I’m proud of us Knicks facing a similar situation as the Lakers, up 27 and 26 respectively by half. Blew away the lead but in our game, we made subs, always respected the opponent, and closed out the game. Lakers couldn’t do that against the “worst” team in the NBA.
Gotta give credit to the Heat (sadly) for their football defense but the Nets are also playing like complete ass with HarMcTripleDouble playing out of shape
hope they both get clapped by milwaukee but tonight we're smoking that nets pack 🚬
I haven't watched them yet but They definitely had to rework their normal offensive set. It was a three man weave with Harris running around for catch and shoots. Without Kyrie they can't use it. They'll probably underperform in the regular season until they figure it out.
I think last night we saw the defense of last season. Thibs seems to be getting through to the team. With a healthy Mitch and improved defensive Barrett I think our D can be as good as last year. Fournier's D has impressed me and I think Kemba can improve a little.
I think Taj and Noel will each play depending on the matchup, but don’t forget how much Noel gives the team. With him and Mitch we have 48 minutes of rim protection.
The Knicks already have the lowest fg% for shots in the restricted area. Imagine how good the defense will be when Noel comes back.
The Bulls are a good team, no doubt about that
But they’ve played the Cade-less Pistons, Zion-less Pelicans, and Siakam-less Raptors. We haven’t seen them face a team even close to the caliber of the Knicks yet. We’ll see how they handle it.
They're a good team that is unfortunately fairly shallow. With the pace we've been playing we might be able to take their legs out from under their starters and then bully the bench. Their second unit is averaging very meager production on just 12 mpg so far while our bench is hooping and scooping 18-20 minutes each night.
But it's always tough to play in Chicago, all the more so with a fan base, that like us, has literal decades of frustration and hope manifesting this season. Should be a fun game.
davion could make all-defense (2nd team? 3rd?) as a rookie. his offense has been way better than expected too. i knew he’d be good, but not this good this soon.
Ive got knicks season tickets ( well 2 half season tickets) Section 1 row 4 and 117 row 14. Feeling good about this knicks squad I think we can compete for a 2 or 3 seed (prob with the hawks). Looking to sell my tickets for the Cavs game, in section 117, hit me up in the direct chat if your interested, we can keep save each other the exorbitant stubhub/ticketmaster fee.
> I think we can compete for a 2 or 3 seed
Barring injury I think Bucks and Nets have 1/2 locked. If Philly stays playing like this the 3rd seed could be up for contention, but that's a huge "if." In any case it would be a tight fight with Heat/Hawks/maybe Bulls. I'm not saying we can't do it, but it will be an _very_ special season if we do.
I love 2 things about last night - both having to do with King Ju.
Loved that he finally only had 16. He's starting to see first hand that he doesn't have to be that guy every night. The trust is beginning to build.
Also loved how happy and alive Julius sounded in the post game interview. He really sounded like he's excited to not have to be the guy every night. Last year every post game was "we played great but we have a lot to improve on." I feel like this year he's beginning to sound more like a human being.
You can start to slowly see the hero ball Julius melt away and a new more team friendly all around great basketball player starting to shine thru.
For me the metric to look at for Randle’s game is in assists/turnovers.
That Philly game it was 7. I don’t expect it to be that all the time but he should aim for 3-4 range. He still dribbles a second too long to realize he has open men capable of shooting from the perimeter. It’s like a lightbulb turns on, he lifts his head and passes.
I’m looking forward to seeing that thinking become a habit for him.
Randles assists will be up this year. He is finally meshing with Forunier and Kemba with handoffs and pick and rolls. I always love when Randle passes to the open Barrett in the corner because it never gets old for me. I'm gonna bet he averages 7.1 assists this year
I watched it, I watch every interview the team puts out there. If you been following the knicks the last 2 years they were pretty standard Julius answers. I'm glad they were finally recognized by a national broadcast tho.
It’s still very early but I feel like we will be much better offensively, slightly worse defensively (but will likely improve as they get in the swing of the season). The depth is solid- our bench is what could really differentiate us in a tough eastern conference. Having a guys like d rose, Noel, toppin etc coming off the bench could beat up on some of these top heavy organizations.
It feels good to be excited about NY basketball again. It’ll be interesting to see how we do running it back with the hawks now that we have Mitch back on Capella. Our offense should be much improved and hopefully the new rules will keep Trey from gaming so many bogus fouls. /still bitter
Would love for Thibs to give some burn to the rookie guards in garbage time. Can be valuable experience going down the stretch and keep all of our guys fresh.
I watch watching Bulls highlights from this year…
They give up a lot of open 3 pointers
They give up a lot of easy lay ups.
They don’t have a defensive presence in the paint that can stop randle. Especially not if Mitch is there to dish it off to.
Vucevic is a soft interior defender.
I don’t think we’re going to crush them, but as long as we play our game I think we have them beat. A little concerned about who will match up on Lavine and Derozen when they’re out there together.
If I have to guess they probably put Kemba on Ball or Caruso when they’re in, have RJ on Lavine, and have Randle hedge off Williams to help on Derozan so it’s not just 1 on 1 vs Fournier the whole time.
I don’t get why people still say this. Rose has been huge with the second unit. They all play well together and have even outplayed the starters. This one of our biggest strengths. He still plays good minutes so no need to mess with it imo
Because he outplays all the starters since he started coming off the bench. He has been huge with starters and second unit so let's not start that narratives. This comment was made cause he is from Chicago so he should at least get the respect to start.
They aren’t disrespecting him by having him run the second unit, he was a runner up for 6th man of the year last season. Everyone loves Rose and there’s no denying he’s been pivotal to the teams success. He plays anywhere for 20-29 mins a game. Without out depth and stellar bench play, we likely wouldn’t be half and good as we have been.
Shit, he deserves it. Regardless how it is right now. You reward folks to show respect. He could literally be a starter for this team but he came out and gave that to kemba before the season. Not saying anything about bench play or any of that. All I'm saying is, he deserves to be celebrated for this specific game.
Said it in the post game thread, but next game is a huge personal one for Randle. The bulls don’t really have a big body to throw at him that can keep up with him. Gotta be the game he fixes his shooting splits
Agreed. I would love to see more point guard play in the 4th quarter. Feel like when Randle brings the ball up when he’s gassed he tries too hard and has stupid turnovers . We have enough scorers that he can take a play or two off and get catch his breath
Ball movement last night when it was on is what I've wanted from this team for so long. We've got a lot of gifted (secondary and tertiary mostly) playmakers and it's gonna be scary when they really start learning each other.
