PG: 2nd Seed Baby!

[Context]

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It's hard but right now he's probably my 2nd favorite player...

[The Vo Show]

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This is why I don't like it when he has to play primary on-ball defender. He's so much better at help defense and shooting the gap in passing lanes.

[Jalen Bluntson]

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This really says it all. Imagine this team without him. He did all of this while breaking/tying many Knicks records. It wasn't like he was riding the bus. He was driving the damn thing through a wildly evolving rotation and myriad of injuries. It is truly the epitome of MVP.

[HarthorneWingo]

When is our first playoff game?

[Context]

When is our first playoff game?

I think next saturday...

[BKlutch]

Missed all 3 games, was out in the boonies in a Unibomber cabin with no wifi and really poor cell service. You are welcome for all 3 wins. Will download and watch today.

No Knicks fan goes into the wilderness for the the last games of the season. I mean, Divo’s child was born while he played 50+ minutes.

[Davis18]

Nobody expected 50 wins & 2nd seed finish.
A lot of things went our way.

- Brunson (no explanation needed)
- Divo breaking out as solid staring 2
- OG trade.. best in season deal ever?
- IHart more than making up for Mitch injury
- Deuce replacing Grimes
- Hart is Hart

I am expecting a deep run in this playoffs.. at least ECF.
It is a real fun being a Knicks fan and sharing w/ fellow Knicks fans.

[Clyde_Style]

When is our first playoff game?

I think next saturday...

Watch on YouTube

[Clyde_Style]

Missed all 3 games, was out in the boonies in a Unibomber cabin with no wifi and really poor cell service. You are welcome for all 3 wins. Will download and watch today.

No Knicks fan goes into the wilderness for the the last games of the season. I mean, Divo’s child was born while he played 50+ minutes.

You don't know if Buzz was giving birth too. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

[dakomish23]

Brunson def a lock for top 5 MVP voting but he’s also got a real shot all NBA 1st team. Insane season from the best PG since Clyde

[Clyde_Style]

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OG is the new Bacon. Everything is better with him on it

[K_ick_God]

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Didn’t even have a good game and helped make plays to beat a team that shot well and played well

However Precious should get mention as very good today

[Galvationknicks]

Let's win the chip. RJ IQ Grimes Evil Donte Ryan A Taj and even Fournier get rings lol

[Galvationknicks]

What a glorious season. Glad we have more coming up.

Now, we sharpen our metal bats. Yes, I said sharpen.

Awwwww look at Philly/Heat after they play us

[KnicksGadfly]

Well, we all knew that this is what Thibs does, and this is a Thibs team, so we can only just roll with it and hopefully enjoy it.

https://theathletic.com/5415205/2024/04/14/knicks-bulls-nba-playoffs/

...As the rest of the league swerved away from two giants, New York didn’t care to avoid anyone.

“The object is to win,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Put everything you have into winning. That’s the bottom line.”

Teams surrounding the Knicks did not agree.

The Milwaukee Bucks, who sat in second place until Sunday, were already without injured two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and rested their other All-Star, Damian Lillard, on Friday. The Cleveland Cavaliers, which could have jumped to second place with Bucks and Knicks losses on Sunday, rested various key guys during their finale when they lost at home to the 21-win Charlotte Hornets.

The possibility of climbing to No. 2 only to meet the 76ers or Heat was not worth the trouble, so the Cavs willingly dropped to fourth.

Meanwhile, rather than showing replays and statistics, the big screen at Madison Square Garden may as well have broadcasted Herm Edwards yelping, you play to win the game on repeat.

“We’re trying to create good habits that will turn out on the court,” said Jalen Brunson, who went for 40 points, eight rebounds and seven assists during the win over the Bulls. “So obviously going forward, we’re gonna have a tough opponent, but we’re just focusing on, how can we be the best team that we can be?”

The answer to that question did not include tossing the Chicago game into the trash.

Had the Knicks done so, they would have guaranteed a third- or fourth-place finish and a first-round matchup with the Orlando Magic or Indiana Pacers, who don’t boast the résumés to match the two teams atop the Play-In. But making decisions based on fear? That’s not how the Knicks roll.

