PG: Refs set the tone in the 1st half, Knicks lose to the cHeat and refs, 3 game win streak for the officials!

[spree2kawhi]

This is just chatter – I’m not voicing opposition to the trade for OG whom I love

But let’s say we didn’t make the deal … with Randle going down, RJ could have stepped in, you could play IQ and Deuce together instead of Burks

And RJ would limit the need for Bog. For THIS season, it might have helped

And then you could at least in theory sign and trade IQ and RJ for OG in the off-season (but probably IQ passes on that)

Just an interesting perspective

We we're supposed to have Randle. He's a tank. No one expected the heat to heat.

Yeah not about the decision but just that 20/20 hindsight, those guys may have really been helpful

Thibs is not good at game calls. Wants Bog, wants Donte, doesn't have a clear vision for the game.

They’ve been missing significant time too, so I don’t get the point. Since acquiring OG this has become the greatest Knicks team in more than twenty years, maybe more than thirty. I really don’t get it.

[BigShot Bojan]

Concerning to me was how Brunson failed to close out quarters. In the second, he missed a 3 with under two minutes remaining that could have cut the lead to 6. Instead, we went into the half down 15, I think. Similar issue in the 3rd and then again obviously to close the game itself.

Unless something changes quickly, we could see the same tendency slide us down the standings for the remainder of the season.

What is concerning about fatigue?

That it will continue in the Playoffs. That Thibs has already squeezed every ounce out of his best player (and second-best and third-best) before the regular season has even finished.

Brunson is 15th for total minutes played this season...
and in the 20s for mpg...
a little bit of rest he will be fine..

Mikal Bridges
Domantas Sabonis
Coby White
Dejounte Murray
Paolo Banchero
Anthony Davis
Anthony Edwards
Kevin Durant
Nikola Jokic
Jayson Tatum
Fred VanVleet
Luka Doncic
Giannis Antetokounmpo

all have played more total minutes than brunson...He just won player of the month... lets get a grip lol Derozen is average 38 mpg

[dakomish23]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=W09F6FrMDfp5_y1gKYgF1g

Against the heat we have a Josh hart problem folksssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brunson should have made the initial dump off pass to Hartenstein. He’s proven to be a willing & capable passer.

[spree2kawhi]

The last 3 games would have likely been wins with OG and Randle, or at least gone 2-1. OG would have locked up Vassell in the Spurs games and Rozier last night.

Like I said, just be fully healthy in the playoffs and this team would have the ability to beat anybody in the playoffs.

That is obviously not going to happen.

The guys that are 'healthy' and playing aren't even truly healthy. Brunson has tape everywhere. Donte limps after a lot of his block attempts. The Detroit guys have random small issues. Hart and IHart both trying to play through things (though IHart says he's good now).

This team is gassed. They've played a 1/3rd of a season at 40+ mins a night for 3 of the starters and 5 if Jalen and IHart weren't visibly breaking down. And if OG and Julius don't come back, they're going to play close to half a season at those minutes. Thats impossible for our team to win that way with the amount of effort we HAVE to put forth to secure wins.

100% peaked too early. This team has run out of gas. It will remain difficult to find a fuel station.

[cgmw]

What is concerning about fatigue?

That it will continue in the Playoffs. That Thibs has already squeezed every ounce out of his best player (and second-best and third-best) before the regular season has even finished.

Brunson is 15th for total minutes played this season...
and in the 20s for mpg...
a little bit of rest he will be fine..

Mikal Bridges
Domantas Sabonis
Coby White
Dejounte Murray
Paolo Banchero
Anthony Davis
Anthony Edwards
Kevin Durant
Nikola Jokic
Jayson Tatum
Fred VanVleet
Luka Doncic
Giannis Antetokounmpo

all have played more total minutes than brunson...He just won player of the month... lets get a grip lol Derozen is average 38 mpg

Oh ok, my bad. I forgot that MPG with zero context is the true indicator of fatigue and proof that player injury is nothing but haphazard bad luck. I'm sure raw MPG statistics also 100% explain Thibs' long history of exhausting his rotation players to overachieve in the regular season while failing in the Playoffs. Thanks for the insight! I feel much better.

[BigShot Bojan]

That it will continue in the Playoffs. That Thibs has already squeezed every ounce out of his best player (and second-best and third-best) before the regular season has even finished.

Brunson is 15th for total minutes played this season...
and in the 20s for mpg...
a little bit of rest he will be fine..