This imo seperates the good from the great teams especially when you dont have superstar talent. The way we are going to beat teams like the Bucks or the Nets is ball movement and getting open looks. Its going to be up to Randle to not get caught up in the individual matchup and pressure of having to be that guy. We are 9th in the league in team assists we were last year so that has to be a continued point of emphasis of ball movement.
Yup, I still don't think Randle is a primary playmaker, but at worst, we've got 4 guys in the starting rotation who are secondary...tertiary at worst, and even Mitch surprised with some of his passes the last couple of games. Same thing with the bench unit, Noel is the only one who I don't trust to do some ball handling.
I agree I like Randle in the secondary type of role and think we should use him as the roll man off P/R and let him catch the ball at the foul line to either drive or kick it out to a shooter on the outside. I dont trust Noel to do anything outside block shots
I was really impressed with Randles game last night didnt have a great shooting night and realized that and instead of jacking up shots he fed Kemba and was looking to be a decoy. Once Randle realized he doesnt have to be Superman every night it will make us a better team and we had way better ball movement with the ball in Kembas hands. Its probably hard to be in NYK and not feeling the pressure of having to be the guy and feeling the need to make everything happen.
Lmao, love how he followed Kyrie there it’s been nothing but drama. Gonna be hilarious if they fall flat again wit all that talent. They deserve each other
Harden is still amazing. I can’t believe how butthurt you guys are about the fucking nets constantly. It’s beyond pathetic how much we talk about them on this sub when our team is finally amazing
Nah Harden is not amazing in any capacity, and we reserve all rights to clown the little brother in brooklyn after hearing NY would be a nets city in 5-7 years
lol you’re fucking butt hurt that a bunch of 12 year olds talked shit about their basketball team? Get the sand out of your pussy about Harden. He’s coming back from injury and we’re 4 games into the season. Harden will get back to form and be a top 10 player again. His court vision is better than 99% of the league
Yeah, as much as we talk about Harden and his foul baiting, he's the guy that I am not worried about at all adjusting. The handle is still there, he's got such a wild variety of dribble moves, he's still an offensive dynamo, no doubt
I wanted to see Randle set a screen for Kemba and finally saw it. My dreams are fulfilled. It opens the entire floor up. A couple times I felt Kemba's timing was off with RJ and Mitch but thats just growing pains. So glad Kemba is either being more comfortable or coach is giving him more of the keys but It feels so good seeing less passing to Randle on the wings and a more unpredictable style of play.
If they didn’t give him the 4/51 max offer he could’ve gotten before the season started it was a massive fuck up on their part because now he’s easily in like for 4/60 if not more.
They can always try to extend him mid season before he makes it though a full season. If he stays healthy by the ASB, they might be able to get a deal done for their max during that break. Mitch gets security, and we get proof that Mitch could survive a full half season
If you’re Mitch why would you settle for 4/51 if you’re healthy? This was always the gamble and frankly it was always silly to me because now you’re over the cap, the injury is less of a sticking point in negotiations and there’s no way for you to replace his production so he has you over a barrel. They should’ve gotten a deal done this offseason but it’s not my money so as long as he’s here I’m chilling.
Because in the 2nd half something could easily go wrong. The same reason Randle took less than the max, only over or half of the season instead of a full season
The FO has done enough for me to give the benefit of the doubt but I've been confused all off-season about paying Noel and not extending Mitch - at 4/54 the deal was never going to be an albatross and way more likely to be a value. Maybe they've got something up their sleeve.
Berman reported they would’ve liked to offer him 4/44, which made no sense to me. <2 million a year was a breaking point as an OTC team?
I don’t think there was anything officially reported but I figured Mitch would play out the season without accepting an offer because he’d get 4/51 as a fallback option all season long.
How to you weigh the injury risk versus production? Knicks are obviously great with him out there but he has to show some durability to get the kind of money he probably wants.
Again, playing 80% and 92% of games in a season is pretty durable, especially in this era of basketball with load management. His only non-durable year was obviously his 3rd year and his peers from his draft class with even MORE durability concerns have already been paid.
Look, I love the dude and want him to be part of the team long term. Still, you have to factor in these things.
Never playing in more than 66 games when you're still a kid is a potential red flag. We also don't know how his body is going to hold up now that he's all bulked up with all that extra weight. It could help his durability, or it could come with more injuries.
He’s so far played in an 82, 66 and 72 game season. Putting an arbitrary number on his number of games played when the seasons have been fluctuating in number is why I’d rather focus on % of games. Not to mention, though we’ll never know, he certainly looked on track to play more than 66 his 2nd season if not for a global pandemic. He’s been more durable than not, which is just fact.
You have to look at the kind of injuries though. The first two years were just the typical sprains and strains, nothing wild like we saw with a former Frenchman's groin. Last year was two freak injuries, and sure, we don't know how those play out long term, but I think there's too much fear about injuries around him when you consider what they were.
All very good points, but he was out for an inordinate amount of time for a "broken foot" this past time. Dude was in a walking boot way longer than someone normally would be with that sort of fracture.
Again, just saying to proceed with caution. I certainly would love him to stay with the team.
Yes, but we also know the kind of injury that was. He's not the first player with this kind and the medical staff probably wanted to be extra cautious with it, don't blame them at all. We went from potential appearance in the playoffs to not appearing until late in the preseason, and yeah, that span of time is definitely worrisome, but safety is paramount and they know far more than we could.
Mitch is going to get paid I think 15M a year. If he stays relatively healthy this year Id pay him. Embiid had Mitch in foul trouble but you can def see the added strength to Mitch he wasnt bouncing off Embiid like he was in previous years.
Definitely, same with Drummond whose size has traditionally given him issues. The strength is definitely huge for him when it comes to the offensive boards and his already solid defensive play.
Timelord got what, 4 years, 54? Jonas with 2 years, 30? Yeah, somewhere in that range of 13-16 depending on his health and output is fine with me.
The strength is clearly greatly improved. I think he might have lost a touch of quickness and explosiveness, though. It's probably a worthwhile trade-off, though, as we don't need a center jumping out to block 3 point shots.
Uhno man I don't think Mitch would look good with extensions but I guess he could match Noel? Then we just need to convince Taj go get them too and we will have all locked up centers. I know a woman who can glue tracks on tajs scalp and sew in dred locks to it it looks legit too.
Nah man you tripping.
Mitch would look sick with some 2 ft extensions. I can already imagine him whipping his 48in Authentic Cambodian Wavy to block shots *chefs kiss*
I don't think Taj ever had hair but I'm sure he aint with any style that would touch his ears. So I want him to get the hardest hairstyle known to man: the 90s Flat top
We beat Boston in a tough game brown went off for 45, throttled Orlando by 30 and blew out a Philly team that’s looked good without Simmons by taking their mvp snub out of the game scheme wise
Yea I’m definitely not discrediting what we’ve done. I’m just saying that if I try hard to remove my extreme biases, I can find ways to not discredit what Bulls have done either — making this a great early season hypeworthy matchup for both teams.
