ECF Playoff Game Thread: Pacers @ Knicks, Game 5, May 29th 8pm

[sol537]

Don’t do this to yourselves, fellas. Thibs is out of his depth here and the team is checked out on him and each other. An off-season of retooling and a new voice ought to help things, in theory.

Bring on the pain of game 5 as we go out not with a roar, but with a whimper.

[CyKnickal]

I agree with almost everything...I just think these Knicks have a shot as long as there is a window and if they pull it off -if will be in spite of Thibs.

how is changing the starting lineup, benching cam payne, expanding the rotation to include shamet and wright, and giving precious spot minutes considered no defensive adjustments?

Because it took him until game 3 of the ECF, after losing 2 games at home and down 0-2 for him to give Shamet and Wright a chance. Whereas he could have experimented the entire season with lineups and rotations, and give playing time to the rookies to develop familiarity, they played spot minutes and could never get in. He’s hasn’t a clue about bench play, and he never has. He has no clue about an offensive playbook, because “the game tells you what to do”. He has no idea about pin down screens, floppy, horns, back cuts, screen a screener. We have one action and offense, there are no multiple actions. At the end of the day, the coach is a huge, glaring problem and finally the Knick fan base has wisened up to his shtick.

They fell for it. Those substitutions were because of foul trouble, not because he found something or made adjustments, just like when bench players finally get a chance to show out because they're inserted into the rotation due to injuries.

Proof to me was these same guys that Jeff was talking about didn't get the same burn last game even though they were the only plus on the team besides Karl.

It blows my mind how players come and go in his rotations. One month they're playing every game, next thing you know they might as well have been traded. Wasn't Precious a big part of last years run..he filled in well...showed some game...and then this year he's completely gone from the rotation, didn't have any chance this year to develop further and get chemistry with the new players.....why....for the sake of his short rotation, that's all....it boggles my mind the way he runs and manages the season, dying to win every game in February like it's the playoffs.

Delon Wright is now getting minutes....well what the **** do you know. Didn't this kid get a nice run during the season, played well, and we were mad that he jumped Kolek in the rotation? And then what....disappeared. Now he needs him.

The Pacers have shown the regular season now means nothing....it's basically now a tuneup for the playoffs, to develop your team and chemistry, have structure and an identity to make a run in the playoffs.

These bull 2 and 3 seeds we achieved by playing short rotations and not developing anybody means nothing, especially considering we don't even win home games!!!

[CyKnickal]

Fun fact: Jalen Brunson has ONE **** ASSIST to Mr. Karl Anthony Towns in the Eastern Conference Finals, the dude whose averaging 30 PPG against them. 70 percent of the time when he gives it up it ends up in the hands of Josh or Bridges. OG gets more passes for corner threes and his stupid step back middy than Karl.

How about this...you give Karl the ball who's a better passer than you and take a step back...let him run the offense a little. Where are those beautiful dimes, those overhead passes to guys moving and cutting, the over the shoulder passes on give and go's? I'd rather see that than this fake Michael Jordan ****.

You and your coach aren't letting him. Get your **** head out of your ass, man....cut this Villanova ****.

[sol537]

Fun fact: Jalen Brunson has ONE **** ASSIST to Mr. Karl Anthony Towns in the Eastern Conference Finals, the dude whose averaging 30 PPG against them. 70 percent of the time when he gives it up it ends up in the hands of Josh or Bridges.

Get your **** head out of your ass, man....cut this Villanova ****.

Villanova? More like a supernova of crap in this series.

That 1 assist to Towns matches the eye test. Dude has blinders on.

[CyKnickal]

Fun fact: Jalen Brunson has ONE **** ASSIST to Mr. Karl Anthony Towns in the Eastern Conference Finals, the dude whose averaging 30 PPG against them. 70 percent of the time when he gives it up it ends up in the hands of Josh or Bridges.

Get your **** head out of your ass, man....cut this Villanova ****.

Villanova? More like a supernova of crap in this series.

That 1 assist to Towns matches the eye test. Dude has blinders on.

It's absurd considering what an offensive talent Karl is. Just by driving and kicking it to him instead of OG and Bridges for threes would net Brunson a couple of more assists to him, but he doesn't use him at all.

Carmelo had tunnel vision, it was score or bust, but Jalen is freezing Karl out, because his boy Josh has no problem getting the rock, and it sucks to see, because I thought he was more cerebral than this.

Not saying they need to replace them, but I bet you anything Karl would show out and we would see some beautiful basketball with Kolek and Duece instead of these Villanova buddies. Only coaching can fix this because we are locked into this roster.

People want Giannis....lmaoooo....wtf is Brunson gonna do with him that Damien couldn't?

[HarthorneWingo]

I want to see one of our perimeter defenders man up and actually give Hali some real trouble on defense.

I'm still not convinced that Hali is really built like that..dude is a clown.