Mikal Bridges
Domantas Sabonis
Coby White
Dejounte Murray
Paolo Banchero
Anthony Davis
Anthony Edwards
Kevin Durant
Nikola Jokic
Jayson Tatum
Fred VanVleet
Luka Doncic
Giannis Antetokounmpo

all have played more total minutes than brunson...He just won player of the month... lets get a grip lol Derozen is average 38 mpg

Oh ok, my bad. I forgot that MPG with zero context is the true indicator of fatigue and proof that player injury is nothing but haphazard bad luck. I'm sure raw MPG statistics also 100% explain Thibs' long history of exhausting his rotation players to overachieve in the regular season while failing in the Playoffs. Thanks for the insight! I feel much better.

odd because i included mpg and total minutes
he just

won player of the month
averaged 36 ppg over the previous 4 games

he had a bad game last month against the 76ers....weird players have bad games

[god shammgod]

also, i would think the best chances of us advancing to round 2 is facing the cavs or orlando. another reason to try not to fall to 7th and face the bucks who despite their up and down season have 2 killers and championship experience.

The Cavs will want revenge and will play like their lives depend on it, I don't see us beating them if we're not at full strength. If they weren't so young I'd say the Magic would beat us in 6, but that one could be a toss up, we'd be in for an absolutely ugly series with them and the amount of defenders they can throw at Brunson is worrisome. The Heat absolutely beat us in 5 or 6, we just don't have enough scoring to go against teams that can defend.

The only team I'd say we can beat right now as the roster stands are the Pacers.

i didn't think about meeting the pacers for whatever reason. i guess i don't think them or us will move up to 4. but i guess the cavs could fall back. i didn't look at their schedule.

i'm sure the cavs want revenge but donovan has a bad knee that doesn't look like it's gonna get better before the playoffs. he came back and played 2 games and put up some alec burks numbers and then took a game off.

[Gravy]

Of course Brunson is tired, he's been our main and most of the times only offensive player for like two months now. There's no way to rest him until OG and Randle comes back. This is like when Denver could not go on their run until Jamal Murray was back in the rotation.

[iLLmatic860]

I do wish we won some of those close games...I feel like our guys def need a game or two off

its clear to me that og ain't tryna **** up his bag...I can't blame him but it def sucks

[NoDopeOnSundays]

also, i would think the best chances of us advancing to round 2 is facing the cavs or orlando. another reason to try not to fall to 7th and face the bucks who despite their up and down season have 2 killers and championship experience.

The Cavs will want revenge and will play like their lives depend on it, I don't see us beating them if we're not at full strength. If they weren't so young I'd say the Magic would beat us in 6, but that one could be a toss up, we'd be in for an absolutely ugly series with them and the amount of defenders they can throw at Brunson is worrisome. The Heat absolutely beat us in 5 or 6, we just don't have enough scoring to go against teams that can defend.

The only team I'd say we can beat right now as the roster stands are the Pacers.

i didn't think about meeting the pacers for whatever reason. i guess i don't think them or us will move up to 4. but i guess the cavs could fall back. i didn't look at their schedule.

i'm sure the cavs want revenge but donovan has a bad knee that doesn't look like it's gonna get better before the playoffs. he came back and played 2 games and put up some alec burks numbers and then took a game off.

I'd wait and see how Donovan looks in a few more games, but if he's even 70% healthy and we're just Brunson on offense I don't see us beating them without our full team. The motivation factor for the Cavs would be way too high, if both teams are healthy we beat them again, but we're not.

Either way, if we stay at the 4-5 the season ends early regardless, we're not beating the Celtics with OG and Randle coming back this late in the season. The Magic worry me in that they play defense, and without OG/Randle we're incredibly small against them, then you add in Isaac & Suggs on defense and it could get early quickly against them.

[god shammgod]

The Cavs will want revenge and will play like their lives depend on it, I don't see us beating them if we're not at full strength. If they weren't so young I'd say the Magic would beat us in 6, but that one could be a toss up, we'd be in for an absolutely ugly series with them and the amount of defenders they can throw at Brunson is worrisome. The Heat absolutely beat us in 5 or 6, we just don't have enough scoring to go against teams that can defend.

The only team I'd say we can beat right now as the roster stands are the Pacers.

i didn't think about meeting the pacers for whatever reason. i guess i don't think them or us will move up to 4. but i guess the cavs could fall back. i didn't look at their schedule.

i'm sure the cavs want revenge but donovan has a bad knee that doesn't look like it's gonna get better before the playoffs. he came back and played 2 games and put up some alec burks numbers and then took a game off.

I'd wait and see how Donovan looks in a few more games, but if he's even 70% healthy and we're just Brunson on offense I don't see us beating them without our full team. The motivation factor for the Cavs would be way too high, if both teams are healthy we beat them again, but we're not.

