Knicks · Friday Night Redemption - OKC visits the Big City- 7:30 MSG (page 6)

LivingLegend @ 1/10/2025 11:47 PM
We can't win with Brunson playing like crap and absolutely ignoring EVERYONE in trying to find his way to the rim.

It's like he is chopping his way thru the jungle knocking bodies over trying to get to his 5 foot left hander in the lane.

On the other end of the court he is INVISIBLE.

Obviously EVERYONE sucked tonight but why are we starting games off with Jalen trying to get his points in the 1st quarter?

Knicksfan @ 1/10/2025 11:50 PM
WP76 wrote:We've not recovered from last Friday night's loss in OKC. We don't even remotely resemble the team that had a nine game winning streak going into that game, losing our last four out of five in butt ugly fashion.

It’s our opponents. They determine our season. When they are good, we show our true colors.

LivingLegend @ 1/10/2025 11:51 PM
Another night where JAG goes off on us like MJ.

I-Joe looked like Curry in 1st half and to make it worse we often had no idea where he was or we were simple unable to stay with just another guy in the league.

Team is more so SOFT vs exhausted - no physical presence defensively. If Josh gets physical defensively it's either a foul or a blow-by.
Everyone else outside OG is soft.

We keep running Mikal over screens and dropping Kat while Shae/JWill hit 15 footers wide open inside the lane.

Knicksfan @ 1/10/2025 11:52 PM
GustavBahler wrote:
Panos wrote:So we didn't want to trade 5 picks for Donovan Mitchel. SmH

Still glad we passed on DM, dont believe he would have been a good fit with JB. But 5 first rounders for Bridges, after the same being seen as too much for Mitchell. That might not age well.

These droughts wont be looked back on as a big deal if Bridges is playing his part in a playoff run. Its frustrating to see Mikal struggle like this, but its the postseason where Bridges has to prove his worth to the team.

Don’t hold your breath.

Knicksfan @ 1/11/2025 12:01 AM
LivingLegend wrote:Another night where JAG goes off on us like MJ.

I-Joe looked like Curry in 1st half and to make it worse we often had no idea where he was or we were simple unable to stay with just another guy in the league.

Team is more so SOFT vs exhausted - no physical presence defensively. If Josh gets physical defensively it's either a foul or a blow-by.
Everyone else outside OG is soft.

We keep running Mikal over screens and dropping Kat while Shae/JWill hit 15 footers wide open inside the lane.

Yep. While the narrative right now is that with heavy minutes and no bench we are being run to the ground, the truth is that even at our so-called best, we are still an inconsistent and unfocused team whose 3pt shooting sometimes shuts down and whose defense hasn’t been there other than in short bursts.

This team is a mess and I don’t think it’s changing anytime soon. We have enough to beat bad teams most of the time, but we have proved to be well bellow the elite tier. Today was embarrassing, yes, but just aren’t on that level.

LivingLegend @ 1/11/2025 12:01 AM
Josh Hart making comments about guys having to stick together and put egos and agendas away.

If I had to guess - my guess would be that the 1 guy who is struggling the most to tweak his game is the Captain Jalen Brunson.

Some nights he bends and we flow smoothly while most nights he is looking for his and despite the gaudy #s we bog/slow down.

Wonder how tough it is for Jalen understanding he turned down that whopping extension.

BigRedDog @ 1/11/2025 1:13 AM
GustavBahler wrote:There will be a trade...oh yes there will be a trade.

I don't think so. Unless Sims maybe

BigRedDog @ 1/11/2025 1:15 AM
Panos wrote:So we didn't want to trade 5 picks for Donovan Mitchel. SmH

If we had gotten Mitchell then we could not have gotten the players after him. Probably not Brunson or definitely not Towns

ToddTT @ 1/11/2025 3:53 AM
Clean wrote:
This is why I always look at strength of schedule. I always feel like a downer when I point it out while everyone is celebrating and happy but I will never stop. Stats and records need context. That 9 game win streak looked amazing but the second you look at who we played it was obviously fugazi. Those stats that said our defense improved so much was also fugazi. Everything must be looked at with context. Another sign of how good we are is how do we beat the mid or injured teams. We had too many close calls and a real elite team would have never had that many.

Wait… we have less of a chance of beating good teams?

