PG: DO YOU BELIEVE NOW?

[Polk377]

Let's not forget that as incredible as these 2 wins were, this is still the Knicks playing some of their worst ball. We have not had a game yet when JB, KAT and one of OG or Mikal have it going. This was one of the best offenses in the league all season and so far they aren't cracking 100. This will also change.

[j4remi]

Read on Twitter

[HopelessKnick]

What a win! Wow!!!!! Another 20-point-comeback on the road. Really don't know what to say.....really gotta keep my expectations in check still despite two wins on the road. WOW just WOW!!!!!!!!

Again everyone contributed....defense very tough.

[Guano]

Im running on 2 hours of sleep, avocado toast, couple cups of coffee, and the best Knicks high.

Work is getting nothing out of me today. Im consuming all knicks content I can find today.

[god shammgod]

i will never slander mitch i been fighting for my life on mitch island all year during sham's extended lurk and it was because of exactly what we're seeing in this postseason

And i was one of the foolish non-believers thinking he was washed. Now here we are up 2 because mitch helped force Tatum into 2 difficult shots to close both games.

these mfs were talking about isaiah hartenstein.

even worse they wanted precious to play

[Jalen Bluntson]

I believe this hangover is gonna hang over me all day! I got shyt faced last night after the win!

[mpharris36]

can't wipe that smile off my face today...next mission with two full nights off need to devise a plan to get the wife to have back to back you know what nights with no Knicks on....

[thebuzzardman]

A real fan would do what it took to get $704 you go stand on the street corner do what you gotta do

35x20$....damn

[god shammgod]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/mitchell-robinson-is-giving-the-knicks-their-identity-back-and-its-causing-major-problems-for-the-celtics/

That regular-season record no longer applies in the playoffs. Right now, the Knicks are 2-0 against Boston, but it's not the shiny new starting five leading them to those wins. New York's starters have played 46 minutes in this series and have lost those minutes by 13 points. But in two games decided by four total points, the Knicks have outscored the Celtics by a staggering 32 points in the roughly 43 minutes Mitchell Robinson has played. The Celtics are so desperate to get him off of the floor that they're intentionally fouling even in the fourth quarter. "He was a +19," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla explained after Game 2, "all their starters were in the negative."

Those starters were outscored by 26 points in 65 regular-season minutes against the Celtics, and it makes sense within this context. Even if it wasn't the intent, the Knicks were constructed almost as a pale imitation of the Celtics—heavy investment in versatile wings, a shooting big man, lots of matchup-hunting—but Boston does those things way better than New York can. They're the champions for a reason. They're not going to be beaten at their own game. So Robinson is dragging them down into the mud and making them play Thibodeau's kind of game.

A lot has been made in this series about Boston's woeful 3-point shooting, and that's obviously a big part of what's going on here. When the Celtics are making 3s, they almost always win. But when Robinson is in, they're also missing their 2s: during his minutes, they are just 14-of-36 inside of the arc (38.9%). When he's off of the floor? They're 29-of-55 on 2's (52.7%). New York's newfound willingness to switch has played a part in Boston's shooting struggles, but it has also made them incredibly foul-prone because it frequently gives the Celtics mismatches to exploit. The Celtics have attempted 36 free throws in roughly 58 minutes they've played against the Knicks with Robinson on the bench. But when he's on the floor? They've taken just five free throws in around 43 minutes.

Robinson, still not 100% after the ankle injury he suffered in last year's playoffs, isn't holding up flawlessly on those switches onto the perimeter. But he's protecting the basket so well that it's allowing everyone else to play more disciplined defense. The Celtics are shooting 57.1% within six feet of the basket against him in this series, according to NBA.com tracking data. Elite regular-season rim-protectors usually hover around the low 50s, but remember, Robinson is doing this against the Celtics, not the entire field. Boston shot 70.6% in the restricted area this season, behind only the Suns and Lakers. They're used to getting easy looks at the basket because of their spacing and Robinson is taking them away. Against Towns, by comparison, they're shooting 71.4% within six feet of the basket.