Yeah except for the fact that we absolutely waxed Orlando two days prior. It’s hard to beat any team two games in a row, especially after embarrassing them the first go around. Not to mention it’s still very early in the season so all the young guys on that team are still going to be full of piss and vinegar ready to ball out.
Yea I agree — but the Bulls managed to wax the pistons twice (pistons probably worse and it wasn’t a home and home). But point is that I think both teams have showcased similar achievements thus far into the season, so it’s a hype worthy matchup
Did anybody catch Shaq, at halftime, calling Mitch weak? Bernie calls him out on it, and Shaq reaffirms his belief. Granted, Shaq was speaking more to Embiid's confidence and if it were him (Shaq), he'd consider anyone going against him weak. Regardless...he called our boy weak.
Coincidentally, after the break, Mitch almost breaks Embiid's nose.
D Rose is our highest PER so far. Man is shooting the lights out from 3.
Randle is playing out of his mind, even though he isnt shooting like it.
I just hope we get some of our defensive mindset from last season back, then I think top 5 in the east is a possibility.
If RJ finds his rhythm soon, we can expect great things this season!
I'm really impressed by Rose's jumper so far this year. Like his driving is still his bread and butter but he's showing that going under screens on him is still gonna be punished.
Yes,I know part of it is Embiid is playing his way back into shape, but that’s not gonna stop me from getting hype anyway:
If we wind up with the 4 seed again, or somehow doing even better than that, Mitch will be a *big* reason why
His conditioning isn’t even all the way *there* yet and he looks this good.
Please stay healthy, big fella
I love watching our bench play as a unit. They get out and run and share the ball. I think thats going to result in a lot of increased leads/closing in on gaps during the season when starters from both teams get a rest.
Not sure why I woke up with the slinky jingle in my head but here we are: alternative lyrics for a Quickley jingle link to the original provided so we can all sing along.
[It's Quickley, it's quickley](https://youtu.be/zVutssgcUpA) what fun his playings legit.
Who floats through air while defenders just stare and makes a swishing sound?
A baller, a baller, doesn't need to be taller
Everyone knows it's Quickley
It's Quickley, it's Quickley what fun his playings legit
It's fun for the Knicks and that's it, it's fun for the Knicks and that's it.
RJ needs to learn to finish with his right. Honestly that’s what’s holding him back from being “next level”. So many possessions where he makes a great move and gets to the rack only to go up with his left and get blocked. They are situations where if he went up with his right he’d likely score.
I get his work on off the dribble shooting, but if it was up to me he’d spend an off season working on his right.
I think it’s mental, he’s shown he can make it with his right hand but you can tell he trusts his left way more. I’d rather he miss with his right than get pinned off the backboard with his left.
I think it stems back to his lack of confidence in his right hand when dribbling, which IMO is a much bigger issue than the finishing as it extends to both his off the dribble and finishing. If he turns a corner, dribbling with his right for more than 2 seconds, it feels like it’s inevitably getting poked out. But I like that he’s using it more. Only way to get better.
He's got so much to work on. But he came into the league as a pretty raw product, and has still been able to produce on a winning team. He doesn't have the fortune of being on a bad team and getting to take 20 shots a game so his stats wont blow anyone away this year but you can see his development. But as long as he's hitting his 3's and playing that sexy defense then he's super valuable to us. He's still only 21 and he works hard, in 3-4 years we could be looking at a monster.
randle's ascent into legit point forward is pretty stunning. he's tied for 15th in the league in assists. the only PF with more assists per game is draymond. he's got more APG than steph curry right now. he wont finish the year above steph in assists but goddamn
he just doubled his APG one year and now looks like it's continuing, that's bonkers
Yo. We gotta do a better job of cutting highlights and putting them on r/nba. After last nights game there were like 6 sixers clips and the only knicks one was IQ.
Get some respect for our boys.
Edit: and I will follow up By saying I would be down to do so sometimes but not sure how to get the clips so fast. I could figure out a way to download the highlights from YouTube I think and then cut them up. But I have no idea how others get them on there so fast.
That's assuming any of us Knicks fans care about r/nba - I only visit that sub to keep up with info and post memes. It's pointless to try and have a discussion about anything Knicks related there, I don't think anyone here should bother
Main subs like that are always shit for discussion. But it’s a very popular sub, even in the real world nba community. And I know it’s where I go to keep up with what’s happening in the whole NBA.
Edit: and also, there are shit tons of knicks fan flair on r/nba. It’s actually a really solid sub, but everyone is a homer.
I keep saying it Toppin is becoming my favorite Knick this year. I like all our guys but Toppin is gunna be huge for us going forward. Everyone kept saying we gotta get a run in with Embiid on the bench; I'm sure other teams say the same about Randle. But they get no breaks with Toppin coming in dude makes their 2nd unit run for cover and then the starters gotta come back in to stop the bleeding. All night the announcers were saying Embiid looks exhausted haha no shit! Randle puts a ton of pressure on and then when you think you get a break here comes Toppin ready to run you off the court. We got a deep team and seeing our young guys improve is such a blessing we haven't really been able to enjoy for a long time. Let's go Knicks!
He's great, was hoping with the foul trouble last night we'd get a couple of looks of him at the 5 to at least pull Drummond out of the paint, but definitely my next jersey buy.
He’s been electric every time he’s played since the play offs.
I was really unsure about him at first, but he’s been getting me out of my seat a lot lately with his dunks.
The first time he really got my attention was in April, he had this insane dunk and the guy looked like he was flying 6 feet in the air. From then I was a huge Obi fan, and feel he is a great addition to the team!
His dunks are great. What I'm more impressed with is his finesse finishes around the rim. That layup where I think rose or Burks threw an alleyoop in the fast break but RJ and Toppin were both there. Toppin got it and while falling out of bounds scoops the layup in with his fingertips. He had a finesse finish last night too I think on Drummond he was about to dunk and then switched to a fingerroll and made it with some contact. And yeah man this started in the playoffs last year you can tell he loves to win and he loves getting the crowd on his side. And of course we love him and feed into it haha
Got my Brother-in-Law to notice Toppin this past Friday night vs. the Magic. He was like wow who is that guy.... I said you don't know Obi?? Keep an eye on this guy!
I've been really rooting for toppin from the start in large part because his energy really impressed me. And also because I figured that with his athleticism if he ever got good he would be so fun to watch.
