RealGM

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NEW YORK KNICKS at OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
• Record: 1-0
• Standing: #T-2
• http://www.nba.com/games/20171019/NYKOKC
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SUMMARY
BOXSCORE
OKC:

NYK:

Thunder Upcoming 5

HIGHLIGHTS

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| NBA.com | | Thunder.com | | ESPN.com/NBA

Russ was perfect. And granted there wasn't a pg threat on the Knicks, but he remained engaged defensively.

Against better teams, a combined 50 points from PG and Melo on 43 shots won't cut it. They're going to have to be more efficient and less ISO-y and let Russ run the show.

But tonight it was game one and it's the beginning of a what will be a fairly lengthy feeling-out process.

Russ, no doubt about it.

GOATbrook at his best.

Saw many people complaining about our team but it wasn't bad for game 1. I will take that. Let's hope for more chemistry and that Patterson can get back in shape to have significant minutes and help this team.

The world's not ready for pass-first Russ w/ PG and Melo...

Sleestak's Mr 20/10 started and had 10/7.

Also couldn't get 25 minutes on the lolknicks.

InTheSabonus wrote:The world's not ready for pass-first Russ w/ PG and Melo...

Once Melo and PG get comfortable knowing where their shots will come and when they'll come then they should up their efficiency. It's going to take a few games of course, hopefully your fan base is patient with them two.

I don’t have a problem with most of George’s shots. Melo took a few that were less than ideal.

george shouldn't handle the ball on his own, especially in pnr. not his strength. we started doing a few pin downs to spring him later on and he was getting open shots, even threes, out of them. that should be his bread and butter. some of our guys are really bad at setting those down screens though. george and roberson on the court together is really fun defensively.

wasn't happy with some of carmelo's shot selection. also obviously he has far less impact than george on defense.

hopefully, patterson is being brought back slowly, because grant being ahead of him on the depth chart is disastrous. grant is awful in those small lineups.

andre roberson 21 minutes to grant's 24 and abrines 21 is strange. i'd like to see roberson flexed into the bench units that grant occupies and consideration given to playing either dakari or nick as a traditional big if patterson is unavailable. roberson is a few levels of impact beyond either abrines or grant and we should be finding ways to get him out there more.

adams was dominant on both ends. set great screens on offense we didn't much take advantage of especially in 1H.

i'm not a fan of the george + melo flex into bench units. i liked what we did against denver in the final preseason game with george going with the bench and melo staying tethered to westbrook.

knicks are awful.

George has nearly Curry range, dang.

Some of those 3s he hit at the end were a solid 3-4 feet behind the line. He is going to FEAST this season now that he doesn't have to create every shot.

slick_watts wrote:george shouldn't handle the ball on his own, especially in pnr. not his strength. we started doing a few pin downs to spring him later on and he was getting open shots, even threes, out of them. that should be his bread and butter.

I was really impressed with how well he squared himself coming off those screens. Durant would take them off balance a lot (and it wouldn't matter because he's Durant) but George comes off looking ready to get onto his shooting motion.

slick_watts wrote:wasn't happy with some of carmelo's shot selection. also obviously he has far less impact than george on defense.

There was like 2 shots I hated, late iso in the 4th and a forced 3 he should have took to the rim but there's things you like, like the 2 blocks and 2 steals(not mentioned in the thread yet)

He said it post game, that him and (he wouldn't speak for PG but implied it) PG have to get used to the looks they got, they just aren't used to getting those kind of looks.

Of Melo's 12 misses think about it(1 blocked, 1 missed dunk, 1 half court heave, 1 he was fouled and rushed it, 1 late in the shot clock that grazed the rim, 2 you probably want back and the other 5 just catch and shoot misfires)

That's why I have the impression both him and PG will be every efficient this year and both will do good things on the defense end. PG shutting down the perimeter players and Melo using his quick hands to create steals and block shots.

Would have liked to see more rebounds from Melo(1 is unacceptable) and I think both he and PG would have more assists if the offense started earlier in the clock but I think Russ will dominate the ball early on and get the bulk of the assists.

i have no doubt george will be in the 57%-60% ts range but i'm less hopeful for carmelo, and like i said carmelo isn't providing the same utility on the other end. maybe i'm wrong about the shot selection i didn't chart it or anything, it was just my perception of the quality of shots he was attempting.

slick_watts wrote:i have no doubt george will be in the 57%-60% ts range but i'm less hopeful for carmelo, and like i said carmelo isn't providing the same utility on the other end. maybe i'm wrong about the shot selection i didn't chart it or anything, it was just my perception of the quality of shots he was attempting.

I tend to agree. Felt like the ball was stalling in his and PG's hands a fair bit in the first half (to be fair, Russ was forcing it there a bit). Felt like a "get into the swing of things" game for them.

Good 1st game. Everyone was feeling it out. The shooting will get better.

All in all a good start to the PG/Melo/WB big 3 era.

Adams was a BEAST defensively and should get a lot more open lobs/looks on offense. If Westbrook can keep dishing the ball for easy buckets this team will be unstoppable.

Yeah, Adams looked better than he ever did post December of last year.