PG: Knicks vs. Thunder: BELT-TO-ASS GAME

[JXL]

As I said in the OP, this was a belt-to-ass game, and OKC had the leather to the Knicks' backside all night.

-Brunson didn't organize well enough that Bridges and OG could be effective. While OKC's defense was on point, that was the time the wings can get aggressive and attack them, but they didn't, and that's on Brunson not organizing them.

-KAT was suppose to be the dude that brings out bigs to the perimeter, but they put J-Dub on him, and I thought he would punish him on the block, but they didn't go to that often.

-Josh showed if he's not taking open shots, it makes defending this team that much easier.

-The bench is too below average, which is a coaching issue. Starters should have more rest, but in the 2nd quarter, Thibs didn't have Brunson nor Towns on the court.

[3toheadmelo]

SGA looks like one of them dudes that's built to play in NY

[The KnicksFix]

SGA looks like one of them dudes that's built to play in NY

We have more than enough with Brunson
The entire team is underperforming because of Thibs

[3toheadmelo]

SGA looks like one of them dudes that's built to play in NY

We have more than enough with Brunson
The entire team is underperforming because of Thibs

Crazy how you twisted my post and responded with Thibs hate

[Jalen Bluntson]

I'm not entirely sold on the "we don't have a bench". After Randle went down last season Thibs was running 8 and 1/2 player rotations basically. We had Mitch, Bogs and McBride off the bench with Precious and Burks getting spot minutes. Can we honestly say last year's bench was better than this years bench? Sure we miss Mitch but I think the other players are basically a wash.

This year is simply coming down to the fact that teams have started to figure us out, we have no offensive sets and our defense has taken a huge step backwards. All things the coaching staff needs to adjust but has not.

You answered your own question lol Mitch, Bogs, McBride, Burks, Precious >>>>>>Payne, Shamet, McBride, Precious


We had 2 shot creators coming off the bench in Burks and Bogs. We have none this year

Still not sold. Burks wasn't a huge part of our bench and didn't really start getting playing time until the injuries started piling up. Bogs was decent on offense but a huge liability on defense so I'm calling him a wash with Shamet/Payne. Other than Mitch I think our bench is fundamentally the same.

We can't compare last year's bench to this year. Bogs/Burks both played more games than our entire bench has this year with the exception of Payne and as many as Deuce. Burks was terrible shooting the ball and Bogs was terrible on defense. What are we missing? Health. Our bench has played 5 games this season healthy. Payne/Deuce/Shamet/Precious have all missed a bunch of games combined. Mitch has not played at all.

Can we use a tweak to the bench? Sure. I just feel that we need to see some health and actual playing time before we can really assess what's missing from the bench.

I got all caught up in the streak and lost some objectivity to what's really going on around here. Most of us did. It's time to take a step back and refocus. This will take time and the odds of winning a title in year one are not as high as that win streak had us feeling.

[The KnicksFix]

There’s no reason the team should come out this flat game after game after game after game. For the first six minutes we didn’t score a bucket and had two points off of JB’s free throws. That’s on coaching. You don’t have ANY go to play to start games or get an easy bucket?

The team is cooked. Thibs is directly in the crosshairs.

[Wildcat]

Read on Twitter

Been saying this for weeks. This team doesn't have enough quality wins and quality loses. I was probably saying this last season, but I think the Knicks have hit their ceiling with Thibs. I defended this guy hard last season, but I think it was a major fumble not to develop starter and bench chemistry simultaneously.

Now, anyone can be made to look like a punk against OKC, but if we're supposed contenders (after these bad loses, I'm lowering my expectations for this season), they have to at least pull out a quality lost. Nothing looked good yesterday. Starters seemed gassed again at various moments, Bridges had his worst game as a Knick, JB taking only 2 3's is telling me more about his hand than OKC's defense (I do like that he's forcing contact, though), I don't know what Shamet provides, Payne is very much a confident driven player and it seems to me he hasn't responded well since that random benching a couple of weeks ago, McBide hasn't elevated his game. Honestly, if our big swing is next season, I rather Thibs just expand the rotation, and get these rookies experience.

[The KnicksFix]

SGA looks like one of them dudes that's built to play in NY

We have more than enough with Brunson
The entire team is underperforming because of Thibs

Crazy how you twisted my post and responded with Thibs hate

You’re stargazing at other team’s stars
I hate when Knick fans do that
Because guaranteed if Brunson was in an okc jersey, sga was in a Knick jersey and Thibs was still our coach you’d still be starphuqin and say “wow look at Brunson man, he should look good in NY”

It’s the coach who dimmed the light of stars from an MVP in rose, to butler to KAT in minny and to Brunson

There’s no “built to play in NY” currently
It’s simply one man at the helm who has the team wrapped around his finger. There’s no NY culture. He IS the culture.