Come the final buzzer, they celebrated being the No. 2-seeded team. Brunson called the group “Resilient.” Donte DiVincenzo, who rested for a total of 29 seconds in the overtime game against the Bulls, reminded the world that Thibodeau teams don’t go through the motions.

“You know who we play for. Everything counts,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the type of game it is. We want to win every single game.”

Thibodeau does not understand how to coach any other way. And the players don’t exude the same energy just because of the man leading them. These aren’t just habits. It’s who the Knicks are, and they can’t (and shouldn’t) turn off an identity, especially when it’s the reason they’re in the mix at all.

New York’s ascension was no guarantee. Julius Randle hasn’t played since Jan. 27 — when he dislocated his shoulder — and won’t return after undergoing surgery on it last week. OG Anunoby has played only 23 games since coming over in a trade three and a half months ago. Mitchell Robinson has missed most of the season because of ankle surgery. Isaiah Hartenstein has fought through Achilles tendinopathy for months.

The Knicks throttled to second because of their depth and overt competitiveness, because they don’t care if they’re the ones getting punched in the mouth or if they’re the ones doing the punching, as long as someone is getting smacked.

“That’s what I love about this team,” Thibodeau said. “And it started right from the beginning. Mitch got hurt, then Julius, then OG. … (Winning) is not (about) the best individuals. It’s the best team. There was no quit in this team. Some nights, we fell short. We learned from it and got better. The spirit of this team is very strong.”

Artificially manipulating seeding does not always work, either.

Had the Cavaliers beaten the Hornets on Sunday, they would have ended up in the No. 3 slot, which would have handed them Indiana in the first round and helped them avoid the feared, league-best Boston Celtics until the conference finals. But they just chose to sit their guys because of an improbable scenario that would have sprung them to second.

The Bucks’ recent falloff is not just about resting Lillard on Friday versus Oklahoma City; they have dropped 8 of their final 11 to close the season. But because they’re down to third place, they now have to face Indiana, the team that downed them in the In-Season Tournament and has had their number.

History tends to repeat itself.

Just a couple of years ago, when the league was anxious about the supposedly most dangerous No. 7 ever, Kevin Durant’s and Kyrie Irving’s Brooklyn Nets, the Bucks rested their best players on the final day of the regular season, intentionally dropping from second place to third. Boston hopped them. Surely, it would do it again.

The Celtics swept the Nets. Two weeks later, they beat the Bucks in Round 2 — in part because the decisive Game 7 of their second-round series was in Boston, a home game. After all, Milwaukee had handed them the higher playoff seed.

If the goal is to win a title, good teams need to be defeated at some point. Teams might as well guarantee the two advantages they know will be consistent the whole way: Clinch home-court advantage through as many rounds as possible and continue to approach every game like it’s the most important one, even if it means a date with a Play-In team that horrified the rest of the competition.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Let's win the chip. RJ IQ Grimes Evil Donte Ryan A Taj and even Fournier get rings lol

Key components to this team!

[K_ick_God]

Well, we all knew that this is what Thibs does, and this is a Thibs team, so we can only just roll with it and hopefully enjoy it.

https://theathletic.com/5415205/2024/04/14/knicks-bulls-nba-playoffs/

...As the rest of the league swerved away from two giants, New York didn’t care to avoid anyone.

“The object is to win,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Put everything you have into winning. That’s the bottom line.”

Teams surrounding the Knicks did not agree.

The Milwaukee Bucks, who sat in second place until Sunday, were already without injured two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and rested their other All-Star, Damian Lillard, on Friday. The Cleveland Cavaliers, which could have jumped to second place with Bucks and Knicks losses on Sunday, rested various key guys during their finale when they lost at home to the 21-win Charlotte Hornets.

The possibility of climbing to No. 2 only to meet the 76ers or Heat was not worth the trouble, so the Cavs willingly dropped to fourth.

Meanwhile, rather than showing replays and statistics, the big screen at Madison Square Garden may as well have broadcasted Herm Edwards yelping, you play to win the game on repeat.

“We’re trying to create good habits that will turn out on the court,” said Jalen Brunson, who went for 40 points, eight rebounds and seven assists during the win over the Bulls. “So obviously going forward, we’re gonna have a tough opponent, but we’re just focusing on, how can we be the best team that we can be?”

The answer to that question did not include tossing the Chicago game into the trash.

