Hukporti over Sims is a big deal too. Huk is an impact player. That’s gonna help us all year.
If we lost to a middling team I’d be more concerned but Cleveland is a 55 win team probably and we controlled the game by double digits before Brunson went down and we got flustered and coughed it up.
DLeethal wrote:The lack of 3s tells me we’re not that comfortable yet. Everyone trying to get closer to the basket or over facilitate instead of letting it fly. A lack of confidence as a unit IMO.
Missing Devo and Shamet who would've taken Devo's place. We are getting manhandled in the paint as well.
Not sure Huk replaces Sims. Maybe. something pissed Thibs off and he yanked him.
Huk pLayed 10 min, was 0-4 with 2 Rebs and one BLK for +1. Nice look. Sims played 4 min with 1 off REB and -6.
There was a sequence were Huk Boxed out and Hart got a def Reb. Josh eats them up but when team boxes others succeed also.
Was a nice sequence. Maybe Sims missed an assignment? Mobley and Allen are really big up front and we had problems.
Kat had a nice 1st half and got 10 boards but then Cavs shut him down. I like he did not overly force things and the two offensive fouls he had were good calls and he was being aggressive.
Credit Cavs, Garland destroyed us. Something he usually does not do. Mitchell had a "quiet" 25 pts.
Be nice to have a Bojan or Matt Ryan off the bench and hit some 3's. Be nice to have Precious back and help KAT in spots.
Josh was missed down the stretch. Few teams will be able to have their 2 guard on him. He creates issues for opponents. He is a one man wrecking crew but can he hold up with starter minutes and not destroy himeself?
Johnny Bryant gets to coach Donovan Mitchell and Garland. Looks like he is doing a good job! With Lavert they have a nice trio of guards there.
Brunson had issues with Clevlands size and our long ball is not there yet.
It was a close game. Knicks are still finding there way. Might take a while.
Nalod wrote:
Not sure Huk replaces Sims. Maybe. something pissed Thibs off and he yanked him.
Huk pLayed 10 min, was 0-4 with 2 Rebs and one BLK for +1. Nice look. Sims played 4 min with 1 off REB and -6.
There was a sequence were Huk Boxed out and Hart got a def Reb. Josh eats them up but when team boxes others succeed also.
Was a nice sequence. Maybe Sims missed an assignment? Mobley and Allen are really big up front and we had problems.
Kat had a nice 1st half and got 10 boards but then Cavs shut him down. I like he did not overly force things and the two offensive fouls he had were good calls and he was being aggressive. Credit Cavs, Garland destroyed us. Something he usually does not do. Mitchell had a "quiet" 25 pts.
Be nice to have a Bojan or Matt Ryan off the bench and hit some 3's. Be nice to have Precious back and help KAT in spots.
Josh was missed down the stretch. Few teams will be able to have their 2 guard on him. He creates issues for opponents. He is a one man wrecking crew but can he hold up with starter minutes and not destroy himeself?
Johnny Bryant gets to coach Donovan Mitchell and Garland. Looks like he is doing a good job! With Lavert they have a nice trio of guards there.
Brunson had issues with Clevlands size and our long ball is not there yet.
It was a close game. Knicks are still finding there way. Might take a while.
Huk provided much needed rim protection and toughness that we simply don’t have on this team anymore without Mitch or iHart.
JesseDark wrote:DLeethal wrote:The lack of 3s tells me we’re not that comfortable yet. Everyone trying to get closer to the basket or over facilitate instead of letting it fly. A lack of confidence as a unit IMO.
Missing Devo and Shamet who would've taken Devo's place. We are getting manhandled in the paint as well.
Yea, at the end of the day we win regardless with a “good” Brunson game or probably with a “good” KAT game as well.
DLeethal wrote:Nalod wrote:
Not sure Huk replaces Sims. Maybe. something pissed Thibs off and he yanked him.
Huk pLayed 10 min, was 0-4 with 2 Rebs and one BLK for +1. Nice look. Sims played 4 min with 1 off REB and -6.