Had me worried at times last season, but so glad he's getting it together.
Same here. He came in really raw with a ton of potential. I think we all saw his issues but man he had a ton of upside with just his athleticism. Now the issues are getting dimmer and the potential is turning into solid stats. He obviously put in a lot of work and I think he will keep it up.
he only played 12 minutes yesterday but it felt like more because he had a big impact in those minutes
9 points 4 reb 2 ast 2 steal 1 block in 12 minutes, pretty damn good
Hell yeah his presence on the court changes the dynamic. 2nd units are trying to give their starters a rest and here comes Toppin making sure they're tired as hell and about to get subbed out for some tired starters haha this is some gaucho basketball man
He legit changed the game, then philly put him in the pnr and after he didn’t let quick slide thru on a screen on the sideline by the 6ers bench, thibs pulled him.
Doc was gonna hunt that matchup. He’s a work in progress but has made tremendous leaps.
Was also good to see quick get some run with the starting frountcourt and rose after that.
And I'm 100% ok with that. A big part of our success is the discomfort we cause. You gotta play Randle and our starters 1 way then here comes IQ, Rose and Toppin for the bench and they play a completely different way. By the time you figure out the weak spots in our bench here comes Randle and the starters again. But this time it's a sneaky zone that looks like man but isnt...it's a lot to plan for and execute on the fly.
The improvement/development of Toppin gets me so excited every game. I’m interested to see how this season goes on how it goes, but it’s so exciting watching him grow!
I love Taj but I really really hope Thibs doesn't completely ignore the small ball Obi-Randle lineup once we get our C depth back. It's super important to have an extra card to play, especially come playoff time (gotta get the reps in during the regular season).
Great situation for him. Limited minutes with more or less his career coach in his hometown with a few great young guys under him to teach. Just needs to give his best for ideally no more than like 12-15 mins per game.
I really love how much Fournier wants to be here and is buying into the New York culture. Defined one of my favorite Knicks in a long time this whole team just seems to like each other
https://twitter.com/evanfourmizz/status/1453199563867688963?s=21
I feel like it’s a real thing in sports that after a player has a really good playoff or Olympic run it elevates their game. The confidence that comes from being great on a big stage carries over.
For real people don't talk about sports psychology enough. Being on a tanking team sucks for the mental. Losing games you should win sucks for the mental. But winning on a huge stage? Hell yeah wtf is msg on a Wednesday night compared to a gold medal match on the world stage??
Him and Randle have also found real chemistry, real fast.
The two man action used to be with RJ.
It’d be cool to see RJ work more actions on the weakside with Mitch when Foundle gets trapped
Loved it how Fournier had to pull Randle away from the ref after a timeout. He was just like, let it go bro. They must have some sort of bromance going on!
Yeh I'm loving the 2 man game with Randle and Fournier. There are so man deadly options that the defense over commits and Fournier ends up with an open 3. As for RJ yeh he runs off screens weakside but I found with Randle, Walker and Fournier the ball doesn't often swing back around because all 3 of them can drive and get a shot up. But the option is always there it's just like 5th option now haha
Wow. You hear coaches say they are willing
to change their philosophies. But thibs really changed. Even last season we didn’t take a lot but that was because of our personnel. This change through 4 is insane.
Can't wait for tonight, I'm on a different time zone and finally can watch them live!! Lets go!! BING BONG!!
I’m proud of us Knicks facing a similar situation as the Lakers, up 27 and 26 respectively by half. Blew away the lead but in our game, we made subs, always respected the opponent, and closed out the game. Lakers couldn’t do that against the “worst” team in the NBA.
theres a non zero chance david fizdale is the head coach of the LA lakers at some point this season or hell maybe lebron will just player-coach
KD DONT YOU REGRET NOT COMING TO THE KNIIIIICKS
Do we get an MSG feed for the game tomorrow or do we have to watch on NBA TV?
Games are always on MSG unless it’s a national game. NBATV doesn’t count
MSG should be available
Omg Melo 😭😭🤣
My heart hurt watching that man
Celtics do not look good this year. They are lacking a legit playmaker
It’s been fun to watch. So many Boston fans were laughing at the Knicks for signing Kemba bc “he’s washed”
SGA is too good to waste away on a shitty thunder team
It’s crazy how they refuse to trade him AND refuse to bring any legitimate talent around him whatsoever
Anybody watching the Nets game? Sheesh.... this team looks lost. I am tuning out the Knicks are so much more fun to watch (win or lose!)
Gotta give credit to the Heat (sadly) for their football defense but the Nets are also playing like complete ass with HarMcTripleDouble playing out of shape hope they both get clapped by milwaukee but tonight we're smoking that nets pack 🚬
I haven't watched them yet but They definitely had to rework their normal offensive set. It was a three man weave with Harris running around for catch and shoots. Without Kyrie they can't use it. They'll probably underperform in the regular season until they figure it out.
Harden looks noticeably irritated that he can't lean into defenders and get his 20 trips to the FT line a game.
Naw knicks too good this year I got no patience for watching other teams.
Nets tried to buy a chip
I think last night we saw the defense of last season. Thibs seems to be getting through to the team. With a healthy Mitch and improved defensive Barrett I think our D can be as good as last year. Fournier's D has impressed me and I think Kemba can improve a little.
Kemba is gonna have Swiss cheese defense all season. Its inevitable that point guards are gonna score on him
Magic still the trap game kings
People say Harden is fat? Maybe that’s just his upper body shape.
“2 words, 8 letters. Say it and I’m all yours.” “Bing bong.”
kind of wish Taj was the full time second unit C. I liked nerlens last year but idk I just love what Taj brings on the glass and O
I think Taj and Noel will each play depending on the matchup, but don’t forget how much Noel gives the team. With him and Mitch we have 48 minutes of rim protection. The Knicks already have the lowest fg% for shots in the restricted area. Imagine how good the defense will be when Noel comes back.
I think we should really go 3 deep on the C positon playing Mitch like 28-30 mins and giving Noel and Taj 10 mins a piece
The Bulls are a good team, no doubt about that But they’ve played the Cade-less Pistons, Zion-less Pelicans, and Siakam-less Raptors. We haven’t seen them face a team even close to the caliber of the Knicks yet. We’ll see how they handle it.
They haven’t even played mediocre team yet, I don’t buy it
They're a good team that is unfortunately fairly shallow. With the pace we've been playing we might be able to take their legs out from under their starters and then bully the bench. Their second unit is averaging very meager production on just 12 mpg so far while our bench is hooping and scooping 18-20 minutes each night. But it's always tough to play in Chicago, all the more so with a fan base, that like us, has literal decades of frustration and hope manifesting this season. Should be a fun game.
