Notice how Josh Hart seems to have chemistry with EVERYONE? Especially seems to have helped IHart and Obie,plus the obvious synergy with Brunson, IQ, Grimes and McBride. Quick decisions on offense and never stop working on defense. Maximizes his talent.
Randle single handedly lost the Clipper game for us. He’s been a horse for us, so I’ll let it slide, but the message has got to be received.
The games now have an elevated level of intensity, and they are going to even be more intense in the playoffs, and there just is no margin for error. The Clipper game is a perfect example of such, Randle was having an atrocious shooting game, and at the end of the 3rd, with a second left, for no reason he just shoves Plumlee because he could.
If he just does nothing, let’s Plumlee have the rebound, the clock runs out before he can shoot it, and we have a 1 point lead going into the 4th. Instead, there are the technicals, then the foul shots, and we are down by 3 to end the quarter, as part of a 11-0 run, and that was it.
Randle knows that his stupid technical turned the game and that’s why we lost, and it’s also why he came out like a house on fire against the Lakers, but still, there is no margin for error in the playoffs, one mistake can end your season.
So hopefully Randle gets the message, and if he doesn’t get any technicals in the playoffs, if the cost of that is the Clippers game, then it was worth it.
The Blazers are 3-7 in their last 10. Sure looks like they have committed to just playing out the schedule, so we should be able to take this one even without Brunson.
With 3 days off before Denver, and 5 days off before the T Wolves, I would hold Brunson out until Minnesota. The one thing you don’t want to do is rush him back and then have him play at 80% with a sore foot, and then still lose to Denver anyway. I’d rather hold him out the 2 extra days, and know you have him at 100% going forward.
At this point you have to assume the only thing your playing for is that you are competing with the Nets to see who gets the 5 seed, and with them having a tough schedule over the next 6 games, I’d wait until Minnesota on the 20th to bring back Brunson, because I feel we do that we can still get to April with either a 1 or 2 game cushion on the Nets, with the tiebreaker in our favor.
Weird team. Without Brunson and with cold shooting I think it is even more evident how dominate this team has been on the offensive glass. Can you depend on offensive rebounding to be as load bearing as it is for the Knicks? Will teams be able to take in away in a series and is there a counter if they do? I honestly don't know.
I missed the first quarter last night but started watching in the 2nd. The guy that stood out was Q. Man, Qucikley had it going. He was super aggressive on offensive and seemed able to create a good shot at will even when the help came. It seemed like when Q got the ball you knew it was going up and he was probably going to score.
In the second half Barrett was the guy that stood out and it was similar. His array of finishes was as impressive as I think we've seen. Similar to Q in the 2nd I think we all knew he was going to the cup when he got it and he was going to shoot.
Btw, Randle had 25 in the first half.
I also learned yesterday that Obi Toppin is the 91% for 3-point attempts per 36. That man has a quick trigger. Hopefully they start going in again.
We all thought the Harts were great against the Lakers. Josh took 4 shots in 32 mins. IHart didn't score.
When Barrett got it going and with Randle being the top dog on this team Q wound up finishing with 15 points and it felt like he wasn't involved in the offense much in the 2nd half
After every game fans on Twitter post videos of Knick players standing wide open doing some silly dance calling for the ball in vain while the player, they want to take a dig at misses a difficult "self-created" look.
The Knicks have a top 5 offense. The modern NBA is weird. This team is one of the stranger ones.
Nice writing Macri. Love the Hollywood/Oscar winning movie themed newsletter. Great use of the word “hibernating” to describe the Bad Julius that has poked his head back out in Brunson’s absence. That was what was making it hard for me to embrace all of the recent Julius love. Talking the talk about emotional growth is one thing but those of us with eyes that watch every Knick game see his nightly obsessive compulsive barking at referees that is alarming. It clearly impacts his play on both ends and makes him an unreliable teammate and closer. Acquiring a guy like Brunson that commands the respect with his attitude and performance is absolutely integral to unlocking any of Randle’s value. Randle has never and may never respect guys like RJ or IQ because he must be unequivocally dropped in his role by a far superior alpha personality as Brunson has done. If they intend to keep Ju they’ll need to acquire on more elite or about to be elite (Brunson) player to drop Ju into his best role as a third star being a superstar in his role. In the meantime... let’s get Brunson back and collect as many wins as we can no matter how we get them.
Thank you! I try my best at 2 am lol. Re: Julius, I don’t know that he’ll ever be able to fit into that typical “3rd star” archetype, but we’ve already seen immense growth with him essentially ceding the late game offense to Brunson. I also don’t think it’s an accident that they go through Julius in the first...kind of a way to make sure he gets his numbers, and honestly, it’s been great for the team. Also keep in mind: RJ has a significant usage rate of 25 %. Slotting in a 3rd star into that usage or even a little higher wouldn’t require Julius to have to adjust all that much, especially since I can guarantee you Brunson’s usage would go down from the 26.4 it currently is (and given his size and role, that’s not a bad thing).