There was a sequence were Huk Boxed out and Hart got a def Reb. Josh eats them up but when team boxes others succeed also.
Was a nice sequence. Maybe Sims missed an assignment? Mobley and Allen are really big up front and we had problems.
Kat had a nice 1st half and got 10 boards but then Cavs shut him down. I like he did not overly force things and the two offensive fouls he had were good calls and he was being aggressive. Credit Cavs, Garland destroyed us. Something he usually does not do. Mitchell had a "quiet" 25 pts.
Be nice to have a Bojan or Matt Ryan off the bench and hit some 3's. Be nice to have Precious back and help KAT in spots.
Josh was missed down the stretch. Few teams will be able to have their 2 guard on him. He creates issues for opponents. He is a one man wrecking crew but can he hold up with starter minutes and not destroy himeself?
Johnny Bryant gets to coach Donovan Mitchell and Garland. Looks like he is doing a good job! With Lavert they have a nice trio of guards there.
Brunson had issues with Clevlands size and our long ball is not there yet.
It was a close game. Knicks are still finding there way. Might take a while.
Huk provided much needed rim protection and toughness that we simply don’t have on this team anymore without Mitch or iHart.
Yeah Precious too. And Randle was a TOUGH rebounder. All those guys are missing.
Regrading the 3 point shooting discrepancies:
With iHart, he was the hub of an offense that spread out around him and moved and cut. Knicks still figuring out how they want to play Towns, he seems to like to post more instead of wanting to be a hub guy at top of key area.
It's gonna take at least 3 months to figure that our. It took iHart and the Knicks 1.5 years to get to that point of comfort level.
Just remember: When the Heatles first got together in 2010, it took them like 20 games to figure things out.
And this was with 3 HOF players and a HOF coach in the making.
And while not missing important rotation players.
BigDaddyG wrote:knickslions wrote:It’s early in season but this team is soft compared to last year.
Yeah and it's going to take some time for this team to mesh. Cleveland is a bad matchup without Mitch.
I felt this after the Celts loss.
Is it unfair to think Kat is soft? He totally reminds me of Melo. Like, he is a totally nice guy, but, sometimes in competitive sports you need some that has a much more aggressive angle on life, like Sprewell!
Josh Hart is definitely the most aggressive personality we have.
And Julius - for all his faults- was an aggressive personality. I mean, giving the finger to millions of fans is pretty Type A.
We have to find a way to replace the TYPE A energy that both Randle and Dante brought to this squad.
Kat is too soft to be that guy. Bridges strikes me as a really nice guy, but not that type A outspoke personality that can bring what Randle and Dante both brought.
I do like what Hukporti brings - he has that energy to his game. Maybe Thibs swaps out Hukporti and Bridges to better balance the game flow.
martin wrote:Regrading the 3 point shooting discrepancies:With iHart, he was the hub of an offense that spread out around him and moved and cut. Knicks still figuring out how they want to play Towns, he seems to like to post more instead of wanting to be a hub guy at top of key area.
It's gonna take at least 3 months to figure that our. It took iHart and the Knicks 1.5 years to get to that point of comfort level.
KAT spent a lot of time on the perimeter in Minny. I remember a lot of his passes going from the perimeter to the paint. Now he's spending more time in the paint. He might not be used to playing a Draymond Green kind of role in this offense.
I'm more comcerned with Brunson looking to get KAT going, getting him the ball in crunch time, instead of calling his own number as much as he has.
I agree its going to take time for KAT to figure out his role, in the offense l. For JB and KAT to become an effective tandem.
Taking away that dunk from the Incredible Huk was a crime. Was a killer momentum swing for us too.
These Knicks will figure it out. Everyone is still getting comfortable with their roles. We were a team with so much continuity/identity at the end of last year, now its a totally different squad. Takes some getting used to.
Tough early season loss. I thought was played hard but not well enough to win. Give Cleveland credit.