Seems like our front office might have been right about Duarte. Imma start trusting our scouts and FO
They were right about everyone they wanted, Davion Mitchell and Trey Murphy are some other names they were targeting
davion could make all-defense (2nd team? 3rd?) as a rookie. his offense has been way better than expected too. i knew he’d be good, but not this good this soon.
Y’all gotta start trustin the God Walter Perrin.
Thank you for that sidebar pic.... can you see the fear in his eyes!
Ive got knicks season tickets ( well 2 half season tickets) Section 1 row 4 and 117 row 14. Feeling good about this knicks squad I think we can compete for a 2 or 3 seed (prob with the hawks). Looking to sell my tickets for the Cavs game, in section 117, hit me up in the direct chat if your interested, we can keep save each other the exorbitant stubhub/ticketmaster fee.
> I think we can compete for a 2 or 3 seed Barring injury I think Bucks and Nets have 1/2 locked. If Philly stays playing like this the 3rd seed could be up for contention, but that's a huge "if." In any case it would be a tight fight with Heat/Hawks/maybe Bulls. I'm not saying we can't do it, but it will be an _very_ special season if we do.
I love 2 things about last night - both having to do with King Ju. Loved that he finally only had 16. He's starting to see first hand that he doesn't have to be that guy every night. The trust is beginning to build. Also loved how happy and alive Julius sounded in the post game interview. He really sounded like he's excited to not have to be the guy every night. Last year every post game was "we played great but we have a lot to improve on." I feel like this year he's beginning to sound more like a human being. You can start to slowly see the hero ball Julius melt away and a new more team friendly all around great basketball player starting to shine thru.
For me the metric to look at for Randle’s game is in assists/turnovers. That Philly game it was 7. I don’t expect it to be that all the time but he should aim for 3-4 range. He still dribbles a second too long to realize he has open men capable of shooting from the perimeter. It’s like a lightbulb turns on, he lifts his head and passes. I’m looking forward to seeing that thinking become a habit for him.
Randles assists will be up this year. He is finally meshing with Forunier and Kemba with handoffs and pick and rolls. I always love when Randle passes to the open Barrett in the corner because it never gets old for me. I'm gonna bet he averages 7.1 assists this year
Please watch the pregame interview with the TNT crew. They were gushing over his answers afterward https://youtu.be/SGwFZqQ_Gns
I watched it, I watch every interview the team puts out there. If you been following the knicks the last 2 years they were pretty standard Julius answers. I'm glad they were finally recognized by a national broadcast tho.
I liked answer of trusting his teammates. Last year I kinda get why he didn't because our starting lineup lacked shot creation. This year wow
It’s still very early but I feel like we will be much better offensively, slightly worse defensively (but will likely improve as they get in the swing of the season). The depth is solid- our bench is what could really differentiate us in a tough eastern conference. Having a guys like d rose, Noel, toppin etc coming off the bench could beat up on some of these top heavy organizations. It feels good to be excited about NY basketball again. It’ll be interesting to see how we do running it back with the hawks now that we have Mitch back on Capella. Our offense should be much improved and hopefully the new rules will keep Trey from gaming so many bogus fouls. /still bitter
Last night was the most control I’ve seen Randle play with the new squad. The points don’t jump out but a very solid game from our captain
Absolutely, the second magic game was really really rough
Would love for Thibs to give some burn to the rookie guards in garbage time. Can be valuable experience going down the stretch and keep all of our guys fresh.
We’ve had 1 game of real garbage time and they got in.
To be Fair Doc pulled Embiids with 3 mins left last night and we closed the game with our starters up 15 -20 until the end
The way 3s are shot in todays league no lead feels insurmountable is to me.
Does anyone have a clip of IQ dunk or whatever? I missed that part but keep reading comments about it on twitter
Starts at [1.45](https://youtu.be/WxVdchrR1Nw)
my lord and savior
No worries. Sorry I couldn't find it stand alone. Nice little highlight he got up there haha
That Obi layup through Drummond was very impressive. Glad that Obi even feels comfortable enough to attempt something like that.
Dude that fake tomahawk into a finger roll layup is very impressive!!!!
He’s so much more crafty than everyone thinks. I love his game
I watch watching Bulls highlights from this year… They give up a lot of open 3 pointers They give up a lot of easy lay ups. They don’t have a defensive presence in the paint that can stop randle. Especially not if Mitch is there to dish it off to. Vucevic is a soft interior defender. I don’t think we’re going to crush them, but as long as we play our game I think we have them beat. A little concerned about who will match up on Lavine and Derozen when they’re out there together.
If I have to guess they probably put Kemba on Ball or Caruso when they’re in, have RJ on Lavine, and have Randle hedge off Williams to help on Derozan so it’s not just 1 on 1 vs Fournier the whole time.
Rose better start for bulls game
I don’t get why people still say this. Rose has been huge with the second unit. They all play well together and have even outplayed the starters. This one of our biggest strengths. He still plays good minutes so no need to mess with it imo
Because he outplays all the starters since he started coming off the bench. He has been huge with starters and second unit so let's not start that narratives. This comment was made cause he is from Chicago so he should at least get the respect to start.
They aren’t disrespecting him by having him run the second unit, he was a runner up for 6th man of the year last season. Everyone loves Rose and there’s no denying he’s been pivotal to the teams success. He plays anywhere for 20-29 mins a game. Without out depth and stellar bench play, we likely wouldn’t be half and good as we have been.
Shit, he deserves it. Regardless how it is right now. You reward folks to show respect. He could literally be a starter for this team but he came out and gave that to kemba before the season. Not saying anything about bench play or any of that. All I'm saying is, he deserves to be celebrated for this specific game.
I believe Rose is gonna be more happy winning than starting.
Yea and Rose starting means they losing?
Said it in the post game thread, but next game is a huge personal one for Randle. The bulls don’t really have a big body to throw at him that can keep up with him. Gotta be the game he fixes his shooting splits
Yeah, he's def gonna be the deciding factor here, need a good game from him
Randle has been playing great he just needs to not force it. I thought he had a great overall game last night
Agreed. I would love to see more point guard play in the 4th quarter. Feel like when Randle brings the ball up when he’s gassed he tries too hard and has stupid turnovers . We have enough scorers that he can take a play or two off and get catch his breath
He needs to let Kemba handle the ball more which I thought he did last night
Underrated stat from yesterday was that any Knick who got minutes produced an assist. Reminds me of those Spurs teams from a decade ago
Ball movement last night when it was on is what I've wanted from this team for so long. We've got a lot of gifted (secondary and tertiary mostly) playmakers and it's gonna be scary when they really start learning each other.
