PG: DO YOU BELIEVE NOW?

[Garbagelo]

I think the most likely reason the Celtics are having trouble beating us is because they aren't a 48 minute team. They coasted most of the season and never got tested. This explains the complete fall offs in play for long stretches of the game.

Now, the Knicks have also shown at times that they can't play for 48 minutes, hence why they have been going down 20.

We just happened to be more clutch when it matters.

[Kampuchea]

Knicks winning thanks to Thibs regular season minutes.

[HEZI]

Of course it has… I thought everyone knew that. If the focus was only protecting the paint, well, we did that all season and got destroyed by 30

Not at all. We are actually doing a better job protecting the paint not the 3 point line. They still get a ton of open looks, which fortunately for us they have been missing. But we have shut down drives on the two guys who can actually get inside and have punished us inside in the past and that’s Tatum and Brown.

It’s far more nuanced than this. Switching has helped, I haven’t heard or read anyone saying it hasn’t anywhere …besides you.

Switching helps more than just defending 3’s too. It puts you in better position to defend drives by far, as you’re not having guys die on the screen forcing KAT to defend two guys coming at him in drop as a result.

Our guys are very active and doing a lot on that side of the ball, so the success is not all because of switching, because the game is complex, but it absolutely, without a doubt, has had a major benefit. I honestly dunno how it’s remotely debatable.

No, the switching has put us in some uncomfortable situations especially earlier in the games. The switching is what got KAT out the game with 3 quick fouls in game 1 and we’ve been in a deep hole in both games. It’s given them a bunch of open and wide open looks from outside. What’s been the biggest difference is the effort to rotate and help, aside from some excellent individual defense from a few. But collectively they are fighting through screens and going over, they aren’t dying on the screens even in drop coverage because they are doing what they were always capable of and just making the effort to get over the screen. OG and Josh have been excellent at coming over to help and getting deflections. Even contests at the rim were super aggressive where we have swarmed them and gotten huge stops with weak side blocks. It’s just the sense of urgency and effort that they are playing with. The principle of protecting the paint has still been the same but we are doing a much better job with our shell defense. We still give up a lot of open 3s and our margin of victory and amount of time we have actually lead hasn’t been that good. Fortunately they have missed a lot of shots they are very capable of making but we’ve still done a much better job of playing with energy and effort.

[Galvationknicks]

Just heard from Nick Wright that out of 90 games that last night was our worse offensive game this year

[knicks1999]

Could the Knicks possibly meet the Pacers in ECF?

[robillionaire]

Could the Knicks possibly meet the Pacers in ECF?

Considering we are both up 2-0 having won the first 2 on the road… yeah possibly. Brunson will be bringing that steel chair with him.

[thebuzzardman]

Kolek and Dadiet need some minutes

[thebuzzardman]

Could the Knicks possibly meet the Pacers in ECF?

I hope the pacers team bus drives off a cliff

[spree8]

Not at all. We are actually doing a better job protecting the paint not the 3 point line. They still get a ton of open looks, which fortunately for us they have been missing. But we have shut down drives on the two guys who can actually get inside and have punished us inside in the past and that’s Tatum and Brown.

It’s far more nuanced than this. Switching has helped, I haven’t heard or read anyone saying it hasn’t anywhere …besides you.

Switching helps more than just defending 3’s too. It puts you in better position to defend drives by far, as you’re not having guys die on the screen forcing KAT to defend two guys coming at him in drop as a result.

Our guys are very active and doing a lot on that side of the ball, so the success is not all because of switching, because the game is complex, but it absolutely, without a doubt, has had a major benefit. I honestly dunno how it’s remotely debatable.

No, the switching has put us in some uncomfortable situations especially earlier in the games. The switching is what got KAT out the game with 3 quick fouls in game 1 and we’ve been in a deep hole in both games. It’s given them a bunch of open and wide open looks from outside. What’s been the biggest difference is the effort to rotate and help, aside from some excellent individual defense from a few. But collectively they are fighting through screens and going over, they aren’t dying on the screens even in drop coverage because they are doing what they were always capable of and just making the effort to get over the screen. OG and Josh have been excellent at coming over to help and getting deflections. Even contests at the rim were super aggressive where we have swarmed them and gotten huge stops with weak side blocks. It’s just the sense of urgency and effort that they are playing with. The principle of protecting the paint has still been the same but we are doing a much better job with our shell defense. We still give up a lot of open 3s and our margin of victory and amount of time we have actually lead hasn’t been that good. Fortunately they have missed a lot of shots they are very capable of making but we’ve still done a much better job of playing with energy and effort.

Ok, we just live in two different realities.

Everyone knows those were two of the softest “fouls” on Tatum n Brown (one of which even Reggie was like no that’s clearly not a foul). If you think that’s an indictment against KAT guarding them 1 on 1 on the switch, then yea, your version of reality is far different than mine. I’ll just leave it at that since we pretty much disagree on virtually every facet of the game of ball lol.

