PG: why are you still watching the Celtics pound the Knicks at MSG?

[Fury]

It’s aight. The playoffs are what matter.

[spree2kawhi]

This Towns injury scares me…

[oldshoolballer]

This Towns injury scares me…

KAT is playing with a bone chip in his right thumb. It is clearly effecting his game. From what I understand if he has the surgery he's done for the season.

[HarthorneWingo]

This Towns injury scares me…

KAT is playing with a bone chip in his right thumb. It is clearly effecting his game. From what I understand if he has the surgery he's done for the season.

On the other hand, if he keeps playing like this, what’s the point?

So, is Towns still gonna play in the All Star game?

[The KnicksFix]

This team is cooked, we need to drop to the 4 seed, so that we can face the Cavs in the second round and then the Celtics in the ECF

[spree2kawhi]

This Towns injury scares me…

KAT is playing with a bone chip in his right thumb. It is clearly effecting his game. From what I understand if he has the surgery he's done for the season.

Is it going to improve though?

[K_ick_God]

I think it’s a close finish if he challenges the call. I mean WitaF was that.

[GettinitDone]

Watch on YouTube

One Step Forward, and Two Steps Back

Nobody gets too far like that

This kinda dance can never last


Bye bye Thibs

[KOA]

Teams that plays us well just do the same pick and roll against Brunson and Towns all game.

Towns will just keep dropping back until he’s out of bounds. It’s like he’s not even there. JB is just too small against some matchups.

We have a lot riding on Mitch solving these problems. He can probably provide help defense so KAT doesn’t go to drop coverage, but that wont solve the 3 point barrage

[WargamesX]

This Towns injury scares me…

KAT is playing with a bone chip in his right thumb. It is clearly effecting his game. From what I understand if he has the surgery he's done for the season.

Is it going to improve though?

Can he get the surgery in the off season and be back by October?

[Montmorencie]

This team is cooked, we need to drop to the 4 seed, so that we can face the Cavs in the second round and then the Celtics in the ECF

We should really consider this. Its all about match ups. Celtics are overrated but they are like the better version of us and have 3 people to throw at Jalen at any time and I dont even count JT and Brown. KAT is our only advantage and they have Porzingis which is a lesser version of him but still somewhat makes for him.

[HopelessKnick]

KAT is playing with a bone chip in his right thumb. It is clearly effecting his game. From what I understand if he has the surgery he's done for the season.

Is it going to improve though?

Can he get the surgery in the off season and be back by October?

I remember reading that the injury would not need surgery now or in the offseason.

[HopelessKnick]

This team is cooked, we need to drop to the 4 seed, so that we can face the Cavs in the second round and then the Celtics in the ECF

We should really consider this. Its all about match ups. Celtics are overrated but they are like the better version of us and have 3 people to throw at Jalen at any time and I dont even count JT and Brown. KAT is our only advantage and they have Porzingis which is a lesser version of him but still somewhat makes for him.

Well I have said this multiple times over the past weeks. But let's be honest, Thibs is unlikely to agree to such a plan.

Also, we still need to see how the Celtics fare against: JB-Mika-Hart-OG-Mitch type of line-up....I think that line-up would give them much more trouble overall.

In reality though, we definitely seem to need at least another very good rotational player. Someone that can play both ways and shoot the 3 well and average 12-15points.

[NiceLikeChrist]

I'll never get over all the hopefuls acting like mitch is prime hakeem. he will not save us

[Clyde_Style]

It’s aight. The playoffs are what matter.

Healthy OG and Mitch gives us a fighting chance some of the way into the playoffs, but that's about it.

But Thibs will never win a chip, therefore neither will the Knicks as long as he's the coach. He's not a championship caliber coach.

[HopelessKnick]

I'll never get over all the hopefuls acting like mitch is prime hakeem. he will not save us

I don't think you'll find a single poster here confusing Mitch and Hakeem.

However, if you look around the league, you will find that certain rotational players can make a vast difference for a team's trajectory. There are numerous examples of that.

Even if you take the Knicks---they were 17-15 at some point in December of last season when Mitch went down. Then Ihart took his place and the OG trade happened. With OG, who is stellar on defense but "only" averaged 14points/4rebounds for us in the regular season---you would have likely never thought the Knicks going 20-3 in those 23 games.

I think if you suggested to anyone here that the Knicks minus Mitch, IQ, RJ and plus OG,Hartenstein would win 90% of their games, everyone would have called you nuts. There are reasons to believe that a healthy Mitch will impact the team more than his stats suggest. Let's wait and see, his return is pretty imminent at this point.

And it's not only about Mitch himself. Our bench right now is thin: Deuce, Payne, Precious is ok on some nights but on other nights it is too thin. Now add Mitch to the rotation and have Hart with the bench: Deuce, Payne, Hart, Precious ---now all of a sudden the bench looks pretty darn solid and more like an asset than a weakness.

[R-DAWG]

Bottom line - this team was built to beat the Celtics and in two games they have been run off the court.

Against the elite teams in the league, this team gets blown out.

You want to be a contender, you need to complete with the cream of the crop. This team, based on current results is a pretender not a contender.

[Clyde_Style]

Also, the usage of KAT is a big issue now. Thibs is so bad at this.

Brunson and KAT have almost no chemistry together which is pretty bizarre. If the PG can't organize the offense to optimize a guy like KAT, then it clearly falls on the coach to implement better sets.

And the drop D with KAT falling back to defend the rim is terrible. The three games from ATL through DEN we challenged the POA and it slowed down offensive set-ups and then we stopped doing it after it worked so well. WHY? Why does Thibs fail to learn from what works and then use it again? He does this with players too when they play well and he ghosts them for the rest of the game or for weeks after.

If KAT is bone-chipped and hobbling at the knees we're not going to contend anyway. If I was Rose I'd pull KAT and get him surgery and get ready for next year. But since Thibs is the coach we'll pulverize KAT while deploying him ineffectively on both ends of the court.

Getting OG and Mitch doesn't make up for KAT's issues now.

[thebuzzardman]

The Knicks need to be fully healthy to have even a chance against the Celtics, so not that concerned about this game.

However, they won't beat them fully healthy either.

[Signature NYK]

Tough game..

Need OG on Tatum and Mikal on Jaylen Brown
KAT was atrocious all game. Freaking Luke Kornet downlow and essentially no post ups to try and take advantage...
Would've liked to see Huk at some point
Precious was somehow even worse than KAT

Overall, we simply don't matchup well with the Celtics. Our biggest weakness is 3-point defense; they have shooters on shooters. Literally can't go under on screens or leave like any of their rotation players open.

If Mitch can get back to blocking 3 pointers like he used to, then maybe we can compete with them in a 7 game series.

Games like this are the ones that make me worry about what we'll see from Towns in the playoffs and make my mind wander into the trade KAT in a package for KD and Kessler type of move this offseason space...

Anyways, we really need that All-Star break to get right

Praying we can see OG and Mitch sometime in late Feb