Solid points all around. The usage and rotations work pretty well when we have all our guys. When one piece falls out...there’s a trickle down effect that exposes our lack of depth (as long as Thibs sticks to his guns on limiting Obi, Deuce & Rose/Fournier).
Brunson’s injury is a very good reminder that there is a huge drop off from their best player to their next best. That has to be remedied in the off-season for the Knicks to ever become a top echelon NBA team. And I’d vote to make Randle and RJ the trade bait.
Those two guys have extremely low basketball IQ’s and this fact sticks out terribly when Brunson is not there to handle the ball and his teammates. To me, the near untouchables on the team are Quickley and Hart, and the please-please finally trade the guy is Randle.
Randle is the quintessential “I think I’m a whole lot better” guy who often pounds, pounds, pounds the ball, and then throws up a lousy shot. RJ unfortunately is settling into who he is as a player -- extremely inefficient, bad three-point shooting, low percentage driving player.
I really hope Brunson is healing and comes back soon otherwise I fear the 7th slot will become a definite possibility.
Tough part with Randle: yes, we know he’s volatile, but that volatility is baked into his value League-wide, and they’re not going to get a fair return. Meanwhile, we know alongside Brunson, it can work here. So it’s a matter of selling for 50 cents on the dollar or counting on the fact that he’ll be just fine alongside his PG.
My thought with RJ and Julius taking most of the shots, Quickely not getting the ball until the end of the shot clock, his talents are better when he’s not on the floor with RJ and Julius. While Julius has been going off in the 1st quarter the team is not creating any separation since the defense stinks. I think Deuce is such a disruptive force on defense I think it would help the starters.
What do people think while Brunson is out? Starting Deuce and having Quickely back with second unit. Just a thought about a better defensive player with RJ and Julius being seemingly disinterested in defense at the beginning of games.
I think Thibs views IQ as someone capable of playing 40 minutes if need be. Also, while IQ certainly makes the 2nd unit better offensively I don't think Duece is any threat offensively as a starter while he seems to be getting more confident shooting the ball against 2nd team defensive players. So I'm ok as is hoping it helps Duece's long term development.
Notice how Josh Hart seems to have chemistry with EVERYONE? Especially seems to have helped IHart and Obie,plus the obvious synergy with Brunson, IQ, Grimes and McBride. Quick decisions on offense and never stop working on defense. Maximizes his talent.
Smart players can play with anyone. It’s why Hart and IQ work with any lineup.
I can see Grimes getting there eventually, as well. He runs the baseline and cuts to the basket well.
I agree.
Randle single handedly lost the Clipper game for us. He’s been a horse for us, so I’ll let it slide, but the message has got to be received.
The games now have an elevated level of intensity, and they are going to even be more intense in the playoffs, and there just is no margin for error. The Clipper game is a perfect example of such, Randle was having an atrocious shooting game, and at the end of the 3rd, with a second left, for no reason he just shoves Plumlee because he could.
If he just does nothing, let’s Plumlee have the rebound, the clock runs out before he can shoot it, and we have a 1 point lead going into the 4th. Instead, there are the technicals, then the foul shots, and we are down by 3 to end the quarter, as part of a 11-0 run, and that was it.
Randle knows that his stupid technical turned the game and that’s why we lost, and it’s also why he came out like a house on fire against the Lakers, but still, there is no margin for error in the playoffs, one mistake can end your season.
So hopefully Randle gets the message, and if he doesn’t get any technicals in the playoffs, if the cost of that is the Clippers game, then it was worth it.
The Blazers are 3-7 in their last 10. Sure looks like they have committed to just playing out the schedule, so we should be able to take this one even without Brunson.
With 3 days off before Denver, and 5 days off before the T Wolves, I would hold Brunson out until Minnesota. The one thing you don’t want to do is rush him back and then have him play at 80% with a sore foot, and then still lose to Denver anyway. I’d rather hold him out the 2 extra days, and know you have him at 100% going forward.
At this point you have to assume the only thing your playing for is that you are competing with the Nets to see who gets the 5 seed, and with them having a tough schedule over the next 6 games, I’d wait until Minnesota on the 20th to bring back Brunson, because I feel we do that we can still get to April with either a 1 or 2 game cushion on the Nets, with the tiebreaker in our favor.
I’m not ready to bury Miami just yet
40 wins! Guaranteed winning record on the road and big wins without our most important player. Lets go Knicks!
Weird team. Without Brunson and with cold shooting I think it is even more evident how dominate this team has been on the offensive glass. Can you depend on offensive rebounding to be as load bearing as it is for the Knicks? Will teams be able to take in away in a series and is there a counter if they do? I honestly don't know.
I missed the first quarter last night but started watching in the 2nd. The guy that stood out was Q. Man, Qucikley had it going. He was super aggressive on offensive and seemed able to create a good shot at will even when the help came. It seemed like when Q got the ball you knew it was going up and he was probably going to score.