Let Benjy tell you at the 22:05 mark…

Watch on YouTube

[god shammgod]

Read on Twitter

[TKKnicks1]

Could the Knicks possibly meet the Pacers in ECF?

Not gonna get ahead of myself but we have always played the Pacers well. If it wasn't for the injuries we would have gone to the ECF last year. Pacers are literally the same team as last year and we arguably got more talented. There's no one on that team that can guard Brunson. OG on Siakam. Mikal on Haliburton. KAT has height over Siakam and skill over Turner. We match up very well against them.

[HEZI]

It’s far more nuanced than this. Switching has helped, I haven’t heard or read anyone saying it hasn’t anywhere …besides you.

Switching helps more than just defending 3’s too. It puts you in better position to defend drives by far, as you’re not having guys die on the screen forcing KAT to defend two guys coming at him in drop as a result.

Our guys are very active and doing a lot on that side of the ball, so the success is not all because of switching, because the game is complex, but it absolutely, without a doubt, has had a major benefit. I honestly dunno how it’s remotely debatable.

No, the switching has put us in some uncomfortable situations especially earlier in the games. The switching is what got KAT out the game with 3 quick fouls in game 1 and we’ve been in a deep hole in both games. It’s given them a bunch of open and wide open looks from outside. What’s been the biggest difference is the effort to rotate and help, aside from some excellent individual defense from a few. But collectively they are fighting through screens and going over, they aren’t dying on the screens even in drop coverage because they are doing what they were always capable of and just making the effort to get over the screen. OG and Josh have been excellent at coming over to help and getting deflections. Even contests at the rim were super aggressive where we have swarmed them and gotten huge stops with weak side blocks. It’s just the sense of urgency and effort that they are playing with. The principle of protecting the paint has still been the same but we are doing a much better job with our shell defense. We still give up a lot of open 3s and our margin of victory and amount of time we have actually lead hasn’t been that good. Fortunately they have missed a lot of shots they are very capable of making but we’ve still done a much better job of playing with energy and effort.

Ok, we just live in two different realities.

Everyone knows those were two of the softest “fouls” on Tatum n Brown (one of which even Reggie was like no that’s clearly not a foul). If you think that’s an indictment against KAT guarding them 1 on 1 on the switch, then yea, your version of reality is far different than mine. I’ll just leave it at that since we pretty much disagree on virtually every facet of the game of ball lol.

If your reality is that KAT has been a good defender then you are absolutely living in a different reality. Not only has he been bad historically but in this series too. What we’ve done is just taken the necessary steps to help him, whether that’s fighting through screens or rushing over help out on the drive, that’s been the key. A lot of those open shots Celtics got were actually a result of KAT being late to rotate and close out. There’s even a play where he was so lost that OG shoved him into Derrick Whites direction to get out on him because KAT had no idea where he was supposed to be. Just like in any coverage, KAT will give you a lot of bad and then a little bit of good and sometimes even great defense but overall majority is still bad. The others have been way more impressive with the way they have turned it up. OG is OG and he’s a monster and has always been, but the Nova boys have certainly stepped it up defensively and that includes Brunson.

[K_ick_God]

Little late on this but that small semi-smirk on Mikal’s face when he’s taking the ball away from Jaylen Brown in G1 is pretty funny. Like amused and relaxed and looking away from him.

[spree8]

No, the switching has put us in some uncomfortable situations especially earlier in the games. The switching is what got KAT out the game with 3 quick fouls in game 1 and we’ve been in a deep hole in both games. It’s given them a bunch of open and wide open looks from outside. What’s been the biggest difference is the effort to rotate and help, aside from some excellent individual defense from a few. But collectively they are fighting through screens and going over, they aren’t dying on the screens even in drop coverage because they are doing what they were always capable of and just making the effort to get over the screen. OG and Josh have been excellent at coming over to help and getting deflections. Even contests at the rim were super aggressive where we have swarmed them and gotten huge stops with weak side blocks. It’s just the sense of urgency and effort that they are playing with. The principle of protecting the paint has still been the same but we are doing a much better job with our shell defense. We still give up a lot of open 3s and our margin of victory and amount of time we have actually lead hasn’t been that good. Fortunately they have missed a lot of shots they are very capable of making but we’ve still done a much better job of playing with energy and effort.

Ok, we just live in two different realities.

Everyone knows those were two of the softest “fouls” on Tatum n Brown (one of which even Reggie was like no that’s clearly not a foul). If you think that’s an indictment against KAT guarding them 1 on 1 on the switch, then yea, your version of reality is far different than mine. I’ll just leave it at that since we pretty much disagree on virtually every facet of the game of ball lol.