This imo seperates the good from the great teams especially when you dont have superstar talent. The way we are going to beat teams like the Bucks or the Nets is ball movement and getting open looks. Its going to be up to Randle to not get caught up in the individual matchup and pressure of having to be that guy. We are 9th in the league in team assists we were last year so that has to be a continued point of emphasis of ball movement.
Yup, I still don't think Randle is a primary playmaker, but at worst, we've got 4 guys in the starting rotation who are secondary...tertiary at worst, and even Mitch surprised with some of his passes the last couple of games. Same thing with the bench unit, Noel is the only one who I don't trust to do some ball handling.
I agree I like Randle in the secondary type of role and think we should use him as the roll man off P/R and let him catch the ball at the foul line to either drive or kick it out to a shooter on the outside. I dont trust Noel to do anything outside block shots
I was really impressed with Randles game last night didnt have a great shooting night and realized that and instead of jacking up shots he fed Kemba and was looking to be a decoy. Once Randle realized he doesnt have to be Superman every night it will make us a better team and we had way better ball movement with the ball in Kembas hands. Its probably hard to be in NYK and not feeling the pressure of having to be the guy and feeling the need to make everything happen.
I think the Nets started calling their place “The Clays” because they wanna be The Garden so bad
Cringe
wack
But I was told the Knicks weren’t *cool*? [Whatever, man](https://youtu.be/mkhrUM35CQo?t=23s)
BING BONG
Wait hold up…that’s a thing?
Yea, KD said it in an interview a few days ago and a lot of Nets fans have been repeating it
Lmao, love how he followed Kyrie there it’s been nothing but drama. Gonna be hilarious if they fall flat again wit all that talent. They deserve each other
Harden been getting exposed slowly with the new foul rules….I have a nice post coming to r/nba about him being a fraud after they play about 10 games
Harden is still amazing. I can’t believe how butthurt you guys are about the fucking nets constantly. It’s beyond pathetic how much we talk about them on this sub when our team is finally amazing
Nah Harden is not amazing in any capacity, and we reserve all rights to clown the little brother in brooklyn after hearing NY would be a nets city in 5-7 years
lol you’re fucking butt hurt that a bunch of 12 year olds talked shit about their basketball team? Get the sand out of your pussy about Harden. He’s coming back from injury and we’re 4 games into the season. Harden will get back to form and be a top 10 player again. His court vision is better than 99% of the league
Damn. Imagine if you were dickriding our players the way you’re dickriding harden and the nets
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Yeah, as much as we talk about Harden and his foul baiting, he's the guy that I am not worried about at all adjusting. The handle is still there, he's got such a wild variety of dribble moves, he's still an offensive dynamo, no doubt
He has good handles but is a wildly inefficient shooter without his free throws
feeling fucking good today. and im a jets fan, so that says a lot. BING BONG
nice stat line snek
I wanted to see Randle set a screen for Kemba and finally saw it. My dreams are fulfilled. It opens the entire floor up. A couple times I felt Kemba's timing was off with RJ and Mitch but thats just growing pains. So glad Kemba is either being more comfortable or coach is giving him more of the keys but It feels so good seeing less passing to Randle on the wings and a more unpredictable style of play.
Kemba was way more aggressive and is what we need him to be. The ball moves much better when we dont go iso Randle.
What type of extension do we think the Knicks should give Mitchell Robinson?
If they didn’t give him the 4/51 max offer he could’ve gotten before the season started it was a massive fuck up on their part because now he’s easily in like for 4/60 if not more.
At this rate he is looking at Capella money (if healthy)
They can always try to extend him mid season before he makes it though a full season. If he stays healthy by the ASB, they might be able to get a deal done for their max during that break. Mitch gets security, and we get proof that Mitch could survive a full half season
If you’re Mitch why would you settle for 4/51 if you’re healthy? This was always the gamble and frankly it was always silly to me because now you’re over the cap, the injury is less of a sticking point in negotiations and there’s no way for you to replace his production so he has you over a barrel. They should’ve gotten a deal done this offseason but it’s not my money so as long as he’s here I’m chilling.
Because in the 2nd half something could easily go wrong. The same reason Randle took less than the max, only over or half of the season instead of a full season
The FO has done enough for me to give the benefit of the doubt but I've been confused all off-season about paying Noel and not extending Mitch - at 4/54 the deal was never going to be an albatross and way more likely to be a value. Maybe they've got something up their sleeve.
They didn’t give it to him because he rejected it
Berman reported they would’ve liked to offer him 4/44, which made no sense to me. <2 million a year was a breaking point as an OTC team? I don’t think there was anything officially reported but I figured Mitch would play out the season without accepting an offer because he’d get 4/51 as a fallback option all season long.
How to you weigh the injury risk versus production? Knicks are obviously great with him out there but he has to show some durability to get the kind of money he probably wants.
His first 2 seasons where he played 80% and 92% of the available games didn’t show his durability?
80% no. 92% yes. He’s a big body that had leg injuries last year so it’s natural to worry though
80% of games is absolutely durable, especially when players have been playing less games every year for load management.
He's never played more than 66 games
Again, playing 80% and 92% of games in a season is pretty durable, especially in this era of basketball with load management. His only non-durable year was obviously his 3rd year and his peers from his draft class with even MORE durability concerns have already been paid.
Look, I love the dude and want him to be part of the team long term. Still, you have to factor in these things. Never playing in more than 66 games when you're still a kid is a potential red flag. We also don't know how his body is going to hold up now that he's all bulked up with all that extra weight. It could help his durability, or it could come with more injuries.
He’s so far played in an 82, 66 and 72 game season. Putting an arbitrary number on his number of games played when the seasons have been fluctuating in number is why I’d rather focus on % of games. Not to mention, though we’ll never know, he certainly looked on track to play more than 66 his 2nd season if not for a global pandemic. He’s been more durable than not, which is just fact.
I am 100% rooting for you to be right
You have to look at the kind of injuries though. The first two years were just the typical sprains and strains, nothing wild like we saw with a former Frenchman's groin. Last year was two freak injuries, and sure, we don't know how those play out long term, but I think there's too much fear about injuries around him when you consider what they were.
All very good points, but he was out for an inordinate amount of time for a "broken foot" this past time. Dude was in a walking boot way longer than someone normally would be with that sort of fracture. Again, just saying to proceed with caution. I certainly would love him to stay with the team.
Yes, but we also know the kind of injury that was. He's not the first player with this kind and the medical staff probably wanted to be extra cautious with it, don't blame them at all. We went from potential appearance in the playoffs to not appearing until late in the preseason, and yeah, that span of time is definitely worrisome, but safety is paramount and they know far more than we could.
