PG: that sucked

[K_ick_God]

I like KAT and strongly dislike Randle

But had we kept them, we'd have two quicker decisionmakers ....which we need

Hindsight is 20/20

[Jeff Van Gully]

Maybe this sounds so simple but when they post up KAT why does it have to be 20 feet away from the basket? Why can't we post up KAT closer to the basket. So that forces Duren's help way quicker and then you have Hart back side either screening for a moving OG or Mikal to the basket.

Also have we ever thought to run Hart to screen for KAT to force the big back on KAT?

Its just so vanilla...we try to post up KAT 20 feet away he takes a few dribbles and gets a little closer but then Duren is lurking because he isn't guarding Hart...but instead of doing anything Hart just stands there...why isn't he back screening for an actual shooter like Draymond does?

it's the high post triple threat. shoot the midrange if uncontested (usually never left alone). drive if closed out on. keep an eye out for cutters if one gets free. maybe only jokic better at the action that's supposed to come from that.

it's also much easier to establish that position. even in today's NBA most teams won't just let KAT set up shop 5 feet away.

edit: it was a disaster for Detroit when KAT got that low post position in game 1.

How about using Hart as a screener for KAT. Start Brunson on the elbow with the ball and then have Hart in the post position looking like he is going to screen for Brunson only to then run across the paint and down screen for KAT coming across the paint into the low post area.

Brunson hits KAT.

One of two things happen. DET has to switch Duren onto KAT which is a matchup we want with KAT's quickness. Or Harris because he is being down screened by Hart can't fight KAT for low post position. So KAT starts way closer to the basket.

We barely run on ball screens...I think we run the fewest off ball screens in the NBA. Off ball screening is an easy way to get shooters looks. We never pre-screen to get a matchup we want. It just iso or post up KAT 20 feet away...it can be way easier.

more off-ball screening would be great. i think--

wait, wtf? you ain't slick, mph. this is mikal-as-reggie miller propaganda! you not low!

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Ive been a big Thibs supporter but Im starting to lean that hes achieved his ceiling as a coach with this team.... The fact we are not spamming pick and rolls with Kat and Brunson every time down the court makes no sense. And you cant come out after a playoff game and state rebounding was an issue and then refuse to paly the only 7 footer on the either team more than 20 minutes

This loss is on Thibs and Brunson. Brunson has to be better

Welcome aboard.

congratulations, and excellent gif.

so, are you saying you don't really want the thibslamists among your ranks?

Can they renounce their God king? If they can, they're welcome. But, watching the way those 2 games were coached and coming away thinking that man is good is basically being in a cult at this point.

https://www.ice.gov/


Thibslamists need to be snitched on at this point.

[KnicksGadfly]

They do ... iso Brunson.

Sent from my SM-S9080 using RealGM mobile app

it isn't new though. he has always played like this. but the knicks also could play defense and rebound better than most teams. now they can't. if people are mad about how jalen is playing they should have never liked him. because nothing has changed with him.

I mean... We now have the most weapons on offense we've had in 20 years. If Brunson freezes out KAT and OG completely, it is bs. I don't put this all on thibs tbh, because Brunson does like the 20 second dribbling and hero ball mode a lot.
If he doesn't pass the ball a little more, we might as well trade all our skilled offensive players for 3 and d guys and rim protectors. go full Harden-Rockets mode. Does that win us a chip? I don't know.

The thing is this, if Brunson is freelancing and he's not listening to Thibs...then Thibs should be fired. There's no way a coach should be around if the players don't listen. There's no scenario right now where Thibs does not get blame. At the very least, if the player is freelancing, then you should not be playing them for an entire half. Bench them and talk to them.

However, I also think Thibs has to play a role. This is the same thing he tried to do with the Chicago Bulls. Thibs really loves his short scorers...he was able to do some magic with Nate Robinson in the past, with Quickley, with DRose, etc. He got really spoiled with DRose and Brunson too. Those guys are so good at their scoring that it can be really easy to just give them the ball and let them work.

[GONYK]

Jalen will watch the film and make adjustments. He always figures it out in the end. But I don't think anything he's doing is happening in a vacuum. There are a lot of factors contributing to what we're seeing.

