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HiJiNX wrote:So I finally got around to watching this game. Interesting that I saw a much different game than a lot of folks here. Let’s dive into some things that stood out to me:
HiJiNX wrote:So I finally got around to watching this game. Interesting that I saw a much different game than a lot of folks here. Let’s dive into some things that stood out to me:
-First the obvious, we got out rebounded bad. Easy to blame this on lack of size at the C, but a lot of blame has to fall on our guards and wing players for not boxing out. Felt like a lot of rebounds we gave up started there.
-Another obvious issue was the FT shooting.
-Diving a bit deeper now, IQ’s defence was third worst on the team last night (behind Porter and especially Trent who was our worst). IQ kept losing his assignment on the perimeter and struggled to get around screens. He was feasted on.
-Both of NYK’s big runs in the third Q came when we went zone. They just screened one of our guards, opened things up, and picked us apart.
-Our transition D continues to be awful. We are not doing a good job of getting back and picking up defensive assignments. We don’t stop the ball. We look like a middle school team defending in transition.
-Barnes, obviously had a poor shooting game. He missed two or three bunnies right at the rim. A couple of them could have been fouls but he still has to make those or go into the contact so he can leave no doubt in the ref’s minds.
-Trent and Schroder were just bad. In fact, all of our guards who played last night were bad. Even Brown contributed to two turnovers because he couldn’t catch routine passes.
-Boucher provided nothing of substance.
Now a few positives:
-Barnes was a monster defensively when he wasn’t matched up with Brunson. To my count, Randle only made one shot when defended by Barnes. He was blanketed. Barnes also did a great job patrolling the middle of the floor to block shots, alter them, and kill passing lanes. I thought he was superb here.
-Our D, when we were not playing zone, was quite good (despite the Knicks FG%) for stretches. The first quarter before Barnes came off and the middle of the third Q when we weren’t playing zone were strong defensive stretches. In fact, I’d say that the Knicks FG% looked as good as it did because of their transition buckets and points off offensive rebounds. In the half court, other than Brunson, I thought we defended them really well.
-RJ continues to look good. I think he needs more minutes with Barnes so teams can’t load up on Barnes the way the Knicks did in the second half of this game.
-Dick’s shot looks really soft coming out of his hands these days and he has way better misses than he did earlier in the season where his misses were not even close or badly clanked the rim. The ball just seems to be coming out of his hand in a much softer way. It feels like less of a sling shot and simply has more touch. He’s going to be a lethal shooter one day.
Now to Barnes specifically. I didn’t see this as a bad game due to him not playing well as much as I saw a Knicks game plan to not let Barnes get the ball into the middle of the floor. Outside of the post up where he committed a passing turnover, Barnes saw extra help every time he touched it in the half court. There was also a lot of ball denial happening. Essentially, Thibs had a perfect game plan for Barnes. To Barnes’ credit, he was able to make the right passing read most of the time, but ultimately he wasn’t able to put enough pressure on the D with three Knicks players collapsing on him any time he dribbled toward the paint. Until Barnes trusts or develops a reliable midrange game, teams will continue defending him like this. Last night’s game wasn’t an example of him not having the handle or physical tools to get to the rim, it was a concerted effort by the Knicks to make him pass it early or shoot long twos and threes. To the Knicks’ credit, it worked. That said, I was encouraged by the reads Barnes was making and the defence he was playing. From a developmental perspective, I thought he played well. From a results perspective, you’d obviously want more from him. He needs to develop an in between game and better finishing at the rim. That said, Barnes was the main reason this game was close in the first half (and RJ was the main reason we almost got back into it late).
I don’t walk away from this game feeling bad about our team. We didn’t have anyone to keep Brunson out of the paint or a C to mix it up inside. Last night was more of a personnel issue than it was an issue with how we played (though, the zone we played in the third Q effectively gave the game away but I also understand that we went to it because Porter was played off the court).
Merit wrote:WeThe2019Champs wrote:Guess losing games will be the norm this season
You can look at it two ways.
1) we tank to keep our pick
2) we win and San Antonio gets the pick. That means we’re improving.
The only problem is if we are trash and still lose our pick. There is a possibility of that happening, but if we tank it gets increasingly less likely.