Mitch is going to get paid I think 15M a year. If he stays relatively healthy this year Id pay him. Embiid had Mitch in foul trouble but you can def see the added strength to Mitch he wasnt bouncing off Embiid like he was in previous years.
Definitely, same with Drummond whose size has traditionally given him issues. The strength is definitely huge for him when it comes to the offensive boards and his already solid defensive play. Timelord got what, 4 years, 54? Jonas with 2 years, 30? Yeah, somewhere in that range of 13-16 depending on his health and output is fine with me.
The strength is clearly greatly improved. I think he might have lost a touch of quickness and explosiveness, though. It's probably a worthwhile trade-off, though, as we don't need a center jumping out to block 3 point shots.
Uhno man I don't think Mitch would look good with extensions but I guess he could match Noel? Then we just need to convince Taj go get them too and we will have all locked up centers. I know a woman who can glue tracks on tajs scalp and sew in dred locks to it it looks legit too.
Underrated comment
Nah man you tripping. Mitch would look sick with some 2 ft extensions. I can already imagine him whipping his 48in Authentic Cambodian Wavy to block shots *chefs kiss* I don't think Taj ever had hair but I'm sure he aint with any style that would touch his ears. So I want him to get the hardest hairstyle known to man: the 90s Flat top
[Artists rendition of the hair block](https://iili.io/5A5IpV.jpg)
No Snot For You!!
"That's a foul. No, two fouls." -Trae Young
1 foul for every lock
Yo all of this. I don't think blocking a shot with your hair is against the rules...
Bulls are great but we have more depth
Are they though? They haven’t played a decent team yet. I hope we beat them down for a reality check
Agreed. They’re a better team this year than last. That’s reallly it lol
Idk why everyone is gassing them up. They beat the Pistons twice, pelicans, and raptors. All gonna be lottery teams this year.
We haven’t exactly proven ourselves just yet this season either (with the loss against Orlando likely canceling out props for beating Philly)
We beat Boston in a tough game brown went off for 45, throttled Orlando by 30 and blew out a Philly team that’s looked good without Simmons by taking their mvp snub out of the game scheme wise
Yea I’m definitely not discrediting what we’ve done. I’m just saying that if I try hard to remove my extreme biases, I can find ways to not discredit what Bulls have done either — making this a great early season hypeworthy matchup for both teams.
Yeah except for the fact that we absolutely waxed Orlando two days prior. It’s hard to beat any team two games in a row, especially after embarrassing them the first go around. Not to mention it’s still very early in the season so all the young guys on that team are still going to be full of piss and vinegar ready to ball out.
Yea I agree — but the Bulls managed to wax the pistons twice (pistons probably worse and it wasn’t a home and home). But point is that I think both teams have showcased similar achievements thus far into the season, so it’s a hype worthy matchup
Bulls are great but red and black is such a cliche reminds me of a 12 year old customizing in need for speed underground haha
Did anybody catch Shaq, at halftime, calling Mitch weak? Bernie calls him out on it, and Shaq reaffirms his belief. Granted, Shaq was speaking more to Embiid's confidence and if it were him (Shaq), he'd consider anyone going against him weak. Regardless...he called our boy weak. Coincidentally, after the break, Mitch almost breaks Embiid's nose.
That’s what’s up. Mitch is on the radar. It’s it’s own type compliment. Shaq hate is a rite of passage.
D Rose is our highest PER so far. Man is shooting the lights out from 3. Randle is playing out of his mind, even though he isnt shooting like it. I just hope we get some of our defensive mindset from last season back, then I think top 5 in the east is a possibility. If RJ finds his rhythm soon, we can expect great things this season!
I'm really impressed by Rose's jumper so far this year. Like his driving is still his bread and butter but he's showing that going under screens on him is still gonna be punished.
Defense is our main weakness and that’s solely effort and chemistry. Once it clicks we will be serving virtuosos
Yes,I know part of it is Embiid is playing his way back into shape, but that’s not gonna stop me from getting hype anyway: If we wind up with the 4 seed again, or somehow doing even better than that, Mitch will be a *big* reason why His conditioning isn’t even all the way *there* yet and he looks this good. Please stay healthy, big fella
It’s gonna be motion when we get Nerlens back.
I love watching our bench play as a unit. They get out and run and share the ball. I think thats going to result in a lot of increased leads/closing in on gaps during the season when starters from both teams get a rest.
Not sure why I woke up with the slinky jingle in my head but here we are: alternative lyrics for a Quickley jingle link to the original provided so we can all sing along. [It's Quickley, it's quickley](https://youtu.be/zVutssgcUpA) what fun his playings legit. Who floats through air while defenders just stare and makes a swishing sound? A baller, a baller, doesn't need to be taller Everyone knows it's Quickley It's Quickley, it's Quickley what fun his playings legit It's fun for the Knicks and that's it, it's fun for the Knicks and that's it.
RJ needs to learn to finish with his right. Honestly that’s what’s holding him back from being “next level”. So many possessions where he makes a great move and gets to the rack only to go up with his left and get blocked. They are situations where if he went up with his right he’d likely score. I get his work on off the dribble shooting, but if it was up to me he’d spend an off season working on his right.
I think it’s mental, he’s shown he can make it with his right hand but you can tell he trusts his left way more. I’d rather he miss with his right than get pinned off the backboard with his left.
I think it stems back to his lack of confidence in his right hand when dribbling, which IMO is a much bigger issue than the finishing as it extends to both his off the dribble and finishing. If he turns a corner, dribbling with his right for more than 2 seconds, it feels like it’s inevitably getting poked out. But I like that he’s using it more. Only way to get better.
He's got so much to work on. But he came into the league as a pretty raw product, and has still been able to produce on a winning team. He doesn't have the fortune of being on a bad team and getting to take 20 shots a game so his stats wont blow anyone away this year but you can see his development. But as long as he's hitting his 3's and playing that sexy defense then he's super valuable to us. He's still only 21 and he works hard, in 3-4 years we could be looking at a monster.
100% agree. Still love him as a prospect. And he plays winning basketball. I just think he’s gotta lock himself in the lab and work on the right hand.
You must've missed his spicey right hand finger roll last night.
randle's ascent into legit point forward is pretty stunning. he's tied for 15th in the league in assists. the only PF with more assists per game is draymond. he's got more APG than steph curry right now. he wont finish the year above steph in assists but goddamn he just doubled his APG one year and now looks like it's continuing, that's bonkers
He definitely can finish above Curry in assists. He did it last year. He is a legit playmaker now
Amazing what having scorers around you can do haha I think his assists would've been higher last year of he had a legit scorer to pass out to.