In the second half Barrett was the guy that stood out and it was similar. His array of finishes was as impressive as I think we've seen. Similar to Q in the 2nd I think we all knew he was going to the cup when he got it and he was going to shoot.
Btw, Randle had 25 in the first half.
I also learned yesterday that Obi Toppin is the 91% for 3-point attempts per 36. That man has a quick trigger. Hopefully they start going in again.
We all thought the Harts were great against the Lakers. Josh took 4 shots in 32 mins. IHart didn't score.
When Barrett got it going and with Randle being the top dog on this team Q wound up finishing with 15 points and it felt like he wasn't involved in the offense much in the 2nd half
After every game fans on Twitter post videos of Knick players standing wide open doing some silly dance calling for the ball in vain while the player, they want to take a dig at misses a difficult "self-created" look.
The Knicks have a top 5 offense. The modern NBA is weird. This team is one of the stranger ones.
A complete anomaly in terms of how they score, as I wrote a few weeks ago. Fascinated to see how it translates to the postseason.
9 through 12 in the West are all 33-35. It’s gonna be a fun stretch run!
Nice writing Macri. Love the Hollywood/Oscar winning movie themed newsletter. Great use of the word “hibernating” to describe the Bad Julius that has poked his head back out in Brunson’s absence. That was what was making it hard for me to embrace all of the recent Julius love. Talking the talk about emotional growth is one thing but those of us with eyes that watch every Knick game see his nightly obsessive compulsive barking at referees that is alarming. It clearly impacts his play on both ends and makes him an unreliable teammate and closer. Acquiring a guy like Brunson that commands the respect with his attitude and performance is absolutely integral to unlocking any of Randle’s value. Randle has never and may never respect guys like RJ or IQ because he must be unequivocally dropped in his role by a far superior alpha personality as Brunson has done. If they intend to keep Ju they’ll need to acquire on more elite or about to be elite (Brunson) player to drop Ju into his best role as a third star being a superstar in his role. In the meantime... let’s get Brunson back and collect as many wins as we can no matter how we get them.
Thank you! I try my best at 2 am lol. Re: Julius, I don’t know that he’ll ever be able to fit into that typical “3rd star” archetype, but we’ve already seen immense growth with him essentially ceding the late game offense to Brunson. I also don’t think it’s an accident that they go through Julius in the first...kind of a way to make sure he gets his numbers, and honestly, it’s been great for the team. Also keep in mind: RJ has a significant usage rate of 25 %. Slotting in a 3rd star into that usage or even a little higher wouldn’t require Julius to have to adjust all that much, especially since I can guarantee you Brunson’s usage would go down from the 26.4 it currently is (and given his size and role, that’s not a bad thing).
Solid points all around. The usage and rotations work pretty well when we have all our guys. When one piece falls out...there’s a trickle down effect that exposes our lack of depth (as long as Thibs sticks to his guns on limiting Obi, Deuce & Rose/Fournier).
Brunson’s injury is a very good reminder that there is a huge drop off from their best player to their next best. That has to be remedied in the off-season for the Knicks to ever become a top echelon NBA team. And I’d vote to make Randle and RJ the trade bait.
Those two guys have extremely low basketball IQ’s and this fact sticks out terribly when Brunson is not there to handle the ball and his teammates. To me, the near untouchables on the team are Quickley and Hart, and the please-please finally trade the guy is Randle.
Randle is the quintessential “I think I’m a whole lot better” guy who often pounds, pounds, pounds the ball, and then throws up a lousy shot. RJ unfortunately is settling into who he is as a player -- extremely inefficient, bad three-point shooting, low percentage driving player.
I really hope Brunson is healing and comes back soon otherwise I fear the 7th slot will become a definite possibility.
Tough part with Randle: yes, we know he’s volatile, but that volatility is baked into his value League-wide, and they’re not going to get a fair return. Meanwhile, we know alongside Brunson, it can work here. So it’s a matter of selling for 50 cents on the dollar or counting on the fact that he’ll be just fine alongside his PG.
My thought with RJ and Julius taking most of the shots, Quickely not getting the ball until the end of the shot clock, his talents are better when he’s not on the floor with RJ and Julius. While Julius has been going off in the 1st quarter the team is not creating any separation since the defense stinks. I think Deuce is such a disruptive force on defense I think it would help the starters.
What do people think while Brunson is out? Starting Deuce and having Quickely back with second unit. Just a thought about a better defensive player with RJ and Julius being seemingly disinterested in defense at the beginning of games.
I think Thibs views IQ as someone capable of playing 40 minutes if need be. Also, while IQ certainly makes the 2nd unit better offensively I don't think Duece is any threat offensively as a starter while he seems to be getting more confident shooting the ball against 2nd team defensive players. So I'm ok as is hoping it helps Duece's long term development.
Those 1 on 4 Carmelo drives to the basket by RJ and JR drive me nutz.....