We can certainly find ways to lighten his load or make his reads easier.

I think we take for granted how great brunson is and how much he has to do. The regime brought in these pieces so that he would have to play like this like he did for the first two playoff runs here...

But alas he is playing more minutes and taking more shots then the last two post season with significantly more talent around him.

Make it make sense to me.

I can't.

That is for the guy on the bench.

[Jeff Van Gully]

I'm also not seeing this "OG is a beast" ... to spread the criticism around. But he and MB don't seem up to it and as sham said, and I agree with, we lack quick decision guys. OG and MB are slow deciders.

i been watching you go off for a minute. but i can't accept the OG slander. we not gon let you make 0g a thing. it's not a thing.

he is absolutely a beast. but he can't walk into a packed paint. and he can't shoot in rhythm from the outside if the ball ain't moving.

OG been driving and diming lately. lane gotta be there.

[god shammgod]

The idea that Thibs has more control than Brunson here is preposterous. Ewing didn’t have the power that Brunson has in this organization. When Donte came back what did he say ? He said that’s what happens when you let Rick Brunson run the team Thibs. What does that tell you?

[NoDopeOnSundays]

If these numbers don’t concern you then I feel as a group RealGM should get a collective lobotomy.

Brunson’s USG% on the year is around 28% and last night it was 39.4% - that represents a 40% increase.

NBA teams AVG time of possession in 24-25 was 14.4 seconds - Brunson himself was at 10.6 seconds in Game 2 in case you are wondering why we are never a hockey assist away from a functional possession. There is no mismatch hunting, transition oops, double screens, stagger screens, pin downs or curl plays. We don’t push the pace off a missed FG or FTA - it’s stuck in the mud.

As far as touches are concerned, Brunson had 104 last night when he was closer to 84 on the season.

In fact, if you look at game 2 as far as who Jalen passed the ball to, Bridges received 38, Hart 32 and KAT only had 12 passes delivered from JB.

This offense is an utter indictment of Thibs and it’s truly the worst coaching I’ve seen him do across 6 years as a Knick HC. He has no clue how to adapt to his player personnel or the opposing HC, he will never be proactive to seek a way to win on the margins. It’s laughable.

His touches per game going up over last years playoffs is comical, there's nobody to reign him in. He's to blame, sure, but a coach allowing it is far more egregious, and the whole "We don't have a secondary creator" falls on deaf ears because we didn't have one last year either yet he had the ball less. Josh had the ball in his hands more in the playoffs last season than he does this year.

The real issue is that Tom has found absolutely no way to counter a big being on Hart, and he's unwilling to take him off the floor. The reason nobody guarded Hart with their C last year is simple, we kept IHart at the top of the key and ran offense through him and he could make that ugly little floater. This year, because the coach is an idiot, he sees the smaller man on KAT and thinks dumping the ball into him with a 7 footer helping on him is a good idea, so our offense grinds to a halt as we play 2003 basketball, and then Jalen is usually left to bail us out, or just goes into do it myself mode.

[NiceLikeChrist]

Kat in the locker room post game being asked about not taking a shot in the last 15 mins and he said he was running exactly what the team wanted to run

So yea, sounds like a thibs issue. It’s been like this any team he was head coach. The offense is ran through the player who can isolate the best.

The reason it worked more last season was because we had two iso options in JB and Randle and they took turns and JB wasn’t going to alpha Randle because Randle won’t play that. Towns is more willing to sit back and isnt an iso guy so everything is ran through JB. That’s how thibs wants it and Brunson is happy to comply.

[Jeff Van Gully]

Welcome aboard.

congratulations, and excellent gif.

so, are you saying you don't really want the thibslamists among your ranks?

Can they renounce their God king? If they can, they're welcome. But, watching the way those 2 games were coached and coming away thinking that man is good is basically being in a cult at this point.

https://www.ice.gov/


Thibslamists need to be snitched on at this point.

well, i will not be denouncing my faith. but at the nation of thibslam we embrace an evolving and socially conscious form of liberation theology. we share the goal of reaching the promised land. let's build, not destroy.

i can't speak for the other sects.

my brother. i am also aware that you are a proponent of strategically informing the authorities, known colloquially as snitching. i cannot tell another man how to walk his path, but this will leave you ostracized like alfamega.