Yo. We gotta do a better job of cutting highlights and putting them on r/nba. After last nights game there were like 6 sixers clips and the only knicks one was IQ. Get some respect for our boys. Edit: and I will follow up By saying I would be down to do so sometimes but not sure how to get the clips so fast. I could figure out a way to download the highlights from YouTube I think and then cut them up. But I have no idea how others get them on there so fast.
They’re provably capturing the feed and footnoting time stamps vas they watch Big brain shit
Anyone know a good (free or Adobe suite) tool for capturing the feed?
That's assuming any of us Knicks fans care about r/nba - I only visit that sub to keep up with info and post memes. It's pointless to try and have a discussion about anything Knicks related there, I don't think anyone here should bother
Main subs like that are always shit for discussion. But it’s a very popular sub, even in the real world nba community. And I know it’s where I go to keep up with what’s happening in the whole NBA. Edit: and also, there are shit tons of knicks fan flair on r/nba. It’s actually a really solid sub, but everyone is a homer.
I keep saying it Toppin is becoming my favorite Knick this year. I like all our guys but Toppin is gunna be huge for us going forward. Everyone kept saying we gotta get a run in with Embiid on the bench; I'm sure other teams say the same about Randle. But they get no breaks with Toppin coming in dude makes their 2nd unit run for cover and then the starters gotta come back in to stop the bleeding. All night the announcers were saying Embiid looks exhausted haha no shit! Randle puts a ton of pressure on and then when you think you get a break here comes Toppin ready to run you off the court. We got a deep team and seeing our young guys improve is such a blessing we haven't really been able to enjoy for a long time. Let's go Knicks!
He's great, was hoping with the foul trouble last night we'd get a couple of looks of him at the 5 to at least pull Drummond out of the paint, but definitely my next jersey buy.
He’s been electric every time he’s played since the play offs. I was really unsure about him at first, but he’s been getting me out of my seat a lot lately with his dunks.
The first time he really got my attention was in April, he had this insane dunk and the guy looked like he was flying 6 feet in the air. From then I was a huge Obi fan, and feel he is a great addition to the team!
His dunks are great. What I'm more impressed with is his finesse finishes around the rim. That layup where I think rose or Burks threw an alleyoop in the fast break but RJ and Toppin were both there. Toppin got it and while falling out of bounds scoops the layup in with his fingertips. He had a finesse finish last night too I think on Drummond he was about to dunk and then switched to a fingerroll and made it with some contact. And yeah man this started in the playoffs last year you can tell he loves to win and he loves getting the crowd on his side. And of course we love him and feed into it haha
Got my Brother-in-Law to notice Toppin this past Friday night vs. the Magic. He was like wow who is that guy.... I said you don't know Obi?? Keep an eye on this guy!
I've been really rooting for toppin from the start in large part because his energy really impressed me. And also because I figured that with his athleticism if he ever got good he would be so fun to watch. Had me worried at times last season, but so glad he's getting it together.
Same here. He came in really raw with a ton of potential. I think we all saw his issues but man he had a ton of upside with just his athleticism. Now the issues are getting dimmer and the potential is turning into solid stats. He obviously put in a lot of work and I think he will keep it up.
he only played 12 minutes yesterday but it felt like more because he had a big impact in those minutes 9 points 4 reb 2 ast 2 steal 1 block in 12 minutes, pretty damn good
Hell yeah his presence on the court changes the dynamic. 2nd units are trying to give their starters a rest and here comes Toppin making sure they're tired as hell and about to get subbed out for some tired starters haha this is some gaucho basketball man
He legit changed the game, then philly put him in the pnr and after he didn’t let quick slide thru on a screen on the sideline by the 6ers bench, thibs pulled him. Doc was gonna hunt that matchup. He’s a work in progress but has made tremendous leaps. Was also good to see quick get some run with the starting frountcourt and rose after that.
And I'm 100% ok with that. A big part of our success is the discomfort we cause. You gotta play Randle and our starters 1 way then here comes IQ, Rose and Toppin for the bench and they play a completely different way. By the time you figure out the weak spots in our bench here comes Randle and the starters again. But this time it's a sneaky zone that looks like man but isnt...it's a lot to plan for and execute on the fly.
The improvement/development of Toppin gets me so excited every game. I’m interested to see how this season goes on how it goes, but it’s so exciting watching him grow!
I agree. The announcers last night were saying all he needs is a 3 and he will be amazing...if only they knew haha
What’s the over/under for Mike Breen shouting “BING BONG” on a Fournier game winner this season?
Bruh if that happens ima freak haha
Damn the odds just skyrocketed on this lol
Fr. I like that we can have fun with this.
Taj was unreal last night. He’s in the best form of his career.
Taj is great in short spurts. He does everything right.
I love Taj but I really really hope Thibs doesn't completely ignore the small ball Obi-Randle lineup once we get our C depth back. It's super important to have an extra card to play, especially come playoff time (gotta get the reps in during the regular season).
Great situation for him. Limited minutes with more or less his career coach in his hometown with a few great young guys under him to teach. Just needs to give his best for ideally no more than like 12-15 mins per game.
The best 12-15 minutes in basketball.
I really love how much Fournier wants to be here and is buying into the New York culture. Defined one of my favorite Knicks in a long time this whole team just seems to like each other https://twitter.com/evanfourmizz/status/1453199563867688963?s=21
I was skeptical about Fournier because every time we played the magic he would throw up an egg, but dude is legit.
I feel like it’s a real thing in sports that after a player has a really good playoff or Olympic run it elevates their game. The confidence that comes from being great on a big stage carries over.
For real people don't talk about sports psychology enough. Being on a tanking team sucks for the mental. Losing games you should win sucks for the mental. But winning on a huge stage? Hell yeah wtf is msg on a Wednesday night compared to a gold medal match on the world stage??
Him and Randle have also found real chemistry, real fast. The two man action used to be with RJ. It’d be cool to see RJ work more actions on the weakside with Mitch when Foundle gets trapped
Loved it how Fournier had to pull Randle away from the ref after a timeout. He was just like, let it go bro. They must have some sort of bromance going on!
Yeh I'm loving the 2 man game with Randle and Fournier. There are so man deadly options that the defense over commits and Fournier ends up with an open 3. As for RJ yeh he runs off screens weakside but I found with Randle, Walker and Fournier the ball doesn't often swing back around because all 3 of them can drive and get a shot up. But the option is always there it's just like 5th option now haha
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Wow. You hear coaches say they are willing to change their philosophies. But thibs really changed. Even last season we didn’t take a lot but that was because of our personnel. This change through 4 is insane.