PG: Knicks vs Portland

[thebuzzardman]

Coaching matters. Good to know we have one of the best in the game. Road wins especially out west aren’t easy even against a bad team

Could you give some examples of the good coaching you saw in the last game? I know it's easier for me to see a player's successes and failures but i'm truly curious to know what you saw from the coaching that made you want to post this.

don't do this...its a road to nowhere...

Watch on YouTube

[Capn'O]

The Knicks need to figure out a way to get Bridges more involved as a pick and roll ball handler when JB is back. We have offensive weapons that aren't being utilized. It's exhausting watching them run the same pick and roll with Brunson in the same set for 50 straight plays. Mix it up to keep the defense guessing.

Yes. His middy is so automatic it opens a lot.

Bridges is our Rip Hamilton

Yup. We'd been using him as a C&S player and he's not.

Another C&S wing (OG) is a clear need.

Speaking of OG... god I love watching him live. He's everywhere on both ends.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Coaching matters. Good to know we have one of the best in the game. Road wins especially out west aren’t easy even against a bad team

Could you give some examples of the good coaching you saw in the last game? I know it's easier for me to see a player's successes and failures but i'm truly curious to know what you saw from the coaching that made you want to post this.

Gravy and HEZI are the last diehard Thibs defenders, don't take them seriously.

[spree2kawhi]

He's had a 41pt game scoring in a variety of ways with and without Brunson on the court

Read on Twitter

It doesn’t matter if fans want him traded. They don’t understand basketball. It is true that he hasn’t been consistent like a LeBron or Brunson, but here has had long good stretches and for the year, his numbers are looking good. The defense is good. After all, he is seventh in the league in plus/minus if I see it correctly here - again, that’s top 10 in the league: https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-leaders-in-plus-minus (Edit: oh well, that was thorough 40-something games, he’s now dropped to 31, but that’s still ahead of Giannis, Caruso, Doncic, Morant, Bane etc.)

Some posters are just never satisfied or really have to tone down the trolling. It’s unreasonable.

what is unreasonable is to act like those of us who expect to see more consistency have the expectations of greatness like curry or lebron from mikal.

Fair enough, but he’s shooting 50% from the field on the season and he has been a good defender. The plus / minus is still remarkable and was there from the start.

Some poster, I forgot who, had even gone on record saying something along the lines of “I always demand perfection” as if the team owed him/her something. I think that is just ridiculous. This team is in year one and it is a league of outstanding teams and talent.

And that is quite a thing to say online. I wonder what the person looks like in real life.

[Capn'O]

Looking at the box, 12 shots for KAT is another thing that stands out. We weren't feeding the KAT at all. Definitely weren't looking to establish him from the outside until those final two shots in regulation.

[JayTWill]

Is there a reason Hart is on the court in late game situations when the team needs a basket? The only time I can remember Thibs benching Hart in a moment like that is in the Heat game where he put Mikal back in the game after benching him the entire 4th. If the Blazers decided to trap Bridges coming off that screen on the game winner what does Hart provide in that situation?

[spree2kawhi]

Looking at the box, 12 shots for KAT is another thing that stands out. We weren't feeding the KAT at all. Definitely weren't looking to establish him from the outside until those final two shots in regulation.

Never. I don’t get it…

[mpharris36]

Yes. His middy is so automatic it opens a lot.

Bridges is our Rip Hamilton

Yup. We'd been using him as a C&S player and he's not.

Another C&S wing (OG) is a clear need.

Speaking of OG... god I love watching him live. He's everywhere on both ends.

I said it to my man Guano after the lakers post game. We were using Mikal like we were using Donte last year...and he will continue to fail if we continue to use him in that role. He is not a C&S floor high volume floor spacer. He can C&S from the corners but he is a guy you want to use off movement play him in screens and get him into the middy/paint and then that opens up his 3 ball.

Maybe this stretch without Brunson will open our stubborn coaches mind a bit.

[mpharris36]

Looking at the box, 12 shots for KAT is another thing that stands out. We weren't feeding the KAT at all. Definitely weren't looking to establish him from the outside until those final two shots in regulation.

Never. I don’t get it…

Smaller wing on KAT...basically takes away KAT because we don't run set to get him looks.

KAT's offense comes from above the break trailing 3's, close out drives, and post ups.

He doesn't get any movement C&S attempts.

And basically trailing 3's and close out drive are neutralized with a smaller defender on him and a big center sagging off Hart clogging the lane.

The only thing we randomly run is post ups from 20 feet out and those are pretty inefficient attempts and lead to a forced shot or offensive foul most of the time.

[Guano]

It doesn’t matter if fans want him traded. They don’t understand basketball. It is true that he hasn’t been consistent like a LeBron or Brunson, but here has had long good stretches and for the year, his numbers are looking good. The defense is good. After all, he is seventh in the league in plus/minus if I see it correctly here - again, that’s top 10 in the league: https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-leaders-in-plus-minus (Edit: oh well, that was thorough 40-something games, he’s now dropped to 31, but that’s still ahead of Giannis, Caruso, Doncic, Morant, Bane etc.)

Some posters are just never satisfied or really have to tone down the trolling. It’s unreasonable.

what is unreasonable is to act like those of us who expect to see more consistency have the expectations of greatness like curry or lebron from mikal.

Fair enough, but he’s shooting 50% from the field on the season and he has been a good defender. The plus / minus is still remarkable and was there from the start.

Some poster, I forgot who, had even gone on record saying something along the lines of “I always demand perfection” as if the team owed him/her something. I think that is just ridiculous. This team is in year one and it is a league of outstanding teams and talent.