[thebuzzardman]

Jalen ...

Sent from my SM-S9080 using RealGM mobile app

It's a great time for me, as the fanbase turns on Jalen Brunson, as of course they inevitably would with Randle no longer here.

A few weeks ago I called Brunson a fringe top-10 player. I got roasted on these boards because of that. I stand by that position.

That's a really good player. He's a really good player. Not sure what else fans want.

[3toheadmelo]

We have more than enough with Brunson
The entire team is underperforming because of Thibs

Crazy how you twisted my post and responded with Thibs hate

You’re stargazing at other team’s stars
I hate when Knick fans do that
Because guaranteed if Brunson was in an okc jersey, sga was in a Knick jersey and Thibs was still our coach you’d still be starphuqin and say “wow look at Brunson man, he should look good in NY”

It’s the coach who dimmed the light of stars from an MVP in rose, to butler to KAT in minny and to Brunson

There’s no “built to play in NY” currently
It’s simply one man at the helm who has the team wrapped around his finger. There’s no NY culture. He IS the culture.

The hell are you talking about. This wasn't comparing brunson to SGA. I love Brunson. I'm just appreciating SGA's game. Your obsession with Thibs got you spiraling out of control lately. Relax.

[3toheadmelo]

Read on Twitter

Been saying this for weeks. This team doesn't have enough quality wins and quality loses. I was probably saying this last season, but I think the Knicks have hit their ceiling with Thibs. I defended this guy hard last season, but I think it was a major fumble not to develop starter and bench chemistry simultaneously.

Now, anyone can be made to look like a punk against OKC, but if we're supposed contenders (after these bad loses, I'm lowering my expectations for this season), they have to at least pull out a quality lost. Nothing looked good yesterday. Starters seemed gassed again at various moments, Bridges had his worst game as a Knick, JB taking only 2 3's is telling me more about his hand than OKC's defense (I do like that he's forcing contact, though), I don't know what Shamet provides, Payne is very much a confident driven player and it seems to me he hasn't responded well since that random benching a couple of weeks ago, McBide hasn't elevated his game. Honestly, if our big swing is next season, I rather Thibs just expand the rotation, and get these rookies experience.

I think this team has much more problems than Thibs. Josh hart is talking about players need to stop having egos and agendas. Something is going on behind the scenes.

[jvsimonetti0514]

The Teams getting embarrassed a lot lately and think it ties directly towards their slow starts. Not sure if it can be fatigue when it’s at the beginning of the game.

Fatigue doesn’t work that way tho. It’s not like a battery where after every game it’s recharged and you’re 100% going into the next game. These guys are burnt out.

It’s not the only issue, Thibs’ antiquated style of coaching on both ends is another. For teams like last year’s he’s ok, but for this team? Na. It’s like giving an old 90’s pickup truck driver a 2024 Porsche 911 with a manual transmission… dude just doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Even if you’re fatigue and can only get back to 85%, you’d expect them to have the most energy at the start of the game and the whole season the team has started slow. Like we had a 9 point lead against the bulls at half time, only to get blown out in the 3rd. Or last weeks game against the Thunder when they ran out of gas in the 4th. The players have talked about it how they’ve had to turn it on late to put away bad teams. There’s def urgency issues here cuz I doubt they aren’t being prepared properly.

If you want to fire Thibs, I hope you’ll be excited for interm coach Rick Brunson or Mo Cheeks. Maybe they can get something more out of this team than Thibs can but it’s probably best to wait till the offseason to replace the coach.

[thebuzzardman]

We lack depth and rebounding. In prior years we would wear teams down with our rebounding and depth. It masked the issues with Thibs. Mitch will help with the rebounding but we have no bench and our guys are going to be worn down by March

I'm not entirely sold on the "we don't have a bench". After Randle went down last season Thibs was running 8 and 1/2 player rotations basically. We had Mitch, Bogs and McBride off the bench with Precious and Burks getting spot minutes. Can we honestly say last year's bench was better than this years bench? Sure we miss Mitch but I think the other players are basically a wash.

This year is simply coming down to the fact that teams have started to figure us out, we have no offensive sets and our defense has taken a huge step backwards. All things the coaching staff needs to adjust but has not.

This tracks though. Last year they traded for OG, who was a perfect fit. It rationalized the roster, so it was a good move. It also changed the Knicks so teams weren't used to who they were and....they weren't scouted. So they ran up victories.

Thibs can't outcoach anyone who is familiar enough with what he's doing.

So this year they had a new roster with KAT and Bridges who are good fits, and they ran off wins. Strength of schedule helped. Now the league has the team figured out again, so here comes the .500 record. Again.

[thebuzzardman]

As I said in the OP, this was a belt-to-ass game, and OKC had the leather to the Knicks' backside all night.

