Knicks · Glad to be Wrong (page 1)

Like all of you, I am so excited and proud that the Knicks reached the finals. I was in high school the last time we reached the finals, a middle school grasshopper in 94, and not around for our championships a half century ago.

I was very disappointed last summer when the Knicks decided to let go of Thibs and hire Mike Brown.
I felt that that Thibs shortcomings (overusing the starters, late adjustments) could have been worked out internally, given the drastic improvement the team made over his 5 year tenure.

Before the season started, I had no faith that the team could win a championship with Towns (on court decision making) and Brown (experienced average coach). I chose to decline renewing last year's mini ticket subscription plan and not attend any games.

During the season, I thought we had maybe turned it around after playing exceptional basketball during the tournament, winning the cup. I supported the decision not to hang a banner in the rafters for the tournament cup because we had bigger fish to fry. We then regressed back to our old bad habits during the winter, playing selfish, unintelligent, uninspired basketball.

I did not think we would win another game after game 3 of the Hawks series. I thought Brown would be let go and we would look to trade Towns and Bridges for Giannis.

However, things have completely changed for the better. We are finally playing the right way.
Good basketball. Towns is now all of a sudden playing terrific defense, no longer barreling into defenders, and is taking quality shots. No more predictable 35 foot 3 point shots and tissue defense. No more crying to the refs when things don't go his way. Instead he is hustling back on defense as he should. He is letting his actions do the talking, not his mouth. He has become a facilitator and we are making great use of his ability to pass the ball well. His scoring works itself out.

Bridges is no longer standing in a corner waiting to receive the ball for a 3 point shot. He is locked in on defense, and is cutting and slashing to the hoop in addition to his beautiful midrange game that he has dialed in full throttle. We finally have the Mikal Bridges we saw during his Phoenix Suns days.

Brunson is evolving and is no longer dribbling the air out of the ball. He is selfless, decisive, and playing off the ball more, letting the offense come to him within the flow of the game. He is involving his talented teammates and no longer looking to do everything himself. Teams can no longer bully, trap, and push him around for an entire possession. He has learned to make them pay for that. He is our MVP and best player. The ball will always find it's way back in his hands, especially if we really need a bucket.

OG is my favorite Knick. This is what they paid him big bucks for. Elite man to man defense, help defense, clutch baskets. Straight dog, winner, who helps teams win championships.

Josh has been terrific, doing all the little important things. Nice job making the Cavs pay for laying off him on defense.

Great decision to bring Landry back. The longer he is with the Knicks, the better he gets. Particularly his defense. Health has always been the issue.

Now if we can somehow get some arc on Mitch's free throws.

Credit to Mike Brown. He was not on our radar and was maybe our 20th or 21st choice to succeed Thibs.
Yet, he made adjustments in the nick of time, has steered the ship on course, and brought us to the finals as expected. I was completely against and not at all in favor of his hiring, however he has turned the team around since the first 3 games of the first round. The team is committed and bought in. The Knicks are finally playing the right way. A completely different style that emphasizes hard work, defense, sacrifice, passing, and is maximizing their roster, potential, and talent. As they should. They are playing winning basketball.

My wife and I drove from Queens to Ohio for game 3 over the weekend. Our first and likely only Knick game this season, given the price of finals tickets. It was Knicks land in Cleveland. Amazing energy and worth the trip.

Let's GO Knicks!

Mike Brown has earned his stripes.

To be fair to him the overall adjustment of running the offense as it is now was introduced in training camp. The start of the season had a couple of weeks of good looking basketball being played with good ball movement and players in motion off the ball.

Now, I will say Brown has also made adjustments during the playoffs too, and has thoroughly outcoached every team we have faced, especially Nick Nurse and Kenny Atkinson.

But the overall agenda was there early, but it didn't really click into place until Game 4 vs. ATL.

This is now very much Brown's team and the last 11 games this is a radically different one from a Thibs-led roster.

And thank god for that. Brown is the superior coach taking us further than Thibs was capable of.

You are not only obsolved from sin, but your commitment truly places you in the highest order for sainthood! If only others were so devout! Humility and travel to Ohio! You get a front row on the bandwagon!

You drove from NYC? western NY? Thats some high level fandom most of us cannot match.
Game three was awesome and glad you had a good time!

There were instances throughout the season where we played solid basketball, however we went back and forth, and lacked consistency, often playing below our ability.

The end of the regular season game versus Boston featured Towns and Brunson running beautiful pick and roll and pick and pop to put them away in the 4th quarter. I was craving and wondering where that had been all season.

Brunson doesn't need to be our hero all the time because he is a part of the most talented Knicks team probably since the 70's. We have to make good on that. This isn't Brunson, Randle, and a young IQ, Grimes, and RJ anymore. I was hoping Brunson would realize this and Coach Brown would hold him accountable to facilitate, play off the ball more, and make it his business to get the team involved all for the sake of the same goal - the championship. That was Brunson's next step.

I was also hoping Brown would make it clear to Towns one one one that flopping, crying, 35 foot 3 point shots, and tissue defense were not going to get us to the promised land. This is what a coach should be doing and what he was brought in for.

It seems to have finally sunk in. We've accomplished this during our 11 game winning streak. We are playing so well right now that we can go all the way.

Their teamwork has been inspiring. The Knicks have united the city.

BlueKnickers wrote:Mike Brown has earned his stripes.