Despite their reputation as a shooting team, Boston has quietly been among the better rebounding groups in the NBA for years now. When Robinson is off the floor, they're pulling in 57.7% of available rebounds. The best teams in the regular season tend to get around 53% of available rebounds. With Robinson in the game, though, the Knicks are actually slightly out-rebounding Boston as a whole and have absolutely owned the glass in his brief stretches alongside Towns. Thibodeau himself has been vocal about Robinson's role as a rebounder throughout the postseason. When he left him in to close the first half in Game 2 of the Detroit series, he explained it by saying, "Mitch was the one guy rebounding." He's tied for the series lead in box outs despite playing 23 fewer minutes than Towns.

These are traits that define a Thibodeau team, and they're a big part of what has made these two comeback wins over Boston possible. The Knicks played 27 games this season in which they scored fewer than 110 points and won only six of them. The thought of the regular-season Knicks winning a game with 91 points seems almost impossible. This wasn't a roster designed to win slugfests, but the playoffs are about adaptability. For the first time all season, it seems as though the Knicks have a curveball.

They're going to have to play Towns at center for most of the series. Robinson likely isn't physically up for any more minutes than he is already playing, so what the Knicks developed over most of this regular season is still going to have to be the bread and butter. But for short stretches, Robinson has given the Knicks their identity back. When he's on the floor, they look like a Thibodeau team again, and Boston hasn't found any reliable way of countering that sort of opponent yet. Given the various health issues they're dealing with, they might not even have one. It's not pretty, but Thibodeau teams usually aren't. They're brutal and effective. That's what they were a year ago, and it's what they're rediscovering with Robinson rounding back into form at the perfect time.

[GettinitDone]

We won 5 road playoff games (3 in Detroit, 2 in Boston), each by 3 points or less

[Fury]

can't wipe that smile off my face today...next mission with two full nights off need to devise a plan to get the wife to have back to back you know what nights with no Knicks on....

Film sessions?

[Zenzibar]

[mpharris36]

can't wipe that smile off my face today...next mission with two full nights off need to devise a plan to get the wife to have back to back you know what nights with no Knicks on....

Film sessions?

its a daunting task...

[JBreezeNY]

We won 5 road playoff games (3 in Detroit, 2 in Boston), each by 3 points or less

Last team that did that

[Guano]

Mikal and mitch's post game interviews were great. Mikal giving his mom and coach and teammates credit for building him up and carrying him - solid guy. Hard not to like a guy like that. And mitch being an unabashed hillbilly.

[3toheadmelo]

Knicks remind me of my BAF team last season in some ways. My team lost to pretty much every contender in the regular season and we were a play in team. Then we went ham in the playoffs and got to the finals. Unfortunately I lost two starters to injuries in the finals tho.. hopefully that doesn’t happen with us lol

[thebuzzardman]

you could tell they were holding back defensively during the season,"mikal sucks" "og looks slow" "thibs sucks" no sir.....they fooled everyone, the lineup w og/bridges/mitch is a nightmare matchup to close out games

I've given Thibs a lot of sh*t this year, and I think he's limited offensively (on top of some roster construction issues) but he's always done well with defensive substitutions in the 4th quarter, particularly in the playoffs.

He's pretty agnostic about who plays. You can defend? You'll play.

[Guano]

I cant believe there are people serving time for weed and the ref who called that OG dunk a charge is walking free. The world isn't fair.

[Jalen Bluntson]

can't wipe that smile off my face today...next mission with two full nights off need to devise a plan to get the wife to have back to back you know what nights with no Knicks on....

Dishes? Laundry?

[mpharris36]

I think Thibs has had a pretty good series to start as well. I think he could do a much better job earlier in games getting Mikal more in P&R even with Brunson on the floor to get him going. Mikal just never gets on ball P&R opps with Brunson on...and Mikal took off in the 4th qtr with no Brunson on the floor.

But he made two key decisions in the 4th.

He brought back Mikal with the 2nd unit when he was 0-8 and couldn't do anything offensively and put him on ball.

He kept Mitch in the game for most of the 4th and left OG off (which is hard to do) even though OG has been great defensively he was playing the hot hands with Mitch/KAT/Hart/Mikal.

Nice progress there!