If your reality is that KAT has been a good defender then you are absolutely living in a different reality. Not only has he been bad historically but in this series too. What we’ve done is just taken the necessary steps to help him, whether that’s fighting through screens or rushing over help out on the drive, that’s been the key. A lot of those open shots Celtics got were actually a result of KAT being late to rotate and close out. There’s even a play where he was so lost that OG shoved him into Derrick Whites direction to get out on him because KAT had no idea where he was supposed to be. Just like in any coverage, KAT will give you a lot of bad and then a little bit of good and sometimes even great defense but overall majority is still bad. The others have been way more impressive with the way they have turned it up. OG is OG and he’s a monster and has always been, but the Nova boys have certainly stepped it up defensively and that includes Brunson.

TLDR

Edited that post to include this 30 second explanation tho…


Let Benjy tell you at the 22:05 mark…

Watch on YouTube

[KnixinSix]

Having flashbacks to the 2018 draft. The board's love for Mikal had convinced me (and through me my more casual Knicks fan friends) that we need to get Mikal where we pick (I had been team Luka for years before that but Mills f'd that up). We agreed that our backup should have been MPJ.

When we picked Knox, the absolute disgust in that bar was hilarious. We have one homer fan who was convinced it should be Knox b/c that's who the Knicks media told him it would be and he was the sole person cheering.

Anyway, this just feels like a nice arc for my Knicks fandom from those dark times

We aren't lighting up the scoreboard. We have been quite inconsistent offensively to say the least.

So how are we winning?

Absolutely unbelievable clutch scoring from almost every member of the starting 5 at one time or another led by Brunson and Bridges suddenly playing at his peak defensive potential (which we haven't seen really all year).

Though we did have a few games regular season where Bridges just rose to the occasion defensively in a last possession for the other team to secure a win. He has a surprising knack to make incredibly dramatic last second defensive plays.

A healthy Mitch being the defensive game changer that he always has been in Thibs system. He is a rather large +22 in limited minutes in two games we won by a combined total of 4 pts.

[HEZI]

Ok, we just live in two different realities.

Everyone knows those were two of the softest “fouls” on Tatum n Brown (one of which even Reggie was like no that’s clearly not a foul). If you think that’s an indictment against KAT guarding them 1 on 1 on the switch, then yea, your version of reality is far different than mine. I’ll just leave it at that since we pretty much disagree on virtually every facet of the game of ball lol.

If your reality is that KAT has been a good defender then you are absolutely living in a different reality. Not only has he been bad historically but in this series too. What we’ve done is just taken the necessary steps to help him, whether that’s fighting through screens or rushing over help out on the drive, that’s been the key. A lot of those open shots Celtics got were actually a result of KAT being late to rotate and close out. There’s even a play where he was so lost that OG shoved him into Derrick Whites direction to get out on him because KAT had no idea where he was supposed to be. Just like in any coverage, KAT will give you a lot of bad and then a little bit of good and sometimes even great defense but overall majority is still bad. The others have been way more impressive with the way they have turned it up. OG is OG and he’s a monster and has always been, but the Nova boys have certainly stepped it up defensively and that includes Brunson.

TLDR

Edited that post to include this 30 second explanation tho…


Let Benjy tell you at the 22:05 mark…

Watch on YouTube

A podcast

[HarthorneWingo]

I was highly skeptical of the impact that Mitch would have. Glad I was wrong about that too.

Mazz actually intentionally fouled him twice to get him out of the game.

+22 in 19 minutes

Or maybe it was +19 in 22 minutes.

[Knick4Real]

Read on Twitter

I love being underestimated!

[spree8]

If your reality is that KAT has been a good defender then you are absolutely living in a different reality. Not only has he been bad historically but in this series too. What we’ve done is just taken the necessary steps to help him, whether that’s fighting through screens or rushing over help out on the drive, that’s been the key. A lot of those open shots Celtics got were actually a result of KAT being late to rotate and close out. There’s even a play where he was so lost that OG shoved him into Derrick Whites direction to get out on him because KAT had no idea where he was supposed to be. Just like in any coverage, KAT will give you a lot of bad and then a little bit of good and sometimes even great defense but overall majority is still bad. The others have been way more impressive with the way they have turned it up. OG is OG and he’s a monster and has always been, but the Nova boys have certainly stepped it up defensively and that includes Brunson.

TLDR

Edited that post to include this 30 second explanation tho…


Let Benjy tell you at the 22:05 mark…

Watch on YouTube

A podcast

There’s been like 10 posters disagreeing with you on this today and another person who’s got a good rep for analyzing the game on one of the best Knick channels out there, yea…

There’s been many other analysts/former players mentioning this that you clearly haven’t heard. It’s like you’re living under a rock. You’re alone in this reality man. Hate to break it to you.

[El Poochio]

Read on Twitter