Clean @ 1/11/2025 4:47 AM
ToddTT wrote:
Clean wrote:
This is why I always look at strength of schedule. I always feel like a downer when I point it out while everyone is celebrating and happy but I will never stop. Stats and records need context. That 9 game win streak looked amazing but the second you look at who we played it was obviously fugazi. Those stats that said our defense improved so much was also fugazi. Everything must be looked at with context. Another sign of how good we are is how do we beat the mid or injured teams. We had too many close calls and a real elite team would have never had that many.

Wait… we have less of a chance of beating good teams?

Is that really what you got from everything I said? I am obviously wasting my time here.

franco12 @ 1/11/2025 6:45 AM
Clean wrote:
ToddTT wrote:
Clean wrote:
This is why I always look at strength of schedule. I always feel like a downer when I point it out while everyone is celebrating and happy but I will never stop. Stats and records need context. That 9 game win streak looked amazing but the second you look at who we played it was obviously fugazi. Those stats that said our defense improved so much was also fugazi. Everything must be looked at with context. Another sign of how good we are is how do we beat the mid or injured teams. We had too many close calls and a real elite team would have never had that many.

Wait… we have less of a chance of beating good teams?

Is that really what you got from everything I said? I am obviously wasting my time here.

I think that might be sarcasm.

And the answer is no- we just can’t beat good teams.

Sunday is the next chance at redemption, not holding my breath.

Clean @ 1/11/2025 6:49 AM
franco12 wrote:
Clean wrote:
ToddTT wrote:
Clean wrote:
This is why I always look at strength of schedule. I always feel like a downer when I point it out while everyone is celebrating and happy but I will never stop. Stats and records need context. That 9 game win streak looked amazing but the second you look at who we played it was obviously fugazi. Those stats that said our defense improved so much was also fugazi. Everything must be looked at with context. Another sign of how good we are is how do we beat the mid or injured teams. We had too many close calls and a real elite team would have never had that many.

Wait… we have less of a chance of beating good teams?

Is that really what you got from everything I said? I am obviously wasting my time here.

I think that might be sarcasm.

And the answer is no- we just can’t beat good teams.

Sunday is the next chance at redemption, not holding my breath.

You have a point. Sarcasm is always hard to get in text.

blkexec @ 1/11/2025 7:34 AM
Clean wrote:I hope eople are noticing we get killed by a random 3pt shooter everytime we play a good team. People tend to forget this everytime I bring up Thibs defense.

Looks like Thibs is no magician after all. What I don’t get is Thibs is known to be a defensive coach and we added defensive wings. Yet our defense sucks. And our offense goes how JB goes. If JB or Towns are not playing like all stars, we lose. They make up for others mistakes.

Can we have a team that wins games, even when the offense isn’t clicking?

Alpha1971 @ 1/11/2025 7:54 AM
Silver lining was by the end of the first quarter I knew I could go to sleep after a tough week. Knew I wouldn't have to fight my sleep... Knicks better get substantial contribution next year from Hukporti, Kollack and Dadiet and beyond.
blkexec @ 1/11/2025 8:24 AM
Alpha1971 wrote:Silver lining was by the end of the first quarter I knew I could go to sleep after a tough week. Knew I wouldn't have to fight my sleep... Knicks better get substantial contribution next year from Hukporti, Kollack and Dadiet and beyond.

If Thibs is the coach next year, not happening.

Leon is better off trading those guys for a Thibs type vet or 2.

franco12 @ 1/11/2025 8:28 AM
If Leon Rose is thinking about what moves he can make to help this squad be better, it’s a change of head coach that is quickest and likely one that would bring the biggest potential impact.

I don’t see them doing that, for the record.

I do believe there is talent and we have the potential to do better. Some of this is Thibs wearing players out. I mean, has OG ever played this many minutes in this kind of stretch in his career? Usually he’d be hurt by now.

And some of this is the constant drop coverage where we just let players get wide open shots.

I think opposing teams- especially better coached ones- have Thibs figured out and have a game plan to exploit.

Our window, as ToddTT put it, closed last year.

ramtour420 @ 1/11/2025 10:00 AM
It was redemption alright.
Alpha1971 @ 1/11/2025 10:08 AM
blkexec wrote:
Alpha1971 wrote:Silver lining was by the end of the first quarter I knew I could go to sleep after a tough week. Knew I wouldn't have to fight my sleep... Knicks better get substantial contribution next year from Hukporti, Kollack and Dadiet and beyond.

