Post#23 » by JonFromVA » Thu Nov 2, 2023 2:56 pm
The Knicks clearly blew whatever energy they had winning the previous game and then lost Barrett who had been terrific for them so far this season, while we got LeVert back. LeVert had some ugly moments but he still put 19 points on the board in a game points were hard to come by. I suppose it was enough to counter what Quickley gave the Knicks.
Tristan used to be a mobile big and a vertical big and we don't see much of that left. He is still good at some things others on our team are not, so there's that; which is better than I feared. He was once considered small for a C, but for us he's a big body that sets good screens, boxes out, keeps opponents engaged boxing him out, rebounds well, and still has everything he learned along the way to a championship. If he turns out to be only useful .vs. the Knicks, well, that's not a terrible thing I suppose, but there's no guarantee we face them again.
I thought we did a better job creating space for Evan. We'd run stuff that would drag Mitchell Robinson out of the paint and then let him enjoy attacking the traffic cone which is Randle and/or the smaller guys who would try to bother him.
I thought both teams ran a lot more 1v1, but even with all the BS delays in the game, Mitchell and Brunson both wore down. Brunson went right at Isaac and for the most part either schooled him or drew a foul. Of course Isaac was tired too, but we really need him to learn how to bother opponents and take things away from them without drawing fouls.
CPJ brought a lot of energy, attacked constantly and bought Mitchell some rest. I might have played him more than 11min, but JBB is JBB and isn't going to push any buttons he isn't forced to when nursing a lead. Don went ice cold in the second half, but he made the 2 shots we most needed him to make in the 4th quarter and then Thibs decided to turn the end of the game in to a free throw shooting contest.
The Knicks killed us on the offensive boards 16-6, but we actually beat them on the defensive boards 40-34. Of course those stats were both fed by a whole lot of Knicks missed shots.
Of course with Caris back, JBB wasn't forced to play Bates or Merrill so he did not, even thought we could have used another fresher body who might make some shots.