And that is quite a thing to say online. I wonder what the person looks like in real life.

yeah, mikal is what he is - expecting him to be perfect is unreasonable as hell. there is always going to be those that bring the ridiculousness here(i'm guilty of that - especially in gamethreads) we even have posters who give brunson sht for being human and he is the best knick i've seen in my life (sorry pat and Melo and fourni3r).

as for mikal his defense has been great - he has kept some really talented players in check. it's the offensive side that is frustrating - i agree that some of it, maybe a lot of it is a system issue, but that form change and his fear of contact is a him issue. and the investment magnifies it all. we went all in on him so we need him to be at his best for this window to open.

[spree2kawhi]

Bridges is our Rip Hamilton

Yup. We'd been using him as a C&S player and he's not.

Another C&S wing (OG) is a clear need.

Speaking of OG... god I love watching him live. He's everywhere on both ends.

I said it to my man Guano after the lakers post game. We were using Mikal like we were using Donte last year...and he will continue to fail if we continue to use him in that role. He is not a C&S floor high volume floor spacer. He can C&S from the corners but he is a guy you want to use off movement play him in screens and get him into the middy/paint and then that opens up his 3 ball.

Maybe this stretch without Brunson will open our stubborn coaches mind a bit.

He clearly is a rhythm player so he needs to be used on the ball more. The mid-range jumper will get him going.

Some things are just off with the play-calling. Freezing out Towns habitually is another such blunder. The guy has been a monster and should be in every pick and roll.

[Moose]

Is there a reason Hart is on the court in late game situations when the team needs a basket? The only time I can remember Thibs benching Hart in a moment like that is in the Heat game where he put Mikal back in the game after benching him the entire 4th. If the Blazers decided to trap Bridges coming off that screen on the game winner what does Hart provide in that situation?

With 3.5 seconds left, and no Jalen:

Towns
OG
Bridges
McBride
Hart (over Payne)

I can see a future where Hart is on the bench with a healthy Jalen.

If you have time to get a rebound or need to potentially create some havoc, then Hart over McBride.

[mpharris36]

Yup. We'd been using him as a C&S player and he's not.

Another C&S wing (OG) is a clear need.

Speaking of OG... god I love watching him live. He's everywhere on both ends.

I said it to my man Guano after the lakers post game. We were using Mikal like we were using Donte last year...and he will continue to fail if we continue to use him in that role. He is not a C&S floor high volume floor spacer. He can C&S from the corners but he is a guy you want to use off movement play him in screens and get him into the middy/paint and then that opens up his 3 ball.

Maybe this stretch without Brunson will open our stubborn coaches mind a bit.

He clearly is a rhythm player so he needs to be used on the ball more. The mid-range jumper will get him going.

Some things are just off with the play-calling. Freezing out Towns habitually is another such blunder. The guy has been a monster and should be in every pick and roll.

Mikal just isn't a guy that can take 10-12 shots with 8 of them being 3's...its just not his stregths.

Getting him downhill into the midrange area...getting him to the free throw line...makes him get into rhythm which then opens up the 3 ball.

Donte could just come out and bomb his first 4-5 shots from deep and hit 2 or 3...that is simply not the way Mikal is going to thrive.

[HEZI]

Coaching matters. Good to know we have one of the best in the game. Road wins especially out west aren’t easy even against a bad team

Could you give some examples of the good coaching you saw in the last game? I know it's easier for me to see a player's successes and failures but i'm truly curious to know what you saw from the coaching that made you want to post this.

Didn’t watch this one. I’m not staying up for these late west coast games unless it’s the weekend and even then it’s a maybe

[robillionaire]

Yes. His middy is so automatic it opens a lot.

Bridges is our Rip Hamilton

Yup. We'd been using him as a C&S player and he's not.

Another C&S wing (OG) is a clear need.

Speaking of OG... god I love watching him live. He's everywhere on both ends.

Well this is really an issue, OG doesn’t want to be just a C&S player he wants the ball. And Mikal is a better shot creator than OG but has also shied away from attempts. The obvious solution to me would be running more stuff for Mikal having him take over as the next option and having OG play off ball more instead of attempting his slow and usually ineffective drives. But OG may react badly to this. And OG has also been really good and I applaud his aggressiveness so I hate to mess that up. But at the end of the day there’s only one ball

[HEZI]

Coaching matters. Good to know we have one of the best in the game. Road wins especially out west aren’t easy even against a bad team

Could you give some examples of the good coaching you saw in the last game? I know it's easier for me to see a player's successes and failures but i'm truly curious to know what you saw from the coaching that made you want to post this.

don't do this...its a road to nowhere...

Is he coaching now or is Brunson still carrying him from the bench in street clothes?

[robillionaire]

Is there a reason Hart is on the court in late game situations when the team needs a basket? The only time I can remember Thibs benching Hart in a moment like that is in the Heat game where he put Mikal back in the game after benching him the entire 4th. If the Blazers decided to trap Bridges coming off that screen on the game winner what does Hart provide in that situation?

With 3.5 seconds left, and no Jalen:

Towns
OG
Bridges
McBride
Hart (over Payne)

I can see a future where Hart is on the bench with a healthy Jalen.

If you have time to get a rebound or need to potentially create some havoc, then Hart over McBride.

Almost want to say if hart is out there you have to play him at center and put him under the rim. And play everyone else out at the perimeter. He’s more impactful scoring at the rim and possibly grabbing an offensive board than he is with shooting the ball

[K_ick_God]

Should never have blown the lead after KAT’s two 3’s. But also when is the last time he got two 3’s in a row in the clutch?

[HarthorneWingo]

Coach Bridges

[Reign23]

just saw the game. daaaaaaaaaamn Cap saw a great one. Mikal was big.