I think that Mikal has done a fine job on him up until Game 4, obviously. But in Game 4, I've listened to a post-game report from KFTV (CP and Schmeelk, who I like) claiming that the Knicks were supposed to switch, even on Hali, and that when Mikal ran into a screen, Brunson never picked him up.

This game will say a lot about the fortitude of this roster. I expect Thibs to coach a much better game than he did in Game 4.

NOT ON OUR COURT!

[The KnicksFix]

I’m gonna say this
WIN THIS GAME! Do not get sent home by this team on our home court for 2 years in a row.
This is nauseating. Get it together and at least protect home court
One possession at a time, one play at a time

[Adelheid]

Fun fact: Jalen Brunson has ONE **** ASSIST to Mr. Karl Anthony Towns in the Eastern Conference Finals, the dude whose averaging 30 PPG against them. 70 percent of the time when he gives it up it ends up in the hands of Josh or Bridges.

Get your **** head out of your ass, man....cut this Villanova ****.

Villanova? More like a supernova of crap in this series.

That 1 assist to Towns matches the eye test. Dude has blinders on.

if jalen has problems with how the roster is being built up, he should take it up to the front office; this is plain passive aggressiveness and it gives the team a bad optic

[nyknicks09]

Hart on Hali
OG on Siakam
JB on Nembhard
Mikal on Nesmith
KAT on Turner

Stop switching on screens and go over the screen on defense and double team on mismatches. Team needs to hustle back on defense.

[The KnicksFix]

Last year I wasn’t even disappointed, we had no one in that Game 7, our entire team was injured
This year we upgraded the team, we were all healthy. But one man, ONE PERSON, set this team up for failure as soon as the KAT trade went down because he didn’t know how to utilize this team, Thibs.
All of my anger, all of my disappointment, all my vitriol is solely directed toward him.

[matchman]

i was pretty much 100% checked out but **** it i'm riding w/ jeff one last time

lay it all on the line in the garden and make these frauds feel some pressure going back to the farmlands

Thanks for sharing your emotional rollercoaster. Can't say better than you do so I would leave it here.

Go Knicks show some pride and win this game for the cap, especially after our cap being mocked by that classless Hali.

[Jalen Bluntson]

I don't know man. We have rarely looked good at all in these playoffs. The miraculous comebacks have been fun but, we have looked like trash the majority of these games. It's extremely disappointing but, not really surprising. We have been playing like this for months before we even made the playoffs.

It's called a plateau. I fear that this is the peak with this coach and this roster. It's been stagnant and predictable for a long stretch now. We are all seeing the same issues from regular season getting exposed in the playoffs. Blame whoever you want. Something has to change.

We have to win 3 more miracles to get to the finals. It doesn't look good. It hasn't looked good since game one in Detroit yet here we are.

Can the all grit no quit team make it through this series? Stay tuned folks.

[MrDollarBills]

I don't know man. We have rarely looked good at all in these playoffs. The miraculous comebacks have been fun but, we have looked like trash the majority of these games. It's extremely disappointing but, not really surprising. We have been playing like this for months before we even made the playoffs.

It's called a plateau. I fear that this is the peak with this coach and this roster. It's been stagnant and predictable for a long stretch now. We are all seeing the same issues from regular season getting exposed in the playoffs. Blame whoever you want. Something has to change.

We have to win 3 more miracles to get to the finals. It doesn't look good. It hasn't looked good since game one in Detroit yet here we are.

Can the all grit no quit team make it through this series? Stay tuned folks.

The same stuff that we talked about since Christmas is still happening. It's worse now because Carlise has basically exposed us, but yes. We haven't looked good at all despite making it to the conference finals. Our cleanest game in this playoffs was Game 6 versus Boston who all but waved the white flag after embarrassing us without Tatum in Game 5.

Outside of that, every game has been a dog fight/slog where we have to grind out points while the opposing team somehow has no trouble scoring on us, or we lose in an embarrassing fashion. After watching OKC dispatch the Wolves, the disparity between an actual contender that plays modern, two way team oriented basketball and us couldn't ever be more glaring. We have a lot to fix if we want to 1) make it this far again and 2) win a championship.

Blame goes across the board. My feelings on Tom are clear, but I'm at the point now where we need to pull the plug on the Brunson/KAT duo.

These guys have been together since October and they have no chemistry, Brunson doesn't even attempt to look for Towns, and now the tape is out there that they are unplayable together defensively. These are serious issues. I don't know why or what happened, but I have a sinking feeling that when the season ends, a lot of dirt is going to come out and we're going to learn that this team has been dysfunctional behind the scenes. Something isn't right. Think back to some of the cryptic comments made by Josh. PJ Tucker saying that guys weren't communicating when he arrived, and Mikal openly joining the minutes police. We're gonna find out that these guys were probably not on the same page the entire season.

Either way, this team still has a ton of talent, so things can be improved, but I think we will have to use KAT and Mikal to bring in another piece that works better with Brunson, along with getting a coach that wasn't born before the Cuban missile crisis believes in ball movement and creating shots for the entire team instead of this late stage Derrick Rose Bulls offense that makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out.