-Brunson didn't organize well enough that Bridges and OG could be effective. While OKC's defense was on point, that was the time the wings can get aggressive and attack them, but they didn't, and that's on Brunson not organizing them.

-KAT was suppose to be the dude that brings out bigs to the perimeter, but they put J-Dub on him, and I thought he would punish him on the block, but they didn't go to that often.

-Josh showed if he's not taking open shots, it makes defending this team that much easier.

-The bench is too below average, which is a coaching issue. Starters should have more rest, but in the 2nd quarter, Thibs didn't have Brunson nor Towns on the court.

It's not helpful that for $40 million, OG has the offensive repertoire of Charles Oakley

[Jalen Bluntson]

Mikal is shooting like 9-46 from 3 for the month of January. Yikes!

Mikal, Jalen and OG have all fallen off a cliff shooting the three. Mikal more recently but, other two have been struggling since at least right before Christmas. 2-3 weeks. Injuries/fatigue are probably the reason but, whatever it is, we can't expect to win games shooting 20% or less from 3.

[Wildcat]

Read on Twitter

Been saying this for weeks. This team doesn't have enough quality wins and quality loses. I was probably saying this last season, but I think the Knicks have hit their ceiling with Thibs. I defended this guy hard last season, but I think it was a major fumble not to develop starter and bench chemistry simultaneously.

Now, anyone can be made to look like a punk against OKC, but if we're supposed contenders (after these bad loses, I'm lowering my expectations for this season), they have to at least pull out a quality lost. Nothing looked good yesterday. Starters seemed gassed again at various moments, Bridges had his worst game as a Knick, JB taking only 2 3's is telling me more about his hand than OKC's defense (I do like that he's forcing contact, though), I don't know what Shamet provides, Payne is very much a confident driven player and it seems to me he hasn't responded well since that random benching a couple of weeks ago, McBide hasn't elevated his game. Honestly, if our big swing is next season, I rather Thibs just expand the rotation, and get these rookies experience.

I think this team has much more problems than Thibs. Josh hart is talking about players need to stop having egos and agendas. Something is going on behind the scenes.

Josh Hart Monday: “…We can't have our own individual agendas…We gotta make sure we're locked in on this team, sacrificing for this team…”

Josh Hart Friday: “…We have to go out there with no egos…Go out there with no individual agendas…Go out there and sacrifice…”

Is it prep talk? Guys not buying into Thibs?? JB??? Too vague for me, honestly.

[The KnicksFix]

Crazy how you twisted my post and responded with Thibs hate

You’re stargazing at other team’s stars
I hate when Knick fans do that
Because guaranteed if Brunson was in an okc jersey, sga was in a Knick jersey and Thibs was still our coach you’d still be starphuqin and say “wow look at Brunson man, he should look good in NY”

It’s the coach who dimmed the light of stars from an MVP in rose, to butler to KAT in minny and to Brunson

There’s no “built to play in NY” currently
It’s simply one man at the helm who has the team wrapped around his finger. There’s no NY culture. He IS the culture.

The hell are you talking about. This wasn't comparing brunson to SGA. I love Brunson. I'm just appreciating SGA's game. Your obsession with Thibs got you spiraling out of control lately. Relax.

Same as your obsession with Randle?
I don’t have an obsession with one player or one coach. I have an obsession for the overall goal of winning a chip. No player or coach is above that. I root for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.

I, and countless posters beat the drum about firing Thibs. But the second you get called out for saying sga would indeed not look good in a Knicks uniform, because we would still have an orc for a coach, you turn back and say it’s my obsession with Thibs. Lmaooo you can put Giannis, Jokic and sga all on this squad and we would still lose if Thibs was the head coach. Go back to complaining about not having Randle, Melo.

[mpharris36]

SGA looks like one of them dudes that's built to play in NY

I think hes the best player in the NBA.

[Wildcat]

Mikal is shooting like 9-46 from 3 for the month of January. Yikes!

Mikal, Jalen and OG have all fallen off a cliff shooting the three. Mikal more recently but, other two have been struggling since at least right before Christmas. 2-3 weeks. Injuries/fatigue are probably the reason but, whatever it is, we can't expect to win games shooting 20% or less from 3.

Low energy = tired? The energy around these guys don't feel right.

[The KnicksFix]

Mikal is shooting like 9-46 from 3 for the month of January. Yikes!

Mikal, Jalen and OG have all fallen off a cliff shooting the three. Mikal more recently but, other two have been struggling since at least right before Christmas. 2-3 weeks. Injuries/fatigue are probably the reason but, whatever it is, we can't expect to win games shooting 20% or less from 3.

Low energy = tired? The energy around these guys don't feel right.

They’re dead men walking. Literally