Had the Knicks done so, they would have guaranteed a third- or fourth-place finish and a first-round matchup with the Orlando Magic or Indiana Pacers, who don’t boast the résumés to match the two teams atop the Play-In. But making decisions based on fear? That’s not how the Knicks roll.

Come the final buzzer, they celebrated being the No. 2-seeded team. Brunson called the group “Resilient.” Donte DiVincenzo, who rested for a total of 29 seconds in the overtime game against the Bulls, reminded the world that Thibodeau teams don’t go through the motions.

“You know who we play for. Everything counts,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the type of game it is. We want to win every single game.”

Thibodeau does not understand how to coach any other way. And the players don’t exude the same energy just because of the man leading them. These aren’t just habits. It’s who the Knicks are, and they can’t (and shouldn’t) turn off an identity, especially when it’s the reason they’re in the mix at all.

New York’s ascension was no guarantee. Julius Randle hasn’t played since Jan. 27 — when he dislocated his shoulder — and won’t return after undergoing surgery on it last week. OG Anunoby has played only 23 games since coming over in a trade three and a half months ago. Mitchell Robinson has missed most of the season because of ankle surgery. Isaiah Hartenstein has fought through Achilles tendinopathy for months.

The Knicks throttled to second because of their depth and overt competitiveness, because they don’t care if they’re the ones getting punched in the mouth or if they’re the ones doing the punching, as long as someone is getting smacked.

“That’s what I love about this team,” Thibodeau said. “And it started right from the beginning. Mitch got hurt, then Julius, then OG. … (Winning) is not (about) the best individuals. It’s the best team. There was no quit in this team. Some nights, we fell short. We learned from it and got better. The spirit of this team is very strong.”

Artificially manipulating seeding does not always work, either.

Had the Cavaliers beaten the Hornets on Sunday, they would have ended up in the No. 3 slot, which would have handed them Indiana in the first round and helped them avoid the feared, league-best Boston Celtics until the conference finals. But they just chose to sit their guys because of an improbable scenario that would have sprung them to second.

The Bucks’ recent falloff is not just about resting Lillard on Friday versus Oklahoma City; they have dropped 8 of their final 11 to close the season. But because they’re down to third place, they now have to face Indiana, the team that downed them in the In-Season Tournament and has had their number.

History tends to repeat itself.

Just a couple of years ago, when the league was anxious about the supposedly most dangerous No. 7 ever, Kevin Durant’s and Kyrie Irving’s Brooklyn Nets, the Bucks rested their best players on the final day of the regular season, intentionally dropping from second place to third. Boston hopped them. Surely, it would do it again.

The Celtics swept the Nets. Two weeks later, they beat the Bucks in Round 2 — in part because the decisive Game 7 of their second-round series was in Boston, a home game. After all, Milwaukee had handed them the higher playoff seed.

If the goal is to win a title, good teams need to be defeated at some point. Teams might as well guarantee the two advantages they know will be consistent the whole way: Clinch home-court advantage through as many rounds as possible and continue to approach every game like it’s the most important one, even if it means a date with a Play-In team that horrified the rest of the competition.

Great article, gave me goosebumps

[MrDollarBills]

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Here's a good article (well, for the NY Post's standards) about Donte and why he has the nickname "The Michael Jordan of Delaware".

https://nypost.com/2024/02/19/sports/how-the-legend-of-donte-divincenzo-was-born-michael-jordan-of-delaware/

https://www.tiktok.com/@nba_newyork/video/7281107786384100651

I remember watching this dude play high school ball back in like 2013? on local access tv games on Verizon FIOS' network. He was busting people's asses well before he hit Villanova.

Everything that he's doing now isn't surprising. He always had this potential. It's just fun to see it actually happen on the highest level

[Jalen Bluntson]

Let's win the chip. RJ IQ Grimes Evil Donte Ryan A Taj and even Fournier get rings lol

Key components to this team!

[HarthorneWingo]

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I always liked Donte's hustle on defense. The guy never quits even if he gets beat because he (1) fights over screens, (2) gets into passing lanes, and (3) provides excellent help defense.

There are a bunch of people who routinely dump on Donte's defense and I don't get it. Donte gets after it. Really, he gets after it on BOTH sides of the court.