of nowhere. Thought he was washed but he can still score and he's been a huge blessing.
There was a play in the second when Burks drove, faked a pass, and dropped a floater. It was a really slick move that got the bench off their feet. On the next trip down Brunson sank a three which blew the top off the Garden. I highlight that play because I think it's been tough on Burks coming back. There was a lot of love for Burks when he was here but it kind of has been lost with the arrival of the Nova Knicks. His old running mate Randle being hurt hasn't helped either. Nor has his lackluster play. BUT if Burks can consistently perform like the assassin he is, the Knicks are a much better team. Burks is the only guy on the roster besides Brunson who can break down the D in the half court and if he can do that regularly as well as providing off the ball spacing, the Knicks are much harder to beat.
Chandler wrote:Did anyone else catch that comment last night i think from SVG. He was relaying that when Carlisle was asked about the Knicks supposedly he had some pause for reflection and then said something like they’re a bunch of Navy Seals in Knicks uniformsLove it!
Stan did come around. Credit where credit due. The Navy Seal comment was cool.
As for Foster, we seemingly lost anything to do with Video but that was the NBA center and video. Most of the calls objectively were correct. Brunson does get bumped a lot but he is also banging into the defender so it looks very physical. It is. He gets a lot of them and he had nesmith in foul trouble.
Indy was down only seven in the 3rd. Knicks then blew them out.
DDV blocks, physical play, and put back dunks were awesome. True "Starks like" game! He was cold from the outside.
Lets Discuss the Becky Hammon comment. Was that a few weeks ago? Two months ago? Jalen is proving her wrong with his play. I'd even say he has taken his game and rep to another level this playoffs. She did say "With few exceptions". Brunson is showing he might be one of them. Lets be real, this kid came in the league with little fanfare and while he did good in Dallas and opened a window of potential, there was little to to say "This kid will be top 5 MVP and 1st or second All NBA". Perhaps in a bing bong haze someone did say it?
Im not defending her as I could care less, but this notion of "Us vs the world" is a bit dramatic.
Knicks and Thibs are defying logic. As said last night only Brunson was a starter on this team at the beginning of the season. Grimes, Mitch, Randle and RJ with Jalen. As great as OG has been that we can still do what we did last night without him is quite an accomplishment!
Indy has not lost at home for some time. Logic says this goes 7. Logic left the building along time ago.
Indy does not have the mental fortitude the knicks have. They do have talent.
Glad the game is Friday, I have tickets to a show tomorrow night.
Clean wrote:
Perk was was a believer before any other media member. Glad Tracy hooked him up.
Perk was on it early! Perk needs to lose some weight.