Either way, if we stay at the 4-5 the season ends early regardless, we're not beating the Celtics with OG and Randle coming back this late in the season. The Magic worry me in that they play defense, and without OG/Randle we're incredibly small against them, then you add in Isaac & Suggs on defense and it could get early quickly against them.

don't get me wrong, the likelihood is that we lose to anyone. if you take away the 3 games he was back for, the knicks are 12-14 since og got injured initially. we're not really that good without him/them and it doesn't seem like they'll be 100 percent.

[cgmw]

Brunson is 15th for total minutes played this season...
and in the 20s for mpg...
a little bit of rest he will be fine..

Mikal Bridges
Domantas Sabonis
Coby White
Dejounte Murray
Paolo Banchero
Anthony Davis
Anthony Edwards
Kevin Durant
Nikola Jokic
Jayson Tatum
Fred VanVleet
Luka Doncic
Giannis Antetokounmpo

all have played more total minutes than brunson...He just won player of the month... lets get a grip lol Derozen is average 38 mpg

Oh ok, my bad. I forgot that MPG with zero context is the true indicator of fatigue and proof that player injury is nothing but haphazard bad luck. I'm sure raw MPG statistics also 100% explain Thibs' long history of exhausting his rotation players to overachieve in the regular season while failing in the Playoffs. Thanks for the insight! I feel much better.

odd because i included mpg and total minutes
he just

won player of the month
averaged 36 ppg over the previous 4 games

he had a bad game last month against the 76ers....weird players have bad games

He played a solid game last night.

My comment, which you dismissed, is that it’s specifically concerning that he’s missing shots to close out quarters. I agree, as you stated, it’s likely due to fatigue. Nothing you’ve said has done a damn thing to ease my concerns. which I’m now repeating, that I hope it doesn’t carry over to the Playoffs.

[god shammgod]

Read on Twitter

windy saying randle is pretty much f*cked and og won't play until he thinks he's 100 percent. begley is saying og is not even close medically to playing yet and randle won't be able to play the same way.

windy thinks we could beat the cavs or magic. macri thinks we could beat the magic.

[ScienceOfLosing]

What is concerning about fatigue?

That it will continue in the Playoffs. That Thibs has already squeezed every ounce out of his best player (and second-best and third-best) before the regular season has even finished.

Brunson is 15th for total minutes played this season...
and in the 20s for mpg...
a little bit of rest he will be fine..

Mikal Bridges
Domantas Sabonis
Coby White
Dejounte Murray
Paolo Banchero
Anthony Davis
Anthony Edwards
Kevin Durant
Nikola Jokic
Jayson Tatum
Fred VanVleet
Luka Doncic
Giannis Antetokounmpo

all have played more total minutes than brunson...He just won player of the month... lets get a grip lol Derozen is average 38 mpg

How many of those guys are both small and get physically beat up every game?
I think Brunson is more worn down than most of those guys.
Statistics don’t show the full picture, especially the lack of fouls.

[DOT]

Oh ok, my bad. I forgot that MPG with zero context is the true indicator of fatigue and proof that player injury is nothing but haphazard bad luck. I'm sure raw MPG statistics also 100% explain Thibs' long history of exhausting his rotation players to overachieve in the regular season while failing in the Playoffs. Thanks for the insight! I feel much better.

odd because i included mpg and total minutes
he just

won player of the month
averaged 36 ppg over the previous 4 games

he had a bad game last month against the 76ers....weird players have bad games

He played a solid game last night.

My comment, which you dismissed, is that it’s specifically concerning that he’s missing shots to close out quarters. I agree, as you stated, it’s likely due to fatigue. Nothing you’ve said has done a damn thing to ease my concerns. which I’m now repeating, that I hope it doesn’t carry over to the Playoffs.

In the first 3 quarters of games this year Brunson is splitting 48/42/86, .596 TS

In the 4th quarters of games, those numbers dip to 46/29/79, .560 TS

It's not a constant that star players don't get worse in the 4th quarter, but the drop off for Brunson is kind of significant based on the light looking I did. I think what you can see is that his game inside the arc stays consistent which is why I would say he's clutch, but for his 3pt% to fall off so much as well as his ft%, that to me does seem to indicate he's getting gassed by the end

And I'm too lazy to do the math, but if we isolate it to the post-ASB games, he's at .464 TS in those 4th quarters, so the numbers probably aren't good there either

Actually, since the ASB, as a team we have the 9th worst Net rating in the 4th quarter of any team, and the worst TS% in the 4th quarter of any team at 50.1%. 2nd worst is the Grizzlies at 50.6%, 3rd worst is the Heat at 53.9%. Ortg is by far the worst in the league in that time at 101.5

Only reason we're 11-9 in those games is cause our Drtg in the 4th is 2nd best in the league

I don't know how concerning it is that our 4th quarter offense since the ASB is terrible, but I would say it's at least a little concerning.