[K_ick_God]

The idea that Thibs has more control than Brunson here is preposterous. Ewing didn’t have the power that Brunson has in this organization. When Donte came back what did he say ? He said that’s what happens when you let Rick Brunson run the team Thibs. What does that tell you?

But this conflates the issue of control with smart basketball. He runs the organization so he gets to double everybody up in shots? Maybe the main thing is that he's really a shooting guard who can dribble. That makes more sense than control.

He of course wants to win but he played the last two games like he wants to score 30 first and hopefully that's good enough for a win.

[3toheadmelo]

Someone compared Mikal to Arron afflalo and I think it’s spot on

[Jeff Van Gully]

I like KAT and strongly dislike Randle

But had we kept them, we'd have two quicker decisionmakers ....which we need

Hindsight is 20/20

KAT trade or no, we would have been gucci if hartenstein ain't leave us.



that day was worse than getting bumped, god.

[HEZI]

Shouldn’t even need KAT to beat the Pistons. If Brunson and Cade cancel each other out the all you need is better production from the others to cancel out Tobias Harris and Dennis Schroeder. We traded 5 first round for a guy who can’t outplay either of those two and that’s just embarrassing

[Jeff Van Gully]

Someone compared Mikal to Arron afflalo and I think it’s spot on

that is **** terrible. don't crash out.

[K_ick_God]

I'm also not seeing this "OG is a beast" ... to spread the criticism around. But he and MB don't seem up to it and as sham said, and I agree with, we lack quick decision guys. OG and MB are slow deciders.

i been watching you go off for a minute. but i can't accept the OG slander. we not gon let you make 0g a thing. it's not a thing.

he is absolutely a beast. but he can't walk into a packed paint. and he can't shoot in rhythm from the outside if the ball ain't moving.

OG been driving and diming lately. lane gotta be there.

I think he's doing his best, plays hard. Not as good a shooter as MB but neither is great. But I don't see any beasting. I'd say he's sort of doing an only okay job defending.

[3toheadmelo]

Kat in the locker room post game being asked about not taking a shot in the last 15 mins and he said he was running exactly what the team wanted to run

So yea, sounds like a thibs issue. It’s been like this any team he was head coach. The offense is ran through the player who can isolate the best.

The reason it worked more last season was because we had two iso options in JB and Randle and they took turns and JB wasn’t going to alpha Randle because Randle won’t play that. Towns is more willing to sit back and isnt an iso guy so everything is ran through JB. That’s how thibs wants it and Brunson is happy to comply.

I think regardless of what coach you have, you need to have iso players to be successful in the playoffs. Thats how it’s always been. We gotta get another creator this summer to help out Brunson

[K_ick_God]

I like KAT and strongly dislike Randle

But had we kept them, we'd have two quicker decisionmakers ....which we need

Hindsight is 20/20

KAT trade or no, we would have been gucci if hartenstein ain't leave us.



that day was worse than getting bumped, god.

Yeah, we couldn't survive losing iHart. That's what I thought then and it's still true.

Maybe an Atkinson could create a high octane offense. But guys like Jerome are pretty big on that team. They are getting a lot out of him compared to what we get from MB.

But yeah, iHart was the whole ballgame.

[knicksstuff]

The offense should be Jalen working off ball to get free through multiple different screens with KAT/Josh at the top of the Key making Deicison on OG and Mikal cuts or finding brunson for catch and shoot or catch drive action. Thats when the offense works best. If you need to go to Brunson Iso late in the clock or down the stretch when you need a tough basket fine but it cant be 40 minutes of Brunson dribbling the air out of the ball.

I still think we win this series in 5 or 6 but they have to clean it up They are capable

[3toheadmelo]

Someone compared Mikal to Arron afflalo and I think it’s spot on

that is **** terrible. don't crash out.

They’re actually very similar. They love that middie. Average on defense, inconsistent from 3