Game was lost in that 3rd and early 4th. Just couldn't buy a basket and turned the ball over too much and poor transition defense. And Garland was phenomenal so give him kudos. Brunson had an off game and missed some shots he makes in his sleep and turned the ball over and didn't get KAT enough shots. That's on Thibs and Brunson but KAT himself needs to be more aggressive. Too much coasting out there and seemed content just standing there and playing like a role player. He's here to be a 20/10 star. 8 shots in 32 minutes is not acceptable!
On the bright side Bridges continues to look good and that jumper looks fine. Hart was on his way to possibly having a 20 rebound game before he got hurt. Fingers crossed he's fine cause we got nobody even close to replace what he brings to this team. Deuce with another nice game off the bench. And Hukporti did alright. Shame that monster dunk was called an offensive foul.
This was an early season learning game. Cavs core have been together for years so they are more familiar with each other and their system so I wouldn't worry too much about this loss. Expect to be .500 the first month or so anyway while we jell as a team and everyone finds their roles.
A talented team (Cavs) beat a group of talented individuals (Knicks). Cavs are much improved defensively than the last time we saw them. They look like a top 3 team in the east this year.
As some said, it will take time for this Knicks team to gel and learn how to read and react off each other. Offensively, we were heavy on the iso and mis-match hunting and light on running actual sets to get guys looks. Would like to see Kat a bit more in the high-post, similar to iHart, and run some split screens and back door cuts. This will also give Kat an opportunity to face up, shoot or put the ball on the floor. Not fan of him putting the ball on the deck from the 3 point and driving to the hoop...Feels like an offensive foul waiting to happen. facing up from the key, Kat would only need one, maybe two dribbles at most to get to the hoop.
We fought hard for every look on the offensive end. We got nothing easy, except for open Hart 3's which the Cavs were willing to give up to help off him. A pure playmaker can unlock Kat on PNR's and generate some much needed easy looks for others. The passer/playmaker on this team is a Kolek but, I doubt Thibs will give him any meaningful minutes.
VDesai wrote:Taking away that dunk from the Incredible Huk was a crime. Was a killer momentum swing for us too.These Knicks will figure it out. Everyone is still getting comfortable with their roles. We were a team with so much continuity/identity at the end of last year, now its a totally different squad. Takes some getting used to.
This is it. Knicks are a completely different identity than last year. Knicks have been pointing and heading in this direction for a bit but they finally just arrived at 5-out with wing spacer/defender guys surrounding Brunson.
They are no longer always downhill with spread in a smash mouth kind of way. The smash mouth is a bit more surgical in Mikal, OG, Deuce, Josh, Mitch than the previous version of iHart, Mitch, Randle, OG, Hart.
martin wrote:Just remember: When the Heatles first got together in 2010, it took them like 20 games to figure things out.And this was with 3 HOF players and a HOF coach in the making.
And while not missing important rotation players.
Took Luka and Kyrie awhile too. Knicks are ahead of where I expected them to be in terms of the chemistry department AND the defense looks like it has a chance to still be really good, which I'm pleasantly surprised a little bit about. I see glimpses of last years team in terms of defense/grit/hustle when we are getting after it on defense.
In general I think the Knicks have shown enough flashes of what they can be to keep me positive and not really sweating Ws and Ls right now. Sort of criminal the schedule they have to start out with as a brand new team put together a month ago.
It's almost like watching a rookie, you just look for flashes in the early days. We are seeing them IMO.
Sometimes it feels like Brunson is not used to all the space he has inside TBH. It's almost throwing him off his comfort zone NOT having a big man to try and score around. Just seems like he's missing bunnies more than usual especially starting the games off.
Once Mitch comes back then we we will be alright vs the Cavs
This was the perfect opportunity to hit the trailer for a 3....Guessing/hoping this will be second nature as the guys get more comfortable playing together.
I forgot we do have another playmaker. Kolek is the guy that can takeover the playmaking when Brunson sits. He has to get reps to learn the NBA so he is ready when we need him.