To be fair to him the overall adjustment of running the offense as it is now was introduced in training camp. The start of the season had a couple of weeks of good looking basketball being played with good ball movement and players in motion off the ball.

Now, I will say Brown has also made adjustments during the playoffs too, and has thoroughly outcoached every team we have faced, especially Nick Nurse and Kenny Atkinson.

But the overall agenda was there early, but it didn't really click into place until Game 4 vs. ATL.

This is now very much Brown's team and the last 11 games this is a radically different one from a Thibs-led roster.

And thank god for that. Brown is the superior coach taking us further than Thibs was capable of.

Being absolved from sin by the one and only Nalod means a lot.

I drove overnight from Queens NYC to Cleveland with a lot of rain, poor visibility, countless trucks, and colorful road sign detours. Most boring drive on earth, but well worth it.

After all we are Knicks fans and gluttons for punishment.

Nalod wrote:
You are not only obsolved from sin, but your commitment truly places you in the highest order for sainthood! If only others were so devout! Humility and travel to Ohio! You get a front row on the bandwagon!

You drove from NYC? western NY? Thats some high level fandom most of us cannot match.
Game three was awesome and glad you had a good time!

If only we still had Randle and DVD

OffDaMeterzzzz wrote:There were instances throughout the season where we played solid basketball, however we went back and forth, and lacked consistency, often playing below our ability.

The end of the regular season game versus Boston featured Towns and Brunson running beautiful pick and roll and pick and pop to put them away in the 4th quarter. I was craving and wondering where that had been all season.

Brunson doesn't need to be our hero all the time because he is a part of the most talented Knicks team probably since the 70's. We have to make good on that. This isn't Brunson, Randle, and a young IQ, Grimes, and RJ anymore. I was hoping Brunson would realize this and Coach Brown would hold him accountable to facilitate, play off the ball more, and make it his business to get the team involved all for the sake of the same goal - the championship. That was Brunson's next step.

I was also hoping Brown would make it clear to Towns one one one that flopping, crying, 35 foot 3 point shots, and tissue defense were not going to get us to the promised land. This is what a coach should be doing and what he was brought in for.

It seems to have finally sunk in. We've accomplished this during our 11 game winning streak. We are playing so well right now that we can go all the way.

Their teamwork has been inspiring. The Knicks have united the city.

BlueKnickers wrote:Mike Brown has earned his stripes.

To be fair to him the overall adjustment of running the offense as it is now was introduced in training camp. The start of the season had a couple of weeks of good looking basketball being played with good ball movement and players in motion off the ball.

Now, I will say Brown has also made adjustments during the playoffs too, and has thoroughly outcoached every team we have faced, especially Nick Nurse and Kenny Atkinson.

But the overall agenda was there early, but it didn't really click into place until Game 4 vs. ATL.

This is now very much Brown's team and the last 11 games this is a radically different one from a Thibs-led roster.

And thank god for that. Brown is the superior coach taking us further than Thibs was capable of.

Yes, the regular season was up and down to an extent. Good teams with talent finishing in the top 4 seeds in a more parity-driven league is not that hard to achieve. We largely beat teams lesser than us with decent consistency which is a good foundation. We were very in and out of focus against the top teams in the league, sometime fully competitive, but many times we lost badly this season to the teams we would be facing in the playoffs. So there were plenty of questions heading into the playoffs.

The last 3 games of the season were really good ball with the first true glimpse of our recent reinvention. More KAT-centric offense, more Brunson off-ball, last 3 games were a great sign heading into the post-season. Then we opened the ATL series without that focus again so it was sort of bewildering. But then game 4 the switch finally went on and they've been in the right groove playing the best ball of their lives.

It was always about syncing up Brunson and KAT. Each had to make their respective adjustments. I knew Brown was significantly more advanced than Thibs, but I was questioning if he had the juice to get everyone on the same page. Brown was gossiped about by some as a soft personality not capable of keeping his team engaged, but the outcome now shows otherwise, because you cannot argue with their recent success. It is the result of Brown's agenda, not the players whom by themselves would never have discovered this groove. It takes a village man, Coach and Players united and now we've got that. So all of the concerns from the regular season look handled now and it is just about staying locking in on the business at hand. 4 MO. We've got this

OffDaMeterzzzz wrote:Being absolved from sin by the one and only Nalod means a lot.

I drove overnight from Queens NYC to Cleveland with a lot of rain, poor visibility, countless trucks, and colorful road sign detours. Most boring drive on earth, but well worth it.

After all we are Knicks fans and gluttons for punishment.

Nalod wrote:
You are not only obsolved from sin, but your commitment truly places you in the highest order for sainthood! If only others were so devout! Humility and travel to Ohio! You get a front row on the bandwagon!

You drove from NYC? western NY? Thats some high level fandom most of us cannot match.
Game three was awesome and glad you had a good time!

Im really impressed! Thats a hell of a drive. We not talking the NJ turnpike to Philly!
Very Devout! You have moment you'll always cherish. Kudo's to the Mrs. who was game for the adventure!
Martin should grant you another 20,000 posts for it!

Philc1 wrote:If only we still had Randle and DVD

Who?

HofstraBBall wrote:

Philc1 wrote:If only we still had Randle and DVD

Who?

The toughness

Chasson Randle and the movie "The toughness of a women?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sour...

I did not know it was out on DVD? You should look for it on Blu-Ray or on a streming service?

Oh wait, did the Rupert Pumkin in you attempt a populist chuckle and imply Jules and DDV?
Of course you did! Such wit!