Jadoogar wrote:Merit wrote:WeThe2019Champs wrote:Guess losing games will be the norm this season
You can look at it two ways.
1) we tank to keep our pick
2) we win and San Antonio gets the pick. That means we’re improving.
The only problem is if we are trash and still lose our pick. There is a possibility of that happening, but if we tank it gets increasingly less likely.
I don't think that's true. The bottom 4 teams (Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Spurs) are already out of reach. Then the Grizzlies and Blazers are still below us and not likely to get any better. If we play horrible the rest of the way, we may "catch" the Blazers but i think the worst record we can get is 6th worst. It's entirely possible that a team jumps us in the lottery and pushes us to 7th and we lose our pick.
Now, i don't think we're going to have a choice on where we finish because the team isn't good. But we shouldn't go out of way to tank, just let these guys play and finish where they may. The pick shouldn't impact our decision making right now.
Harold_and_Kumar wrote:What if the 10 incher was overrated and the 4 incher was too small for any playing time, but the 7 incher was a perfect fit for our roster and the 5 incher was good for specific situations, like backdoor cuts?
artsncrafts wrote:Jadoogar wrote:Merit wrote:
You can look at it two ways.
1) we tank to keep our pick
2) we win and San Antonio gets the pick. That means we’re improving.
The only problem is if we are trash and still lose our pick. There is a possibility of that happening, but if we tank it gets increasingly less likely.
I don't think that's true. The bottom 4 teams (Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Spurs) are already out of reach. Then the Grizzlies and Blazers are still below us and not likely to get any better. If we play horrible the rest of the way, we may "catch" the Blazers but i think the worst record we can get is 6th worst. It's entirely possible that a team jumps us in the lottery and pushes us to 7th and we lose our pick.
Now, i don't think we're going to have a choice on where we finish because the team isn't good. But we shouldn't go out of way to tank, just let these guys play and finish where they may. The pick shouldn't impact our decision making right now.
Obviously teams cant "tank" as the players are trying to win every game. The only thing a GM can do is assemble a bad team (done) and hope for the best. Darko is a perfect tank commander too. But as you said, it doesnt matter as the Raps likely finish in the 6-10 range either way. Best to not worry about the draft pick until lotto day.
Jadoogar wrote:artsncrafts wrote:Jadoogar wrote:
I don't think that's true. The bottom 4 teams (Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Spurs) are already out of reach. Then the Grizzlies and Blazers are still below us and not likely to get any better. If we play horrible the rest of the way, we may "catch" the Blazers but i think the worst record we can get is 6th worst. It's entirely possible that a team jumps us in the lottery and pushes us to 7th and we lose our pick.
Now, i don't think we're going to have a choice on where we finish because the team isn't good. But we shouldn't go out of way to tank, just let these guys play and finish where they may. The pick shouldn't impact our decision making right now.
Obviously teams cant "tank" as the players are trying to win every game. The only thing a GM can do is assemble a bad team (done) and hope for the best. Darko is a perfect tank commander too. But as you said, it doesnt matter as the Raps likely finish in the 6-10 range either way. Best to not worry about the draft pick until lotto day.
Yea i just meant don't do any of that "sit Poeltl extra games" or let Scottie take a long allstar break because it's probably not worth it. I would rather get out of the pick obligation now and not have it influence our decision making for next year.
Jadoogar wrote:Merit wrote:WeThe2019Champs wrote:Guess losing games will be the norm this season
You can look at it two ways.
1) we tank to keep our pick
2) we win and San Antonio gets the pick. That means we’re improving.
The only problem is if we are trash and still lose our pick. There is a possibility of that happening, but if we tank it gets increasingly less likely.
I don't think that's true. The bottom 4 teams (Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Spurs) are already out of reach. Then the Grizzlies and Blazers are still below us and not likely to get any better. If we play horrible the rest of the way, we may "catch" the Blazers but i think the worst record we can get is 6th worst. It's entirely possible that a team jumps us in the lottery and pushes us to 7th and we lose our pick.
Now, i don't think we're going to have a choice on where we finish because the team isn't good. But we shouldn't go out of way to tank, just let these guys play and finish where they may. The pick shouldn't impact our decision making right now.