[cgmw]

odd because i included mpg and total minutes
he just

won player of the month
averaged 36 ppg over the previous 4 games

he had a bad game last month against the 76ers....weird players have bad games

He played a solid game last night.

My comment, which you dismissed, is that it’s specifically concerning that he’s missing shots to close out quarters. I agree, as you stated, it’s likely due to fatigue. Nothing you’ve said has done a damn thing to ease my concerns. which I’m now repeating, that I hope it doesn’t carry over to the Playoffs.

In the first 3 quarters of games this year Brunson is splitting 48/42/86, .596 TS

In the 4th quarters of games, those numbers dip to 46/29/79, .560 TS

It's not a constant that star players don't get worse in the 4th quarter, but the drop off for Brunson is kind of significant based on the light looking I did. I think what you can see is that his game inside the arc stays consistent which is why I would say he's clutch, but for his 3pt% to fall off so much as well as his ft%, that to me does seem to indicate he's getting gassed by the end

And I'm too lazy to do the math, but if we isolate it to the post-ASB games, he's at .464 TS in those 4th quarters, so the numbers probably aren't good there either

Actually, since the ASB, as a team we have the 9th worst Net rating in the 4th quarter of any team, and the worst TS% in the 4th quarter of any team at 50.1%. 2nd worst is the Grizzlies at 50.6%, 3rd worst is the Heat at 53.9%. Ortg is by far the worst in the league in that time at 101.5

Only reason we're 11-9 in those games is cause our Drtg in the 4th is 2nd best in the league

I don't know how concerning it is that our 4th quarter offense since the ASB is terrible, but I would say it's at least a little concerning.

It’s asking a lot for a player with no previous experience as the NBA Alpha to be clutch in final minutes of the fourth quarter of Game 7 when he’s been carrying the entire franchise on his shoulders for 88 games in a row with very little help.

[stuporman]

These media muppets are having a field day talking about stuff they don't know anything with certainty about it but they sure will talk about it as if they do because the Knicks for clicks is still their go to move. If they knew something, they'd report it, not speculate as they are doing.

Don't be one of those fans that slurps up their babbling as fact, what will be will be and they learn virtually the same time as everyone else what it will be...there are no psychics here, just psychos that think they know something they don't and don't be the psycho that believes them.

Randle may have been told the options, surgery means your done for the season and rehab means there is a chance to play this season, not a guarantee to play, a chance to play. He chose to rehab because there's a chance if it means that delaying surgery won't run into next season if he can't play after rehab.

See, this is me speculating and not speaking as if I know what he was presented with, what everyone was thinking, what their plans are or anything like that. It can be done without acting like we have actual knowledge of the situation because the Knicks aren't telling them, that much is clear.

[nykballa2k4]

Hahn made a point on the radio today. After the all-star they have made a point to crack down on guys "hunting" fouls
The way JB jerks his head and generate contact is what the refs are not calling anymore it seems.

My theory is that once Spida said he might not stay in CLE the refs are doing everything they can to get the Cavs into the 2nd round.

[nedleeds]

the heat have - philly, @houston, @pacers, @hawks, mavs, raptors, raptors

let's say they'll go 4-3

pacers have nets, okc, miami, raptors, cavs, hawks all at home

lets' say 3-2

we have kings, @bulls, @bucks, bulls, @boston, nets, bulls,

i'm guessing 3-4 with us beating the nets and the bulls 2 out of 3, losing to the bucks, boston, kings who will be looking for revenge

we would be 47-35
heat would be 46-36
pacers would be 46-36

maybe we can survive at 5th if it works out like this but it's gonna be close. if tied i think miami has the tie breaker. not sure about the pacers. not sure it even matters though as i don't have a lot of hope once we reach the payoffs.

We will get fake wins vs. Boston and possibly Bucks who might be locked by then. Best Thibs win is a they rest everyone, we play 38 minutes win. Then acts like it was real in the presser.

yeah it's possible those teams rest guys. boston already has the east locked up and i think they only need a win or 2 more to have home court in the finals too.

we did have a lot of wins against cupcakes these last couple of months that people celebrated like they meant something

[HarthorneWingo]

Someone needs to put up a game thread for the Kings game tonight.