If Thibs is the coach next year, not happening.

Leon is better off trading those guys for a Thibs type vet or 2.

Perhaps your right but from a second Apron aspect it's more likely we have to use our low salaried players. They have the talent use em

SergioNYK @ 1/11/2025 10:17 AM

I'm trying not to overreact and that it's just one game in early January but that was soul crushing to me. I know some disagree but to me that's now 0-4 in big games this season.

This entire game was a continuation of the 4th quarter last time we played them. Simply cannot start off slow against a team like OKC, who gifted us by starting and shooting slow to start the game. We never got on track and they did and they just embarrassed us in every aspect. Their defense is on a historic pace and they made us look inept and stuck in mud. Nothing came easy and not being able to hit the 3 really killed us. You can survive if a guy or maybe two guys are in shooting slumps but it seems like the entire team right now is in a funk with the 3. And the defense was horrendous. Two passes and they had a guy with open. The poor effort to spot and stay with Isaiah Joe was infuriating. Like how many open shots are you going to give this guy?

Nothing you can do when SGA is on like that. He made Bridges and OG look like kids. He's really good, possibly the best player in the entire league this season, and deserves that MVP. I'm truly impressed with OKC and shame on them if they don't win it all cause they should be heavy favorites.

That's 4 losses in 5 games. Not sure when you sound the alarm and if you do, what do you do? I'm not for firing Thibs even though gameplan, scheme and motivation has been factors in this slump. We can't do a lineup change either cause our depth is crap and swapping Precious or Deuce for Hart is not the answer. Hart was actually the only one out there playing with any urgency or effort last night too. We don't got the assets to pull off another big trade either. I think we're going to have to just hope they figure this out themselves.

That's now two really bad shooting slumps for Bridges this season and we haven't even played 40 games. We drop several tiers when he can't make a bucket. And if severely effects his effort and concentration on defense. He needs to get right. Only positives I can take from this one is that KAT didn't wines ones with that injury and we got Deuce back, even though he was rusty as expected. And Payne hit some shots.

25-14 is nothing to be sad about. Record wise we good! I'm just concerned we might just not have enough to get to where we want to be and 2nd round might be ceiling. We just don't defend as well as we should and our offense, as elite as it can be, goes into too many slumps. Still got a little over half a season left so we can improve on everything but it's getting difficult to remain optimistic in terms of ECF/Finals/Championship.

HofstraBBall @ 1/11/2025 11:54 AM
franco12 wrote:If Leon Rose is thinking about what moves he can make to help this squad be better, it’s a change of head coach that is quickest and likely one that would bring the biggest potential impact.

I don’t see them doing that, for the record.

I do believe there is talent and we have the potential to do better. Some of this is Thibs wearing players out. I mean, has OG ever played this many minutes in this kind of stretch in his career? Usually he’d be hurt by now.

And some of this is the constant drop coverage where we just let players get wide open shots.

I think opposing teams- especially better coached ones- have Thibs figured out and have a game plan to exploit.

Our window, as ToddTT put it, closed last year.

What coach do you feel would have changed the outcome of last nights game?
Versus best defense in league and one of best players in the league.
We have neither?


Still a work in progress and we did get better butOur our $50-$60 Million dollar franchise player is nowhere near theirs.
We just went all in with KAT, OG, Brunson and Bridges and several of their guys looked better than them.

Still a work in progress though. At least that’s what everyone said when I disagreed with going all in with Bridges and KAT.

HofstraBBall @ 1/11/2025 11:58 AM
Knicksfan wrote:
GustavBahler wrote:
Panos wrote:So we didn't want to trade 5 picks for Donovan Mitchel. SmH

Still glad we passed on DM, dont believe he would have been a good fit with JB. But 5 first rounders for Bridges, after the same being seen as too much for Mitchell. That might not age well.

These droughts wont be looked back on as a big deal if Bridges is playing his part in a playoff run. Its frustrating to see Mikal struggle like this, but its the postseason where Bridges has to prove his worth to the team.

Don’t hold your breath.

Fact is, Knick fans like to dog high priced elite players. We like the overachievers. Guys that are “good passers”, play solid defense.
DM is who you pay big money to though. Can create vs elite defenders. Something you need versus elite teams and in playoffs.
We don have anyone like that.

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