Also, I think we need to see some leadership from Brunson. He has got to clean up his attention to detail defensively. Getting overwhelmed physically is one thing, but he makes a lot of mind numbing decisions on defense that leads to guys getting open shots. Whether its scheme or him just not getting it is irrelevant. He needs to be better.

Let's hope for the best tonight, but whatever happens, i still think we are in good shape as long as Leon isn't afraid to pivot from things that aren't working.

[Adelheid]

the team has been winning on sheer talent for the most part and they managed to get all these wins despite being rudderless

this squad is really talented but they could certainly go several notches higher under great mentorship

[Jalen Bluntson]

I don't know man. We have rarely looked good at all in these playoffs. The miraculous comebacks have been fun but, we have looked like trash the majority of these games. It's extremely disappointing but, not really surprising. We have been playing like this for months before we even made the playoffs.

It's called a plateau. I fear that this is the peak with this coach and this roster. It's been stagnant and predictable for a long stretch now. We are all seeing the same issues from regular season getting exposed in the playoffs. Blame whoever you want. Something has to change.

We have to win 3 more miracles to get to the finals. It doesn't look good. It hasn't looked good since game one in Detroit yet here we are.

Can the all grit no quit team make it through this series? Stay tuned folks.

The same stuff that we talked about since Christmas is still happening. It's worse now because Carlise has basically exposed us, but yes. We haven't looked good at all despite making it to the conference finals. Our cleanest game in this playoffs was Game 6 versus Boston who all but waved the white flag after embarrassing us without Tatum in Game 5.

Outside of that, every game has been a dog fight/slog where we have to grind out points while the opposing team somehow has no trouble scoring on us, or we lose in an embarrassing fashion. After watching OKC dispatch the Wolves, the disparity between an actual contender that plays modern, two way team oriented basketball and us couldn't ever be more glaring. We have a lot to fix if we want to 1) make it this far again and 2) win a championship.

Blame goes across the board. My feelings on Tom are clear, but I'm at the point now where we need to pull the plug on the Brunson/KAT duo.

These guys have been together since October and they have no chemistry, Brunson doesn't even attempt to look for Towns, and now the tape is out there that they are unplayable together defensively. These are serious issues. I don't know why or what happened, but I have a sinking feeling that when the season ends, a lot of dirt is going to come out and we're going to learn that this team has been dysfunctional behind the scenes. Something isn't right. Think back to some of the cryptic comments made by Josh. PJ Tucker saying that guys weren't communicating when he arrived, and Mikal openly joining the minutes police. We're gonna find out that these guys were probably not on the same page the entire season.

Either way, this team still has a ton of talent, so things can be improved, but I think we will have to use KAT and Mikal to bring in another piece that works better with Brunson, along with getting a coach that wasn't born before the Cuban missile crisis believes in ball movement and creating shots for the entire team instead of this late stage Derrick Rose Bulls offense that makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out.

Also, I think we need to see some leadership from Brunson. He has got to clean up his attention to detail defensively. Getting overwhelmed physically is one thing, but he makes a lot of mind numbing decisions on defense that leads to guys getting open shots. Whether its scheme or him just not getting it is irrelevant. He needs to be better.

Let's hope for the best tonight, but whatever happens, i still think we are in good shape as long as Leon isn't afraid to pivot from things that aren't working.

I'm not buying any pull the plug talk. This roster is not set up for success. The individual talents are not used in the most optimal way. The offense does not exist. The defense is outdated. The bench usage has long been a joke. That is all on the HC.

You don't accidentally win 50 games and make conference finals without talent. The talent has found ways to win with the least amount of coaching I have ever seen.

I am not against dramatic roster changes if it improves the team. Whatever team we put out there, it is the HC job to maximize the roster. Thibs does not do that. He overplays 7 guys from game one to his usual playoff exits. Nothing he does makes sense. This is the first change that needs to happen IMO. He is not the guy

[Adelheid]

i want to see the coaching staff revamped before making any drastic roster changes

cp the fanchise says in his pod that thibs is in thin ice and it is not speculation or anything of sorts

[Iron Mantis]

LET'S GOOOO!!!!!!

[HEZI]

Looks like it’s OKCs year anyway. Even if we did complete a miracle comeback in this series, there would be nothing left and OKC would destroy us. I still want to see a win tonight and leave it all on the floor

[Jalen Bluntson]

Having to hope we can pull of a miracle to beat this Pacers team really ruins this playoff run for me. I hated how we looked against Detroit. We pulled off the impossible beating Boston and it gave reason to believe we could make the finals. 47 minutes into game one it all collapsed. Now it feels like we are just dying a slow death. Win or go home for game 5. AGAINST THE FUGGIN PACERS! A team we should be able to beat!

[Fat Kat]

Knicks in 7